Name: What is Filk (music) - Boudicca's Bard
Uploaded: 2026-01-11T11:19:15+01:00
Description: What is Filk (music)

What is Filk (music)

Text and video by Gunivortus Goos

The owner of this page and the author of this brief article is me, Gunivortus, Guus for his family and friends.

I first encountered filk music in the late 1990s. This introduction was not through personal connections, but rather through songs available online. By that time, I had long been ‘addicted’ to science fiction and fantasy novels, and I was immediately drawn to the type of folk music that focused on these themes.

Over the years, I collected many filk songs… mostly complete albums, and I still enjoy listening them. However, I have never met any of the individuals involved and have not even visited the United States, where nearly all filk activities took and take place. It is most likely too late to realize this dream of participating in such an event.

Nevertheless, here are some brief informative notes about filk.

Filk music represents a cultural phenomenon, genre, and community associated with the fandoms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, as well as a form of fan labor. Music from role-playing games (particularly LARP) is also included within this genre.

This genre has been in existence since the early 1950s and has been predominantly performed since the mid-1970s. It enjoys a dedicated yet niche popularity within underground circles.

The name ‚filk‘ is said to originally a writing error in a fan magazine. Instead of „science fiction FOLK music“ the ‚o‘ in folk was mistyped in an ‚i‘ . The newspaper Los Angelos Times, mostly shortened to LA Times, reprinted that without checking. And the name was kept that way.

In the initial years, Filk music was limited to live performances; it was not until the 1980s that a ‘storm’ of recordings emerged, first on audio cassettes and LPs, and later on CDs, yet, these were predominantly live recordings. This implies that the music was often not ‘corrected’, enhanced, or improved in studios, and that incorrect notes and mistakes in the accompanying music can be heard on the media. Additionally, there were spontaneous performances where performers with less than stellar singing voices sang songs. While this may sound second-rate or worse when listening to the music stored on media, it was completely irrelevant to the audience during the sometimes spontaneous live performances; fans came together and celebrated with joy.

However, there are also recordings from before the 1980s, the oldest known to me being a single (two songs) by Chuck Rein from 1967, titled “In Western Lands” and “Oh, the Planets We’ve Seen.” Around that time, the band DeHorn Crew (with Leslie Fish) released two albums titled “Folk Songs For Folk Who Ain’t Even Been Yet” and “Folk Songs for Solar Sailors.”

Today, since a few decades, quite a few of the older recordings are processed, giving the recordings a better quality. By example, Prometheus Music (https://www.prometheus-music.com/) is such a company.

Today, the definition of filk is ambiguous; while some assert that the associated community and fandom are integral to it, others argue that it is mainly confined to a specific genre of music (science fiction, fantasy, and related humor). Consequently, the community is regarded as the preferred setting in which filk is celebrated, akin to the community surrounding particular metal music.

A prime example of Fantasy-based filk is the collection inspired by the fantasy novels of Mercedes Lackey; many of her books and trilogies are interconnected and take place in the world of Velgarth, primarily in the land of Valdemar and its surrounding regions. Her Valdemar novels create a rich tapestry of interactions between human and non-human protagonists. Between 1987 and 2005, ten albums were released featuring songs based on these Valdemar books. Both the author herself and several others contributed to the lyrics, which were also performed by various artists. This pertains to fantasy filk, rather than the SF-based genre.

In filk, the lyrics hold a significant importance, as the songs often narrate stories or reference literary sources. Parodies are also quite popular; A really nice example of the parody genre are the “Tapeworm” audio cassettes, produced by Bob Kanefsky at the end of the eighties – that name refers to the cassette tape format and to Kanef’s mascot, the songworm.

Filk was first recognized as a distinct musical genre in the English-speaking world during the 1960s. There were numerous annual filk conventions (music gatherings/festivals) held, typically attended by a few hundred participants. In addition to an extensive concert and workshop program, extensive “Circles” were a key component, where participants presented new or favorite songs or sung together. As a result, portable acoustic instruments were predominant (for practical reasons).

Media (, audio cassettes, LPs and CDs) were often produced in small quantities, making them rarely available in regular music stores and department stores. Distribution usually occurred through online sales or at conventions. Today, at the archive.org site and a few others, many of those older recordings are available in the World Wide Web.

Filk initially emerged at science fiction conventions, where science fiction lyrics were sung to guitar accompaniment. Soon, filk also encompassed themes from fantasy, media (TV, series), role-playing, and even computers. The instrumentation expanded, and increasingly professional recordings were made.

Today, the themes predominantly lie within the fantasy realm, and the melodies are often influenced by folk music.

There exist more music based on SF or Fantasy books, such as Lord Dunsany’s “The King of Elfland’s Daughter” by the by former Steeleye Span members Bob Johnson and Peter Knight from 1977, or the 2013 Steeleye Span album “Wintersmith”, mainly inspired by Terry Pratchett’s “Wintersmith” and other “Discworld” books – it even contains a spoken contribution by the author. Except for complete albums, also many artists recorded songs based on SF/Fantasy works. Just a few of the many examples are:

The power metal band Blind Guardian has many songs based on “The Dark Tower,” “Dragonlance,” and “Dune”; Ed Sheeran with his song “I See Fire” for “The Hobbit”); or “A Song of Ice and Fire” by Florence + The Machine’s “Jenny of Oldstones”.

These examples are just by few insiders considered as ‚Filk‘, many others do deny that connection, mainly because they are not tied the the ‚Filk community‘.