Antifolk
| Anti-folk | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Folk, punk rock, avant-garde, folk punk |
| Cultural origins | Mid 1980s United States. |
| Typical instruments | Guitar, bass, drums, piano |
| Other topics | |
Anti-folk (sometimes antifolk or unfolk) is a music genre that seeks to subvert the earnestness of politically charged 1960s folk music. The defining characteristics of anti-folk are difficult to identify, as they vary from one artist to the next. The music tends to sound raw or experimental. It generally mocks perceived seriousness and pretension in the established mainstream music scene. Artists of the anti-folk genre seem to observe the "rules" of music, but then deliberately break them.
Anti-folk was introduced by artists who were unable to obtain gigs at established folk venues in Greenwich Village such as Folk City and The Speakeasy. Soon after, singer-songwriter Lach started The Fort, an after-hours club on NYC's Lower East Side. The Fort's opening coincided with the New York Folk Festival, so Lach dubbed his event the New York Antifolk Festival. Other early proponents of the movement included The Washington Squares, Cindy Lee Berryhill, Brenda Kahn, Paleface, Beck, Hamell on Trial, Michelle Shocked, Zane Campbell, and John S. Hall.Roger Manning,Kirk Kelly,Sander Hicks, and Block were also early anti-folk artists.
The original Fort was shut down in 1985, and the club moved from location to location, including East Village bars Sophie's and Chameleon, before winding up in the back room of the SideWalk Cafe from 1993. The New York Antifolk Festival continues to be held annually at the SideWalk Cafe (long outlasting the original Folk Festival). Events have also taken place in the band shells in Tompkins Square Park and Central Park. While living in San Francisco for a few years in the early 1990s, Lach helped establish a West Coast anti-folk movement at the Sacred Grounds Coffee House.
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