Earlier in the semester, our class discussed the collection of folk music by Alan Lomax during the Great Depression. However, how folk music was created was a question that was neither answered nor explored.
While browsing the Library of Congress’ database, I encountered a song entitled, “Wake Up, Jacob,” composed by Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston explains that work camps were awoken to the singing of the camp’s crier. These compositions were original; however, it is likely that they incorporated music sung by one’s family or community.
Additional elements of the song were inspired by these songs’ purposes. “Wake Up, Jacob” incorporates the knocking of one’s hand against a hard surface. This knocking is meant to mirror the rapping of one’s hand against the lodgings where members of the work camp were sleeping.
In “Ballad for Americans,” an article produced by the website Radio Diaries1, the origins of this popular song are discussed. It was composed by a gay man and popularized by a black man but adopted by all Americans as an anthem of national unity. When considered alongside “Wake Up, Jacob,” a song that incorporated musical elements from slave communities, the origins of most folk music becomes irrelevant. Instead, the music’s use in uniting people under a common banner becomes that of central importance, as we can see by the songs sung in work camps across the country.
Additionally, we should consider folk music to be a part of a region’s history. In Digital Exhibit’s article, “The American Guide Series,” there is no mention of music sung by a state’s inhabitants.2 This is discouraging, as the songs a people sings speak volumes of their beliefs and values. Although one may visit a state and its monuments, one cannot fully understand a people without knowing of their music.
Folk music is not a narrow category of music. It is the incorporation of culture and new surroundings and unites all of those who listen it – folk music is the music of the people.
