Various Artists
Ancient Swedish Pastoral Music
(hear it)

I'm struck by the similarities between this music and the Finnish psych-folk bands which I recorded, discussed here: Voyages On Vinlandia. I mean, it should be expected, but the melodic and tonal qualities of these "ancient" singers (they were actually recorded in the latter 20th century, but are performing traditional music) are very much represented in the modern Finnish music. Even some of the frighting wildness of the Vinlandia music can be attributed rather to Scandinavia than to the developing of tolerance which has accompanied us into modernity.

I like these folk music albums. I also listened to "Songs of the Inuit" the other day, which I will revisit and write about sometime. Folk music is not music in common sense. No one can listen to it while they do the dishes, and to listen closely to it is often not a musical but an ethnomusicological experience. That is to say, the first order (see Judas Priest, 22 Jan 08) experience is often extra-auditory. You find out about different cultures and so forth.

Another related phenomenon is "world music". There's a certain class of person who, alienated (often with good reason) from their own culture - in the case of world music that culture is American or West European - embraces another culture by adopting its speech patterns, style of dress, and so forth. They then begin playing the music of the other culture or cultures, often with a great deal of attention to authenticity, which is ridiculous because folk music is not essentially a sonic endeavor but one of expressing culture, a culture of which these performers are not members. I guess they're amateur ethnomusicologists, but they perform as if they are musicians. It's very confusing.

The confusion of musical and non-musical values is something which continues to interest me.

bb, 3 Mar 08