When 'celebrity' singers and bands become the measure

The age of the ‘celebrity singer’ has a lot to answer for. One accusation it has to face is the increase of façade over content. Perhaps those who promote these people consider there is little need for depth because few ‘instant celebrities’ will be around long enough for us to discover they have no depth. What you see in the first ten seconds is what you get. There is no more. The fashion cycle turns and they are gone – doubtless a demise many will view with delight.

Another charge to answer is their responsibility for eroding good popular music. Too often it’s replaced with ‘celebrity’ crap that has no value on any level - apart from a so-called celebrity singing it. It’s not easy listening. It’s not cool by anyone’s definition. It’s as pointless as music in the elevator. Yet it persists. The ‘cool factor’ becomes reliant on the transient position of the performer not the content of the song. And the song itself is forgotten in seconds. The cool factor burns out all too quickly and that in itself holds a host of potential problems.

There’s a danger that if many sense folk as too 'cool', it will become taboo until the next fashion cycle comes around. Folk is a minority group, even if you include all its facets and the many modern ‘popular’ songs that could fall into the folk genre. And like many minority groups it faces difficult futures. One problem it doesn’t need is ‘celebrity’ status.

It’s noticeable that within this minority group there are still fashions that come and go. It is possible to be 'uncool' in mainstream culture for being young and having an interest in folk music and yet still 'uncool' within certain communities of ‘folkies’ for being into the Wrong Kind of Folk Music. It's not as dividing as mainstream culture and most folkies into the fashionable style of the moment do respect and appreciate other styles. There are of course styles within folk that rise and fall. There seems to be an increasing bias towards - ‘tunes we learned at summer school played fast’. These are on the increase in clubs and at festivals, with particular tunes being 'in vogue' or dare one say it? Cool.

From 'minor minority' to 'slightly larger minority'

There are advantages as well as potential problems with any increase in a cool or popularity. For example, when a minority interest in a small country becomes a slightly larger minority. Not only can it adopt an unacceptable face focused on trend and fashion (unlikely with folk but possible) it can also reduce creativity. Even though there are enough people interested in studying folk to set up degree and other kinds of courses – folk remains a comparatively small scene. Everyone knows one another, there are only a few tutors and places to study, and thus only a few influences.

There was a period, in England especially, when folk became the province of old people and some of their children. Those folkies that had forged ahead and made folk cool in the 60’s grew old, and their art became uncool. Those of their offspring that decided to join in themselves were then derided or ignored by their peer group. However, for the last ten years or so there has been a distinct move to youth folk (not a definition, just a short description). So it’s reasonable to suggest that an increase in the number of young people interested in folk over the last decade means an increasing number of young people actively taking part in and playing folk music.

That said, the increase in younger performers in UK folk over the past five to ten years is mostly those with connections to the Folkworks Summer School, the Newcastle Folk Degree or the Radio 2 Young Folk Awards. Most of who are technically skilful. Many of who are cool as can be.

There’s an important point to note. The youth folk scene is, in a way, a little like historical local community folk music. It has its own separate tradition, or at least a separate dialect of it. Many younger bands that come out of these schools have much common repertoire (although from many different geographical locations). Does that create a young folk dialect? These ‘graduates’ also share many common arrangement techniques and styles. So they could be said to share this trait with previous incarnations of folk music in its community identity. The difference, of course, is the standard of the music is mainly at (or aspiring to) a professional rather than amateur level.

Unfortunately, there exists within the group, which is already a minority, a group that wants nothing to change. So when new young (and admit it cool) folk performers arrive on the scene many ‘trads’ tell them they’re not folk.

'Trad' or ‘nu’ – it’s really up to you

A certain contingent in the 'trad' folk scene wants little to do with the 'nu-folk' scene. In fact trad folkies are the only group of people who don't refer to many of the nu-folk acts the mainstream call 'folk' as 'folk'. The reaction is similar in a way to all that uproar about Dylan going electric, and people putting drums in Ceilidh bands. And although it causes outrage at first most die-hard trad folkies get over it eventually. Therefore, bands such as Steeleye Span still perform at folk festivals.

Indeed, bands such as Fairport Convention (to name but one) reached the point of running their own folk festival and inviting other bands and singers to attend. And if you wish to hear an eclectic mix of nu-folk, trad folk, jazz folk and folk rock (and a touch a stadium rock) then the Cropredy festival is for you.

Today, however, the folk and nu-folk scenes remain separate and mostly look set to continue that way. The nu-folk people see the traditionalists as 'too cliquey' and the traditionalists see the nu-folkers as 'not proper folk music'. Which is ironic, considering the number of 'traditional' folk songs that were written as pastiche or parody and are now regarded as part of a tradition, and treated with deep respect. 

Despite the increase in the number of young people who are into folk, there hasn't been much of an increase in the wider acceptance of folk itself.  Which, given that these young people are joining what is a minority, I guess there’s no surprises there. In fact some would argue there is less diversity in the programmes at UK folk festivals now than there was 20 years ago – but that’s another story (actually another chapter).

So does the age of celebrity have anything to do with this? In truth not a lot. However, if the populace getting swept away on the latest ‘cool’ icon and them dumping it just as quickly signals the way music is developing then we had better look out and quickly too. However folk classes itself or allows others to classify it, all the varied threads of folk had better start realising their society is too small to become a disposable celebrity fad.

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