I'm Out of Touch

I was dragged the other night to see the new Hannah Montana Movie.  It was a sweet movie, I especially loved seeing all the young girls in excited little groups around the theater.  I think my group of single women were the oldest there without children.

I realized half way through the movie though that I am completely out of touch with todays music.  It all sounded off kilter and odd.  The night before I had "rocked out" to 1940's music as I cleaned my house and then to be presented with the jarring music of today through me for a loop.

Well, they say all things must change with the times, and so must music.  It saddens me though as the older stuff just seems to mean so much more somehow.  

Oh! one more thing, the movie was sweet, like I said, but it was also almost scene for scene George Straits "Pure Country" movie from the 90's.

:-/

Grasping the Meaning of Folk

I think it is time for me to admit it. I love everything folkie. This means the music, the culture, the art and the way of speaking.

The dictionary defines the word as follows: of or originating among the common people: folk beliefs; a folk hero; and having unknown origins and reflecting the traditional forms of a society.

This gives us a starting piont ot jump off of, but in my opinion does not truly embrass all that the term folk implies. The word has power, though I dare you to try and say it without a smile. The term invokes traditions, earthy songs, heroes, monsters, family, modes of speach, courting rituals, art (both the primitive and the sophisticated) and embodies all that a culture and/or community embrasses as its own.

Someone once told me that true folk music is written by unlettered men and women that have the need, the craving, to put the trials and tribulations of their everyday life into song. I love this. Think about the African, Australian and Native American tribes. When they sing their traditional (folk) songs, they stomp it out, writhe in sensual dance moves that seem to bring the earth and the human into one being. For this time they cease to be seperate entities and combine to create the music of the world. It is absolutly beautiful!

For years people have striven to collect the primitive art pieces of forgotten societies. Why? Maybe it is because it allows us an intimate glimspe into the life of a people not so very different from ourselves. A primitive wooden bowl sold for $40,000 in an antique shop recently. Again the question Why? the answer is what you want it to be, but for me it is that you can feel not only the age, but the rituals and traditions of the care giver (mother) in the dents, cuts and markings within the vessel.

Cheesy it may be but the truth is we all long to feel the connection to those long past and the aspects of the term "FOLK" allows us to do just that: connect.