Folk Music: All Soul

In this day and age, pop music dominates the airwaves at every turn. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, and many are commonplace names among teenagers and younger demographics not only in the United States, but all around the world. The United States has accepted the position of international, cultural role model long ago, dating back to the 1950’s when rock and roll caught fire as a hybrid of blues, country, and jazz and spread to the rest of the world almost infectiously. Since then, every major artist that comes out of the United States has easily become a global icon, regardless of the language or nationality of their adoring fans. However, one could conceive that this glamorized version of music comes less from the soul of the artist and is merely born of fiscal ambitions and visions of grandeur. The point made previously is not to critique any pop icon’s talent, which clearly they have proved to possess an abundance of it to keep the public swooning at their every whim, but instead, to show that there are musicians out there producing beautiful music without the threat of corruption and adherence to mainstream culture.

In fact, a whole genre contains the melodic purity just described; folk music. Unaffected by the burden of performing solely to please mass audiences around the world, folk musicians are able express the contents of their hearts

, a feat that is considered career suicide for any mainstream musician. Sure they lack the fame, wealth, and prestige of any well known rapper or rock star displayed in the media with the acclaim of demigods, but their lack of creative restraint leads to an even greater connection between the sweet music they create and the limited individuals lucky enough to have heard of them.

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...at it does try is to perpetrate honest, with no regard for what others may think of it. Luckily for many of these artists, there are a lot of people who are able to relate to their plights, and as a result, their creative risks have turned out to be their greatest rewards. The fact that there is a sense of under-appreciation towards the entire genre is a somewhat attractive quality. Popularity is not an indication of success or aesthetic value, it is simply an display of current trends going around in mass culture. True aesthetic beauty can be found regardless of the form of art presented, so long as perspective is relative to the individual observing it. Folk music may not be as widespread or pervasive as many other genres, but the simplistic styles, calming melodies, and gorgeous lyrics will always provide the perfect connection between soul and music.