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Folk Britannia: "All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song." (Louis Armstrong)
This February, 91Èȱ¬ FOUR shines the spotlight on Britain's rich musical heritage with a season of programming devoted to folk. Through documentary, archive and two new live performances recorded at the Barbican, the channel will celebrate the traditional music of the British Isles.
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Folk Britannia - a three-part documentary series beginning in early February - will trace the evolution of British folk music from the end of the Second World War right up to its latter-day revival.
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It follows on from, and is made by the same team behind, last year's critically-acclaimed Jazz Britannia series.
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Divided into three one-hour episodes, Folk Britannia's story is told by the musicians who lived and shaped it - a stellar cast from every era including Bert Jansch, Peggy Seeger, Martin Carthy, Donovan, Davy Graham, Richard Thompson, Maddy Prior, Billy Bragg, Shane MacGowan, Beth Orton and Seth Lakeman.
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The first programme - Ballads & Blues - explores politics, ownership and the birth of the British folk revival.
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In the early 20th century, a new breed of folksong collectors, led by Cecil Sharp, worked to preserve and promote the traditional folk music which would bolster national pride during turbulent times.
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In post-war Britain, this folkloric tradition was assimilated into a revolutionary soundtrack by the left-wing artists Ewan MacColl and Bert Lloyd.
MacColl founded Britain's first modern folk club - The Ballad And Blues Club - and his groundbreaking Radio Ballads, which championed the working-class hero, were broadcast to unanimous acclaim.
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But by the mid-Fifties, skiffle had captured the imagination of the nation's youth. Songs by American artists like Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie filled the airwaves whilst a growing bohemian movement in Greenwich, New York, began to wrestle folk music from the communists.
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Programme two - Folk Roots New Routes - looks at the Sixties folk boom, when the hippie generation repackaged folk music to appeal to a wider audience.
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A new breed of virtuoso travelling guitarists like Davy Graham and Bert Jansch became the heroes of the movement as folk clubs, run by young people for young people, sprang up all over the country.
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In 1965, Britain produced its first folk pop star in the form of Donovan - who embraced bohemia and turned his back on society, "challenging hypocrisy and greed".
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Later the same year, Dylan polarised folk fans by going electric but there was a mood for experimentation.
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In Scotland, the Incredible String Band fused folk with psychedelia while Pentangle explored the possibilities of jazz-folk.
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Folk rock entered the mainstream - Lindisfarne's Fog On The Tyne spent 54 weeks in the charts - but by the mid-Seventies the genre had become a parody of itself.
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The final episode - Between The Wars - explores how, since this low point in the late Seventies, folk music has continually reinvented itself to appeal to new audiences.
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Politicised folk enjoyed a renaissance in the war between the miners and Thatcherism and punks like Billy Bragg, and artists from the crustie traveller scene which followed, re-engaged in social and political protest.
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In the Nineties second generation folkies, like Eliza Carthy, emerged to take on the mantle of the folk traditionalists and the 91Èȱ¬ Radio 2 Folk Awards were launched to celebrate industry achievements.
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The story is brought right up to date with the two, very different, folk scenes flourishing today.
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The first is at home in the traditional folk clubs, whilst artists like Devendra Banhart and King Creosote belong to a neo-folk scene which harks back to some of the most exciting neo-psychedelic and pastoral folk albums of the Sixties.
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Folk Britannia engages with the disparate and sometimes argumentative elements of the contemporary folk scene to consider tradition, nationality and folk music's direction in the 21st Century.
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The Barbican's Folk Britannia festival, which runs from Thursday 2 February to Saturday 4 February, provides the live response to 91Èȱ¬ FOUR's programming.
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The weekend event features three themed concerts - Which Side Are You On, Daughters of Albion and Into The Mystic - in the Barbican Hall, free music, films and talks.
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During February, 91Èȱ¬ FOUR will broadcast Which Side Are You On? Curated by Billy Bragg, the concert features a broad cast of characters including Dick Gaughan and Martin Carthy OBE.
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Daughters of Albion, a themed concert bringing together some of the finest female folk artists and singer-songwriters, will also broadcast in February. Artists including June Tabor, Norma Waterson, Eliza Carthy, Kathryn Williams, Sheila Chandra and ex-Lamb vocalist Lou Rhodes will perform a set list that places ancient folk ballads alongside West Country trip hop and 21st Century R&B.
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And it truly is a folk-tastic February, because the 91Èȱ¬ Radio 2 Folk Awards 2006 take place on Monday 6 February and highlights will broadcast on Wednesday 8 February.
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Full details and the nominations can be found at bbc.co.uk/radio2.
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Notes to Editors
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Details of the archive programmes, which will broadcast on 91Èȱ¬ FOUR as part of the Folk Britannia season, will follow.
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AG
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