Have you been to a folk concert in Princeton? As of yet, neither have I. This genre, built on oral tradition, tends to rely on word-of-mouth in advertising, so newcomers to the style might be a little confused as to where to begin. I am one of those people. I set out to discover the folk music concerts in Princeton that I was sure must be happening somewhere, and as of yet I have not really discovered where. I left no stone unturned from Hoagie Haven to Palmer Square, but all I’ve uncovered are some confused ants, and (to my extreme disappointment) they were not playing banjos.
The internet does not seem to be a particularly efficient tool for finding folksy events and venues, but there is one website of note. The somewhat small but active Princeton Folk Music Society can be found at http://princetonfolk.org/. According to their homepage, the Society has been sponsoring regular folk music concerts in the area for the past 40 years. They are involved in two events per month. One is a sort of informal, salon-style soiree for members only, and the other is a public concert featuring a visiting artist, usually held at Christ Church on Walnut Lane.
The most recent concert featured Beppe Gambetta, a world-renowned acoustic guitarist. If all goes well (this is my first foray into the world of WordPress) below will be a video of Beppe doing his thing:
According to his website (http://www.beppegambetta.com/), Beppe’s style is a fusion of Italian, American, Celtic, and other influences. As you can hear, he also is a master of guitar flat-picking.
Nerissa and Katryna Nields
Next on the Folk Music Society program are The Nields. Nerissa and Katryna Nields are two sisters from Massachusetts who sing in sisterly harmony with a wide variety of influences. Nerissa writes and sings harmonies, while Katryna is the front-woman and sings melodies.
I think I will take the next few words to share the fruits of my Google search on the genre of folk music:
According to an extremely scholarly and reliable source (Wikipedia), there are two definitions of folk music. One is traditional music (passed down by oral tradition from generation to generation, think Appalachia), and the other is the rise of popular folk music that surfaced in the mid 1900s, peaking in the 1960s. So this is when folk went mainstream.
This included many of the same sounds as traditional folk music, but often included a fusion with other genres such as rock, metal, and electric. Coincidently, the Princeton Folk Music Society was founded in 1965, so I would presume that they tend to specialize in the fusion sub-genre. A quick re-read of their President’s welcome letter confirms that the Society was an organized consolidation of the informal folk music groups that began appearing in Princeton around 1963.
With the rise of the “popular folk” genre came some very iconic performers and songwriters. But even before that, one of the first and most important is Woody Guthrie in the ‘30s and ’40’s, who became an inspiration for many later folk musicians. His topics included the experiences of The Great Depression. Pete Seeger, who often performed with Woody Guthrie, also created his own group, The Weavers, which had significant success under the Decca label in the early ‘50s and later Vanguard Records label. Their hits include their original Kisses Sweeter than Wine, Seeger’s If I Had a Hammer, and the Israeli song Tzena, Tzena, Tzena. They also further popularized Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land. Recently, the Princeton Folk Music Society hosted a group called Work o’ the Weavers, which is basically a revival group writing and singing in a similar style. Pete Seeger also wrote an influential instructional book on the playing of the 5-string banjo.
Joan Baez, a singer from the east coast, was incredibly important in the folk-revival in the early 1960’s and may have been responsible for the later success of Bob Dylan. She sang a cover of one of his songs and often collaborated with him on tour.
There are many, many other folk singers who emerged during this time and it would take way longer than my word requirement to talk about them all in detail but other groups worth looking into are Peter, Paul, and Mary, The Kingston Trio, and Judy Collins.
So that’s what I’ve found so far; I think I’ll start turning over stones on Princeton Campus next and see if I can’t find some real live music.
Music in Princeton 