Folk Music - Contemporary Folk Music

Contemporary Folk Music

Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This process and period is called the (second) folk revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. The most common name for this new form of music is also "folk music", but is often called "contemporary folk music" or "folk revival music" to make the distinction. This type of folk music also includes fusion genres such as folk rock, electric folk, and others. While contemporary folk music is a genre generally distinct from traditional folk music, it often shares the same English name, performers and venues as traditional folk music; even individual songs may be a blend of the two.

Definitions of "contemporary folk music" are generally vague and variable. Here it is taken to mean all music that is called folk that is not traditional music, a set of genres that began with and then evolved from the folk revival of the mid-20th century. According to Hugh Blumenfeld, for the American folk scene, in general it is:

• "Anglo-American, embracing acoustic and/or tradition-based music from the U.K. and the United States.

• Mainly European in its musical origins and linguistically predominantly English-based.

• The few exceptions to this model are derived mainly from prevailing political/historical conditions in the Anglo-American world and the demographics of folk fans: Celtic music, blues, some Central and South American music, Native American music, and Klezmer." This is the common use of the term "contemporary folk music", but is not the only case of evolution of new forms from traditional ones. Nueva canción,a similar evolution of a new form of socially committed music, occurred in several Spanish-speaking countries, for example.

Contemporary country music descends ultimately from a rural American folk tradition but has evolved differently. Bluegrass music is a professional development of American old time music, intermixed with blues and jazz.