Filk music is a musical culture, genre and community of sung and written verse tied to science fiction, fantasy and horror fandom, and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s, and it has a niche but faithful popularity in the underground.
Facts
Place of Origin Notable ExampleThe Ohio Valley Filk Fest (OVFF) in Columbus, Ohio, one of the earliest dedicated filk conventions, alongside FilkCon in Chicago (1979). 1 Defining TraitA fan-created musical genre mixing song parodies and original music on science-fiction, fantasy and fandom themes, performed communally at conventions. 1 In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Filk Music (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationEtymology and definitions section, quoting Nick Smith of the Los Angeles Filkharmonics
It is a mixture of song parodies and original music, humorous and serious, about subjects like science fiction, fantasy, computers, cats, politics, the space program, books, movies, TV shows, love, war, death...
History section
the term filk music started as a misspelling of folk music in an essay by Lee Jacobs, "The Influence of Science Fiction on Modern American Filk Music"
History section, list of dedicated filk conventions
beginning with FilkCon in Chicago in 1979, organized by Margaret Middleton and Curt Clemmer, later joined by BayFilk in Northern California; the Ohio Valley Filk Fest (OVFF) in Columbus, Ohio
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