Folklore in Germany, Ireland and
Sweden
| „Tradition is not to
preserve the ashes but to pass on the flame" Performing and writing folksongs is not only singing about regional history or the hardships of living, but it is a form of building bridges. Bridges erected from sounds, sheet music and lyrics, showing how similar the lives of people always have been. We are not only neighbours on the same continent. We are human beings with the same emotions, delights and fears, sorrows and hopes. But we also have been neighbours who lived in conflicts and had been at war with one another. Folk music obliterates these historic trenches, while it emphasizes the cultural diversity and relationship in the same process. The differences in the lyrics, be it the official language, the language of minorities or dialects, highlight the fascination linked to this form of music. |
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| Everybody can join in, in his or her own way, without fearing a comparison with commercial products of the music industry. This is the people’s own form of art, genuine and of local uniqueness. I deeply wish us Europeans, that we may refer this art of folk music and our regional language to our children, that they might build new and stable bridges. I hope that as a balladeer I will be able to contribute to passing on the flame. | |
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