About Folker

Folker

Folker (own spelling: folker song, folk & world) is a German-language music magazine for folk, song and world music, published quarterly by fortes medien GmbH in Fuchstal, Bavaria. Founded in 1998 from the merger of the West German Folk-Michel and the East German (Leipzig) Folksblatt, the magazine carries portraits, interviews, features, commentaries, news and reviews from the wide cosmos of folk, song and global music, with each issue built around focus themes examined from multiple perspectives. The publisher is Mike Kamp; final editing is led by Stefan Backes, with the editorial office in Bad Honnef. The brand extends into the portal folker.world and the event calendar folkerkalender.de.

Overview

Folker is the journal of the German-speaking folk and world-music scene: the quarterly magazine that documents, discusses and celebrates folk, song and global music in all their variety. Each issue combines portraits, interviews, features, commentaries, news and reviews – the full journalistic repertoire applied to a musical world that ranges from traditional folk to singer-songwriter artistry to the global sounds of world music.

Since its relaunch, the magazine has concentrated on focus themes (Schwerpunktthemen) that are illuminated comprehensively from different perspectives – a thematic depth that distinguishes the title from event-driven music journalism. The editorial team, in which long-standing experience and emotional connection with the covered scenes unite, ensures that this happens in a balanced and informative mix.

The magazine is carried by a team of fifteen and more editors, photographers, proofreaders and graphic designers, the publisher, and countless authors who regularly contribute to the magazine and to folker.world. This community of contributors – many of them musicians, organizers and scene insiders themselves – gives the journal its characteristic closeness to the folk and world-music world: the people who write about the music are part of the music's world.

The readership is the folk, song and world-music community itself: musicians, organizers, festival-goers, dancers and listeners who follow the scene's concerts, festivals, recordings and debates. The magazine's presence at the Rudolstadt Festival – with its stand on the marketplace in the center of the festival, as every year – symbolizes this integration: Folker is not an outside observer of the scene but its medium, the journal the festival-goers pick up between concerts and carry home as the record of their musical summer.

History

Folker emerged in 1998 from two predecessor journals: the West German Folk-Michel and the East German (Leipzig) Folksblatt – the folk magazines of the two Germanys, united after reunification into a single journal for the united folk scene. From 1998 to 2020 the magazine appeared bimonthly at the Christian-Ludwig-Verlag in Moers, establishing itself as the German-language journal of record for folk, song and world music.

At the end of 2020 the Moers era came to an end, and in December 2021 the magazine was relaunched: since then it has appeared with four issues per year at fortes medien GmbH, based in Fuchstal am Lech in Upper Bavaria, with the collaboration of more than forty regular contributors. The publisher is Mike Kamp – himself a figure of the folk and world-music world, the Showcase Scotland Music Ambassador to Germany and a juror of the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Critics' Award) – the final editing is led by Stefan Backes, and the editorial office is located in Bad Honnef.

The relaunch brought the focus-theme concept to the fore: each quarterly issue now concentrates on Schwerpunktthemen examined from multiple perspectives, giving the magazine a thematic depth and a collectible quality that the faster bimonthly rhythm had not allowed. The digital platforms – folker.world and folkerkalender.de – were expanded in parallel, with the stated goal of developing the digital offerings and adapting them particularly to younger target groups, alongside current, entertaining and informative conversation formats.

The magazine's project remains, in its own words, completely advertising-free and independent – a reader-supported model that the publisher is developing together with the community through memberships. This independence is the journalistic foundation of the title's credibility in a scene that values authenticity above commerce.

Content and Sections

Each quarterly issue of Folker is built around focus themes that are illuminated from different perspectives: in-depth features on musical traditions, scenes, instruments and debates, combining reporting, analysis and personal voice. Around these thematic cores, the magazine carries its regular journalistic program.

Portraits and interviews present the musicians: from the established masters of folk and world music to the young artists reshaping the scene, the magazine documents the people behind the music with the depth that quarterly journalism allows. Features explore the contexts – the festivals, the regions, the instruments, the cultural and political dimensions of folk and world music.

Commentaries address the scene's debates: the questions of tradition and innovation, of cultural appropriation and authenticity, of funding and recognition that move the folk and world-music world. News pages keep readers current on the scene's developments – new releases, awards, personnel changes and institutional news.

The review section covers new recordings from the wide cosmos of folk, song and global music – the critical companion to the scene's musical production, guiding listeners through the flood of releases with knowledgeable and passionate judgment. The combination of thematic depth, personal journalism and critical coverage makes each issue a document of the scene's current state.

Publisher and Organization

Folker is published by fortes medien GmbH, based in Fuchstal am Lech in Upper Bavaria. The publisher is Mike Kamp, a figure of the folk and world-music world who also serves as Showcase Scotland Music Ambassador to Germany and as a juror of the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik. The final editing is led by Stefan Backes, and the editorial office is located in Bad Honnef.

The magazine carries the ISSN 1435-9634 and appears quarterly. It is produced by a team of fifteen and more editors, photographers, proofreaders and graphic designers, plus countless authors who regularly contribute – a community of contributors that reflects the magazine's integration into the scene it covers.

The publishing model is reader-supported: the project is to remain completely advertising-free and independent, financed by the community of members who support it. This model – unusual in music journalism – gives the magazine its editorial independence and its close relationship with its readership.

Digital Presence

The digital home of Folker is folker.world, the portal that extends the quarterly magazine into continuous scene coverage. The site publishes current articles, interviews and conversation formats, serving the daily information needs of the folk and world-music community between print issues. The event calendar folkerkalender.de provides the scene's concert and festival dates – the practical service that connects the magazine's readers with the live music.

The publisher is developing the digital offerings with the stated goal of reaching younger target groups – adapting the platforms and formats to the media habits of the next generation of folk and world-music enthusiasts. The conversation formats – interviews and discussions in audio and video – complement the print magazine's written journalism with the immediacy of the spoken word.

With more than a quarter-century of publication history, a quarterly rhythm built around focus themes, a reader-supported independent model and its position as the journal of the German-speaking folk, song and world-music scene, Folker remains the central medium of its musical world – the magazine that documents the scene's musicians, debates and developments, from the Rudolstadt marketplace to the global stage.