An Anthropological Perspective on Eastern and Western Folk Music

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AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON EASTERN AND WESTERN

FOLK MUSIC

By

ADAM STANLEY GURCZAK

______

A Thesis Submitted to The Honors College

In Partial Fulfillment of the Bachelors Degree With Honors in

Music Performance

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

MAY 2017

Approved by:

______Dr. Philip Alejo Department of Music

EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 2

ARTIST’S STATEMENT 2

INTRODUCTION 3

ARGENTINE TANGO 4

PRE-TANGO HISTORY: RISE OF THE GAUCHOS 5

A BORDELLO UPBRINGING 5

THE ROOTS AND RHYTHMS OF TANGO 8

A WORLDWIDE SENSATION 9

THE FOREFATHERS OF TANGO 11

CHINESE TRADITIONAL MUSIC 13

THE PHILOSOPHY OF MUSIC 14

INSTRUMENTS OF THE EARTH 16

THE SOUND OF SCHOLARS 18

KOREAN GUGAK 21

GUGAK: A NATIONAL IDENTITY 22

SHAMANS, SINAWI, AND SANJO 24

NOBLE COURTS AND FARMYARDS 28

AMERICAN BLUEGRASS 30

GRASSROOTS, BLUEGRASS, AND BLUES 30

THE POLYNATION OF BLUEGRASS 33

CONCLUSION 36

BIBLIOGRAPHY 37 EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 2

ABSTRACT

The birth of folk music has always depended on the social, political, and cultural conditions of a particular country and its people. This paper will explore those qualities and how they impacted the traditional and folk music found in four regions across the globe: Argentina,

China, Korea, and the United States. Through research and first-hand performance experience, I will be sharing my own observations of each genre—its style and its people—while also exploring the origins of each music. Spanning over the history of each genre, together with its stylistic and musical characteristics, this essay will associate the growth and rise of each genre with the development of its people.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

As a performing artist, I felt that the study of world music was incomplete without an active understanding of the music through first-hand performance. As such, this paper was accompanied by a recital in which I, as a double-bassist, performed works from around the globe. In parallel to this thesis, the pieces originated from Argentina, Korea, and China—as well as others—while also including an original composition that incorporated influences of modern

American bluegrass with contemporary classical music. The study of and preparation of these works consisted of research and practice of regional stylistic characteristics and their application to double bass performance. EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 3

INTRODUCTION

Folk music is a wide and varied term that doesn’t directly specify any genre of music. At its core, folk music is the music of the people. It is born out of communal traditions, where the music is passed down through the generations. Encyclopædia Britannica describes it as a traditional and typically rural form of music that generally lives on in oral tradition (Nettl, “Folk

Music”). This, however, poses a problem, as the definition is riddled with non-definitive statements. While much of folk music is rural and/or learned by ear, some of it is not. Due to this uncertainty, the idea of folk is, in a way, unexplainable. However, for the purpose of this paper, I will be defining folk music as music that is representative of a people and their culture. While classical and popular music do have their roots in specific areas, the music has become so wide- spread and diverse that it is difficult to pinpoint the exact people/place of origin. Other styles, like tango or bluegrass, are inherently attached to a culture and country, allowing us to better understand the “folk” in folk music.

Understanding music as an entity goes beyond the conception of notes and rhythms. It is about evoking the style of the music, while interpreting and conveying the intent of the composer. Though folk music, in many cases, doesn’t specify a composer, it does elicit a very specific response from the musicians. Each genre pulls from the people and culture it was born from, interweaving the history and aesthetic values of the time. To fully grasp the purpose of the music, one must look at its growth and how time and societal change has developed that style into the modern day. Through a brief examination of history, this paper will share the events that led to the development of each style, along with the musical characteristics that are associated with each genre. Knowing the different patterns of harmony, melody, and embellishment can also provide insight into where/when a certain music was born. For instance, scalar patterns can EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 4 be directly linked to a variety of genres, such as East Asian music with the pentatonic scale.

Thus, I will be expanding on not only the history of the music, but also key features that make the music what it is, and, in turn, what makes the music so emblematic of a specific culture.

Though the variety of folk music in the world is immeasurable, this paper will explore only four different genres of music along with their respective countries: Argentine tango, Chinese traditional music, Korean traditional gugak, and American bluegrass.

ARGENTINE TANGO

Born at the heart of Buenos Aires, the tango is a genre that has swept the world in a craze of music, dance, and fashion. Though its presence in Argentina—and across the world—seems so deeply founded, it is still a relatively young genre, having first gained momentum in the early

20th century. It is difficult to imagine Argentina without its most iconic genre of music and dance, which is precisely what makes the tango such a clear form of folk music. It draws forth the rural roots of South America, together with the language and culture, to form an art that has been popularized all over the globe while still remaining a clear emblem of Buenos Aires.

The typical tango features bandoneon, guitar, piano, violin, and double bass. The ensembles remain relatively flexible, as the music was historically often performed by whatever instrument was at hand. The bandoneon, however, is an instrument that has remained integral to the sound and feel of tango. The accordion style instrument first became popularized during the first decade of the 20th century and remained a staple to tango music ever since (Nettl 348). Its origins come from German churches that lacked the funds to build an organ and would use bandoneons instead. Eduardo Arolas, one of the first pioneers of the instrument, is credited with popularizing and cementing the bandoneon into tango culture (Argentina Tango). Its sound EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 5 seems to draw a distinct connection not only to tango, but to Buenos Aires itself, where tango flourished and thrived into a global sensation.

PRE-TANGO HISTORY: RISE OF THE GAUCHOS

As a recently independent country, Argentina spent much of the 1800s seeking unification and strength from its people. And, as a developing country, much of its identity rested on those that worked in the rural countryside. Due to this, Argentina quickly began forming around the idea of the gaucho, which characterized the life led by those that worked in the farms and fields. The gaucho is, to an extent, like a variant on the American cowboy, in which the gaucho is a worker that embodies machismo, independence, and courage (Nettl 347). As more and more people began identifying with the gaucho lifestyle, it also began to merge with the culture of labor migration that was developing across Buenos Aires. This, in turn, formed the social figure of the compadrito, an urbanized descendant of the gaucho that worked within and outside of the law to provide for himself—all done with flair and embellishment (Nettl 347).

This bred an appreciation for skillful knife play, powerful song and dance, and exciting romance, all of which influenced the form and flourish of the soon-to-be-created tango.

Compadritos, while engaging in petty crime and flashy dress, also gave way to a unique dialect known as lunfardo. Lunfardo became a representative form of speech for the lower class and those that associated with the compadrito lifestyle. This dialect became later picked up by early tango lyricists and was spread across social classes and communities. The lyrics of early tango would also mirror rural Argentine life, talking about poverty, pain, love, and violence

(Nettl 347-348). Jorge Luis Borges, an Argentine writer, also heavily influenced the lyrics to tango music as his short-story penmanship was revered and mimicked in the early writing of EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 6 tango (Del Pilar). Tango would become an art form that was more than just music or dance, it told the story of the compadrito and his struggles, through the words and language that most honestly represented their lives.

From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Argentina received an influx of immigrants looking for work at the ports of Buenos Aires. This development completely altered the culture of the country, as European and African influences began to meld together with the

South American traditions. This also, however, impacted the physical city, as the increase in population pushed people to live in crowded housing complexes known as conventillos. These conventillos housed together people of different backgrounds and cultures, while providing a central courtyard where everyone could meet up and gather (Del Pilar). It was in these courtyards that music and dance from various cultures led to the first notes, steps, and words of the tango, which would remain an icon of Buenos Aires for the rest of history.

A BORDELLO UPBRINGING

With the growing prospects of work in Buenos Aires, men would travel from far-off lands in hopes of starting a new life with a new job in the warm, temperate land of Argentina.

However, this increase in newcomers led to a city almost entirely populated by males

(Denniston). The developing capital encouraged hardworking men to flood Buenos Aires, while the women remained behind. Some estimates even claimed that there were as much as 5 men to every 1 woman during the peak of Argentina’s immigration (Nettl 347). This imbalance meant that females were highly sought after by men, either through romantic courtship or from the pleasure of brothels. Though many people claim that the tango’s origins come from the brothels, that is likely not the case since the conventillos across Buenos Aires were the true melting pot for EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 7 tango. Albeit, the pleasure houses of Buenos Aires did play a pivotal role in the tango’s development, mainstreaming the idea of the pimp and prostitute as the two main characters in the dance. In fact, some of the names of the first tangos referred to real people within the world of prostitution (Argentina Tango).

The brothels didn’t just influence the character of the dance, however, they also acted as some of the foremost places for the growth of tango. With the female demand so great, men would be forced to wait in brothels until they could meet with an available woman. In an attempt to entertain and please the customers, the brothels would hire musicians to perform tango. Being one of the only low class establishments with funds to hire musicians, many beginning tango artists developed their skills in these houses. Some historians also suggest that due to the shortage of women, the men would, in some cases, perform with each other while the females were otherwise occupied (Denniston). Nonetheless, these pleasure houses spearheaded the popularity of the tango and led men and women to learn the sultry dance and song.

Although the bordellos were likely not the home of the original tango, it is easy to see why people would think so. They were, after all, the locations to some of the first ever professional performances. The misconception, however, also stems from the audiences of early tango. Rather than being the birthplace, brothels were probably just the first places to introduce tango to the middle and upper class. Those that didn’t associate with the slums or ghettos of

Buenos Aires only ever had reason to mix with the lower class when in search of womanly pleasures (Denniston). These same people were also some of the only ones educated enough to write about and study tango, while also spreading it across social classes. However, even with the spread, tango had remained associated with the lower class up until its popularity spiked in

Europe. It was only after the global admiration that those of the middle and upper class began EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 8 accepting tango as their own. In fact, the dispersion of tango from Argentina to Europe most likely was caused by wealthy men that would frequent bordellos and then share their experiences of the music and dance with other merchants and aristocrats from across the ocean.

THE ROOTS AND RHYTHMS OF TANGO

The music of the tango is one that marries Latin rhythmic energy with European song.

Some trace the tango all the way back to the English country dance of the mid-1600s. The website www.argentina-tango.com provides this timeline:

- Country Dance (England, 1650)

- Contredanse (France, 1700)

- Contradanza (Spain, 1750)

- Danza (Spain, 1800)

- Danza Habanera (Cuba, 1825)

- Habanera (Argentina, 1850)

- Habanera del Cafe (Argentina, 1900)

- Tango (Argentina, 1910)

As the timeline suggests, tango was heavily influenced by European ideals. Mimicking the original couple dances from England and France, the tango has always relied on the interaction between the two dancers—typically one male and one female. Using this pairing, together with varied melodic ideas, the style evolved through the ages to create the ethnically diverse genre of tango.

This genealogy, however, ignores the other genres that clearly defined the tango style.

While Europe did translate its culture into that of Argentina, other Latin and African music also EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 9 played an important role. Specifically, the tango seemed to draw inspiration from styles like the malambo, milonga, habanera, and candombe. The malambo is a native dance performed by male gauchos to prove their prowess and vigor. The milonga is a song style that arrived in the city from the rural parts of the greater Rio de la Plata region. The original habanera is the Spanish and Cuban variant of the contredanse. And the candombe is a music and dance with explicitly

African roots (Nettl 347-348). It is important to not downplay the importance of African music to the tango and many other forms of Latin dance. The rhythms and grooves of the African music were brought over through the slave trade and appropriated into newer forms of song and dance, which would later influence the tango. The tango also incorporated cortes and quebradas which are poses and flourishes from criollo and African dances (Del Pilar).

As tango further grew in popularity, it also began to branch out into many subsets.

Among these included two distinct ideas of tango: one style for listening and one style for dancing. Future generations would manipulate and expand these ideas, as the rhythmic variants of tango became separated into three ideas: tango, milonga, and vals. Tango was performed in

4/4 time, the milonga in 2/4, and the vals in 3/4 (Nettl 349). The heavily accented beats of tango had become one of its defining features, tying back to the lineage of dance styles that it came from. Seemingly, the tango’s powerful beats also harken back to the ideas of strength and masculinity while showing off a man’s precision and grace.

A WORLDWIDE SENSATION

The year 1913 sparked a global craze for tango. It became so popular that it didn’t just alter the world’s music, but also the world’s fashion, especially that of Europe. Women went as far as giving up the Victorian corset in order to have more freedom to learn the tango (Argentina EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 10

Tango). Tango also influenced the feathers in women's hats to move from horizontal—sweeping across the face—to vertical—going up from the forehead—to allow the couple to dance without the feather getting in the partner's way. Tulip skirts were also popularized, which opened at the front, making dancing easier. The phenomenon led to women being sold not just tango shoes, but tango stockings, hats, dresses, and anything else that could be profited from (Denniston).

Unfortunately, within the next two decades, Argentina found itself in growing political unrest. From 1930 to 1940, Argentina’s new political regime forced tango into the underground.

This dark age happened because large social gatherings were prohibited and those seeking to dance tango together had to limit themselves to hidden meetings. Tango lyrics also began to take a political turn, often speaking out against the current administration and those serving it (Del

Pilar). It wasn’t until the untimely death of Carlos Gardel, one of the most premiere tango artists in history, that Argentina found its strength in the revolution and brought tango back to the limelight.

The sorrow and heartbreak of Gardel’s death was a terrible loss to the country, but it also provided the catalyst for unity that promoted revolution and peace in Argentina. This tumultuous time altered the political landscape and led to the Golden Age of Tango. The Golden Age of

Tango lasted roughly from 1940 to the mid-1950s (Del Pilar; Denniston). During this time, nearly everyone in the city was familiar with the dance and its music. Dance halls bloomed, musicians improved in prowess, and tango experimentation reached its high. Buenos Aires itself began to form distinct styles of tango, depending on the region. Central Buenos Aires of the early

1950s had the simplest dance style, which was developed for busy dance floors. People would step on the beats with limited movement to accommodate the large crowds. North Buenos Aires in the 1940s had one of the most complicated styles, in which there were three equal steps to EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 11 every four beats. And South Buenos Aires prided itself on the oldest style of tango, with many pauses and rapid movements (Denniston). With the development of the dance also came the development of the music, which spurred the debate between Traditionalists and Evolutionists.

Some believed that the standard rhythms and patterns were inherent to tango, and that the music should be catered to dance and song. Other, more progressive composers, found tango to be a medium with vast freedom, featuring complex rhythms, unabashed dissonance, and instrumental virtuosity.

THE FOREFATHERS OF TANGO

The history of tango would be amiss without mentioning some of the most definitive artists of the genre, like Carlos Gardel, Osvaldo Pugliese, and Astor Piazzolla. Though the dance has birthed many incredible talents, there are a select handful that were able to leave a permanent impact on the genre. Ricardo Guiraldes was among the first to expand tango’s borders beyond that of Argentina’s lower class. He brought tango to Paris in 1910 with a poem called “Tango” which he wrote during a tour of Europe. He then gave a tango performance at a fashionable Paris salon, where it immediately caught on and became popularized (Argentina Tango). Julio De

Caro and Osvaldo Fresedo were the foremost band leaders that led the professionalization of tango, who were then succeeded by Osvaldo Pugliese and Anibal Troilo, two of the great giants of tango music (Del Pilar; Nettl 350). Rudolph Valentino is another figure that helped spread tango across the world through the art of Hollywood. He played a gaucho in “The Four

Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (1926) and performed a tango dance. This scene became so heavily popularized that people would dress up as gauchos and perform tango, despite gauchos themselves rarely being directly associated to the genre (Argentina Tango). EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 12

One of the biggest figures in tango history is Carlos Gardel (1890-1935). His music was idolized by all of Argentina, and his baritone voice made him a timeless star in Buenos Aires. He worked together with lyricist Alfredo Le Pera and wrote many songs, such as “Mi Buenos Aires querido,” “Amores de Estudiante,” “Soledad,” “Volver,” “Por una cabeza,” and “El día que me quieras” (Argentina Tango). He died in a plane crash in Columbia in 1935 and became a tragic hero to Argentinians. After his death, the country was spurred into action, eventually leading to the Golden Age of Tango. His death was also the point that split tango between Traditionalists and Evolutionists (Argentina Tango).

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), one of the premiere contemporary composers of tango, was an Evolutionist that shook the tango scene in the mid-20th century. Though much of his music wasn’t appreciated in Argentina until after his death, he grew in increasing popularity throughout the United States and Europe. He was a composer and bandoneon player by trade and wrote famous works like “Libertango,” “Adios Nonino,” and “Vuelvo al Sur” (Argentina Tango). He connected tango with jazz and western art music through virtuosic and avant-garde music that was meant for listening rather than dancing (Nettl 350). Though modern dancers still choreograph his works, his music was originally written to be performed as just music. He is also the artist who is credited with popularizing the ever-famous quintet of bandoneon, electric guitar, violin, piano, and bass, though he did experiment with various ensemble types (Nettl 350). He remains, to this day, one of the most revolutionary tango composers who was able to take such a popular dance genre of music and turn it into something that could be appreciated both academically and socially.

Though the tango is a style with a fascinating history, it is a rather young genre that is still making developments today. As more and more artists experiment with the music and dance, EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 13 the tango has found itself in ever-increasing subsets, where it grows to represent a new culture and a new age. Tango will remain, however, a genre that embodies the power, seduction, and expertise that was valued by those that first created it. The history and culture that created the tango is forever entrapped in the notes, through accented beats, smooth longing phrases, and passionate melodic lines. Buenos Aires, Argentina is a city that has flourished and fallen, and moved with the waves of time, but it remains a city that identifies itself with the tango, and the rich history that makes it the incredible genre it is today.

CHINESE TRADITIONAL MUSIC

The People’s Republic of China is a country that houses a population of over 1.3 billion, with some 56 different ethnic groups, also known as minzu or “nationalities” (Nettl 104). China is also one of the world’s largest powers, having a global reach through its economy, culture, and politics. With a nation of this size and caliber, it’s only natural that its music should have a vast and expansive history. Chinese traditional music has long been a symbol of the country, utilizing instruments and techniques that are unique to its region. Unlike some other forms of folk music,

Chinese traditional music is one that has been studied academically in royal courts, while also being an avid part of rural life. It is also a genre that, through China’s ethnically diverse population, has an immense number of subsets and variants. For the purpose of this essay, I will broadly cover the over-arching history and traits that define the genre. Some also define Chinese traditional music as a form of classical study, with a separate category for rural ‘folk’ music. But here, I will consider both forms of the art as folk music, as they are both representative of the values and ideals of Chinese culture and its people.

EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 14

THE PHILOSOPHY OF MUSIC

Chinese music has deeply intertwined its roots into the spiritual lives of its people. For much of history, the teachings of the philosopher, Confucius, have dominated Chinese culture and society. His spiritual guiding was a way to promote peace and purity among the classes, ultimately creating an entire belief system that would alter all facets of life. Confucius held music and the arts in extremely high reverie, describing music as a means of calming one’s passions and of dispelling unrest and lust. It was this idea that dominated China, that music should be used to purify one’s thoughts rather than to entertain or amuse (MB). In addition to this, Confucius claimed that music had positive and negative powers. Positive music, known as shi yin, featured harmoniousness, peacefulness, and appropriateness, thus inspiring virtue, while negative music, chi yue, featured excessive loudness and stimulation that would promote immoral and inappropriate behavior (Nettl 129). These concepts led Chinese traditional music to be centered around an idea of peace, tranquility, and flow, resulting in a style that was predominantly melodic, rather than harmonic.

Chinese philosophy also claims that the world’s matter and energy is based on sound.

That sound is said to contain a Perfect Harmony that it is inaudible to human ears, similarly to how white light is invisible to the human eye. But just as white light can be divided into colors by passing through a prism, so can the Perfect Harmony of sound be best expressed through music. This sound is separated into five notes, known as gong, shang, jue, zhi, and yu (“Chinese

Folk Music”). These values came to define the pentatonic scale that permeates throughout much of East Asian music. While, in the Western world, we’ve come to express these notes through the solfege of do, re, mi, so and la, the Chinese retain the belief that these notes are more than just parts of a scale. Each note represents one of the five elements of the visible world, or more EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 15 specifically, the four elements—earth, fire, water, and air—and the central, unembodied element, which organizes the others (“Chinese Folk Music”). In terms of pitches, the tonic, gong, is this organizing force that holds together the others. The Chinese also do not see notes as moving up or down a scale, as is common in Western culture, but, rather, as a series of notes surrounding the tonic (“Chinese Folk Music”). In this sense, Chinese traditional music was born not out of a sense of entertainment, but, instead, as a genre that could purify a person and organize one’s thoughts, just as the gong regulates the four elements of the world.

China’s ties to nature and spirituality have gone beyond just the idea of earth, fire, water, and air as the principle essentials of the world. Nature, in its broadest sense, has long been a source of peace, clarity, and enlightenment. In fact, Chinese mythology claims that the legendary founder of music, Ling Lun, created bamboo pipes to mimic the sound of birds (“Music of

China”). Chinese traditional music has followed these beliefs, incorporating a vast amount of natural elements to music, commonly as sources of inspiration for compositions and titles. Liu

Fang, one of the world’s most prominent pipa players, describes how music was traditionally used to promote self-cultivation, meditation, mind purification, spiritual elevation, and union with nature. In my own studies performing Chinese music on both the double bass and the guzheng, I’ve found that the projection of nature and spirituality through music is one of the utmost artistic goals as a performer. My guzheng teacher, Xia Jing, told me the stories that accompanied many of the traditional folk tunes that I was learning. Nearly all of them held a common thread in which nature was a guiding image for the music, whether it be through the sea, stars, moon, trees, rain, flowers, or other natural element. At its core, Chinese folk music is a genre that has rich associations with other-worldly ideas, evoking the ideals that pervaded through Chinese culture. EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 16

INSTRUMENTS OF THE EARTH

The advent of the Silk Road in early history completely altered the way that nations perceived and developed culture. With the long-spanning trade routes between the East and

West, every nation had increased exposure to music, art, religion, and language. This eventually led to the sharing and modification of instruments, as each country made its own variants to those they saw from far-away places. The instruments of Chinese music are some of the most unique and easily identifiable to Western ears. The timbre and tonality of each instrument speaks in a way that inherently evokes Chinese culture. The Chinese even have their own classification system for instruments, categorizing them as metal, stone, silk, bamboo, gourd, clay, skin, and wood (MB). Much of the original folk music is performed on solo instruments, but ensembles with various instruments are also commonly heard playing traditional tunes. As there is no set standard ensemble for Chinese music, I will cover some of the most emblematic and commonly heard instruments in the genre.

The seven-string zither known as the qin, or guqin, is widely regarded as the national instrument of China. It was initially an exclusively courtly instrument until the first century BCE, when the Imperial Music Bureau ordered that villages must provide their folk musicians with a qin to improve the quality and purity of Chinese folk music (“Chinese Folk Music”). It is typically performed while seated, with the instrument resting on a table, while the musician plucks the strings and alters the pitch with the hands. From the qin came a variant known as the zheng, or guzheng. It, too, is a zither, but has movable bridges and far more strings, originally having 12 or 13 silk strings, while modern adaptations typically range from 16-25. It is a more versatile and easily performed instrument, and therefore is, in some ways, considered less noble EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 17 than the qin. However, due to its dynamic range and versatility, it has increased I popularity throughout the ages.

The pipa is another instrument that readily symbolizes China and its people. It is a lute with a pear-shaped body that is one of the leading folk instruments in the Shanghai region

(“Chinese Folk Music”). It is held vertically on the performer’s lap while the right hand plucks the strings, and the left hand moves across the frets. In ancient times, the pipa was meant for courtesans who were well-trained in music and dance, thus associating it with artistic entertainments, pleasure, and romance (Nettl 118). In modern day, the pipa has gained momentum through some of the world’s most prominent musicians, like Liu Fang, Wu Man, and others.

The dizi, which resembles a simple bamboo flute, is a one of the most popular wind instruments in China. It has one hole for blowing, six for fingering, and an additional one that is covered by a membrane which vibrates when the instrument is played (“Chinese Folk Music”).

Another popular wind instrument is the sheng, which is a mouth organ made up of sets of 12 to

36 bamboo pipes. The instrument has a brass reed at the bottom, with holes designated to each individual pipe. Every pipe is a different length, thus creating a different pitch, allowing the sheng to produce large vibrant chords with ease. It is also the ancestor of all free-reed instruments and is used similarly to how the accordion is used in Western traditions (“Chinese

Folk Music”).

The erhu, also considered the Chinese violin, is a bowed string instrument that has one of the most iconic timbres in Chinese music. It is designed so that the hair of the bow sits between two strings that are tuned a fifth apart, which the performer moves while balancing the instrument vertically on their lap. Its sound box is a drum-like case generally made of ebony or EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 18 sandalwood, which is then covered with snake skin (“Chinese Folk Music”). Chinese music also features a vast number of percussive instruments, as well as other variants to those stated above.

However, the qin, zheng, pipa, dizi, sheng, and erhu are some of the most emblematic folk instruments that represent China and its people.

THE SOUND OF SCHOLARS

With the incredibly long, varied history of Chinese folk music, it is difficult to place the exact birth of the genre. Nonetheless, with the growth of Confucianism between 250-200 BCE, music began to develop, together with the pentatonic scale, and work its way into the daily lives of the people. Its importance in ancient China may be seen in the establishment of The Imperial

Music Bureau, which was founded during the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BCE) (“Chinese Folk

Music”). Previous to this revelation, music was not standardized or widely practiced among society. But as new beliefs began to take hold, the development of music largely progressed, alongside that of art. Traditional music has always been intimately linked to poetry, painting, and lyric drama. Music was seen in the same manner as poetry, setting out to express human feelings, soothe suffering, and bring spiritual elevation (Fang).

Music was also seen as an art reserved for scholars and literati. Since art, of all forms, was so highly valued in the academic setting, it quickly became segregated to those with the means and funds to study. Though rural forms of Chinese folk music had existed for generations, the commonly perceived traditional music of today was largely influenced by the upper class, among them royalty and intellectuals. Music was deemed highly spiritual and scholarly, thus causing its integration into academia. Despite this, however, few people claimed themselves to be professional musicians, as it was still considered a profession for the lower class. Educated EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 19 people and monks played traditional music as a means of personal growth, enlightenment, and communication with divine beings. It was never performed publicly or for commercial purposes, but, rather, as an intimately personal experience (Fang).

Despite practicing music as non-professionals, some of the elite class had become masters of their art and began to teach the new generations. This process started as an oral tradition from masters to students, although written scores with numbers and symbols representing pitch and finger techniques have been used for nearly the last two thousand years. In fact, we still have, to this day, some of the earliest scores for guqin from the third century.

However, these scores are nearly impossible to interpret and play from without the help of a master (Fang). From this, two forms of notation emerged, wenzipu (prose tablature) and jianzipu

(abbreviated characters tablature). Wenzipu consisted of detailed explanations on how to produce the sounds on the qin, while jianzipu used clusters of abbreviated symbols from Chinese characters to describe the string numbers, hand positions, stopping positions, and other performance techniques (Nettl 113). In many cases, masters would aid students in reconstructing pieces through oral traditions, together with ancient tablature, a technique known as dapu (Nettl

114).

As the years passed and dynasties rose and fell, Chinese folk music remained relatively elevated in society, eventually spreading between the classes, and raising musicians from the lower class to the middle and upper class. Nearly every emperor understood the value of folk music, some even sent officers to collect songs from the people in order to understand their sentiments. The Confucian classic, Shi Jing, is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, which also contained many folk songs dating from 800 BCE to about 300 BCE (“Music of

China”). Though there were some later ages when music had slipped in popularity, it returned in EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 20 a surge with the establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949. This development caused the 1950s to be among the best periods for traditional music in China (Fang). It was a time that promoted spiritual and artistic growth and once again popularized the study of the classics.

Then, as communist ideas began to take hold and Mao Zedong took power, China underwent an age of extraordinary change, known as the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Mao

Zedong, like those before him, understood the value of folk music, but rather than promoting its study, he adapted many of the old songs into anthems for the Cultural Revolution. For example,

“The East Is Red,” arguably the most iconic of Maoist national anthems, was originally a folk song from northwestern China entitled “Ride a White Horse” (“Chinese Folk Music”). Maoist initiatives quickly deemed revolutionary songs to be the only acceptable genre of music, until it overshadowed other genres and nearly defined the music of mainland China (“Music of China”).

This dark age for folk music consisted of the destruction of many traditional values, including the spiritual side of music, through the overwhelming propaganda of the revolution’s ideology.

This “pathetic period,” as Liu Fang puts it, created a myriad of consequences for new musicians, such as replacing the pursuit for spiritual elevation with the pursuit for technical perfection, to which she also claims is “often narrowly understood as the ability for fast and precise playing.”

Nowadays, it is rare to hear traditional and folk music in concert halls, as the spiritual side to music has become increasingly washed out, leaving the society with less incentive to listen or perform it.

Chinese folk music, one of the oldest forms of art, has undergone era after era of change, surviving through emperors, wars, and golden ages. It is a style that is a testament to the spirituality of ancient China, and its positive and scholarly outlook on music. Though, as industrialism and globalization took place, many of those initial ideals have fallen to the EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 21 wayside. However, with the modern age, Chinese music continues to emerge and develop in new ways, often being influenced and/or encouraged by the West and its music. As China continues to move forward, the future of Chinese traditional music is unknown, but for a genre that has stood up to the test of time, it is only natural that it will continue to survive and represent the spirit of its people.

KOREAN GUGAK

Korea, a nation riddled by war and modernization, has found itself divided into two:

North Korea and South Korea. Both countries, however, stem from the same ancient traditions, developing together up until the Korean War of 1950. As such, their respective musics have similar roots, predominantly from the beliefs of Shamanism. For this section, I will describe the music that has most extensively dominated across the nation, while then referring to the modern growth in terms of South Korea. As a country that sits between the major powers of Japan and

China, Korea has historically been heavily influenced by their respective cultures. But as Korea broke free from colonialism, it sought to define its own national identity. Because of this, the concept of Korean national/traditional music, known as gugak, is one that is actually relatively modern. The word “traditional” elicits the image of ancient Korea, but much of the widespread practices of traditional music are actually heavily modernized and Westernized. This is not to say that its music is solely a contemporary development, as the music still has deep ties to early musical practices that emblematize the beliefs of Korean people.

EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 22

GUGAK: A NATIONAL IDENTITY

Seoul, South Korea’s capital and its largest city, had a population of less than 200,000 at the close of its last dynasty in the late 1800s. The percentage of urbanized population accounted for less than 5% of the then-united country. Now, through modernization and globalization,

Seoul has approximately 13 million people, with an urban population of over 80% (Nettl 152).

This drastic change is what redefined Korea as a nation. No longer was it a country that dwelled on traditional techniques and ancient practices, but instead it was a sprawling metropolis with soaring skyscrapers and advanced technology. Korea had faced numerous invasions from China and Japan, constantly being thrown between the two major forces. This, in turn, caused Korea to adapt and appropriate much of the music and culture from these neighboring countries. Most of the music from the courts of Korea were actually originally pieces from the Chinese courts, which shared its music and instruments with its Korean counterparts (Koskoff 1191). This caused Korea to long for a more concrete national identity that could represent their own beliefs and ideals.

This dilemma eventually led to the creation of the Guklip Gugakwon in 1950. Also known in English as the National Gugak Center, this was an institution meant to preserve and promote national folk music. Gugak, a relatively new term, is a neologism used by the Korean government to describe music officially sanctioned as nationalistic traditional music (Nettl 155).

It was initially dedicated solely to imperial court music and dance, in order to emphasize the country’s connection to the culture of the elite as well as the political traditions of Korean kings.

However, in the late 1960s, the Center began to include other forms of folk music in order to encourage unification and coherence in the nation. This organization codified and preserved folk EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 23 music and its presentation, having designated the frozen musical image of “traditional Korea” as a time before colonialism and modern war, and its massive transformations of life (Nettl 156).

This development caused the ultimate change to the concept of traditional and folk music in Korea. In an attempt to free themselves from Chinese and Japanese influence, the National

Gugak Center deemed specific genres of music as Cultural Properties, which were granted funds and promotion to preserve them as symbols of Korea. However, the desire to newly appropriate traditional music also meant that much of the music was heavily Westernized as Korea attempted to follow the lead of the modern, global world. They began to use Western staff notation as though they followed European classical tradition, cutting against the flexibility and improvisation of folk music (Nettl 156).

“Arirang,” the unofficial national anthem of Korea, is one of these “traditional” pieces that was actually developed in the 20th century. The piece, as we know it today, is contemporary, but it was inspired by old folk tunes that had the word “arirang” in the title, which was actually quite common as different variants of pieces with the same name sprouted up across the country.

The modern “Arirang” is modeled after “Jeongseon Arirang,” a free-rhythm folk song, or minyo, from the mountainous Central Eastern Korean province of Gangwon-do, which first came to the city’s capital in the late 19th century (Nettl 157). Sinminyo, translated to “new folk song” is an early 20th century genre that combined quasi-traditional Korean melodies with Western instrumentation and harmonies, much like the modern “Arirang.” It was inspired by a similar

Japanese genre of the same name, thus melding together Western and Eastern styles—one of the emblematic distinctions of Korean music. The Westernization of Korea went as far as pushing the third scale of the provincial musical mode, which “Arirang” was written in, into a regular

Western major or minor third, depending on the version. Traditionally, however, the third note is EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 24 considered flat to Western ears, and doesn’t fit directly into the Western music scale system

(Nettl 157). Though much of Korean folk music has older, deeper roots, it is important to remember that the current presentation of traditional music is one that embodies the folk of today, and their perspective on the past.

With this in mind it’s not especially shocking to find that, to the uninitiated listener,

Korean music’s polyphony might seem closer to Dixieland jazz than to Chinese music. Korean music continued to distance itself away from the Eastern traditions, while still incorporating stylistic characteristics that made it uniquely Korean. For example, some performers may utilize microtonal slides, which are considered “out of tune” with the ancient Chinese or classical

Western systems. Korean music also commonly incorporates syncopated rhythms which, together with the microtones, form a jazzy sound that is very different from that of China. While

China developed a style of music that was mostly melodic, as opposed to the harmonic style of the West, Korean music began to pick up on Western tendencies and apply them to the flowing lines of Chinese songs, often using polymetric rhythms and polyphonic choruses (Malm).

Traditional music, in the Korean sense, has emerged as a genre that is somehow distinctly nationalistic, while also inherently global and wide-spreading: a testament to the values of

Korean society.

SHAMANS, SINAWI, AND SANJO

Despite the modernization of Korea, most of the iconic genres of Korean music can still be traced back to the beliefs of Shamanism. Shamanism can roughly be divided into two categories: ecstatic traditions—which pervaded in central and northern regions of the Korean peninsula—and hereditary ones—which were prevalent in the South and on the eastern seaboard. EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 25

Ecstatic traditions follow the belief that shamans are physically possessed by spirits during rituals, whereas hereditary traditions claim that shamans act as intermediaries with the spirit world, without the need for spiritual possession. Both branches feature predominantly female shamans, who often wear men’s clothing to connect with the male spirits that embody them

(Nettl 159). Unlike much of East Asia, Korea is one of the few regions south of the Arctic that maintains a strong belief in Shamanism, despite the foreign religious forces of Buddhism,

Confucianism, and Christianity (Malm). Early ecstatic shaman rituals often included musical accompaniment based on folk rhythmic patterns, known as jangdan, which then predominated traditional musical study. Different jangdan were performed depending on the specific region or style of the music, but often were written in 12/8 time (Nettl 162; Suh). Ultimately, these shaman rituals, specifically the Jindo funeral rite, became recognized by the National Gugak Center as

Cultural Property, promoting it into a stage art that became more choreographed rather than improvised (Nettl 165).

These shamanistic practices, together with the influences of Chinese culture, popularized many different instruments into Korean society: the gayageum, a plucked zither similar to the guzheng; the haegeum, a two-string fiddle like the erhu; the daegeum, a traditional bamboo flute similar to the dizi; and the janggu, the overwhelmingly popular hourglass-shaped drum that is used throughout Korean folk music (Malm; Suh). Each of these instruments, and more, secured their positions in traditional Korean music as shaman music made its way into the courtly setting.

As a means of financial gain, shaman ensembles steadily began to perform more and more for aristocracy, which led to the organized study and modification of shaman music. Gwangdae, hereditary professional male musicians and entertainers of the lower class, originally performed during shaman rituals, eventually expanding to the eyes and ears of the upper class. They EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 26 fulfilled many roles for rituals and entertainment throughout Korean life, to the extent that gwangdae-shin, entertainer spirits, emerged among the shamanist pantheon (Nettl 164). Gisaeng, the female counterparts to gwangdae, also played a fundamental role in early traditional music, even spearheading future genres, like sinawi and sanjo.

As gisaeng and gwangdae began to play shaman music in chamber settings for rural bureaucrats, literati, and nobility, they developed the polyphonic, improvisational chamber music known as sinawi. Sinawi is an instrumental music form meant to help bring the shaman to a higher state of consciousness through improvisatory layers of melodies over dance-like rhythms of a janggu (“Folk Music Pieces”). It, too, was deemed Cultural Property and soon lost its improvisatory style as it began to be performed from memorized scores. This was done by the

Koreans as a way to uphold and preserve the traditional music, despite discarding one of the key facets to the music: improvisation. Typically, it was performed by five to ten musicians, each with their own interpretations and styles, but can be now seen in Western-style transcriptions in concert settings (Nettl 166).

Out of the sinawi genre, came the solo genre known as sanjo. Sanjo, or “scattered melodies,” is a style in which a solo instrument, together with janggu accompaniment, performs suites of improvisations based on patterns of accelerating tempo (Nettl 167). These tempos can be separated into three main categories: jinyangjo, jungmori, and jajinmori (Koskoff 1219).

Jinyangjo indicates a slow tempo, jungmori is medium, and jajinmori is fast. This can also be further elaborated into two more subsets: jungjungmori which is medium-fast and hwimori which is very fast (Suh). Performers would steadily accelerate throughout the entire piece—a technique pulled from the shaman traditions, in which the music would constantly speed up to signify transformation (Nettl 162). When court musicians were first introduced to sanjo, they saw it as EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 27 nothing but a disorganized collection of scattered modes, thus resulting in its name. It is said that the very first sanjo piece was created around 1890 by the gayageum master Kim Chang-Jo

(“Folk Music Pieces”). This genre continued to grow and has become one of the most definitive styles for any aspiring musicians seeking to prove their skill and prowess.

Though Shamanism most directly influenced the development of sanjo and sinawi, it also played a significant role in pansori, a genre that achieved national and international acclaim.

Pansori is said to have originated from the shamanistic beliefs of the Jeolla Province. It was around the 18th century that it first began to be performed for the aristocracy, where it vastly grew in popularity (Koskoff 1214). Pansori is a solo epic story-telling genre performed with buk

(barrel drum) accompaniment and solo voice. It uses sori (song), aniri (narration), and ballim

(dramatic gesture, often done with a fan). Though the genre originally consisted of about a dozen different stories, they eventually became just five, each representing one of the five key

Confucian relationships of filial piety: king and subject, husband and wife, parents and child, siblings, and friends. (Koskoff 1215; Nettl 169). The five stories, respective to each relationship, are, in order, Sugungga, Junhyangga, Simjeongga, Heungbuga, and Jeokbyeokga (Suh). These performances typically lasted around two to four hours but could sometimes last up to eight. As this was an incredible strain on singers, stories describe those who trained by out-singing waterfalls or until they spat blood, in order to develop the vocal scarring that produces the idealized raspy voice (Nettl 170). Traditional gugak music, and that which is deemed Cultural

Property, would not be what it is today without the influence of Shamanism. A religion that is not often seen on the world stage, but is still a symbol of Korea and its most inherent values.

EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 28

NOBLE COURTS AND FARMYARDS

Indigenous folk music and instruments didn’t often find themselves in royal ceremonies until the rule of King Sejong (1418-1450). He was an avid supporter of music, literature, scientific invention, and indigenous culture whose reign led to the reform of the calendar away from that of the Chinese, as well as the creation of the Korean alphabet. He largely sought to differentiate Korean culture from Chinese culture, encouraging the division between their two musics (Nettl 175-176). As such, Korea began to quickly define its own nationalistic court music, jeongak, which could be separated into three styles: a-ak, ritual music of Chinese origin in the Chinese style; tangak, music of Chinese origin in the Korean style of ensemble performance; and hyangak, an entirely Korean style that dominates nearly all of jeongak music

(Koskoff 1203).

Though Korea long struggled with its national and cultural identity, it ultimately provided many different venues for musicians, both amateur and professional, to evoke the essence of

Korean culture. This consisted of genres born out of Shamanism, court music, and rural performance, such as pungmul. Pungmul is a form of farmers’ music consisting of percussion and dance bands pervasive throughout traditional Korea. It was performed as part of rural ceremonies to bless crops, villages, houses, and events, as well as a for fundraising for village projects, temples, and other institutions. After that, it became one of the foremost methods for rural entertainment until mid-1900s (Nettl 177). Like sanjo or sinawi, it uses a great deal of acceleration in its music, which is performed by a line of musicians, led by a jing (large gong).

The jing is then followed by janggu, buk, and small drums known as sogo. Accompanying the percussion is a group of actor-dancers, called japsaek, who portray various stereotypical figures like monks, aristocrats, scholars, maidens, and hunters (Nettl 177). This was the farmers’ way of EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 29 poking fun at various social classes, often making the pungmul into a comedic performance.

Eventually, pungmul was adopted into a form of protest during the social minjung (mass) movement of the 1980s, during which South Korean authoritarianism was toppled and the fate of workers was altered and improved (Nettl 178). From the legacy of pungmul, came samulnori, a genre of music that literally means “four-piece play.” It is a modern percussive genre that was created in 1978 by Kim Duk Soo and three of his associates. It, like the pungmul, uses a variety of drums and other percussion. It quickly became a national and international hit, with increasing popularity, despite its newness (“Folk Music Pieces”).

Korea, with its ever-changing definition of traditional and folk music, is a country that has continually sought to find its own identity. In this pursuit, Korea has claimed hold over not one form of traditional music, but over a myriad of genres that blend Eastern and Western musics. With its usage of the pentatonic scale alongside polyphony, syncopation, and raspy timbre, Korean folk music is a genre that has adequately separated itself from its Chinese and

Japanese neighbors, becoming an increasing force in the musical world. Just as Korean instruments were sometimes altered between ‘folk’ or ‘court’ music to better accommodate playing, Korea, as a nation, has altered its image to better fit in with the Western urbanized world while retaining its Eastern identity (Koskoff 1193). The people of Korea have proven that it is never too late to define a country’s traditions, and that, even while hurtling into the future, it can hold onto the musical ancestries that first defined its citizens.

EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 30

AMERICAN BLUEGRASS

The United States is a country that has long acted as a melting pot of cultures from all over the world. Somehow, though, it has still formed an iconic association with various innately

American styles of music, most notably, perhaps, bluegrass. A genre that stems from the South and Appalachia region of the United States, it has evolved to be one of the utmost styles of representative folk music for the American people. It was founded as a blend of dances, ballads, and songs from Ireland, Scotland, and England together with the grooves of American blues and jazz (“The History of Bluegrass”). Though its origins span much of the globe, it has developed a unique style that is easily identifiable with the Appalachian region. It is a music steeped in

African-American culture in combination with Southern, predominantly white, styles. In this sense, it is a bridge between races in the overwhelmingly conservative South, which, historically, often found itself harboring racist and prejudiced beliefs. Nonetheless, bluegrass has thrived and come to welcome people from across the nation, fortifying its place as an inherently American genre.

GRASSROOTS, BLUEGRASS, AND BLUES

Appalachian folk have long placed a great deal of emphasis on social events, particularly those that brought together family and community. And while many musicians across America performed as a source of income, the roots of Appalachian folk music involved entire families performing as bands for fun (Price 5-7). It was from this sense of community that old-time music was born—a genre that is distinctly different but undeniably attached to bluegrass. Old-time, a style that predated bluegrass, is a genre typically performed by fiddle, banjo, and guitar meant to accompany square dancing, clogging, buck dancing, and the like. Though it is a separate genre EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 31 from bluegrass, it is nearly impossible to discuss the growth of bluegrass without first introducing old-time, both of which have a multitude of similarities. Old-time frequently uses a fast tempo and set form, typically in AABB or ABAB, so that it could be easily danced to (Price

8). As such, old-time traditionally did not include improvisation, but was, instead, simpler and less virtuosic, as it grew out of the need for dance music. However, as musicians further developed their skills, they began to create a style of music that would eventually be deemed bluegrass, which emphasized virtuosic playing, improvisation, and solos (Price 8-9). These two genres of “string band music,” as Leslie Blake Price calls them, advanced hand in hand throughout the ages as two siblings of the same mother style.

American string band music be traced back to the plantation era in colonial America, when slaves from Africa were brought over along with many elements of their culture, including a primitive form of the banjo—which is now an integral part of the genre (“The History of

Bluegrass”). African music often featured religious sentiments, story-telling, rhythmic syncopation, and improvisation, all of which were then picked up by string band musicians.

Early folk music can also be associated with the influx of Scotch-Irish immigration to the United

States, which introduced the fast fiddling styles of Western Europe. These genres, as well as many others, came together to form some of the earliest arrangements of American folk music.

The Appalachian lifestyle was one that was highly religious, with conservative ideals and a propensity to be highly family-oriented, without much outside interference. This, in turn, created the perfect environment to incubate string band music without losing it to other genres, through which it might have all but disappeared (Price 11). Many old folk songs, together with mountain music, Scottish and Irish fiddling, and African music, developed the earliest styles of string band EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 32 music, which, when introduced to more modern styles, like jazz and blues, established the beginnings of bluegrass.

Bill Monroe is largely credited with being the founder of bluegrass, having first performed the style with his band just before the onset of the 40s. Bill Monroe and the Blue

Grass Boys, as they were called, played at the Grand Ole Opry in 1939, where they first established an audience for the sound (“Bluegrass Music: A History”). Monroe, a Kentucky native, grew up playing music, specifically on the mandolin, after his older siblings who played the fiddle, banjo, and guitar. One of his childhood mentors was Arnold Shultz, an African-

American fiddler and son of a former slave. Shultz played a pivotal role in introducing Monroe to the blues, which became an important cornerstone to the sound of bluegrass (Price 8-9). Using the blues scale, among other blues techniques, together with old-time and other folk music grew into what we know today as bluegrass, whose name actually came from that of Monroe’s band.

Their new music featured radical changes like rapid tempo renditions of traditionally slow religious songs, emphases on instrumental virtuosity, rhythmic syncopation—in which the banjo played the backbeat—and the frequent usage of blue notes into songs (Price 22).

The genre was then further expanded by the Foggy Mountain Boys, a group formed by

Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt, both alumni of the Blue Grass Boys. The two left to form their own band in 1948, in order to perform a more progressive style than that of Monroe, ultimately revolutionizing banjo and guitar-playing. Scruggs popularized a three-finger playing technique for the banjo while Flatt introduced to a new style of guitar-playing that employed finger-picking

(“History of Bluegrass Music”; Price 22-23). Both bands, as well as many others across the nation, helped popularize a wide variety of instruments into bluegrass folk music, such as the banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar, and double bass. Other, less common instruments also made their EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 33 way into the mix, such as the dobro, accordion, harmonica, piano, autoharp, and drums

(“Bluegrass Music: A History”). Monroe, in particular, also popularized the idea of the “high lonesome sound,” for which a dissonant note was sung in the highest pitch over the band

(“History of Bluegrass Music”). It was through these innovations that Monroe, Scruggs, Flatt, and others become iconic figures of bluegrass, sharing the genre with the United States and demonstrating a music that was a culmination of the many great Southern cultures.

THE POLYNATION OF BLUEGRASS

Prior to the popularization of bluegrass, Southern Appalachian music had come a long way to be recognized by the greater United States. Since many Appalachian communities were relatively secluded from the rest of the world, their music and culture was confined almost entirely to their own region. However, this changed with the advent of the railroad in the mid-

1800s, through which it became introduced to the North. Specifically, the music was shared through the widely-viewed minstrel shows, which were traveling troupes of performers that put on various shows across the country. Much of their performances borrowed heavily from

Southern culture, often portraying racist and satiric representations of slaves and Appalachian folk. Though these shows codified many backwards stereotypes about the South, they also played a pivotal role in the expansion of string band music, as they were one of the only outlets for Northerners to experience Southern culture. In fact, they became so popular that Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers, one of the most famous early string bands, performed variations of minstrel shows, called “rural dramas,” which sold more recordings that those of their studio sessions (Price 11-12). EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 34

War, throughout the ages, acted as another catalyst for the growth of bluegrass music.

The Civil War, in particular, expanded string band music across the entire United States, bringing African-American and Southern culture to the forefront of American discussion. Future wars had similar effects on American folk music. While the Civil War brought the music to the nation, World War I brought the music to the world, where it acted as one of the symbols of

America and its troops (Price 13). More recently, the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq saw corresponding revivals of string band music, resulting in the rise in popularity for groups like the

New Grass Revival and the Avett Brothers (Price 38,42).

Technology also played a significant role in the growth of American folk music, particularly with the invention of the phonograph. The phonograph gave the nation easy access to string band music, in a way that didn’t require prior musical knowledge, unlike the commercialization of sheet music. Later, the onset of the radio in the early 1900s completely globalized folk music into the homes of every American (“The History of Bluegrass”).

Furthermore, from 1948 to 1969, television and public media, together with an increase in live performances at schools and universities, introduced the genre to much of the younger generation. Popular films, like Bonnie and Clyde, furthered the style into a mainstream media that could be appreciated by all (“Bluegrass Music: A History”).

During this same time, the hippie counterculture began to take hold in the United States, which further promoted the revival of many traditional folk genres. Spurred on by the literary movement of artists like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac in the 1950s, hippie culture returned bluegrass to the front stage of American culture, during which the first bluegrass festival was introduced. These events featured bluegrass bands that would perform and compete against each other across the country, an idea credited to Carlton Haney, an agent and musician from North EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 35

Carolina, who created and produced the first ever weekend-long bluegrass music festival, held in

Fincastle, Virginia in 1965 (“The History of Bluegrass Music”). This rise in popularity led to the creation of bands like the New Grass Revival, a group founded in the 1970s by string music icons Sam Bush and Bela Fleck, which remains as one of the most influential groups for the resurgence of bluegrass music (Price 38). Through this, bluegrass music can be roughly divided into three generations. The first-generation, which introduced bluegrass, spanned from the mid-

1940s to the mid-1960s. This is largely considered a golden age for bluegrass, during which a majority of the legendary bluegrass acts had been born. Then, in the 1960s, came the second- generation, featuring a new wave of bluegrass musicians, followed by the third, in the 1980s, which has remained as the last major revival to this day.

Bluegrass has since branched out into a number of subsets, many of which formed together with other genres to create new, unique sounds. Among these are newgrass, neo- traditional bluegrass, bluegrass gospel, redgrass, and more. Newgrass, sometimes called progressive bluegrass or jamgrass, is a musical movement started in the 1960s and 1970s that is heavily influenced by rock and roll, often with electric instruments and lengthy improvised solos.

Neo-traditional bluegrass, of the 1990s, is a similar genre, but utilizes traditional bluegrass music and features bands headed by a solo artist (“Bluegrass Music: A History”). Bluegrass gospel, another sub-genre, focuses on Christian theology and generally features four-part harmony with little to no instrumental solos. Redgrass, one of the newest and most unique trends, is a variation on bluegrass that is performed on traditional Chinese stringed instruments, like the pipa and zheng (“History of Bluegrass Music”). Bluegrass, though innately American, is a style that has pervaded across the globe, drawing in audiences of all colors and creeds, thus making it, in a way, even more aptly characteristic of the United States of America. EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 36

CONCLUSION

Folk music, on its own, is a strange term. It is one that sometimes evokes music of the distant past, but can also be a creation of just the last century. It is a genre that can be found in the rural hideaways of the globe or directly at the heart of royal courts. Ultimately, it is a genre that can’t be defined, other than for the fact that it tells the story of a particular country and its people. Folk, or traditional, music acts much like classic literature that preserves history in its pages. Instead, however, this music preserves the idea of a culture and its values between its notes and rhythms. If the broadness of folk music can teach us anything, it is that, despite the ever-changing landscape of the world, people are still bonded with the culture of the past, sometimes modifying it for the modern age, and sometimes directly translating those ideas to a newer time. Without traditional or folk music, we would lose an integral part of national identity and national pride. But with it, and with the study of other world genres, we can discover that music is history. Music is culture. Music is religion. Music is people. Folk music, is, in the end, who we are and who we’ve become, together with the stories and ideas of those before us.

EASTERN AND WESTERN FOLK MUSIC 37

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