Roots Revival

A roots revival (folk revival) is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly-composed songs with socially and politically aware lyrics, as well as a general modernization of the folk sound.

After an American folk music revival in the 1950s, a wave of roots revival swept the world in the 1960s and 70s. In most cases, the folk music being revived was not quite extinct, though some hadn't been played for years or was moribund; such cases include the Celtic music of Cornwall and the Isle of Man, for example. In other cases, such as Cameroon and the Dominican Republic, no revival was necessary as the music remained common, and was merely popularized and adapted for mainstream audiences at home and abroad.

The term roots revival is vague, and may not always refer to identical events. Characteristics associated with a roots revival include:

• Popularization of previously non-mainstream folk music
• Adaptation of folk styles to pop (or rock) structures
• Invention of new formats like bands where only solo acts had existed before
• Introduction of new instruments
• Composition of works by those who perform them, as opposed to folk tunes mostly passed down orally (see singer-songwriter)
• Incorporation of politically aware lyrics, often critical of a government, religion or other authority, or society in general.
• Lyrics are the first from the nation to express more than simple desires and problems, and are often seen as the embodiment of a national character or literary tradition (in comparison to the legendary American songwriter, such composers are often said to be the "X Bob Dylan", as in Wannes Van de Velde is the Belgian Bob Dylan)
• Roots revival performers will often come from very different social and economic backgrounds compared to the people whose style of music they are popularizing.

With such a vague and variable definition, roots revival could be seen as referring to the creation of any kind of pop music industry, though there are countries with well-developed pop traditions that have not had a period referred to as a roots revival (such as Jamaica, India, Cuba and Kenya). For example, homogenized pop has long had its fans in most every country in the world, but many of these nations have created their own indigenous pop styles out of folk music; this process could be called a roots revival, though in some cases the folk musics in question were still widespread and did not need to be revived.