I think I'm thinking of traditional folk music and folk songs... on YouTube there seems to be quite a vague definition of folk music. I want pieces of music that have been "transmitted orally from generation to generation" which is what the Oxford Dictionary says.

 

Ah, yes. "Folk music" IS a rather vague phrase. I think that's because there are two very distinct definitions . . . there is the American folk pop music that is loosely referred to as "folk music" - Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, The Kingston Trio, Simon & Garfunkel, Blind Melon Jefferson.

But when folks from the Classical community talk about "folk music", it's a more international, and is several centuries of music from the non-elite denizens of Europe, Russian, Scandanavia, the Middle East and almost anywhere else.

There is a small area of shared stuff . . . Tis a Gift to be Simple, John Henry, and the music of Stephen Foster I suppose.

 

Once you get into folk music you end up with abc notation rather than sheet music.

Couple of good sites for tunes

http://www.norbeck.nu/abc/

http://www.nyckelharpa.org/links/written-music-tools/

The nyckelharpa site has links to various abc resources. The one I prefer for sheet music is mandolin tabs at https://www.mandolintab.net/abcconverter.php this allows you to get multiple tunes on a sheet and also does transposition.

 

Czech Moravian Folk Music

this image is silly, those are gypsies, not traditional Moravian costumes

look at this channel. Folk music from all over the world
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4gNHCugaKSSCpaI2hL2Jmg

 

The Danish String Quartet has recorded a number of Nordic folk tunes arranged for string quartet.

Wood Works was the first and is entirely made up of folk tunes and is excellent.

View attachment 142725

 

And then there's English west country music

 

I travelled to Oslo for a Jews Harp summit a few years back and attended some folk sessions. There was a particular tune that I heard a few times and took a liking for. The name is 'Fanitullen' and while I don't have a specific version to refer to, there are many recordings and pieces of notation available to browse online with a quick search.

 

 

Some Italian folk that I like:

El vin 'l e bon - drinking song

Sento il fischio del vapore - a love song about war

Mamma mia dammi cento lire - about emigration to US

Sebben che siamo donne - this one is more feminist/revolutionary

Santa Lucia - I think this also belongs here, is it's a traditional Neapolitan song... even if it doesn't sound "folky"

 

"Draumkvedet" is fantastic! My name is even in there, when the dreamer is going through hell I'm your "sacrificial kettle"...

 

This is from 1927. Serbian song, sung by Sofka Nikolić

 

Joyce Andersen & Harvey Reid live stream from The Puffin & Loon Lounge at the Woodpecker Wild Life Center in York, Maine. 10/30/20

 

Don't forget that Peggy Seeger's mum (and Pete's stepmother) was the modernist composer Ruth Crawford Seeger. Her husband was an ethnomusicologist eek She worked with Alan Lomax and Carl Sandburg. Her closest English analogue is Holst who also worked on Folk song arrangements and also had unconventional religious ideas.

Equally, remember that Cecil Sharp had a great interest in the music of the Appalachians including many Child ballads.

 

Baltos Varnos perform 2 lithuanian folk songs - "Pūtė Vėjas" and "Oi Girioj"

 

 

 

I love American folk music - this anthology is a good introduction:

View attachment 147101

The Anthology of American Folk Music is a six-album compilation released in 1952 by Folkways Records (catalogue FP 251, FP 252, and FP 253), comprising eighty-four American folk, blues and country music recordings that were originally issued from 1926 to 1933. Experimental film maker Harry Smith compiled the music from his personal collection of 78 rpm records. The album is famous due to its role as a touchstone for the American folk music revival in the 1950s and 1960s. The Anthology was released for compact disc by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings on August 19, 1997.

 

If you're interested in Scandinavian/Nordic folk music, look for "Spelmansmusik". It's the kind of traditional music played at country celebrations/dances, usually involving fiddles.

For Norwegian folk music, try googling or searching on Youtube for "mellomalderballade", "skillingsviser", "bygdeviser", "skjemteviser". These are different types of folk songs.

For Finnish folk, look for "kantele", it's a traditional musical instrument similar to a zither or psaltery.

 

I love folk music...

 

I love folk music...

Another Irish folk enthusiast here.

For the OP: if you're interested in Irish folk (also known as "trad"), there's a trove of songs and dances (jigs, reels...) you can easily find on the web, although the quality varies, ranging from the exquisite and authentic to the very bad, just trying to cash in a popular genre.
Bear in mind, the genuine way to enjoy Irish folk is live, in a pub with locals.

I remember Irish folk music started to gain a lot of international (among non-Irish) interest in the 90's, at least here in continental Europe. My feeling is that the economic emergence of Ireland back then (the Celtic Tiger) contributed to that, with people becoming more interested in Ireland and even starting to travel more there, also in concomitance with the much welcome Good Friday Agreement (before that, Ireland had only been reported in international news about Troubles-related violence). And of, course, the success of Riverdance in the early 90s. Which is worth mentioning is a modern show, borrowing some elements from Irish folk, but not really representative of genuine Irish trad.

In Ireland itself, there had already been a big revival in the 60s-70s... a lot of great contemporary performers and interpreters of Irish trad are from that era: the Dubliners, Mick Moloney, the Johnstones, the Clancy Brothers, Sweeney's Men, the Fureys...

In the 90s, I got hold of a 4-CD collection that included many of these classics, including some rare recordings (such as Mick Moloney singing An Gaoth Andheas in Gaelic) that I have never found included in other CDs or collections.

My very first introduction to Irish music was a cassette I got in the early 90s, Trad at Heart, which features more contemporary arrangements and is probably an easier transition to Irish folk for people who are still not familiar with it or do not feel instantly drawn to the style of the folk singers and players from the 60s-70s.

Much to my delight, a few years ago I managed to acquire a CD version of it, the cassette not being playable any more. It's mostly instrumental music, with few exceptions such as Dónal Agus Mórag performed by Altan.

For purely instrumental, dance music, I would recommend another exquisite collection from the 90s, Dance of the Celts.

 

This may be a bit too contemporary for some but some excellent fiddling, and they certainly enjoy themselves

For more of their work
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bellowhead+

 

Some American Appalachian Mountain harmony singing as interpreted by Ian & Sylvia:

 

@ Zauberfloete

I have a few CDs of theDubliners and they are very good another group that I rate very highly are The Chieftains they are the tops for me and play some historical instruments but I am by no means an expert, and I agree with you that it is great to hear it in a pub and from memory some of the Chieftain videos I have seen do include some shots in pubs. :tiphat:

 

Matt Molloy of the Chieftains runs a bar in Westport and had regular sessions there (before the current problems). The Irish scene is often tied into pubs. O'Donoghue's Pub is linked not only to the Dubliners but also to Andy Irvine and Christie Moore and that takes in a massive swathe of modern Irish folk.

When you look at the Clancy Brothers, is important to remember that they played with Tommy Makem. Tommy's mother Sarah is a major source for traditional music. Sarah Makem has recorded numerous albums and has been visited by musicologists such as Peter Kennedy and Jean Ritchie. The Clancy Brothers played in New York alongside Jean Ritchie, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. When Diane Hamilton went to Ireland with Liam Clancy to record "original" Irish songs, she started with the Clancy's and moved on to Sarah Makem who had been recorded earlier by Jean Ritchie. When Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem met they became good friends. Tommy moved to America and after an industrial accident decided to start singing professionally and joined up with the Clancy Brothers.

A lot of folk music is like this, Martin Carthy went to school with Bert Lloyd's son and a star was born.

 

My main exposure to folk music has been the dancing at local folk festivals and ranges from Appalachian, which has its roots in many European styles including Lancashire cloggies, Morris has mostly traditional English tunes, but often concentrating on a particular region like border - northern English

Example of Appalachian style

And a Slovak team for contrast

And last but not least, for a certain couple of this parish :tiphat:

 

@Mike The Eightsome Reel takes me back to my school days at a boys only boarding school, we were taught old time dancing etc but also did the eightsome reel to that tune. It was funny dancing with boys as one of you had to be the girl but once a year the school held a special dance and the village girls came with their own chaperones we were under tight observation.

 

PROBABLY not what you sere looking for, but I'm a big fan of Hoven Droven, who play traditional Finnish folk songs in the heavy metal style: