Old Time Music is Anarchist Music

Old Time Music is music of the people. It's a style of music that promotes inclusion, rather than a dynamic of spectator and performer. While there are performances here and there...and Old Time Music is getting more and more popular these days...it will never sound as good as a hot jam between 3 or 4 people out in the woods at 2:00am.

"Old Time Music, better than it sounds..." I picked that up somewhere... In fact, I think it was my Dad's cap. Anyways... It's always stuck with me because it's a comical way of expressing the fact that Old Time music is deep...complicated...and has a significant cultural meaning to many people, and many different types of people as well.
For me it means ANARCHY. Improvised, community Creativity. This isn't what it means to everyone and that's okay.. i'm not trying to convince anyone that Old Time Music is The Movement but for me...it's part of my MOVEMENT toward freedom and peace.

But Old Time Music does in fact sound really good. It's like Punk though... it's always better live. That's where the Spirit lies...in the action of playing and in the moment of improvised harmony. It is this chaos that is the core the jam session. It is this playful exploration of chaos patterns that gives old time music such energy and passion.

Anarchist movement is a movement organizes around simular principals. I think that growing up in the Old-Time scene nourished my ability to think in non-hierarchal patterns...and to recognize the drain that authoritative power has on a group dynamic. Anarchist movements are organized around the idea of autonomous harmony. This form of organization on a social level is not only POSSIBLE...not just a dream...but HAPPENING RIGHT NOW! Otherwise..who would be excited about it? The reason there is an anarchist movement at all is because we create it, we create the world we want to live in. In fact, people do this whether or not they call it "anarchism". Given the opportunity, people always create the world they want to live in. However, in this society, we've been socialised to reproduce abusive and coercive patterns of hierarchy. These patterns...THE SYSTEM... are toxic to our social environment, and this toxicity expands to the land in which we live. Since the pattern of domination is learned, I believe it can be unlearned... We must stop craving to take power away from people around us...our friends, our family. COMPETITION as a worldview is destructive and we must learn COOPERATION as an alternative. Anarchist movement offers these ideas and gives some great examples of ways to get there. Join the movement! Create your own! Just get up and git at it! FireUP!