Filk
| Filk music | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | United States |
| Typical instruments | |
Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction/fantasy fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has been active since the early 1950s, and played primarily since the mid-1970s.
The term "filk" (originally a typographical error) predates 1955. (See also below.)
It is used
As Interfilk's What is it? page demonstrates, there is no consensus on the definition of filk. Attempts have been made to define filk based on various criteria.
Filk has been defined as folk music, usually with a science fiction or fantasy theme, but this definition is not exact. Filkers have been known to write filk songs about a variety of topics, including but not limited to tangentially related topics such as computers and cats. In addition, while the majority of filk songs are in the folk style, other styles such as blues, calypso, and even rock appear from time to time.
Filk has been defined as what is sung or performed by the network of people who originally gathered to sing at science fiction/fantasy conventions. This definition might be summarized as, "We can argue what it is until we're red or green or blue, but when filkers get together it's the thing we do."
Yet another definition focuses on filking as a community of those who are interested in filk music and who form part of the social network self-identified with filking. As described later in this article, the origins of filk in science fiction conventions and its current organization emphasizes the social-network aspect of filking. The social aspect of filk as contrasted with the "performer vs. audience" dichotomy of much of modern music was described in a speech by ethnomusicologist Dr. Sally Childs-Helton.
By any of these definitions, filk is a form of music created from within science fiction and fantasy fandom, often performed late at night at science fiction conventions, though there are now dedicated filk conventions in Canada, England, Germany, and the USA. The boundaries of filking are vague. For example, filking overlaps with the singing and music performed by participants in the Society for Creative Anachronism or at LARPs.
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