Filk Music
A few people at the Birmingham gig asked what I meant by 'keen filker' in my introduction.
So here's a 'quick' filk primer:
Filk is music sung by science fiction and fantasy fans. Back in the 1950's it was common for there to be folk music sung at science fiction conventions, the lyrics were often changed to be about the fandoms the singers held dear. After one convention's folk singing session was typoed in the programme as 'Filk music', the name stuck and 'filk' gradually came to mean music sung about science fiction and fantasy. Sometimes this would be heartfelt songs sung in the folk style, but it increasingly also began to be sung to contemporary music or as new lyrics to well known songs of the time. Many filkers also began to make their songs humorous, either parodying the songs whose tune they used or poking fun out of some aspect of their fandom or conventions or filk music itself. Some of those filkers
Most science fiction and fantasy conventions will include some filk singing. Traditionally this is late at night and involves sitting in a circle and taking it in turns at singing, either going around the circle (in the bardic tradition) or anyone chipping in to sing if they have a song that relates to the subject, style or theme of the previous song. At some larger or filk-friendly conventions there will also be filk concerts where respected filk singers perform sets. There's also a tradition of 'one shots' or 'twofers' which are a kind of open mic where anyone can stand up and sing one or two songs.
There are also specific filk conventions where people with a passion for both music and science fiction and/or fantasy get together to sing. At these there are workshops (such as how to perform with a mic, how to play a theramin etc), lots of sets by many different filkers (anyone can apply for a set - for example I'm doing one at next year's convention!), awards for best new song, funniest song, best performance etc, concerts by special guest filkers (including an international guest) and of course circle time every evening (and at the dead dog party after everything else is packed away and the convention's over).
Filk is all about inclusion, not ability, so anyone can sing in the circle or as a one shot, regardless of if they're the best singer or can't play a musical instrument. Some people even choose to read out lyrics or poetry instead. As it's in the folk and bardic tradition, people often perform other people's songs, giving attribution. JoCo seems to be extremely popular amongst younger filkers as I saw Code Monkey performed in a set at the last convention, several people (including me) sang their favourite JoCo songs during circle time and I know of lots of FilkCon attendees who went to the first London gig (and were raving about it at Orbital 2008 the next day) ...also there are about 3370 results on Google for '"jonathan coulton" filk'...
Personally my own filk music is almost always humorous and always to the tunes of existing well known contemporary music. My filks include:
A version of Terry Pratchett's Hedgehog Song changed to be about sex with Star Trek universe races
A parody of 'Ironic' by Alanis Morissette about the actual meaning of Irony
'Still Alive' rewritten to be about singing the above two songs at a filk convention this year
A 'Men In Black' style Will Smith rap about the Three Laws of Robotics (written when ''I, Robot' was announced)
'Babe' by Take That rewritten to be HAL 9000 talking to Dave Bowman outside the podbay doors in 2001: A Space Odyssey
A comment on how filk circles often end up stuck in a run of songs about dragons, to the tune of Rainbow Connection from The Muppet Movie
The UK National Filk Convention runs every February in Grantham, next year's is called AXXIdental (as it's the con's 21st year). I'm not an organiser, but I am already registered and paid up. It's definitely somewhere that you'll find new music in a similar style to Jonathan Coulton, songs to the tune of your favourite songs, as well as lots of JoCo fans -- I'd love to see some of you there!
There are also many filk conventions in the US and Canada, and at least one in continental Europe that I know of. For more information about those and filk in general, here's a few helpful sites:
The filking.net FAQ
The Wikipedia page on Filk Music
Filk.com
Hope some of you find that interesting anyway
So here's a 'quick' filk primer:
Filk is music sung by science fiction and fantasy fans. Back in the 1950's it was common for there to be folk music sung at science fiction conventions, the lyrics were often changed to be about the fandoms the singers held dear. After one convention's folk singing session was typoed in the programme as 'Filk music', the name stuck and 'filk' gradually came to mean music sung about science fiction and fantasy. Sometimes this would be heartfelt songs sung in the folk style, but it increasingly also began to be sung to contemporary music or as new lyrics to well known songs of the time. Many filkers also began to make their songs humorous, either parodying the songs whose tune they used or poking fun out of some aspect of their fandom or conventions or filk music itself. Some of those filkers
Most science fiction and fantasy conventions will include some filk singing. Traditionally this is late at night and involves sitting in a circle and taking it in turns at singing, either going around the circle (in the bardic tradition) or anyone chipping in to sing if they have a song that relates to the subject, style or theme of the previous song. At some larger or filk-friendly conventions there will also be filk concerts where respected filk singers perform sets. There's also a tradition of 'one shots' or 'twofers' which are a kind of open mic where anyone can stand up and sing one or two songs.
There are also specific filk conventions where people with a passion for both music and science fiction and/or fantasy get together to sing. At these there are workshops (such as how to perform with a mic, how to play a theramin etc), lots of sets by many different filkers (anyone can apply for a set - for example I'm doing one at next year's convention!), awards for best new song, funniest song, best performance etc, concerts by special guest filkers (including an international guest) and of course circle time every evening (and at the dead dog party after everything else is packed away and the convention's over).
Filk is all about inclusion, not ability, so anyone can sing in the circle or as a one shot, regardless of if they're the best singer or can't play a musical instrument. Some people even choose to read out lyrics or poetry instead. As it's in the folk and bardic tradition, people often perform other people's songs, giving attribution. JoCo seems to be extremely popular amongst younger filkers as I saw Code Monkey performed in a set at the last convention, several people (including me) sang their favourite JoCo songs during circle time and I know of lots of FilkCon attendees who went to the first London gig (and were raving about it at Orbital 2008 the next day) ...also there are about 3370 results on Google for '"jonathan coulton" filk'...
Personally my own filk music is almost always humorous and always to the tunes of existing well known contemporary music. My filks include:
A version of Terry Pratchett's Hedgehog Song changed to be about sex with Star Trek universe races
A parody of 'Ironic' by Alanis Morissette about the actual meaning of Irony
'Still Alive' rewritten to be about singing the above two songs at a filk convention this year
A 'Men In Black' style Will Smith rap about the Three Laws of Robotics (written when ''I, Robot' was announced)
'Babe' by Take That rewritten to be HAL 9000 talking to Dave Bowman outside the podbay doors in 2001: A Space Odyssey
A comment on how filk circles often end up stuck in a run of songs about dragons, to the tune of Rainbow Connection from The Muppet Movie
The UK National Filk Convention runs every February in Grantham, next year's is called AXXIdental (as it's the con's 21st year). I'm not an organiser, but I am already registered and paid up. It's definitely somewhere that you'll find new music in a similar style to Jonathan Coulton, songs to the tune of your favourite songs, as well as lots of JoCo fans -- I'd love to see some of you there!
There are also many filk conventions in the US and Canada, and at least one in continental Europe that I know of. For more information about those and filk in general, here's a few helpful sites:
The filking.net FAQ
The Wikipedia page on Filk Music
Filk.com
Hope some of you find that interesting anyway
Comments
I used to just find a midi of the tune, and post the lyric with a link to the midi file so the viewing public could read along to the tune ! ;' )))