Neofolk
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Neofolk (originally known as apocalyptic folk) is a music genre that originally emerged during the 1980s through the British post-punk and industrial music scene. It is primarily characterized by acoustic instrumentation and draws influences from dark wave<ref name="Uecker"/> and post-industrial styles such as dark ambient.
Characteristics
Neofolk blends elements of traditional and contemporary folk music with post-industrial and avant-garde influences, distinguishing it from mainstream folk traditions. It is commonly defined by the use of acoustic instruments. Artists incorporate influences from genres such as dark wave and dark ambient. Vocals may range from melodic singing to spoken word, with arrangements emphasizing atmosphere and mood over conventional song structures.<ref name="NeumanBraun">Template:Cite book</ref> Most neofolk artists stem from Nordic countries, Germany and Italy. The style often incorporates lyrical themes drawn from paganism, nature, and European history and mythology.<ref name="NeumanBraun" />
History
Forerunners
Neofolk has its origins in 1960s musical groups who began taking influence from traditional folk music.<ref name=NeumanBraun/> Folk musicians such as Vulcan's Hammer, Changes, Leonard Cohen, and Comus could be considered harbingers of the sound that later influenced the neofolk artists. Also the later explorations of Velvet Underground's band members, specifically those of Nico, have been called a major influence on what later became neofolk.Template:Sfn
1980s–2000s: Origins
Neofolk originated in the 1980s, with bands from the dark wave,<ref name="Uecker"/> post-punk and industrial music scenes, including Death In June, Current 93 and Sol Invictus, who began taking influence from this sound.<ref name=NeumanBraun/>Template:Sfn The sound was embraced by Swans on their early 1990s albums such as Love of Life (1992),<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> by the time of their 1997 disbandment, they had become what Exclaim! writer Dimitri Nasrallah called the "leading lights in the early 2000's neo-folk movement". The embrace of the genre continued into the releases of lead vocalist Michael Gira's subsequent band Angels of Light.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> During the late 1990s, the sound of the genre began to be embraced by bands who had previously played black metal, such as Empyrium and Haggard.<ref name=NeumanBraun/>
As a descriptor, the term "apocalyptic folk" predates neofolk and was used by Current 93's David Tibet to describe the music of his band during the late 1980s and early 1990s.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Initially, Tibet did not intend to imply connection with the folk music genre; rather, that Current 93 was made by "apocalyptic folk": in other words, apocalyptic people.<ref name="APOCALYPTICFOLK">"The Apocalyptic Visions of Current 93"</ref> Tibet and Current 93 produced some covers of traditional English folk songs, and Tibet himself was a great advocate for reclusive English folk singer Shirley Collins.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Other vague terms sometimes used to describe artists of this genre include "dark folk" and "pagan folk". These terms are umbrella terms that also describe various other forms of unrelated music.Template:Ref
Culture
A majority of artists within the neofolk genre use archaic, cultural and literary references. Local traditions and indigenous beliefs are also heavily portrayed, as are esoteric and historical topics.<ref name="NeumanBraun" /> Various forms of neopaganism and occultism play a part in the themes touched upon by many modern and original neofolk artists. Runic alphabets, heathen European sites and other means of expressing an interest in the ancient and ancestral occur often in neofolk music. The sociologist Peter Webb describes this as a legacy from romantic poetry and a reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment. Webb writes that for bands like Sol Invictus, this leads to "a type of esoteric spirituality where paganism comes to the fore because of its respect for nature, its openness about sexuality, and its rituals and ceremonies guided by the seasons".Template:Sfn Aesthetically, references to this subject occur within band names, album artwork, clothing and various other means of artistic expression. This has led to some forefathers of the genre and current artists within the genre attributing it to being an aspect of a broader neopagan revival.<ref name=DOUGLASREV>"I'm very happy about that because I see Death In June as part of a European cultural revival. I'm pleased that the Old Gods are being resurrected, for want of a better word. Old symbols. I feel very pleased that I am a part of that process and that I have had influence. At this stage in the game, so to speak, it's not false modesty to say that I am content with my influence." Powell, Erin. Interview with Douglas Pearce Template:Webarchive, 2005.</ref> David Tibet of Current 93, one of the most influential neofolk bands, regards himself as a Christian, but believes that truth always is hidden and is more interested in apocalyptic and apocryphal literature than any Christian canon.Template:Sfn During a period of heavy amphetamine and LSD use in the 1980s, he began to revere the children's character Noddy as a Gnostic deity.Template:Sfn
Many bands use metaphors, sometimes borrowing terms such as Ernst Jünger's Waldgänger and using fascist symbols and slogans, which has led to an association of the genre with the far-right, though this is contested by fans.<ref>Anton Shekhovtsov (2009) Apoliteic music: Neo-Folk, Martial Industrial and ‘metapolitical fascism’, Patterns of Prejudice, 43:5, 431–457, DOI: 10.1080/00313220903338990</ref> References to occult, pagan and politically far-right figures and movement are often intentionally ambiguous. Stefanie von Schnurbein has described the genre's approach to these types of material as an "elitist Nietzschean masquerade" which expresses a "(neo-)romantic art-religious attitude".Template:Sfn Some bands have stated opposition to the perceived fascist apologia and themes in the genre and the related genre of martial industrial.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Related genres
Martial industrial
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Martial industrial (also known as military pop) is a genre developed very closely to neofolk and includes militaristic or political themes.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Shekhovtsov, Anton. 'Apoliteic music: Neo-Folk, Martial Industrial and "metapolitical fascism"', Patterns of Prejudice, Vol. 43, No. 5 (December 2009), pp. 431–457.
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