Folk rock glasba

Folk rock, hibridni glasbeni slog, ki se je pojavil v ZDA in Britaniji sredi šestdesetih let prejšnjega stoletja.

rock: Folk rock, hipi gibanje in rock paradoks

Posebnost britanskega utripa, v katerem so se bodoče zvezde, kot so Beatles, postale umetniške, medtem ko bodo glasbeniki bluesa, kot so

Ko je oživitev ameriške narodnozabavne glasbe v petdesetih in šestdesetih letih znova zaživela, je bilo neizogibno, da bi visokozmogljivo gibanje, ki se ponaša s čistostjo svojega akustičnega inštrumenta in ločitvijo od komercialne pop mainstreama, prehitelo in spremenilo glasbo pop glasbe tehnologija, ki se hitro razvija. Rock glasba se je preoblikovala tudi s presečiščem z ljudsko. Čeprav so rock prej dojemali in ustvarjali skoraj izključno kot zabavo, je zdaj narodna glasba začela prevzeti samozavestno resnost namer. Katalitična figura v zlitju folk in komercialnega rocka je bil Bob Dylan, dragi moški trubadur iz gibanja, ki je v eni izmed več drznih kariernih potez "šel v elektriko" med 25. julijem 1965, nastopom na festivalu Newport (Rhode Island) Folk Festival. (Glej BTW: Dylan gre električno - dogodek,razprava.)

Dylanova dramatična gesta, eden izmed pomembnih dogodkov v zgodovini popularne glasbe, je potrdila fuzijo, ki se je že zgodila. Hibrid je bil v petdesetih letih prejšnjega stoletja predzgoden z veliko priljubljenostjo komercialnega folk-popa, ki so ga naredili levi nagnjeni izvajalci, kot sta Harry Belafonte, in na univerzi v kolidžu najljubši Kingston Trio, katerega hit albumi so mešali tradicionalno in sodobno gradivo. Tradicionalni material je nastal iz različnih virov, med njimi duhovniki, gorska glasba Appalachian, zgodnji blues ter angleške in keltske balade. Velik vpliv na Dylana, ki ni bil povsem tradicionalen, je bila Harry Smith Smith iz leta 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music, zbirka odmevnih pesmi iz 1920 in 30-ih hribov, blues, cajuna in gospel, izdanih na založbi Folkways.

Two years before Dylan’s notorious Newport appearance, which struck die-hard folk purists as a sellout, the folk-pop trio Peter, Paul and Mary had reached number two in the charts with a homogenized pop rendition of Dylan’s protest anthem “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Dylan’s move, which followed the release of his partly electric album Bringing It All Back Home (1965), accelerated the already growing onslaught of socially conscious folk-flavoured music done with a rock beat and electric guitars. The genre reached a peak of formal elegance in the music of the Byrds, a Los Angeles-based quintet (founded by former folk musician Roger McGuinn) whose sound was constructed around the jangling chime of 12-string electric guitars and Beatles-influenced vocal harmonies. Early in the summer of 1965 the Byrds scored a number one hit with Dylan’s song “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Their second number one hit, “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” which came at the end of that year, was based on Pete Seeger’s adaptation of verses from the book of Ecclesiastes.

As folk rock became the trend of the moment, however, its socially critical stance was quickly broadened and diluted, and the relationship between the music and its traditional sources became more tenuous, a matter more of “feeling” than of strict reverence for the past. From then, the music tended to fall into two stylistic camps. In the United States folk rock acts like the Mamas and the Papas, Buffalo Springfield, the Lovin’ Spoonful, Sonny and Cher, Simon and Garfunkel, and Janis Ian personified a generalized, often self-righteous youthful rebellion that in its more pointed songs was labeled “protest” music. The era’s quintessential—although far from best—folk rock anthem was Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction,” a haranguing list of social injustices strung around a vague apocalyptic warning, which reached number one in September 1965. Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence” (number one in January 1966) delivered a similarly ominous blanket warning in a softer, more poetic style.

In Britain folk rock tended to be more respectful of tradition; groups like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span made records that combined centuries-old folk material with original, tradition-flavoured songs arranged for folk rock ensembles that often used old instruments to maintain a strong Celtic flavour. In the 1970s and early 1980s the English folk duo Richard and Linda Thompson recorded bleak, strikingly compelling social-realist ballads on albums such as I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974). In a more commercial vein, Scottish troubadour Donovan was a self-conscious answer to Dylan. His first hit, “Catch the Wind” (1965), was a softened and sweetened echo of Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

Folk rock quickly blurred into psychedelic rock and other more personal styles, although certain groups (especially Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jefferson Airplane, and 10,000 Maniacs) and singer-songwriters (Don McLean, Jackson Browne, Bruce Cockburn, Bruce Springsteen, and Tracy Chapman) continued to create socially conscious, issue-oriented pop music into the 1970s,’80s, and’90s.