It may seem counter-intuitive to turn to Leonard Cohen’s ‘depressing’ songs during times of grief and uncertainty. But he shows there is always a reason to keep on keeping on.
Calgary performers persist in the face of uncertainty, and use music to voice dissent and to create community.
(Shutterstock)
While some stereotype Alberta as a “conservative” province, the bucking and swift horses that typify the Calgary Stampede speak to a more complex spirit of risk seen in local musicians.
Some of Guthrie’s greatest champions have had difficulties with the song.
Al Aumuller/Library of Congress
Musicians were able to connect with confused, scared and angry Americans – including those who supported the war – in a way actors, broadcasters and writers could not.
‘Trump made a tramp out of me,’ Guthrie lamented, denouncing his landlord who barred black families and pocketed federal funds.
Through his music, Lead Belly rejected the stereotype that country music was the domain of white artists, while blues music was reserved for blacks.
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection depicts the fully-formed artist – a blues musician, yes, but also a performer of string-band, country and pop songs.
The real value of Lomax’s work is only now becoming clear.
Wikimedia Commons
If Alan Lomax were still alive, he would turn 100 Saturday. His name might not be as familiar as some other giants of folk music in the 20th century (such as Pete Seeger). But if you listen to folk or…
Remarkably, Rodriguez has not released any new material since his first two albums in the early 70s.
Wikimedia Commons
Searching for Sugar Man (2012) brought worldwide attention to the music of Detroit singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez. The academy award-winning documentary focused on the efforts of South African fans…
Does Psy represent the future of music?
AAP/ Yonhap News Agency
Earlier this year the number of views of South Korean mega-star Psy’s Gangnam Style YouTube video exceeded two billion. That’s more than a quarter of the people on the planet who have watched the video…
Yearning for the past.
Beamish, The Living Museum of the North Photo: Tate Photography
Folk is fashionable. Its latest manifestation at Tate Britain is only the most recent of stirrings – it been on the up for a number of years. Perhaps most obviously is the resurgence of folk music, which…
US folk singer and activist Pete Seeger, who died this week in New York.
Skip Bolen/EPA
We Shall Overcome became the theme song of the American civil rights movement in the 1960s. It is most identified with Pete Seeger, the great American musician who died January 27. Yet as Arlo Guthrie…