Tentacles of Folk Music
Folk music and it’s artist influence and reference in todays music
Who would have thought that the roots of the rhythms, melodies, and call/response the enslaved used to instill hope, spiritual, and community value called folk music; would flourish into genres original and unique to the African-American community.
The genre with the most sacred roots to folk music transitioned into negro spirituals and choral music produced the sound of the Black church known as Gospel Music. Most noticeably the repetition, melody, and need for the sound of a group. An example being the chorus singing with the congregation and the enslaved using folk music to get through the treacherous hours of labor.
The rhythms of folk music are also popular in the genre Ragtime. Differing from the jazz , Ragtime favors it’s parental genre with the consistency and syncopation. While the presence of folk music can be found in Ragtime the genre is more instrument based than the voices we are used to hearing in folk songs.
On the more secular end of the tentacles of folk music HipHop and Rap are the most modern children of the genre. The genre has its own sub genres like the nation’s capital Washington, D.C. own GOGO Music. It’s use of call and response, unique style and delivery, along with the distinct voices of it’s artist can be found in several folk songs.
Click Each Tab to Hear Familiar Folk Sounds in these Genres
Sources:
https://gre.myprepclub.com/forum/ragtime-is-a-musical-form-that-synthesizes-folk-melodies-and-15595.html
https://folkways.si.edu/magazine-summer-fall-2016-rap-and-hip-hop-bring-folk-music-to-a-new-audience/article/smithsonian
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