Over the past 30 years, in many parts of the world, there's been an explosion of interest in traditional music that's seen it cross over into the mainstream. In America it happened in the 60s, in Ireland in the 70s and continues to this day. In Scandinavia and much of Africa it happened more recently, and in some regions such as the north of England and Scotland we are seeing a second wave of young musicians bringing the music to a wider audience.
These ‘folk revivals’, and the mainstream interest that comes with them, have had a revitalising effect on old musical traditions, but many purists argue that what is gained in exposure, support and enthusiasm is counterbalanced by what is lost in authenticity.
The process of revival often involves musicians from outside mining traditional music for material they can commercialise. In its worst form, this has involved mainstream musicians appropriating the music of unpaid Indigenous musicians to make their millions.
Some famous examples:
- The Lion Sleeps Tonight — originally called Mbube, this song was recorded in 1939 by Zulu singer Solomon Linda, who based it on a Zulu hunting song. The song has been covered many times by different artists (including The Tokens, Brian Eno and R.E.M.) and eight versions have been top 10 hits in the US, UK, France or Japan. The song has earned untold millions, but Linda died in 1962 in extreme poverty. In 2006, after many years of campaigning and legal action, Solomon Linda’s descendants received an undisclosed settlement from the song’s publishers.
- Sweet Lullaby by Deep Forest — the distinctive vocal track on this 1992 hit is actually a Baegu lullaby from Northern Malaita in the Solomon Islands. The song Rorogwela was sung by a woman called Afunakwa and sampled by Deep Forest from an ethnographic recording. Afunakwa and her people were neither paid nor credited. Indeed the original liner notes give the impression that the source material is from African pygmy tribes. The song has been widely used in commercials, and once again has earned millions.
In the case of Yothu Yindi, the tables have been turned. With the song Treaty, we see an example of Indigenous musicians appropriating Western musical sounds, song structures and technology to take their traditional culture to the masses.
