The New York Antifolk Festival is an annual

music festival 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 h ...

featuring

anti-folk Anti-folk (sometimes referred to as unfolk) is a music genre that emerged in the 1980s in response to the remnants of the 1960s folk music scene. Anti-folk music was made to mock the perceived seriousness of the time's mainstream music scene, a ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

and

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

bands and singer-songwriters. It also has featured performance artists, comedians and magicians. Conceived in 1985 by Lach, the festival was created in response to the New York Folk Festival, allegedly after a number of musicians were rejected from folk music venues in the Village, though that allegation has been disputed. The festival initially took place at the Fort, before settling down in its current location at the

SideWalk Cafe The SideWalk Cafe was a music venue and restaurant/cafe in East Village, New York City founded in 1985. It became a known venue for its underground music scene, and in particular, was known as being the center for Anti-folk in the United Stat ...

in 1993. Lach served as the host of the festival until 2007, when the role of impresario was taken over by

Ben Krieger Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( ...

. The festival has been credited as a factor in keeping the anti-folk movement "vital, evolving and inclusive of what is now a generation of artists." The festival hosts up to 50 acts over a seven-day period. It was traditionally kicked off by the

open-mic, which until its closure in 2019 was one of the longest-running traditional open-mics in New York City. The open-mic and the

have been praised by the likes of

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the ...

, and a number of notable musicians are known to have gotten their start at the

, including

Regina Spektor Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (russian: Регинa Ильинична Спектор, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian–born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in ...

Nellie McKay Nell Marie McKay (born April 13, 1982) is a singer and songwriter. She made her Broadway debut in ''The Threepenny Opera'' (2006). Early life and education McKay was born in London to an English father, writer-director Malcolm McKay, and an ...

and

The Moldy Peaches The Moldy Peaches were an American indie group founded by Adam Green and Kimya Dawson. Leading proponents of the anti-folk scene, the band has been on hiatus since 2004. The appearance of their song " Anyone Else but You" in the film ''Juno'' s ...

. The New York Antifolk Festival has featured a diverse group of performers over its 27-year run. Notable acts include

The Washington Squares The Washington Squares are a neo-beatnik folk revival music group. Modeled after early 1960s groups like The Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary, the group was named after New York City's Washington Square Park, emblematic of Greenwich Village. ...

Schwervon! Schwervon! is a two-piece American indie rock band. The band members are Matt Roth (Major Matt Mason USA) on electric guitar and Nan Turner on drums; the pair share singing duties. They started the band in 1999 on the Lower East Side of New York C ...

Major Matt Mason USA Major Matt Mason USA is the recording project of Matt Roth, an American musician and record producer active in the anti-folk and DIY music scene of New York's East Village.(May 28, 2004). "Matt at front of 'anti-folk'", ''Coventry Evening Teleg ...

, Lach, Dufus, The TriBattery Pops Tom Goodkind Conductor,

Dots Will Echo Dots Will Echo is an indie rock group from Ridgewood, New Jersey. The band consists of vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Nick Berry and drummer Kurt Biroc. History Musician William Ackerman produced and released Dots Will Echo's first official ...

, Chris Barron of the

Spin Doctors Spin Doctors are an American alternative rock band from New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong", which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at No. 7 and N ...

Jaymay Jamie Seerman is an American singer-songwriter from New York. She performs under the name Jaymay. Early life Jaymay was born Jamie Seerman on January 3, 1981, and was raised on Long Island. For undergrad, she studied at New College of Flori ...

Darwin Deez Darwin Deez is an American Independent music, indie band from New York City signed to music label Lucky Number Music. The group's frontman, Darwin Deez (Darwin Merwan Smith), grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, ...

Larkin Grimm Larkin Grimm (born September 18, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and musician based in New York City. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Early life and career At age 20 Grimm dropped out of Yale University and moved to Alaska, where sh ...

Ching Chong Song Ching Ching (previously known as Ching Chong Song) was a vocal duo rooted in New York City's Anti-folk scene. Their music is often experimental and off-kilter in nature, shifting from humorous to dark, serious, or thoughtful in tone, sometimes with ...

, and the

Elastic No-No Band Elastic No-No Band was a musical group based in New York City's anti-folk scene. Started in the mid-2000s, the band's name was initially just a pseudonym for its leader and main songwriter, Justin Remer. After 2005, Elastic No-No Band's line-up a ...

International expansion

The anti-folk movement and the New York Antifolk Festival have spawned a number of other festivals around the world.

Filthy Pedro Filthy Pedro is an antifolk musician based in London. Born Simon Parry in Anglesey, Wales, he moved to London in the late 1990s. Parry had grown interested in antifolk after hearing Beck's '' Stereopathetic Soulmanure'' album (1994). However, it w ...

started the

Antifolk UK Fest Anti-folk (sometimes referred to as unfolk) is a music genre that emerged in the 1980s in response to the remnants of the 1960s folk music scene. Anti-folk music was made to mock the perceived seriousness of the time's mainstream music scene, a ...

after a visit to the

. Other festivals include the Anti-anti-folk festival in Brixton, and the Kentucky Anti-folk festival, as well as several festivals in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

such as the Down by the River Festival.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/11/arts/music/11folk.html/?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1345637258-V2s5UIKaEUdsWY5xm68eTw , title=How Does It Feel, Antifolkies, to Have a Home, Not Be Unknown? , last1=Light , first1=Allen , work=

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, date=August 11, 2006 , accessdate=August 22, 2012 {{cite web , url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/antifolk-festival-2011/ , title=Staying Undefined at the Antifolk Festival, and That's Fine , last1=McKinley , first1=James , work=

, date=September 23, 2011 , accessdate=August 22, 2012 {{cite web , url=http://folkmusic.about.com/od/folkmusic101/p/AntiFolk.htm , title=All About Anti-Folk , last1=Ruehl , first1=Kim , publisher=

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, ...

, accessdate=August 22, 2012 {{cite web , url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203358704577235601948977304 , title=In Alphabet City, a Festival Lets Its Sound Do the Talking , last1=Bennett , first1=Bruce , publisher=

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

, date=February 21, 2012 , accessdate=August 22, 2012 {{cite web , url=http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20070601/SCENE04/706010351/Anti-Folk-Festival-returns , title=Anti-Folk Festival returns , last1=Puckett , first1=Jeffrey , publisher=

The Courier-Journal ''The Courier-Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Ne ...

, date=June 1, 2007 , accessdate=August 21, 2012 {{cite web , url=http://downbytheriverberlin.tumblr.com/ , title=Down by the River Festival Website , accessdate=August 26, 2012

External links

Website for the SideWalk Cafe

Website for the UK Anti-Folk Scene
Music festivals in New York City Recurring events established in 1985 Rock festivals in the United States 1985 establishments in New York City