Sometime in the early 90s, a friend of mine and I were asked to play and sing for a Catholic Mass in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Not long before the mass was supposed to start, a large Spanish-speaking choir and guitar group showed up seemingly out of nowhere to sing for the mass.
Details were murky as to how the event could have been double booked, but it was decided that we would split up the music and each take half.
At one point during the mass, right before they were supposed to sing, almost their entire group got up and left. I looked at the lone guitarist standing there and with panic in my voice said, “They need to come back! It’s your turn to sing.”
He smiled at me calmly, as if to reassure that everything was fine, and, along with a man with a wooden flute, he began to play “El Cóndor Pasa.”
The rest of the choir appeared with candles at the back of church and began processing silently down the center aisle, in a slow and reverent pattern of steps. It was moving to the point of tears, but in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder why they were playing a Simon and Garfunkel song, and I could not get the words “I’d rather be a sparrow than a snail” out of my head.
I eventually learned that “El Cóndor Pasa” was actually an instrumental piece written by a Peruvian composer, Daniel Alomía Robles, in the early 1900s, based on traditional Andean folk music.
Over 300 sets of words have been written to it over the years:
Including the version featuring Paul Simon’s lyrics, which became a hit and introduced the melody to an even wider audience.
The fusion of pop and rock with traditional folk music dotted the landscape in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and the practice has continued throughout the years.
Let’s dip our toe in this vast pool and check out a few examples from around the globe.
Formed in Kraków, Poland in 1965:
Skaldowie became one of the most popular bands in Poland in the late 1960s.
Many of their original songs were heavily influenced by Polish folk music, even at times using the scales and the dialect of highlander folk songs, while musically maintaining the “big beat” aesthetic of the late 60s.
(Big beat is what groups began to call rock and roll, to avoid being disbanded by the Communist regime.) Add to this the fact that most of the band members were classically trained, and the result is a captivating mélange of sounds that should be disparate but work seamlessly together.
The Faroe Islands are an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
With a population of just over 53,000, they sit isolated in the North Atlantic about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of mainland Scotland.
From these islands comes folk-metal band Týr.
Named after the Norse god of war, their music is almost exclusively devoted to Viking lore and mythology.
They often sing in English, but they also have adapted traditional folk songs sung in Faroese to their hard rocking aesthetic, as well as other Scandinavian folk songs.
An avid surfer:
Dick Dale looked to make music that captured the essence of the sport he loved.
Being of Lebanese decent on his father’s side, he incorporated Arabian scales and middle eastern picking techniques in his playing.
Add a generous helping of that “wet” reverb sound, and this unique guitar style would come to be a defining trait of surf rock and inspire countless musicians that came after him.
His signature song is undoubtedly “Miserlou”, a cover of an Eastern Mediterranean folk song of unknown origin that became popular with Arabic, Greek and Jewish musicians in the 1920s. His blistering version was recorded in 1962. If you want to hear surf rock at its roots and in all of its glory, start here:
Formed in London in 1967:
Fairport Convention eventually began adding their own arrangements of English, Scottish and Irish traditional songs into their folk-rock sound:
Creating something that feels ancient and revolutionary at the same time.
In the 2013 film How I Live Now, Daisy, an American teenage girl, is sent against her wishes to live on a remote farm in the English countryside with her cousins. She is picked up at the airport by 14-year-old Isaac in a dilapidated old military jeep littered with trash.
She reluctantly gets in and begins what will be a life-changing journey. When she tells him to stop talking and focus on driving, he puts in a cassette and Fairport Convention’s “Tam Lin” starts cranking out of the stereo.
“What is this?” Daisy questions incredulously, with an air of distaste. Sandy Denny’s enchanting, urgent vocal rendering of a 16th century ballad from the Scottish Borders, along with the menacing guitar chords and driving bass and drums, take over the moment. In doing so, they perfectly establish the upheaval of Daisy’s life and how disoriented she will be in her new and very old environs.
From Sundsvall, Sweden:
Gamarna is a Swedish folk-rock group with electronic elements, formed in 1990.
They combine original works with interpretations of traditional folk songs.
Here is their rhythmic, enchanting arrangement of a medieval Swedish ballad about a woman who gets married off to a rich man, but doesn’t quite follow the script:
From Slovakia, in 1999:
Hrdza began integrating folk songs from their homeland into their energetic sound.
It’s a blend of both traditional and modern instrumentation.
Check out this fist-pumping, epic take on a Slovakian folk song, “Horela ľipka”, who’s Czech equivalent is usually used as the opening song when the Yale Whiffenpoofs perform. I know there are a lot of Whiffenpoof fans out there, so I didn’t want anyone getting confused
Hailing from Ottawa:
The Halluci Nation, formerly known as A Tribe Called Red, is a Canadian First Nations electronic duo.
Their unique blend of native drumming and chants with dance rhythms and styles has been labelled “powwow step”.
Their sound arose from dance parties they would host for indigenous youth, and their first album debuted in 2012. Several of their songs have been featured in television shows and movie trailers.
And finally: Anyone in the mood for a contemporary take on traditional folk music…
From the Republic of Tuva, in Russia?
If so, Yat-Kha has you covered.
“What’s that”, you ask?
“Will there be throat singing?”
You betcha, and you won’t want to miss it.
Here is a playlist that includes more songs by the above groups.
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