Folk joins mainstream

Feb 20 2011 by Ian Robson, Sunday Sun

HOW many folk musicians does it take to change a lightbulb?

Ten. One to change it and another nine to compose a song about how great the old one was, how much it will be missed, and how the world will never be the same again.

Sorry, old joke, bad joke, but it does sum up the common perception of folk music as something that belongs in the past.

So it was great to see the genre get some recognition at the Brit Awards. Album of the Year went to Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons while best female solo artist, beating Cheryl Cole, was Laura Marling.

At last! Songs with words you can actually hear and proper tunes with, gasp, rhythm.

And presentation that does not rely on dozens of dancers getting their kit off or an overly-flashy light show owing more to the electricians than the artists.

It was great to see folk get the recognition it deserves in a mainstream awards ceremony.

And I hope it lasts because folk, despite what you might think, is not just the province of weirdy beardies who drink real ale and are a verse short of a complete song.

I admit there are a lot of songs, great ones at that, about the past with many favourites including Steeleye Span’s Blackleg Miner, set in Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, and Ewan MacColl’s Shoals of Herring which mentions North Shields.

But there are also loads of songs about things that matter in the here and now. Songs about love won and lost, social injustice, and politics, of finding a way in a world full of misunderstanding.

Folk is always moving, always finding new ways of telling stories, always experimenting with new instruments or fusions of different styles.

It’s never been away but it’s not very good at, if you pardon the expression, beating its own drum as part of the mainstream.

More people now know about Mumford and Sons and Laura Marling.

The North East has a great folk tradition with the likes of the Unthanks and Kathryn Tickell amongst its stars. Let’s get out there with a new-found enthusiasm and make some more.