“Free of the taint of manufacture” – that phrase, in particular, is heavily loaded with the
ideology of what the Victorian socialist William Morris called the “anti-scrape”, or an anticapitalist conservationism (not conservatism) that solaced itself with the vision of a preindustrial golden age. In Britain, folk may often appear a cosy, fossilised form, but when you
look more closely, the idea of folk – who has the right to sing it, dance it, invoke it, collect it,
belong to it or appropriate it for political or cultural ends – has always been contested territory.
. . .
In our own time, though, the word “folk” . . . has achieved the rare distinction of occupying
fashionable and unfashionable status simultaneously. Just as the effusive floral prints of the
radical William Morris now cover genteel sofas, so the revolutionary intentions of many folk
historians and revivalists have led to music that is commonly regarded as parochial and
conservative. And yet – as newspaper columns periodically rejoice – folk is hip again,
influencing artists, clothing and furniture designers, celebrated at music festivals, awards
ceremonies and on TV, reissued on countless record labels. Folk is a sonic “shabby chic”,
containing elements of the uncanny and eerie, as well as an antique veneer, a whiff of
Britain’s heathen dark ages. The very obscurity and anonymity of folk music’s origins open up
space for rampant imaginative fancies. . . .
[Cecil Sharp, who wrote about this subject, believed that] folk songs existed in constant
transformation, a living example of an art form in a perpetual state of renewal. “One man
sings a song, and then others sing it after him, changing what they do not like” is the most
concise summary of his conclusions on its origins. He compared each rendition of a ballad to
an acorn falling from an oak tree; every subsequent iteration sows the song anew. But there is
tension in newness. In the late 1960s, purists were suspicious of folk songs recast in rock
idioms. Electrification, however, comes in many forms. For the early-20th-century composers
such as Vaughan Williams and Holst, there were thunderbolts of inspiration from oriental
mysticism, angular modernism and the body blow of the first world war, as well as input from
the rediscovered folk tradition itself.
For the second wave of folk revivalists, such as Ewan MacColl and AL Lloyd, starting in the
40s, the vital spark was communism’s dream of a post-revolutionary New Jerusalem. For their
younger successors in the 60s, who thronged the folk clubs set up by the old guard, the lyrical
freedom of Dylan and the unchained melodies of psychedelia created the conditions for folkrock’s own golden age, a brief Indian summer that lasted from about 1969 to 1971. . . . Four
decades on, even that progressive period has become just one more era ripe for fashionable
emulation and pastiche. The idea of a folk tradition being exclusively confined to oral
transmission has become a much looser, less severely guarded concept. Recorded music
and television, for today’s metropolitan generation, are where the equivalent of folk memories
are seeded. . . .
Q.1 At a conference on folk forms, the author of the passage is least likely to agree with which one of the following views ?
Folk forms, in their ability to constantly adapt to the changing world, exhibit an unusual poise and homogeneity with each change.
Folk forms, despite their archaic origins, remain intellectually relevant in contemporary times
The plurality and democratising impulse of folk forms emanate from the improvisation that its practitioners bring to it.
The power of folk resides in its contradictory ability to influence and be influenced by the present while remaining rooted in the past.
Answer: 1
Q.2 The primary purpose of the reference to William Morris and his floral prints is to show:
the pervasive influence of folk on contemporary art, culture, and fashion.
that what is once regarded as radical in folk, can later be seen as conformist.
that despite its archaic origins, folk continues to remain a popular tradition.
that what was once derided as genteel is now considered revolutionary
Answer: 2
Q.3 Which of the following statements about folk revivalism of the 1940s and 1960s cannot be inferred from the passage?
It reinforced Cecil Sharp’s observation about folk’s constant transformation
Freedom and rebellion were popular themes during the second wave of folk revivalism
Electrification of music would not have happened without the influence of rock music.
Even though it led to folk-rock’s golden age, it wasn’t entirely free from critique.
Answer: 3
Q.4 The author says that folk “may often appear a cosy, fossilised form” because:
the notion of folk has led to several debates and disagreements.
it has been arrogated for various political and cultural purposes
of its nostalgic association with a pre-industrial past.
folk is a sonic “shabby chic” with an antique veneer.
Answer: 3
Q.5 All of the following are causes for plurality and diversity within the British folk tradition EXCEPT:
the fluidity of folk forms owing to their history of oral mode of transmission.
that British folk continues to have traces of pagan influence from the dark ages
that British folk forms can be traced to the remote past of the country.
paradoxically, folk forms are both popular and unpopular.
Answer: 4
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