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Show the filkfolk in the room told me it fit in perfectly "A filk song is whatever a filker sings," someone said. Sounded like as good a definition as I was going to get. Basically, it was an ultra well-organized song circle, with a lot of humor and a lot of sing-alongs. Mar and Faber both proved to be fine musicians with lovely voices, but everyone who wanted to got to sing. A couple of kids went through the crowd at the beginning of each round, handing out bookmarks as "chips." You handed in your "chip" when you took your turn. You could do a song, request a song from someone else, request a song on a particular subject, or just pass. The 30 people in the room sage, listened and applauded in a spirit of complete musical harmony. No one was there to exercise ego or show off; everyone just came for the music. I learned that filking has been around for 40 years or better. No one really knew where the term came from: one guess was that it was a cross between "folk" and "filch." Another person maintained that it came out of the word, folksinging, misprinted into filksinging in the program of some longagoCON. I never got a real definition of what a filksong is, either. Nobody there cared. They were all interested in laughing, singing and having a good time, rather than definitions. And a good time they had. Filking, I learned, takes place only at CONs, at least around here. All I can say is, it's just folk with a slight slant-and completely within the best sense of the folk tradition. The next CON I cross paths with, I'm bringing my guitar. Let's see, now, if I can just find a way to set The Trouble With Tribbles to the tune of Blowin' in the Wind. -Dennis McCarty NuSoundMusic 5434 S. 1900 W. Roy, Utah 825-4444 Custom speakers & P.A. systems Dealers for: Crate/Audio Centron/Crest Shure/ ART /Digitech/ Am peg Sabine tuners and feedback exterminators Alvarez/ESP guitars/Takamine Taylor/Westone/Washburn Salt City Priqtiqg Fine Commercial and Business Printing Software Documentation and Fulfillment 10% Discount with your lAMA Card 58 East Cleveland Avenue (1440 So.) Salt Lake City, UT 84115 (801) 485-3944 FAX 487-0732 Intermountain Acoustic Musician, June 1993 11 |
