List of North American folk music traditions

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a list of folk music traditions, with styles, dances, instruments and other related topics. The term folk music can not be easily defined in a precise manner; it is used with widely varying definitions depending on the author, intended audience and context within a work. Similarly, the term traditions in this context does not connote any strictly-defined criteria. Music scholars, journalists, audiences, record industry individuals, politicians, nationalists and demagogues may often have occasion to address which fields of folk music are distinct traditions based along racial, geographic, linguistic, religious, tribal or ethnic lines, and all such peoples will likely use different criteria to decide what constitutes a "folk music tradition". This list uses the same general categories used by mainstream, primarily English-language, scholarly sources, as determined by relevant statements of fact and the internal structure of works.

These traditions may coincide entirely, partially or not at all with geographic, political, linguistic or cultural boundaries. Very few, if any, music scholars would claim that there are any folk music traditions that can be considered specific to a distinct group of people and with characteristics undiluted by contact with the music of other peoples; thus, the folk music traditions described herein overlap in varying degrees with each other.

Country Elements Dance Instrumentation Other topics
Aanishanabe See Ojibwa
African American[1] blues - blues-harp - boat song - field holler - fife and drum band - freedom song - funereal music - gospel - lining out - shape-note - Shout - spiritual - work song blues dance - hambone - juba dance - ring dance - shout banjo - bones - cowbell - diddley bow - fiddle - harmonica - tambourine - washtub bass blue note - camp meeting - Election Day celebration - Great Awakening - Pinkster
Anglo-American[2] ballad - folk hymn - protest song - sea shanty - shape note - singing barn dance - Country-western two-step - longways - jig - reel - square dance fiddle - flute - guitar - harpsichord - violin Caller - Shakers
Apache[3] Apache fiddle - pot drum - water drum
Appalachian[4] ballad - Blue Ridge fiddling - bluegrass - Child ballad - close harmony - folk hymn - jug band - lining out - North Georgia fiddling - old-time music - scolding ballad - shape note - singing - string band[5] clogging autoharp - banjo - cello - cornstalk fiddle - dulcimer - fiddle - flute - guitar - harmonica - mandolin folk revival - hillbilly
Arapaho[6] Ghost Dance - peyote song rabbit dance - round dance - snake dance - Sun Dance - turtle dance Ghost Dance
Blue Ridge See Appalachian
Cajun[7] polka - two-step - waltz accordion - fiddle - guitar - spoons - triangle - washboard
Cape Breton See Irish- and Scottish-Canadian
Cherokee[8] stomp dance rattle
Chickasaw[8] stomp dance
Chippewa See Ojibwa
Choctaw[8] stomp dance
Cree[9] fiddle
Dakota See Sioux
Dinéh See Navajo
English-American See Anglo-American
Finnish-American See Finnish
French-American See French
German- and Moravian-American[10] collegia musica - cornet band - Moravian funereal music - trombone choir hautboy - kettle drum - trumpet - viol Ephrata Cloister - liederkranz - Singstunde
Hopi See Pueblo
Illinois[11] calumet dance berdache - calumet
Inuit[12] ayaya - kattajaq - pisiq - throat-singing drum dance - jig - kalattuut - reel accordion - drum angakkog
Irish- and Scottish-Canadian[13] ballad - Cape Breton fiddling - emigrant ballad - sean nos - shape note reel - step dance - strathspey fiddle ceilidh
Irish-American[14] ballad - emigrant ballad - sean nos clogging - hornpipe - jig - reel - step dance - square dance banjo - dulcimer - fiddle - guitar - harmonica - mandolin
Iroquois[15] Eagle Dance - Quiver Dance - Warrior's Stomp Dance drum - rattle - water drum
Italian-American See Italy
Japanese-American See Japanese
Jewish-American[16] cantorial chant - klezmer bulgar - doina - freylekh - hora - khosidl - mazurka - nigun - polka - sirba - waltz cello - clarinet - double bass - flute - tsimbl - violin badkhn - Freygish - kapelye
Lakota See Sioux
Louisiana Creole[17] la la - mellows - zydeco. bamboula - ring dance accordion - fiddle - guitar - washboard Congo Square - fais-do-do
Maritime Canada[18] Cape Breton fiddling - milling song jig - reel accordion - fiddle - piano
Menomini[19] water drum
Metis[9] step dance fiddle
Mexican, Mejicano, Hispanic, New Mexico and Tejano[20] alabado - bravata - California mission music - conjunto - copla - corrido - estribillo - huapango arribeño - jarabe - letra - mariachi - Matachines - Mexican son - pirekua - son huasteco - sones abajeños - sones calentanos - sones de arpa grande - sones istmeños - son jaliscense - son jarocho - topada - vallena - zandunga chotis - jarabe tapatío - jarana - Matachines - mazurka - polka - raspa - redowa - waltz - xtoles - zandunga - zapateado accordion - angelus bell - bajo sexto - fiddle - harp - huapanguera - jarana - guitarra quinta - guitarrón - mission bell - requinto - vihuela - violin trovadore - vaquero
Moravian-American See German-American
Navajo[21] gift song - signal song - sway song - Yeibichai circle dance - Squaw Dance pot drum - rattle - water drum Blessingway - Enemyway - Ghostway - hataałii - hózhǫ́ - Nightway - Yeibichai
New England[22] folk hymn - lining out - Old Way of Singing - psalmody - shape note barn dance
Newfoundland ballad - sea shanty - sean nos hornpipe - jig - reel - step dance - square dance bodhrán - fiddle - guitar - harmonica - accordion - spoons
New Mexico See Mexican / Hispanic
Ojibwa[23] war song water drum
Omaha[24] pipe dance
Pueblo[25] Matachines - work song Matachines Anasazi flute - drum - flageolet New Mexico - Shalako
Quebecois[9] accord de pieds
San Ildefonso See Pueblo
Santo Domingo See Pueblo
Scottish-Canadian See Irish- and Scottish-Canadian
Sioux[19] Grass Dance bell - drum - rattle
Southern states[26] ballad - brass band - Delta blues - blues-harp - fife and drum band - folk hymn - jug band - Sacred Harp - shape note - Southern gospel - white spiritual barn dance - chicken in the breadtray - clogging - fisher's hornpipe - Highland fling - jig - lancer - pigeonwing - polka - quadrille - reel - square dance - waltz banjo - dulcimer - fiddle - guitar - harmonica - mandolin singing
Taos Pueblo See Pueblo
Tejano, sometimes called Tex-Mex See Mexican
Tohono O'odham[27] chicken scratch (waila) - conjunto chotis - mazurka - polka - waila accordion - bass guitar - drum - fiddle - guitar piest
Ukrainian-American and Canadian See Ukrainian
Western Canada and the United States[28] cattle call - cowboy song - frontier ballad - holler - waltz - Western swing - work song square dance accordion - banjo - fiddle - guitar - harmonica Caller - Chisholm Trail - cowboy poetry - medicine show
Yaqui[29] Danza del Venado
Zuni See Pueblo


See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Darden, pp. 8, 43–45, 48, 57; Broughton, Viv, and James Attlee, "Devil Stole the Beat" in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 568–579; Crawford, pp. 107, 111–112, 409–411; Burk, Cassie, Wirginia Meierhoffer and Claude Anderson Phillips, pp. 96–97; van de Merwe; Titon, Jeff Todd, "North America/Black America" in Worlds of Music, pp. 106–166; Lornell, pp. 75–77, 82–83.
  2. ^ Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 202; Crawford, pp. 70, 71, 157–158; Burk, Cassie, Wirginia Meierhoffer and Claude Anderson Phillips, pp. 11, 34; Lankford, p. 117; Lornell, pp. 65–67; World Music Central Archived 2006-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Means, Andrew, "Ha-Ya-Ya-, Weya Ha-Ya-Ya!", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 593–603; McAllester, David P., "North America/Native America" in Worlds of Music, pp. 16–66.
  4. ^ Fussell, pp. 3, 6–10; Ritchie, pp. 52, 57; Barraclough, Nick and Kurt Wolff, "High an' Lonesome" in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 536–551; Crawford, p. 601; Burk, Cassie, Wirginia Meierhoffer and Claude Anderson Phillips, pp. 101–105; Lankford, p. 38; Lornell, pp. 15–17, 65–67, 82–83
  5. ^ There is some ambiguity in usage regarding some of these terms. Bluegrass, for example, is not generally considered folk music, but is often loosely categorized along with it, and is especially associated with the Appalachian style. The term old-time music is also ambiguous, and can refer to styles of folk music from outside the Appalachian area. The American folk revival was a musical field in the 1950s and 60s that drew on many styles of American folk music, especially Appalachian music; however, the folk revival itself produced much undebateably popular music and little or no true folk music, depending on the precise definition of that term used.
  6. ^ Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 150.
  7. ^ Broughton, Simon and Jeff Kaliss, "Music Is the Glue", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 552–567; Lornell, pp. 70–71.
  8. ^ a b c Means, Andrew, "Ha-Ya-Ya-, Weya Ha-Ya-Ya!", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 593–603.
  9. ^ a b c Foran, Charles, "No More Solitudes", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 350–361.
  10. ^ Crawford, pp. 53–55; Maryland Music and Theatre Archived 2005-05-07 at the Wayback Machine; Burk, Cassie, Wirginia Meierhoffer and Claude Anderson Phillips, pp. 30, 44.
  11. ^ Crawford, p. 10.
  12. ^ Foran, Charles, and Etienne Bours, "No More Solitudes" and "Sealskin Hits" in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 350–361 and 143–145.
  13. ^ Sawyers, pp. 75–78, 194–198, 228–230.
  14. ^ Sawyers, pp. 62–67; 196–199, 208–290, 228–230.
  15. ^ Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 161; McAllester, David P., "North America/Native America" in Worlds of Music, pp. 16–66; McAllester, David P., "North America/Native America" in Worlds of Music, pp. 16–66.
  16. ^ Broughton, Simon, "Rhythm and Jews" in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 581–591; Lornell, pp. 77–78.
  17. ^ Broughton, Simon and Jeff Kaliss, "Music Is the Glue", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 552–567; Crawford, pp. 118–119; Burk, Cassie, Wirginia Meierhoffer and Claude Anderson Phillips, p. 99; Lornell, pp. 87–88
  18. ^ Ritchie, p. 54.
  19. ^ a b McAllester, David P., "North America/Native America" in Worlds of Music, pp. 16–66.
  20. ^ Manuel, Popular Musics, pp. 54–56; Farquharson, Mary and Ramiro Burr, "Much More Than Mariachi" and "Accordion Enchilada", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 463–476 and pp. 604–614; Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, pp. 193–194; Burk, Cassie, Wirginia Meierhoffer and Claude Anderson Phillips, pp. 48–49, 52, 190–191; Lornell, pp. 22–23, 72–73, 78–79.
  21. ^ Means, Andrew, "Ha-Ya-Ya-, Weya Ha-Ya-Ya!", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 593–603; Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 165; McAllester, David P., "North America/Native America" in Worlds of Music, pp. 16–66.
  22. ^ Crawford, pp. 24–25; World Music Central Archived 2006-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ Crawford, p. 391; McAllester, David P., "North America/Native America" in Worlds of Music, pp. 16–66.
  24. ^ Crawford, p. 400.
  25. ^ Means, Andrew, "Ha-Ya-Ya-, Weya Ha-Ya-Ya!", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 593–603; Crawford, p. 8; Lornell, p. 22–23
  26. ^ Crawford, pp. 162–164; Burk, Cassie, Wirginia Meierhoffer and Claude Anderson Phillips, p. 138; van de Merwe; Sawyers, pp. 197, 208; Lankford, pp. 38, 65–67, 75, 84–85; Abel, pp. 132–134, 172; World Music Central Archived 2006-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
  27. ^ Means, Andrew, "Ha-Ya-Ya-, Weya Ha-Ya-Ya!", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 593–603; Lornell, pp. 73–74
  28. ^ Crawford, p. 430, 433–435, 609; Burk, Cassie, Wirginia Meierhoffer and Claude Anderson Phillips, pp. 107, 187–189, 192–198; Lornell, pp. 74–75, 85–86.
  29. ^ World Music Central Archived 2006-02-07 at the Wayback Machine