What is Filk?

Filk music is a phenomena that can be traced back to the 1950s. It is strongly tied to the advent of Science Fiction and Fantasy genres in books, film and TV. Filk is basically folk songs about or related to the worlds created in Science Fiction and Fantasy.

There is a great detailed description at fanlore.org here.

Here is a song by a well-known filk-singer, Kathy Mar:

Filk in Australia

The few Australian websites that I could find included many dead (404 Not Found) links. There does seem to be a Filk tradition tied to some SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) sites.

Robbie Matthews has a page here.

I met Ann Poore (a harp player and filk singer) at the Turning Wave Irish festival in Yass last year, here is her soundcloud page.

Filksing

A Filksing occurs when filk singers and fans get together to share the songs they have written. These events usually occur in relation to another fan event, like ComicCon or as a standalone filk gathering like Conflikt or the North East Filk Convention. Sometimes these take the form of a stage and an audience, other times they are held in a circle with everyone taking a turn to sing.

Filk is notable for its (very) wide range of skill levels and quality of material, but a general environment of acceptance and encouragement regardless.

Filk and Me

I have collected and written a few of my own filk songs and published them in albums called ‘Is This the Filk Life’, ‘The Space Between Us’ and ‘Muggles Ahoy’, available here.

I have also collected my songs with lyrics and chords in a Filk Songbook available here (a bonus download with the Bandcamp album):

Daniel Kelly – Filk Songbook Vol.1

While most of what I write and sing would be classed as traditional, I was introduced to filk in 2017 when I made a comment about Star Trek on Facebook and was pointed to Leslie Fish‘s song Banned from Argo.