Filk

[Aulirophile]

Just curious how many people here have heard of Filk as a category of music, and how often you see it turn up. Someone once estimated that 80,000ish people knew about "Filk." Considering the internet has penetrated into less tech savvy areas of society since that estimate, wondering if the number has gone up. I stumbled across three Filk music videos on youtube, which made me wonder.

It is, basically, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Folk Music. Though in the culture of Filk the definition doesn't quite do it justice, considering.

[brekk]

never heard of it before, and based on your description i will never attempt to listen to it.

[Tea on tuesday]

Thanks to one of the greatest movies ever, Trekkies, I was introduced to Filking. In my opinion, it is---pound for pound---the most unintentionally hilarious music ever made.

[Aulirophile]

Found a site that has some free downloads of a couple Filk songs.

http://www.prometheus-music.com/eli/virtual.html

If you want to look around. This one is particularly amusing...

http://www.prometheus-music.com/audio/techsupt.mp3

Hilarious song based around an actual tech support call.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cVOOXQo22o

One of the music videos I found. Still can't believe there is a Filk music video.

Tom Smith is easily one of the funniest Filkers around in my opinion. www.tomsmithonline.com, go look at his lyrics. ToT is right, Filk is pretty hilarious overall. Though he's clearly never been to a con and Filked all night if he thinks the hilarity is unintentional. >.<

[Tea on tuesday]

Oh, I'm sure you think it's hilarious, but I'm still not laughing with you; I'm laughing at you.

[Aulirophile]

Originally Posted by Tea on tuesday

Oh, I'm sure you think it's hilarious, but I'm still not laughing with you; I'm laughing at you.

I know. That's the whole point of "ose." Part of the culture of Filk, you'd have to go to a Filk sing before I could explain it. All in good fun.

[Angry Amadeus]

Originally Posted by Aulirophile

I know. That's the whole point of "ose." Part of the culture of Filk, you'd have to go to a Filk sing before I could explain it. All in good fun.

No offense, but you're sounding pretty queer.

When I first read this, I thought of "filtch". Can you describe what Filk is, exactly? My curiousity is peaked.

[Aulirophile]

Originally Posted by Angry Amadeus

No offense, but you're sounding pretty queer.

When I first read this, I thought of "filtch". Can you describe what Filk is, exactly? My curiousity is peaked.

None taken.

http://www.massfilc.org/filkdefined.html

Has a good set of links to start with. A, reasonalbly good but incomplete, definition for you.

Originally Posted by J. Spencer Love

Filk is a living folk cultural category with its roots in science fiction fandom, poetry, storytelling, and especially music. Like science fiction, it is an odd superset of all other cultural categories, existing on the fringes of many. Strong themes include parody (some would say homage), lyrics only, of the sort you'd find in Mad magazine, and science fiction, fantasy, and the kind of stuff you'd find littering the lives of fans, such as computers, the space program, cats, the Society for Creative Anachronism, and stuff that is stranger than you CAN imagine. The predominant musical format is folk, but there are well-executed instances of practically anything else. As in any living folk culture, all the members can participate, though not all do, and their skill and involvement levels vary widely. Set in the modern multi-cultural matrix, it eclectically adopts elements (e.g., songs) from the surrounding culture that seem to filkers to resonate properly within their communities, which show considerable regional variation and even controversy over what their boundaries should be.

I have to admit his comment about nearly all types of music being succesfully executed with Filk is especially appropriate. I've heard rap, jazz, country, pop, etc., just about everything listening to Filk songs at one point or another.