Music Through The 1990s

Here is the Folk music section

Here is a photo of typical folk instruments.jpg

There are different places and different cultures have their own kind of folk music. Historically Folk music means for the people. There are different ways of defining what is folk music. One view of folk music is that at some points in history it could be called traditional folk which had a defining characteristic of communal re-creation. In that situation the songs and variation belonged to the whole community and were not associated with specific individuals. The names of great classical composers were transmitted in the written tradition along with their compositions, but traditional folk songs are anonymous. Cultivated music had to please the wealthy patron who paid the composer, but a folk song had to appeal to the entire community in order to survive over generations. Thus cultivated music was aristocratic and folk music was communal. Each reflected its audiences values. Cultivated music was often quite complex and required specialized musicians who were hired to perform it, whereas folk songs remained simple, so that anyone could memorize, sing, or play them. Folk Music can have strong political messages in them.

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A different way to define Folk music as quoted by Rivka Maizlish is a doctoral student in the history department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a focus on folklore, particularly folk music. She is also the 2018 Woody Guthrie Center Fellow, and this fall, she started a fellowship with Folkways Recordings and the Smithsonian Institution. The idea of folk as almost a democratic process, as being able to take a tradition from the past and make it your own, and especially shared in a group, she said. Its something thats easier for amateurs to participate in as well. Usually folk songs have simple, repetitive choruses so that people can catch on. Or you can even make up your own lyrics as you go that speak to your own situation or your own life. And thats what I think I value most in folk music. Folk can be simply a tool that people have used to make a claim about what kind of country this is, what kind of country this should be, what kind of world we live in. One example of a Folk song is Buffy Sainte-Maries Codine. I think obviously theres a long tradition of political folk music, and theres also a tradition of some scholars arguing that political folk music is not folk music at all. But certainly, many people used folk music to describe the awful conditions of labor and to advocate for change.Its a haunting song Maizlish said, and (Sainte-Maries) delivery and the guitar, is also very haunting ... Its a ballad of personal trauma, and it has universal appeal. Anyone who has experienced this addiction or suffering, or any kind of personal trauma and pain, can see themselves in it. Thats an aspect of folk music that people valued in the 1960s, particularly when she would perform this song at the Newport Folk festival ... the universal quality of personal expression in folk. Folk music is often associated with a twang or an untrained voice, a haunting voice, a weird voice. But then at the same time, especially with Peter, Paul and Mary in the 1960s, you get a lot of Joan-Baez-folk-musicians who have very pretty voices, very beautiful voices ... neither quality of voice is more folk than the other, but some people didnt like the commercial, polished quality of a Tom Paxton or a Mary Travers and thought that was sort of inauthentic. At the same time, these people were revered by the 1960s folk revival as being great folk singers. How do you maintain your role in a tradition and still move that tradition forward and make sure it doesnt die because of a desire to freeze it or own it?

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My sources for this text is Encyclopedia.coms article on Folk Music and Wisconsin Public Radios interview with Rivka Maizlish

Here is the Susan Aglukark section.

Here is a photo of Susan Aglukark

Susan Aglukark is Nunavuts first ever 3 time Juno Award-winning Inuk singer/songwriter. She has released eight studio albums. She began to play the guitar and sing hymns at an early age. By the age of nine, she was performing on stage with church choirs. After high school, Susan Aglukark moved to Ottawa to work as a linguist with what was then called the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs (now Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development). She then worked with the lobby group Inuit Tapirisat of Canada. Awards include: the Order of Canada in 2005, the Governor Generals Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award, the first-ever Aboriginal Achievement Award in Arts and Entertainment, and the Canadian Country Music Associations Vista Rising Star Award, Native American Music Award, and Canadian Aboriginal Music Award. In the mid-1990s, she was the official spokesperson for the Northwest Territories Economic Development and Tourism/Arts and Crafts department. She has long been an advocate for Northern Canadian communities. She served as a national spokesperson for the Aboriginal division of the RCMP National Alcohol and Drug Awareness Prevention Program and as an ambassador for the government of the Northwest Territories. Aglukark co-founded the Aboriginal Literacy Initiative and founded the Arctic Rose Fund to assist Northern food banks. She was chair of the board of directors for the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation and represented Canadian Inuit at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vietnam. In 2007, she became the official spokesperson for the Indigenous mentorship program Empowering Our Little Sisters. In 2016, she was made a Fellow in Creativity at the University of Saskatchewan’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Culture and Creativity. She delivered a lecture series, instructed a class and mentored students in the Aboriginal Student Achievement Program. She has also served on the selection committee for the Arctic Inspiration Prize. Susan has also worked at the University of Alberta for three years as Distinguished Scholar in residence.

Here is a photo of Susan Aglukark

She was sexually abused. Although the melodies of Aglukarks songs are light and easy, the subjects are often not: suicide, sexual abuse of children, alcohol and drug addiction, and cultural loss. Her album This Child, which sold 300,000 copies, included a song called O Siem, a call to arms against racism and prejudice. She blends the Inuktitut and English languages with contemporary pop music arrangements to tell the stories of her people, the Inuit of Arctic Canada. The emotional depth and honesty of her lyrics her pure, clear voice and themes of hope, spirit and encouragement have captivated and inspired listeners from all walks of life. Through it all, Aglukark has steadfastly championed the Inuk people, co-founding the Aboriginal Literacy Initiative and founding the Arctic Rose Fund to assist Northern food banks. Between 2008 and 2011, she was a scholar in residence at the University of Alberta, where she mentored Aboriginal artists and helped develop both a degree program and programs aimed at countering the dropout issue that plagues Aboriginal students at all levels. Music says Susan Aglukark has been a way for me to give a voice to the silent struggles of my people and to create hope for a better tomorrow. She calls herself an accidental artist one who never set out to achieve fame but who has used her position to confront the harsh realities of the North without ever succumbing to despair.

Here is a photo of Susan Aglukark's ablum Christmas

Susan Aglukark has had performances for

My sources for this text is Susan Aglukarks Website and Governor Generals Websites article on her and The Canadian Encyclopedias article on her

Here are two love songs by Susan Aglukark, Learn To Love Yourself in Inuktitut/English and Love Came Down at Christmas in English.

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