Is folk music political? That's certainly the impression left by the ‘60s, when folk music and progressive politics seemed to be the twin engines of social change. But what do the old songs tell us? Is there a longer history of politics in folk music? Alarik leads a journey through 16th-century populist ballads to the coded language of slave spirituals; from the “singing strikes” of the labor movement to the songwriters of today. What binds politics to folk music? Is it stitched within the most ancient fabric of folk tradition – or is it a product of the modern imagination?
Join Scott Alarik for this lecture style workshop and discovery the historic relationship between politics and folk music.
