folk
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folk music
A style of music that is based on traditional folk music or inspired by it. It is often characterized by the use of acoustic instruments and songs focused on lyrics.
Am Wochenende findet ein Festival für Folk und Weltmusik statt.
A festival for folk and world music is taking place this weekend.
'Folk' is a loanword from English and refers to 'folk music'. The pronunciation in German is very similar to the English pronunciation.
Ich höre gerne amerikanischen Folk aus den 60er Jahren.
I like listening to American folk from the 1960s.
In German, 'der Folk' refers exclusively to the style of music. It is not used as in English to mean 'people' or 'Volk' (people/nation) in general.
Die Band spielt eine Mischung aus Rock und Folk.
The band plays a mix of rock and folk.
'Folk' is very often used as the first part of compound nouns to describe things related to this style of music. Typical examples are 'Folk-Musik' (folk music), 'Folk-Festival' (folk festival), 'Folk-Sänger' (folk singer), or 'Folk-Band' (folk band).
Nächstes Jahr wollen wir wieder zum großen Folk-Festival fahren.
Next year we want to go to the big folk festival again.
country music
Country and Folk are both based on traditional folk music and may include acoustic instruments and narrative songs. Country is more strongly associated with folk music from the southern United States, while Folk refers more generally to this foundation. Use Country for this American stylistic association and Folk for broader folk-music inspiration.
Die Band spielt Folk mit akustischen Instrumenten und selbst geschriebenen Liedern.
The band plays folk music with acoustic instruments and original songs.
Die Band spielt Country mit Fiddle, Gitarre und Liedern aus dem Süden der USA.
The band plays country music with fiddle, guitar, and songs from the southern United States.
