European folk music has not one sound but many. There are countless soundscapes between Sardinia and Norway, from the Atlantic coast to the Urals, each one distinct. All have their own character. Europe means polyphony, a thicket of diversity where for millennia cultures have been flowing together and drifting apart, creating a musical patchwork. Traditional music? The term suggests constancy and permanence: familiar tunes and homely songs. The melodies of the past seem to offer a stable foothold, in opposition to the ever faster innovations of the present. However this nostalgia is an illusion, a false idyll. Many of the musical styles we now perceive as traditional were originally radical and modern. They resulted from dramatic changes which shook the 19th century European world and turned it upside down. The industrial revolution triggered technical innovations and social change on a massive scale. New instruments were invented: the accordion, mouth organ, concertina, banjo and saxophone, plus brass instruments equipped with valves like the trumpet and tuba. Later, factory production turned these new musical instruments into relatively cheap mass produced items which many people could afford.
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European folk music has not one sound but many. There are countless soundscapes between Sardinia and Norway, from the Atlantic coast to the Urals, each one distinct. All have their own character. Europe means polyphony, a thicket of diversity where for millennia cultures have been flowing together and drifting apart, creating a musical patchwork. Traditional music? The term suggests constancy and permanence: familiar tunes and homely songs. The melodies of the past seem to offer a stable foothold, in opposition to the ever faster innovations of the present. However this nostalgia is an illusion, a false idyll. Many of the musical styles we now perceive as traditional were originally radical and modern. They resulted from dramatic changes which shook the 19th century European world and turned it upside down. The industrial revolution triggered technical innovations and social change on a massive scale. New instruments were invented: the accordion, mouth organ, concertina, banjo and saxophone, plus brass instruments equipped with valves like the trumpet and tuba. Later, factory production turned these new musical instruments into relatively cheap mass produced items which many people could afford.
