Folk Spot Denmark is a project created to give folk musicians and industry professionals the opportunity to talk together and create new contacts and collaborations. This year’s edition was no exception, and delegates from near and far made the trip to Tønder to experience Tønder Festival and the selected orchestras for Folk Spot Denmark 2023.
We have spoken to some of the delegates to get a little insight into their work with folk music elsewhere in the world, and their experience with Folk Spot Denmark.
Name: Birgit Ellinghaus
Company: alba KULTUR
Title: Director
Based in: Cologne, Germany
What was your purpose for participating at Folk Spot 2023?
After the pandemic I was very glad about the opportunity to update the inside view of what is bubbling in the Danish folk music scene and what are the actual developments for shaping the future of folk music in general and in Denmark/ in the Nordic region.
What trends and tendencies do you see in folk music right now?
Since I participated in Folk Spot last time in 2016 I was surprised not to see really new trends or tendencies. It seems to me that the Danish folk scene is still – like in 2016 – primarily concerned with preserving the aesthetic status quo of a musical practice in an easy going, purely entertaining, almost museum-like way. At least in the showcases and by the presented artists 2023 lacked the courage here and there for a thematically committed folk repertoire, that refers to the current reality of the world (climate crisis, wars, closed borders, economical challenges for the arts, identity debates, migration, political populism etc.). Folk music is traditionally close and committed to the people. I found a huge discrepancy between the presented showcase programs and what I hear and read about Denmark.
What is your impression of the Danish folk scene versus folk music in Germany? (Differences and similarities)
The Danish and German folk scenes are not really comparable, as both countries have different geographical and population sizes and history. After World War II, the folk scene in Germany was asleep for a long time. Only from the mid-1970s onwards the historical reappraisal of the appropriation of folk music by the Nazis was in the center of the folk music movement. And the activists wanted clearly to distance themselves from the previous generation in terms of sound, lyrics and stage presence. That still has an impact today. In addition, Germany is a federal country in which there are enormous differences in local musical traditions: the spectrum ranges from Bavarian/Franconian folk in the south, Rhenish carnival song tradition (on the national list of intangible cultural heritage), Sorbian folk dances, shanty choirs in Hamburg to the political singer-songwriters of Waldeck Castle & their grandchildren up to the songs of the miners in the Ruhr area and much more. There is the raw, the political, the finely chiseled, the danceable, the humorous and many other themes and emotions – depending on the region and cultural context and the identity.
Folk music in Denmark seems to me to be much more culturally homogeneous and historically “unbroken” and naive. And this homogeneity of the melodies, the themes, the instruments and the presentation seems to keep the musicians trapped in a bubble: they don’t dare to push the boundaries of a style or a theme or their presentation on stage, but rather stay in the safe waters of a contemplative folk tradition that is only nice to the audience.
This makes me quickly forget who played what, since everything sounds or appears a bit the same.
Did you make some new contacts relevant for your future work?
The exchange and the side debates with the Folk Spot team, with the Danish radio colleagues and as well as with some other delegates is a really valuable take away.
I very much hope we could continue the exchange to support and strengthen the developments for a living and creative folk scene in Europe.
Which were the best musical experiences during Folk Spot Denmark and Tønder Festival?
The only band from the showcase programme that might be of interest to one of our programs is Optur.
Folk Spot Denmark er et projekt skabt for at give folkemusikere og branchefolk mulighed for at networke og skabe nye kontakter og samarbejder. Årets udgave var ingen undtagelse, og delegerede fra nær og fjern tog turen til Tønder for at opleve Tønder Festival og de udvalgte orkestre til Folk Spot Denmark 2023.
Vi har talt med nogle af de delegerede for at få et lille indblik i deres arbejde med folkemusik andre steder i verden, og deres erfaring med Folk Spot Denmark.
Navn: Birgit Ellinghaus
Firma: alba KULTUR
Titel: Director
Land: Køln, Tyskland
Hvad var dit formål med at deltage på Folk Spot 2023?
Her efter pandemien er jeg meget glad for muligheden for at kunne blive opdateret på, hvad der bobler i den danske folkemusikscene, og hvad der er den faktiske udvikling for at forme fremtiden for folkemusik generelt i Danmark/i Norden.
Hvilke tendenser og tendenser ser du i folkemusik lige nu?
Siden jeg deltog i Folk Spot sidste gang i 2016, blev jeg overrasket over ikke at se rigtig nye trends eller tendenser. Det forekommer mig, at den danske folkescene stadig – ligesom i 2016 – primært er optaget af at bevare den æstetiske status quo i en musikalsk praksis på en afslappet, rent underholdende, nærmest museums-agtig måde. I hvert fald i udstillingsvinduerne og hos de præsenterede kunstnere manglede 2023-modet hist og her til at sætte fokus på et tematisk engageret folk-repertoire, der refererer til den aktuelle virkelighed i verden (klimakrise, krige, lukkede grænser, økonomiske udfordringer for kunsten, identitetsdebatter, migration, politisk populisme osv.). Folkemusik er traditionelt tæt på og engageret i folket. Jeg fandt en kæmpe uoverensstemmelse mellem de præsenterede showcase-programmer og det, jeg hører og læser om Danmark.
Hvad er dit indtryk af den danske folkescene kontra folkemusik i Tyskland? (Forskelle og ligheder)
De danske og tyske folkescener er ikke rigtig sammenlignelige, da begge lande har forskellige geografiske og befolkningsmæssige størrelser og historie. Efter Anden Verdenskrig lå folkescenen i Tyskland og sov i lang tid. Først fra midten af 1970’erne og fremefter var den historiske omvurdering af nazisternes tilegnelse af folkemusik i centrum for folkemusik-bevægelsen. Og aktivisterne ønskede klart at tage afstand fra den tidligere generation i forhold til lyd, tekst og scene-tilstedeværelse. Det har stadig indflydelse i dag. Derudover er Tyskland et forbundsland, hvor der er enorme forskelle i lokale musiktraditioner: spektret spænder fra bayersk/frankisk folkemusik i syd, rhensk karnevalssangtradition (på den nationale liste over immateriel kulturarv), sorbiske folkedans, shantykor i Hamborg til de politiske singer-songwriters fra Waldeck Castle og deres børnebørn op til minearbejdernes sange i Ruhr-området og meget mere. Der er det rå, det politiske, det fint mejslede, det dansbare, det humoristiske og mange andre temaer og følelser – alt efter region og kulturel kontekst og identitet.
Folkemusikken i Danmark forekommer mig at være meget mere kulturelt homogen og historisk “ubrudt” og naiv. Og denne homogenitet i melodierne, temaerne, instrumenterne og præsentationen ser ud til at holde musikerne fanget i en boble: de tør ikke rykke grænserne for en stil eller et tema eller deres præsentation på scenen, men bliver i stedet inde i det sikre vand i en kontemplativ folketradition, der kun er rart for publikum. Det får mig hurtigt til at glemme, hvem der spillede hvad, da alt lyder og ser lidt ens ud.
Fik du nogle nye kontakter, der er relevante for dit fremtidige arbejde?
Udvekslingen og sidedebatterne med Folk Spot-holdet, med de danske radiokolleger og samt nogle andre delegerede er en virkelig værdifuld take away. Jeg håber meget, at vi kan fortsætte udviklingen for at støtte og styrke udviklingen for en levende og kreativ folkescene i Europa.
Hvilke var de bedste musikalske oplevelser under Folk Spot Denmark og Tønder Festival?
Det eneste band fra showcase-programmet, der kunne være af interesse for et af vores programmer, er Optur.
