Authenticity in Folk Music - Critical Discussion of Commercial Intentions within Folk Music and the 'True' Folk Ethos

Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Musicology - Miscellaneous, grade: First class honors, Trinity College Dublin (Department of Music), course: Rock & Pop Music History, language: English, abstract: What is it in particular that created the impression that folk music is so much more authentic than pop music? In the end, the all-embracing question must be the one of authenticity in music, a very complex issue in rock and pop music. To understand the reaction of the audience the day Bob Dylan went electric, it is crucial to examine the roots of folk music, to comprehend its relationship with social change during the 60's and to point out where the glorified importance of 'being authentic' in folk music came from. Having collected such information, it shall be possible to have a balanced view on the statement in the headline. Folk music, in a very historical sense, is 'music, usually of simple character and anonymous authorship, handed down among the common people by oral tradition'. Examples of 'true' folk songs would be sea shanties or camp-meeting songs. These roots in traditional storytelling are of big importance, because, for unlike pop music, folk for the young adults in the 1950s-60s was held up as 'the authentic voice of the people' (Barker & Taylor, 2007).