Folk Festival – Songs from the deep of social history

★★✰

   Song can be understand as a base of musical expression and position of music in communication system. As the form of musical experience, song was always fundamental part of any culture. While developing forms of music through the eras were expanding and complicating, in folk music this form rooted in communication mechanisms, language and symbolic gestures, was flourishing with creative ideas and current content but remaining purest and uncontaminated form. The tradition of telling various stories with poetic text was common for most cultures all over the world. With rhyme, rhythm and with melody even legends and fantastic tales sounded more realistic. Basing on formal foundations song became a vehicle for ideas of great importance. After industrial revolution society became more independent and, from this moment onward, popular song played the role of common practical set of ideas.
   The new world society was in quite different situation. New waves of immigrants were coming with fresh energy and some basic musical culture, but mainly without education or cultural competences. The economy of this form and the power of impact were primary reason for connecting song with social behaviors and beliefs in migrating society, patriotic feelings or protests injustice, war or inequity. So country music was as much adequate as it was for social layer without structural rating system.
   Since the beginning of popular culture era, songs were the tools for disseminating various ideas, step by step taking position of main form in spectrum of musical culture. This process can be observed almost in every area, it can last decades, or centuries. In American society after 2nd World War, with domination of English language, in place of different singing and telling traditions, appeared limited number of forms and worldwide recognizable authors of songs. As this massive cultural change came with domination of American politics and economy, so significant part of globalizing culture was common American English music and literature including folk and country music.

Various Artists – Folk Festival (1960?)

   Country ballads, folk rock, protest songs and popular folk songs were extremely popular and in every catalogue such music existed as a section of rich selection. Elektra Records was founded in 1950 with idea to publish folk songs and in next two decades it became major label specialized in all kinds of folk songs. In mid 1950’s their catalogue was already a rare collection of great singers, so they started to publish compilations of different style songs. In 1956 Elektra published Folk Sampler with 18 songs and in 1961 this compilation was reedited and titled Folk Festival. Next compilation of 15 songs was published under the same title and republished few times in licence edition. One of them was Vintage label operating in Germany (Vintage F50002). There were few other versions, but none of them contained any information about the year of publication.
   The album is one of dozens alike. Such compilations of popular folk songs were in sixties common way to earn some extra money from albums already sold. The program includes stars from the label's stable, from Judy Collins, Brownie McGhee, Rod McKuen and Theodore Bikel, through The Dillards, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Ed McCurdy and Oscar Brand to Odetta and Pete Seeger. Interesting choice of songs (and two instrumental pieces by Glen Campbell) – for newbies the opportunity to check, for those who like American folk music, a chance to have more comprehensive overview. For the lack of thrill, two and a half of stars only although every distinguished artist alone deserves more.