Folk Music Between Popular Culture and Institutional Framing

Folk music, folk songs, and ballads are nested categories of traditional expression: folk songs are folk music that has words, and ballads are folk songs that tell stories. These genres are universal; all people make music, and almost all start with what scholars would call “folk music.” Nevertheless, this chapter suggests specific ways to find and study them in an American context. Music, songs, and ballads are created by individuals, circulate orally, are adapted by other individuals, and thus become communally re-created works of art. Finding and studying such works is a challenge, requiring us to combine aspects of historical inquiry, literary and linguistic analysis, musicological study, and ethnography. These genres have also become part of popular culture in ways that have been called “folkloresque,” one of which is the movement generally known as “the folk revival.” Virtually all Americans hear folk music in the context of these folkloresque adaptations.

Download Full-text

‘The Rains of Castamere’: medievalism, popular culture, and the music of Game of Thrones

Popular Music ◽

10.1017/s0261143020000549 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 39 (3-4) ◽

pp. 554-567

Author(s):

Esther Liberman Cuenca

Keyword(s):

Popular Culture ◽

Popular Music ◽

Folk Music ◽

Fan Culture ◽

Television Series ◽

Medieval Music ◽

The Rich ◽

Game Of Thrones

AbstractThis article closely examines the song ‘The Rains of Castamere’, from the television series Game of Thrones (2011–19), to draw broader conclusions about how ‘medieval’ music manifests in contemporary popular culture and how music for television has become increasingly important in the last few decades. This article argues for the relevance of ‘The Rains of Castamere’ in popular music from three perspectives: first, as a musical adaptation of the ‘medieval’ world of 'folk’ music popularised in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels (1996–); second, as a song embedded in the rich tradition of modern ‘medieval’ music, which itself is a modern reconstruction influenced by cinematic and literary tropes; and lastly, as a track that exemplifies the influence of fan culture in both shaping and responding to popular medievalist music.

Download Full-text

Kickboxing, Breakdance and Pop Music versus Wrestling, Round Dance and Folk Music? Popular Culture in Buryatia Today

Folklore Electronic Journal of Folklore ◽

10.7592/fejf2009.41.krist ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

pp. 131-142

Author(s):

Stefan Krist

Keyword(s):

Popular Culture ◽

Folk Music ◽

Pop Music ◽

Round Dance

Download Full-text

Romanian Bard: A Case Study of Shakespeare’s Adaptations in Contemporary Romania

American British and Canadian Studies ◽

10.2478/abcsj-2013-0007 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 19 (-) ◽

pp. 106-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Dana Percec ◽

Andreea Şerban

Keyword(s):

Popular Culture ◽

Cultural Identity ◽

Folk Music ◽

Romeo And Juliet ◽

Political Awareness ◽

High Culture ◽

The Public ◽

Musical Adaptations ◽

Musical Genres

Abstract In Romania, Shakespeare played an important role in the construction of Romania’s cultural identity and in the reshaping of political awareness during the communist dictatorship. In recent years, the Bard’s work has been translated into a contemporary, accessible Romanian language, with theatrical or musical adaptations targeted at a public whose tastes are shaped by popular culture. The authors discuss, from this perspective, two recent adaptations: The Taming of the Shrew (2005), acclimatized to contemporary Romanian realities (names, locations and folk music), and Romeo and Juliet (2009) that relocates the tragedy in the musical genre. The choice of two musical genres popular with the most widely spread segments of the public - the conservative, but less educated middle-aged group of non-theatre-goers and the youth - indicates an attempt, still new for the Romanian cultural market, to accommodate Shakespeare to the interests of two different communities of consumers, so far absent from this country’s high culture circuit.

Download Full-text