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A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or holiday. Music festivals are generally organized by individuals or organizations within networks of music production, typically music scenes, the music industries, or institutions of music education. [2] : 160–164
Music festivals are commonly held outdoors, with tents or roofed temporary stages for the performers. Often music festivals host other attractions such as food and merchandise vending, dance, crafts, performance art, and social or cultural activities. Many festivals are annual, or repeat at some other interval, while some are held only once. Some festivals are organized as for-profit concerts and others are benefits for a specific charitable cause. [3] At music festivals associated with charitable causes, there may be information about social or political issues.
The Pythian Games at Delphi included musical performances, and may be one of the earliest festivals known. [4] During the Middle Ages, festivals were often held as competitions.[ citation needed ]
The music festival emerged in England in the 18th century, as an extension of urban concert life into a form of seasonal, cultural festivity, structured around a schedule of music performances, or concerts. [2] : 168 [5] [6] [ page needed ] Music festivals generally feature regular and extensive programming, than more spontaneous or improvised forms of music festivity. In traditional genres such as folk and classical music, a music festival can be defined as a community event, with performances of singing and instrument playing, that is often presented with a theme such as a music genre (e.g., blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or holiday.
Music festivals have developed as an industry which contributes to national economies. For example, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival earned $115 million in 2017. [7] Music festivals can be a way of building a brand for a destination, creating a unique image for it and attracting visitors. [8] For example, Lollapalooza, Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas, Ultra Music Festival, Electric Forest, and others.
While contemporary festivals are often represented as flourishing grounds for extraordinary experiences, [9] they increasingly serve as a way to create cultural identity, lifestyle, community, belonging and self-actualisation. [10] Furthermore, festivals are a manifestation for creating escapism [11] and a seasonal cultural economy to experience ritually and collectively. [12]
Another type of music festival is the music education, often organized annually in local communities, regionally, or nationally, for the benefit of amateur musicians of all ages and grades of achievement. [13] Entrants perform prepared pieces or songs in front of an audience which includes competitors, family and friends, and members of the community, along with one or more adjudicators or judges. These adjudicators, who may be music teachers, professors, or professional performers, provide verbal and written feedback to each performer or group. The adjudicator may be someone whom they might never meet in any other way, as is the case when an adjudicator from another city is brought in to judge. They also usually receive a certificate, classified according to merit or ranking, and some may win trophies or even scholarships. The most important aspect is that participants can learn from one another rather than compete. Such festivals aim to provide a friendly and supportive platform for musicians to share in the excitement of making music. For many, they provide a bridge from lessons and examinations to performing confidently in public; for a few of the top performers, they provide a pathway to further professional study of music in a college, university or conservatory.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin's 11-day event, Summerfest, promotes itself as "The World's Largest Music Festival." Operating annually since 1968, the festival attracts between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people each year, and hosts over 800 musical acts. [14] The Woodstock Festival in 1969 drew nearly 500,000 attendees, and the Polish spin-off Przystanek Woodstock in 2014 drew 750,000 [15] thus becoming the largest open air annual festival in Europe and the second largest in the world. In comparison, the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, attracts about 135,000 spectators each year. [16] Glastonbury Festival has a capacity of about 275,000 spectators, but has "fallow years" roughly every five years, so it is the biggest non-annual greenfield festival in the world. The oldest annual dedicated pop music festival in the world is Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands, [17] though in other genres, there are much older ones: the Three Choirs Festival in the UK has run annually [18] since 1719. The Queensland Music Festival, established in 1999 and headquartered in Brisbane Australia, is the largest music festival by land mass, as a state-wide music biennial music festival, over a three-week period during July.
Lists of music festivals in:
In the most general of terms, music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise expressive content. Definitions of music vary depending on culture, though it is an aspect of all human societies and a cultural universal. While scholars agree that music is defined by a few specific elements, there is no consensus on their precise definitions. The creation of music is commonly divided into musical composition, musical improvisation, and musical performance, though the topic itself extends into academic disciplines, criticism, philosophy, psychology, and therapeutic contexts. Music may be performed or improvised using a vast range of instruments, including the human voice, and thus is often credited for its extreme versatility and opportunity for creativity.
World music is an English phrase for styles of music from non-Western countries, including quasi-traditional, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical category pose obstacles to a universal definition, but its ethic of interest in the culturally exotic is encapsulated in Roots magazine's description of the genre as "local music from out there".
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, 40 miles (65 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music" and alternatively referred to as the Woodstock Rock Festival, it attracted more than 460,000 attendees. Thirty-two acts performed outdoors despite overcast and sporadic rain. It was one of the largest music festivals in history and became synonymous with the counterculture of the 1960s.
A festival is an extraordinary event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival constitutes typical cases of glocalization, as well as the high culture-low culture interrelationship. Next to religion and folklore, a significant origin is agricultural. Food is such a vital resource that many festivals are associated with harvest time. Religious commemoration and thanksgiving for good harvests are blended in events that take place in autumn, such as Halloween in the northern hemisphere and Easter in the southern.
Jesus music, known as gospel beat music in the United Kingdom, is a style of Christian music that originated on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This musical genre developed in parallel to the Jesus movement. It outlasted the movement that spawned it and the Christian music industry began to eclipse it and absorb its musicians around 1975.
A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety and size of settings, from private houses and small nightclubs, dedicated concert halls, amphitheatres and parks, to large multipurpose buildings, such as arenas and stadiums. Indoor concerts held in the largest venues are sometimes called arena concerts or amphitheatre concerts. Informal names for a concert include show and gig.
The music of Hawaii includes an array of traditional and popular styles, ranging from native Hawaiian folk music to modern rock and hip hop. Styles like slack-key guitar are well known worldwide, while Hawaiian-tinged music is a frequent part of Hollywood soundtracks. Hawaii also made a contribution to country music with the introduction of the steel guitar. In addition, the music which began to be played by Puerto Ricans in Hawaii in the early 1900s is called cachi cachi music, on the islands of Hawaii.
The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1972, the festival was taken over by the Roskilde Foundation, which has since run the festival as a non-profit organization for development and support of music, culture and humanism. In 2014, the Roskilde Foundation provided festival participants with the opportunity to nominate and vote upon which organizations should receive funds raised by the festival.
Pinkpop is an annual music festival held at Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is usually held on the Pentecost weekend. If Pentecost falls on an early date in May, the festival is held later in June. Starting in 1970, at Burgemeester Damen Sportpark in the city of Geleen, Pinkpop is the oldest and longest running annual dedicated pop and rock music festival in the world.
Music of Serbia represents the musical heritage of Serbia, both historical and modern. It has a variety of traditional music styles, which are part of the wider Balkan musical tradition, with its own distinctive sound and characteristics.
Coachella is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. It was co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen in 1999, and is organized by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Presents. The event features musical artists from many genres of music, including rock, pop, indie, hip hop and electronic dance music, as well as art installations and sculptures. Across the grounds, several stages continuously host live music.
The Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual Australian music festival held for 10 days from Friday to Sunday in mid to late January each year, sometimes including Australia Day, in Tamworth, New South Wales. The festival is the second biggest country music festival in the world, after the CMA Music Festival in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Music of Goa refers to music from the state of Goa, on the west coast of India. A wide variety of music genres are used in Goa ranging from Western art music to Indian classical music. Konkani music is also popular across this tiny state. Being a former territory of Portugal, Goa has a dominant western musical scene with the use of instrument such as the violin, drums, guitar, trumpet and piano. It has also produced a number of prominent musicians and singers for the world of Indian music. Portuguese Fado also has significance in Goa.
Nagaland is inhabited by 15 major tribes along with other sub-tribes. Each tribe is distinct in character in terms of customs, language and dress. It is a land of folklore passed down the generations through word of mouth. Here, music is an integral part of life.
Somerset is a county in the south-west of England. It is home to many types of music.
Pol'and'Rock Festival, formerly known as Woodstock Festival Poland, is an annual free rock music festival in Poland, inspired by the Woodstock festival. The festival has been held since 1995. In 2009 Woodstock Festival Poland gathered an audience of over 400,000 people, in 2011 the attendance was above 700,000, in 2012 about 550,000 people, in 2013 about 500,000 and in 2014 the attendance reached a record high of about 750,000. As of 2019, the aggregate attendance of the festival is 750,000 making it one of the biggest music festivals in the world.
Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, celebrated yearly in July in Kaustinen, Finland, is the biggest folk music and dance festival in the Nordic countries. It was first celebrated in 1968. The festival originated in showcasing the famous local fiddle-based music tradition, which has continued uninterrupted 250 or more years, and is still the emotional core of the event. Finland has decided to propose the Kaustinen tradition into Unesco Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage spring 2020.
Popular music pedagogy — alternatively called popular music education, rock music pedagogy, or rock music education — is a development in music education consisting of the systematic teaching and learning of popular music both inside and outside formal classroom settings. Popular music pedagogy tends to emphasize group improvisation and is more often associated with community music activities than fully institutionalized school music ensembles.
A music cruise is a type of cruise ship tourism whose purpose centers around a musician, band, or musical lineup with performances by the act or acts and interaction between the cruise-goers and the stars. Music cruises can be thematic in genre, such as jazz, blues, rock, a musical era such as the 1980s, country, and others, or may center around a particular musician, band or related bands. Music cruises feature musical performances by the act or acts, and involve social activities between fans and cruise performers such as Meet and Greets, question and answer sessions, and parties.
Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage is a 2021 documentary film about the music festival Woodstock '99.