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Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrumentation with various other sounds.

History

Neofolk has its origins in 1960s musical groups who began taking influence from traditional folk music. Folk musicians such as Vulcan's Hammer, Changes, Leonard Cohen, and Comus could be considered harbingers of the sound that later influenced the neofolk artists. Also the later explorations of Velvet Underground's band members, specifically those of Nico, have been called a major influence on what later became neofolk.

Neofolk originated in the 1980s, with bands from the post-punk and industrial music scenes, including Death In June, Current 93 and Sol Invictus, who began taking influence from this sound. The sound was embraced by Swans on their early 1990s albums such as Love of Life (1992), by the time of their 1997 disbandment, the had become what Exclaim! writer Dimitri Nasrallah called the "leading lights in the early 2000's neo-folk movement". The embrace of the genre continued into the releases of, lead vocalist, Michael Gira's subsequent band Angels of Light. During the late 1990s, the sound of the genre began to be embraced by bands who had previously played black metal, such as Empyrium and Haggard.

Culture

A majority of artists within the neofolk genre use archaic, cultural and literary references. Local traditions and indigenous beliefs tend to be portrayed heavily as well as esoteric and historical topics. Various forms of neopaganism and occultism play a part in the themes touched upon by many modern and original neofolk artists. Runic alphabets, heathen European sites and other means of expressing an interest in the ancient and ancestral occur often in neofolk music. The sociologist Peter Webb describes this as a legacy from romantic poetry and a reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment. Webb writes that for bands like Sol Invictus, this leads to "a type of esoteric spirituality where paganism comes to the fore because of its respect for nature, its openness about sexuality, and its rituals and ceremonies guided by the seasons". Aesthetically, references to this subject occur within band names, album artwork, clothing and various other means of artistic expression. This has led to some forefathers of the genre and current artists within the genre attributing it to being an aspect of a broader neopagan revival. David Tibet of Current 93, one of the most influential neofolk bands, regards himself as a Christian, but believes that truth always is hidden and is more interested in apocalyptic and apocryphal literature than any Christian canon. During a period of heavy amphetamine and LSD use in the 1980s, he began to revere the children's character Noddy as a Gnostic deity.

Many bands use metaphors, sometimes borrowing terms such as Ernst Jünger's Waldgänger and using fascist symbols and slogans, which has led to an association of the genre with the far-right, though this is contested by fans. References to occult, pagan and politically far-right figures and movement are often intentionally ambiguous. Stefanie von Schnurbein has described the genre's approach to these types of material as an "elitist Nietzschean masquerade" which expresses a "(neo-)romantic art-religious attitude". Some bands have stated opposition to the perceived fascist apologia and themes in the genre and the related genre of martial industrial.

Related terms and styles

Apocalyptic folk

As a descriptor, apocalyptic folk predates neofolk and was used by David Tibet to describe the music of his band Current 93 during a period in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Initially, Tibet did not intend to imply connection with the folk music genre; rather, that Current 93 was made by "apocalyptic folk": in other words, apocalyptic people. Tibet and Current 93 produced some covers of traditional English folk songs, and Tibet himself was a great advocate for reclusive English folk singer Shirley Collins.

Folk noir

Other vague terms sometimes used to describe artists of this genre include "dark folk" and "pagan folk". These terms are umbrella terms that also describe various other forms of unrelated music.

Martial industrial

Martial industrial or military pop is a genre that shares a lot in common with neofolk and developed very close to it.

References

Citations

1. ^ Neumann-Braun, Klaus; Schmidt, Axel (2008). Die Welt der Gothics: Spielräume düster konnotierter Transzendenz (in German) (2nd ed.). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. p. 280. ISBN 978-3-531-15880-8.
2. ^ Webb 2007, p. 60.
3. Magee, Tamlin (4 December 2015). "Freaking folk out: Swans' early 90s classics rediscovered". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
4. NASRALLAH, DIMITRI. "Michael Gira From Uncompromising Swans to Ethereal Angels of Light". Exclaim!. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
5. Webb 2007, p. 100.
6. "I'm very happy about that because I see Death In June as part of a European cultural revival. I'm pleased that the Old Gods are being resurrected, for want of a better word. Old symbols. I feel very pleased that I am a part of that process and that I have had influence. At this stage in the game, so to speak, it's not false modesty to say that I am content with my influence." Powell, Erin. Interview with Douglas Pearce Archived 18 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, 2005.
7. Keenan 2003, pp. 148, 178.
8. Keenan 2003, p. 152.
9. Anton Shekhovtsov (2009) Apoliteic music: Neo-Folk, Martial Industrial and ‘metapolitical fascism’, Patterns of Prejudice, 43:5, 431–457, DOI: 10.1080/00313220903338990
10. Schnurbein 2014, pp. 254–255.
11. Kelly, Kim; Joyce, Colin (21 August 2018). "Unmasking Gaylord, Black Metal's Latest Anti-Fascist Enigma". Noisey. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
12. Rehill, Anne (2009). The Apocalypse Is Everywhere: A Popular History of America's Favorite Nightmare. Greenwood Publishing. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-313-35438-0.
13. "The Apocalyptic Visions of Current 93"
14. "Folk singer Shirley Collins performs first show in 35 years". the Guardian. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
15. Brill, Dunja (2010). "Transgression ohne Queer – die Inszenierung martialischer Männlichkeit als 'Anti-Drag' in der Industrial- und Extreme Metal-Szene ". In Nagelschmidt, Ilse; Wojke, Kristin; Borrego, Britta (eds.). Interdisziplinäres Kolloquium zur Geschlechterforschung: Die Beiträge [Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Gender Research: the Contributions] (in German). Peter Lang. p. 133. ISBN 9783631601266.

Sources

• Keenan, David (2003). England's Hidden Reverse: A Secret History of the Esoteric Underground. London: SAF Publishing. ISBN 978-0-946719-40-2.
• Schnurbein, Stefanie von (2014). "Germanic Neo-Paganism – A Nordic Art-Religion?". In Schlehe, Judith; Sandkühler, Evamaria (eds.). Religion, Tradition and the Popular: Transcultural Views from Asia and Europe. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8376-2613-1.
• Webb, Peter (2007). Exploring the Networked Worlds of Popular Music: Milieux Cultures. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-95658-1.

Further reading

• Diesel, Andreas; Gerten, Dieter (2007). Looking for Europe: Neofolk und Hintergründe (in German). Zeltingen-Rachtig: Index Verlag. ISBN 978-3-936878-02-8.

• Fava, Sérgio (2012). "When Rome Falls, Falls the World: Current 93 and Apocalyptic Folk". In Partridge, Christopher (ed.). Anthems of Apocalypse: Popular Music and Apocalyptic Thought. Sheffield Phoenix Press. pp. 72–89. ISBN 978-1-907534-34-8.

• François, Stéphane (2007). "The Euro-Pagan Scene: Between Paganism and Radical Right". Journal for the Studies of Radicalism. 1 (2). Translated by Godwin, Ariel: 35–54. doi:10.1353/jsr.2008.0006. ISSN 1930-1189. JSTOR 41887576. S2CID 144508250.
• Saunders, Robert A. (2020). "Völkisch vibes: Neofolk, place, politics, and pan-European nationalism". In Nieguth, Tim (ed.). Nationalism and Popular Culture. London: Routledge. pp. 36–58. doi:10.4324/9780429321764-4. ISBN 978-0-429-32176-4. S2CID 242993887.
• Shekhovtsov, Anton. 'Apoliteic music: Neo-Folk, Martial Industrial and "metapolitical fascism"', Patterns of Prejudice, Vol. 43, No. 5 (December 2009), pp. 431–457.

• Neofolk
• English styles of music
• Folk music genres