Folk Music Festival Research Articles

Singing from the same hymnbook: South Asian Canadian solidarity in the long sixties in British Columbia

ABSTRACT This essay breaks new ground in writing the history of the long sixties by bringing in a strand of the Third World diasporic activism shaped by transnational mobility. It alludes to the role of the Naxalite movement in politicizing the youth of the Panjab, many of whom moved to Canada in the late 1960s and 1970s encouraged by changes in Canada’s immigration policies. This new wave of immigrants was confronted with racism and labour exploitation upon arrival. In response, they quickly formed new Left-wing organizations to defend their rights. The literary association of progressive Panjabi writers in British Columbia and other places was one such institution. It directly involved itself in political and cultural activism, besides literary activities by crossing racial and communal boundaries to create intercommunity solidarities. These Panjabi writers were also chroniclers of the global consciousness of their times as well as the local histories of resistance by their diasporic community. Through text and performance, their intercommunity cultural solidarity activism organically connected them to an older North American radical tradition of the anarcho-syndicalist Wobblies. The archive of the literary production of progressive Panjabi writers has been used in the essay alongside the video interviews recorded by the author with members of Panjabi theatre groups, musicians of a former rock band, a visual artist and photographer, and the founder of a local folk music festival. It brings to the fore new voices, perspectives, and experiences that shaped the intercommunity cultural solidarity activism of the long sixties in British Columbia.

How to Participate in Participatory Music Making at a Contemporary Folk Music Festival: Runosong Nests at the Viljandi Folk Music Festival and Pelimanni Evenings at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival

The article studies, compares and analyses participatory music making at Estonian and Finnish folk music festivals. By comparing the empirical research materials collected during comprehensive fieldwork in 2004–2019 from the regilaulupesa (Eng. runosong nest) of the Viljandi Folk Music Festival (Est. Viljandi pärimusmuusika festival) in Estonia and from the pelimanni (Eng. folk musician, fiddler) evenings of the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival (Fin. Kaustisen kansanmusiikkijuhlat) in Finland, answers were sought to the following questions: What kind of participatory music making takes place at these folk music festivals? What are the social dynamics between and within the groups and individuals in participatory music making situations? How are the primary and secondary functions of music making formed? As a result of the qualitative comparative phenomenological research, it was found that although in participatory music situations at Estonian and Finnish folk music festivals the musical behaviour of participants and the social dynamics of groups could differ radically, they still strive for direct musical experience at a community and personal level and bring the older musical tradition closer to the contemporary people. During participatory music making the secondary function, that is, musical behaviour directed outside the group, could turn naturally into a primary function – musical activity that unites the community and fulfils its internal needs. Situations of participatory music making at Estonian and Finnish contemporary music festivals revealed the common music making as a cultural, social, creative, and emotional phenomenon which has symbolic and direct connections with traditional Finnic folk music culture.

Summer of Soul

Summer of Soul

Ladarice

Ladarice are a female vocal nonet founded with the aim of nurturing Croatian musical heritage. Thanks to their extensive activities on the Croatian music scene, a series of performances at traditional folk music and popular music festivals, frequent appearances on radio and television, participation in theatre plays, performances featured in popular Croatian films (for example, the performance of the song Podravina ravna in the TV series Gruntovčani, created by Dubravko Ivančan and Živan Cvitković), Ladarice have evolved into a cultural brand. However, the general public is mostly unaware that the group Ladarice was founded independently of the Lado Ensemble, and that it operated as such until 2008. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the activities of Ladarice from their forming in 1966 to the present day. From the analysed material, it is possible to deduce that, thanks to their of music, they managed to remain active for many years and evolve into a cultural brand. Today, the singers of Ladarice operate within the framework of the Lado Ensemble, while their work differs significantly in terms of primary motivation, the number of singers, the mode of work, and artistic programme.

Eco-friendly practices and pro-environmental behaviours: the Australian folk and world music festival perspective

PurposeThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has once again brought to our attention one of the three main pillars of sustainability–the environment. It has also brought into sharp relief the fragility of the live music festival sector, whose success hinges fundamentally on the capacity for both travel and mass gatherings to occur. Considering this intersection of environmental sustainability and the live music festival sector, this paper–which reports on events occurring long before the global pandemic took hold–examines the ways in which eight Australian folk and world music festivals successfully engage in eco-friendly and pro-environmental practices and educational activities at their events. Findings from this research will assist industry practitioners in being able to engage in similar practices at their events, as well as further academic understandings of the relationship between the environment and the live music sector, and the role of environmental communication practices within this.Design/methodology/approachThis study engaged an exploratory research design using interviews to gain an insight into the perceptions of eight live music festival promoters regarding their patrons' on-site eco-friendly behaviours and engagement with the eco-friendly initiatives at their events.FindingsSocial support within the on-site festival community (applied here through the notion of a sense of communitas), coupled with the provision of eco-friendly initiatives and effective environmental communication approaches, were key pivot drivers to support patrons' pro-environmental behaviours. Engagement with environmental authorities and experts during the festivals was found to validate their eco-friendly approaches.Originality/valueThis paper provides details of, as well as insights into, the success of the eco-friendly and pro-environmental education practices engaged at select world and folk music festivals in Australia. It broadens and builds upon existing understandings of environmental communication practices.

Understanding experiential value creation at small-scale events: a multi-stakeholder perspective

ABSTRACT This empirical research contributes to the study of experiences gained from attending festivals and events; an area of increasing academic interest. It does this by developing an understanding of how experiential value is co-created at small-scale cultural events, and in what form. Here, these events are characterised as markets or fairs typically located in a town centre setting, and with an audience of less than 10,000. Using case study methodology, qualitative data were collected from multiple stakeholders at three separate small-scale events in the UK: a folk music festival; a food festival; and a farmers’ market, via semi-structured interviews, questionnaire surveys, observation and documentary analysis. Four determinants emerged as important influencers of the overall event experience: sense of belonging; atmosphere; place; and reputation, along with the concepts of authenticity (Jeannerat, H. (2013). Staging experience, valuing authenticity: Towards a market perspective on territorial development. European Urban and Regional Studies, 20(4), 370–384. doi:10.1177/0969776412454126) and immersion (Carù, A., & Cova, B. (2006). How to facilitate immersion in a consumption experience: appropriation operations and service elements. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 5(1), 4–14. doi:10.1002/cb.30). When viewed in this holistic way, experiential value is revealed as a complex yet delicate balance, which is easily disturbed. Policymakers and event planners need to take account of this in combination with local policy objectives when considering an events-focused economic development strategy. Experiential value created by a small-scale event in one location is not easily replicated elsewhere.

How the Concepts of Folk Music Emerge

The article examines the terminology of folk/traditional music in the context of folk music festivals. The main research interest is in the development of the ethnomusicological vocabulary, especially in relation to contemporary folk music festivals. The research focuses on the author’s fieldwork materials from the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival in Finland and the Viljandi Folk Music Festival in Estonia during 2004–2018.
 The theoretical framework is based on academic approaches to folk/traditional music terminology in the European and American folkloristics and (ethno)musicology from the 18th century to the present day. The comparative analysis of fieldwork materials from the Estonia’s and Finland’s largest folk music festivals over the last 15 years indicates that the active role of folk music festivals generates new musical genres and relevant vocabulary.

“From Dalarna to The Orient”: Falun Folk Music Festival

This article discusses the Swedish festival Falun Folk Music Festival (FFF) and makes use of interviews with key organisers, readings of festival brochures, and other material. I begin with a look at the intentions, motivations and negotiations of the organisers leading up to the first festival in 1986, and from there I discuss the way FFF contributed to a change in Swedish folk music discourse towards logics of professionalisation and cosmopolitanism. FFF negotiated between professionals and amateurs, traditionalists and experimentalists. This paved the way for a vast palette of musical traditions, soon to be called “world music”, to reach a Swedish audience. I argue that the cosmopolitanism of FFF, rather than being the main ideological goal of the organisers, worked as a means to an end, namely the professionalisation and artistic recognition of Swedish folk traditions. It also seems to have made the festival relevant in the cultural policy climate of the time.

“From Dalarna to The Orient”: Falun Folk Music Festival

“From Dalarna to The Orient”: Falun Folk Music Festival

Web data geostatistics and analytics to evaluate the impact of a cultural event

This work proposes a methodological approach that analyses and interprets data resulting from cultural events fruition, in order to obtain information useful to improve cultural events management and encourage the cooperation between the different stakeholders involved. The methodology, based on geostatistics and text analytics techniques, has been proposed and applied to a real case study: the Italian folk music festival 'La Notte della Taranta'. In particular, text analytics techniques, like semantic and sentiment analysis, integrated with spatial analysis techniques, allowed identifying sentiment score spatial variation and locating geographical areas characterised by negative or positive average sentiment score, in order to understand the impact of a cultural event on the local territory. The particular structure of the event (itinerant) and the Salento territory where it is rooted, an area rich in traditions and folklore, make this festival an appropriate use case for the approach proposed.

Capitale sociale e senso di appartenenza : l’impatto sociale del Festival “La Notte della Taranta” sulla comunità che lo ospita

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the intangible effects of one of the most important folk music festival in Europe, “La Notte della Taranta” Festival (in the South of Italy), in terms of both production of mutual trust among residents participating in the event and strengthening of their sense of belonging to the place. Unlike other previous studies we carried on within the same research project, this analysis only considers the sample made up of people living in the “Grecia Salentina” area. The starting point of our research is that an event focused on local culture helps strengthening ties within the community as well as one’s sense of belonging to the place of origin. This is because an event which is regularly repeated over time and which strongly draws on collective memory, as is the case with the festival in question, celebrates the membership to a close and spatially, or rather, territorially defined group. Our analysis suggests a positive association among people’s placing a value on the event, civic engagement, and sense of belonging to the place. The Festival and what it represents, being perceived by residents as a “symbol” of their cultural heritage, is then likely to produce a potential “long term” social capital, as shown by their willingness to voluntarily contribute to the organization of the event and to further projects for valuing the place. This paper demonstrates that the Festival is connected o a feeling of belonging to the area here it takes place, whose popular culture it disseminates, the “Grecia Salentina” area.

Конкурс баянистов-аккордеонистов «Perpetuum mobile» в социокультурном пространстве Украины XXI века

Evolutionary processes in Ukrainian folk-instrumental art have yielded significant results for such phenomenon transformations in the Academic School of Ukrainian Folk Instruments. One of the ways to improve such performances are folk music competitions and festivals, as an important means of musical art further progress, significant incentive for artists, as well as for educators and composers. The article reveals the priorities of Drohobych bayan-accordion International Competition «Perpetuum mobile» in the context of popularization of Academic School of Ukrainian Folk Instruments for the contemporary socio-cultural life, such as scientific and methodic conferences, master-classes, demonstration lessons, lectures, creative meetings, concerts, presentations. Key words: «Perpetuum mobile», Drohobych, competition, bayan-accordion, performance. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/td.v13i0.1709

Glitching History: Using Image Deformance to Rethink Agency and Authenticity in the 1960s American Folk Music Revival

Tactics of glitching and deformance, which alter existing digital data into new outputs through the manipulation of underlying code, offer untapped possibilities for historical inquiry. A photograph of musicians Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson, and Sam Hinton at the 1964 Berkeley Folk Music Festival serves as a case study for discovering how glitching and deformance reveal previously undetected aspects of the historical record: when glitched, the photograph sparks a heightened awareness of how Hurt and Watson, forced to be carriers of a limiting racial and regional authenticity, also found ways to expand their freedom and agency within the constraints of early 1960s consensus liberalism in the United States. While most histories of the folk revival focus on its primarily white, middle-class audiences, if even to critique their actions, the glitched image aids us in accessing the experiences of Hurt and Watson more robustly. In this way, a digital distortion of a photograph paradoxically produces a more accurate interpretation of the history it captures, enabling a compelling intervention in historiographic debates about the folk revival and its post-World War II American context.

Willingness to pay for environmentally linked clothing at an event: visibility, environmental certification, and level of environmental concern

ABSTRACTApparel and the attributes they portray have an opportunity to influence the willingness to pay (WTP) of those who purchase them. While there have been a number of studies examining WTP, few examine purchases in a festival setting. The goal of this study was to explore participants’ WTP for apparel based on a more external motivation (visible environmental message) and/or an internal motivation (environmentally sustainable certification) at a festival. A total of 427 structured surveys were administered at a folk music festival in Canada. The study examined two differing approaches to product design for environmentally linked apparel: a message visible on the outside of the garment vs. an environmental certification inside the garment. A contingent valuation methodology was used to measure WTP and analysis conducted with Repeated Measures ANOVA. Results indicate that both product designs significantly increased WTP for the t-shirt as described. Implications of this study suggest that an enhanced understanding of the factors influencing attendee’s WTP for apparel attributes can lead to better meeting the wants of attendees, more sales and higher margins on sales.

Folk Music Festivals and Mathematics Conferences

Folk Music Festivals and Mathematics Conferences

The Taiwan Yueqin Folk Music Festival

Abstract The yueqin is a traditional stringed instrument found in East Asian and South East Asian countries. Taiwan yueqins come in various shapes with different timbres and numbers of strings. The Taiwan yueqin minyao xiehui / Taiwan Yueqin Folk Music Association, a group run by Taiwan pop-folk music icon Chen Ming-chang, annually holds Taiwan yueqin minyao ji / Taiwan Yueqin Folk Music Festival, a music festival promoting yueqin songs sung in Taiyu, the language that while is not the official language of what is still known as the Republic of China, is the native language of the Hoklo ethnic majority. Since 2012, the festival has been held held indoors in the Beitou Hot Springs Museum, a building that was constructed during the Japanese colonial period (1895–1945). Also since 2012, the festival is not purely performed by Hoklo Taiwanese. Having been introduced to an aspiring student of shamisen master Kazuo Shibutani by his own student in 2009, Chen Ming-chang now invites Shibutani and his troupe to Taiwan to perform alongside him.

Folk music, local dances and summer pasture festivals in rural areas of the Eastern Black Sea Region, Turkey

The Eastern Black Sea Region is located in the north-eastern corner of Turkey. The region is a mountainous area where livestock and transhumance have become important economic activities for rural population. The villagers move into the yayla (Yayla: a temporary settlement in mountain pastures; plural: yaylalar) during summer to find pasturage for their herds. People of the Eastern Black Sea Region, especially those living in rural areas, have to work very hard to make a living. Therefore, they have a very active and vibrant lifestyle. This lifestyle of the people has also made impact on the folk music and local dance. Yayla festivals have been celebrated traditionally for hundreds of years as part of the transhumance culture in the region. The aim of present study is to explore and understand the folk music, dances and festivals which are related each other in rural area of the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. Qualitative research techniques have been used in the study. Keeping in view the aim of the research, qualitative data have collected through personal observations and in-depth interviews with fifteen people during summer and autumn 2010. Semistructured interview forms have been used to collect information during in-depth interviews. All of the collected data have been analyzed by descriptive analysis techniques.The findings of the research show that traditional yayla festivals of Eastern Black Sea Region, where local dances are played on folk music, are still continued. However, both the change in function of yaylas and transformation of yayla festivals into tourism product has threatened the unique cultural heritage in terms of degradation and extinction

"Notte della Taranta": new competences of the Disaster Manager Nurse

The disaster manager nurse is a new professional figure working in the field of rescue in environments struck by natural disasters, of land management, of contingency plans for the healthcare, of the setting up of Advanced Medical Posts and the management of events in which are foreseen a great influx of people. Analyzing the Advanced Medical Post set up during the "Notte della Taranta", a folk music festival that sees every years a large attendance, over 100.000 people we have predicted required human and logistic resources to health coverage of this event and to value criticality assessment of the scenario. A organized and precautionary response is basic to reduce consequences duty by the imbalance between required and available resources.

(Re)creating the (folk music) tradition: The national competition of brass orchestras at the Dragacevo Trumpet Festival

This paper deals with the problem of the treatment of traditional music at the Dragačevo Trumpet Festival, one of the most important folk music festivals in Serbia. In over half a century of its existence, the Festival has developed from a local event into an international spectacle with a programme scheme which reflects the growing tendency towards multiculturalism, also obvious at the national contest, which refers conceptually to the national folk music tradition. The effects of 'festivalization' are analyzed on the example of the 50th contest (2010), as a paradigm of the modern treatment of the folk music tradition at the Festival. The complexity of the web of the Festival's protagonists (musicians, organizers, the members of the jury, the audience), requires a consideration of the issue through different domains which represent their participation in the (re)creation of tradition.

An Evaluation of Folklore Events in Serbia in Terms of Tourism

In Serbia there are many traditional events based on tradition, folklore, old customs and traditional crafts and trades. Folklore events are the oldest elements in the development of tourism and provide a sufficient motive for tourist visits. On the basis of their program content, these events can be divided into folklore and folk music festivals, festivals of folk customs, and children’s folklore festivals. This paper offers a categorization of folklore events according to economic and geographic criteria; particular attention has been given to events that already are, or have great potential for becoming, a major attraction of the tourist destination in question and can thus contribute to a faster and higher-quality development of tourism.