From the 1960s, in several Western European countries folk music revivals took place. In The Netherlands, the folk music revival was heavily inspired by the folk music revival movements in the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and later by the revivals in France and Flanders (Belgium) as well. Initially the repertoire played was mainly American, Anglo-Saxon and Irish, and only gradually attention turned to attempts of reviving Dutch song repertoire (see Koning 1975 for a contemporary analysis).An interesting part of the Dutch folk music revival was the Frisian folk music revival. In the province of Friesland the folk music movement was widespread and active, and at the same time immensely varied concerning repertoires used and meanings conveyed. The presentation will focus on the work of the Frisian-language folk group Irolt, active from 1975 to 1983 and at the time considered the leading Frisian folk group. Through studying their recordings, contemporary documents, and interviews carried out with the leader of the group years after the group disbanded, I try to gain insight in Irolt’s attempt at the – paradoxical – revival of a non-existing repertoire of folk-songs. I will combine Koning’s (1975) idea of `communality’ in folk revival movements combined with Hobsbawm’s (1983) concept of the invention of tradition and ideas about identity constructing going back to Barth (1969, 1994) to shed light on the processes at work and the resulting products, unveiling the hidden meanings of Irolt’s work in terms of a particular construction of Frisian identity.Paper presented at the 42nd ICTM World Conference, 11-17 July 2013, Shanghai, China
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This study employed an exploratory approach by applying practice theory to insights gathered throughthe triangulation of interview, document analysis and observation methodologies to 1) map the SacredHarp Singing practice scope and give a nuanced picture of its performativity in the Netherlands, witha particular focus on the Sacred Harp group from Amsterdam comparing it to one from Bremen and 2)investigate the underlying rise of transformative emotions, the social, secular, and religious meanings, andthe sense of belonging to an international community. The findings suggest that Sacred Harp enthusiastsin the region are keen on retaining the legacies of the traditional singers by establishing similar singingatmospheres and by following the practice’s historical customs and practices, including the communalsinging in the “hollow square” and the affinity towards democratic participation. The findings alsoindicate that while there is a noticeable level of commitment and excitement among local enthusiasts,the growth of the groups’ memberships is hampered by a lack of interest by the general public, possiblyin connection with insufficient strategies for publicizing the practice. Therefore, the existence of thesebarriers could imply that the practice would probably grow at a relatively slow pace in the region.
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