Genre Research Project 83/1362: Anti-Folk

Anti-folk (sometimes antifolk or unfolk) is a music genre that takes the earnestness of politically charged 1960s folk music and subverts it. The defining characteristics of this anti-folk are difficult to identify, as they vary from one artist to the next. Nonetheless, the music tends to sound raw or experimental; it also generally mocks seriousness and pretension in the established mainstream music scene

Anti-folk was introduced by artists who were unable to gain gigs at established folk venues in Greenwich Village, including Folk City and The Speakeasy. Soon after, singer-songwriter Lach started The Fort, an after-hours club, on the Lower East Side. The Fort's opening coincided with the New York Folk Festival, so Lach dubbed his own event the New York Antifolk Festival.