365 Days Of Folk

project description

• an online celebration of music, guided by the example of Jon Boden (afolksongaday.com).
• an ambitious multimedia discussion (aural, visual, and written) exploring the history of individual songs.
• a collaborative exploration of the positive effects on mental health & wellbeing (individual & societal) of individuals & groups learning a new folk song each day.
• an open forum for raising serious issues around mental illness.

goals

• discuss 366 songs during 2024, on social media (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, X, Medium), ideally one per day.
• involve a large number of collaborators (musicians, visual artists, writers, musicologists, collectors, etc).
• accompany the discussions with podcast episodes via 365daysoffolk.buzzsprout.com.
• later (2025), consider releasing the audio as digital streams.
• later (2025), consider compiling the project into a book co-credited to the contributors.
• later (2025), iterate this template into a new series “365 days of folk singers” or “365 days of fork (traditional recipes)” etc.

FAQ

• why are you doing this… most artists release an album every 2 years if they’re lucky… 366 songs in 1 year is surely an impossible feat?
  • as someone who’s tried CBT multiple times and other types of therapy, I’ve landed on the realisation that daily music-making is the solution for me. Learning a new song each day is my medication and keeps me sane. This rate of recording & releasing is what enables the rest of life to fit into place.
• why now?
  • 2024 is a leap year so we get a free extra song.
  • by 2025 it will be possible to tell an artificial intelligence to do things like “sing me song A in the voice of person B and put some guitar & harp into the mix”… 2024 is the last chance for a project that is humans-only. 
• why did you pick Jon’s list as your guide?
  • Jon Boden is an incredibly inspiring trad artist and song collector who set a brilliant example with his AFSAD project in 2010-11.
  • the list he created is representative of many eras & styles of folk music, ancient & modern, from diverse cultures. It is generous & inclusive in its highlighting of many songs & singers that may otherwise have been forgotten but for Jon’s tending the flame of their legacy. 
  • i see the AFSAD list as a template that others could likewise follow in future, like in the Lake District the “Bob Graham Round” is an ultramarathon course designed by shepherd Bob Graham, which is run by endurance athletes every year; they receive a cake and Guinness as their prize. Maybe 365DOF will kick off a similar tradition for future “endurance folkies” to follow? I can’t guarantee I will be around to provide the cake & Guinness as they cross the finish line.
  • please buy Jon’s records and go to his gigs.
• why did you start in January instead of July like he did?
  • treating it as a New Year’s resolution, i have tried & failed every year since 2021 (the lockdowns were a catalyst for my mental health journey and original decision to tackle the list). 2024 is the one!
  • also our baby arrived in October 2023 so it was only once we’d settled into parenthood after some weeks that I could consider picking up a daily-posting routine. (Time as a new parent is very scarce, so I usually end up recording the narrations in between household tasks whilst cradling the baby to sleep.)

https://linktr.ee/365daysoffolk