Folk Music, story(telling) and the Poet in Ancient Greece

Courtney Austin wrote:

Folk music originated in the 19th century. It is musical folklore and is considered to be music of the lower classes. It has no known origin, and it dates back to the times of Thomas Percy and William Wordsworth. The growing interest in folk and folk culture was an indispensible feature of Europe during the 19th century. The process of constructing a nation with the essential keys of a common culture is explicated in other works also. The European nation assumed to have the same origin and cultural heritage of folk music. The collectors of folk culture in the romantic period idealized the past in order to condemn the present. These collectors expressed deeply of their longing for the search of folk, the origin, and the authentic. Folk originates from the word “volk” which means people with common culture in Germany. The collection of ballads or folktales was pervasive in folk study activities in the earlier period of Thomas Percy. The musical symbols of folk songs spell out the history of the nation of folk music with national music. The English term “folklore” is used to describe traditional music, dance, legends, oral history, jokes, and popular beliefs. No one has ever really defined the term folklore or folk music. But one common definition that people usually give: it is “old songs with no known composers”. When we think about folk music, we think back in the day about how our ancestors made up songs and hymns that described the situations that they were going through during those times. Even the Indians used folk music. They made up songs and the “acted” out the lyrics. This was a type of entertainment to them. They made all sorts of instruments like guitars and maracas and decorated them with festive designs. Then they had their celebrations. They used them to tell a story or stories of their trials and tribulations. The slaves and the Indians used this type of music as storytelling and they passed it down from generation to generation. By telling these stories, it was a form of practice through which those expressive genres are shared. Folklore music applies to classical and opera music too. Folk music was listened to during the Renaissance, Italy, France and England way before Thomas Percy came along. Kings, queens, suitors, and other people of the King's court performed and listened to during mealtime as a type of entertainment. These are a few examples of how The Odyssey uses folk music in its poem. Folk music has a lot to do with musical style, the instruments used and the places performed. After WW2, folk’s revival in the U.S. brought a new meaning to the word. It was seen as a musical style like pop music. The popularity of the new music made an appearance of the category “Folk” in the Grammy Awards of 1959. The term, “folk” could cover songwriters like Bob Dylan and Donovan who came about in the 1960’s.

In the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? we see many parts where folk music is involved. Throughout the movie we hear the harmonica playing. When we start to hear the little Wharvy girls singing the song, “In the Highways,” this seems like the first real instance of folk music in the film. During this time is when folk music was very popular (the late 20’s and well into the 30’s). The people of this time used this kind of music, that is also known as a type of storytelling, to tell what is going on at that time. We see spiritual music, which emerges from folk music, again near the end when the black men were digging graves for the three men. As they dig the graves, the men are singing, almost chanting, about dying and how they were going to go to the lonesome valley. Their song was describing how the three men were about to experience death and that no one could experience death for them but them. It sets the tone of what is about to happen. The spiritual music comes from folk music because it, again, tells a story. Spirituals have more feeling and are more deeply expressed because as you sing them, you pour your heart out in the song and it is put into the song like a “spirit”. Slaves were good at singing spirituals because their stories they told were of their hard times. The music is important because it gives light to the setting and helps make up the timeframe of the movie.

Throughout the poem The Odyssey, there are moments when we will hear a muse that is something like a song that is sung by an angel or a god. Folk music is related to the poem and film in that we see instances in which it is used. Folk music is present at mealtime during the poem. It is played as entertainment at dinner for Telemakhos, the Queen, her suitors and her guests, which include Athena in Book One. There are many more times when the music is played but the majority of the time is after they have eaten. The play and the movie have many similarities. One thing is that George Clooney’s name in the film, Ulysses, is the Roman version of the Greek name Odysseus. The whole journey of Ulysses is like that of Odysseus because they are both on a trip that seems like an endless journey back to their home to get to their wives when they find out their women are being wanted by other men. They feel threatened for what is theirs and is eager to get back home.