The Environmentalism of English Traditional Folk Music

Description

The environment, be it rural or urban, is a core tenet of traditional folk song in England. For the Edwardian collectors who spent so much of their time attempting to define the genre, the rural environment was key to their understanding of it and contemporary musicians have often drawn upon genre tradition in order to discuss environmentalism and climate activism. The Edwardian collectors shared a sense of ‘what were perceived as the virtues of rural austerity, a primitive wisdom, and an instinctual vitality through a close contact with nature’, in contrast to the cities and their urbanity, an idea rooted in the pastoral (Sykes, 1993). In the shadow of the second world war, the second folk song revival began, attempting to undo these historical biases, and yet folksong’s connection to the rural has persisted, making it one of the few throughlines in the genre. Twentieth and twenty-first century musicians have used this to their advantage, utilising the tropes and conventions of traditional folk in order to address climate change, as I will discuss in my presentation. Using eco-critical theories and ideas of space and place, I will chronicle the ways in which contemporary traditional folk attempts to construct climate activism.

Period	10 Jun 2025
Event title	BACLS: What Happens Now 2025
Event type	Conference
Location	Cardiff, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National