I believe that we could exchange video examples for days to evoke a feeling for what funk is, but we should look into the "genetic structure" of what the Funk is. Meaning, we need some sort of analytical background as far as the composition, melodies, rhythms and the actual recording process is concerned. since it's all about the sound.

 

Last edited: Dec 12, 2017

My cousin dated a guy in The Average White Band. She is still very full of the funk into her late early 70's. These are all white guys from Scotland, do they qualify as Funkmeisters?

 

George Clinton said Funk is its own reward. Thats all we need to know. He who feels it knows it.

Andy Newmark's drumming is so syncopated i almost soiled myself!

 

i just love so much drum breaks/breakbeats,rare grooves

 

What is funk music? Music that make you want to do nasty things and feel sexy all over.
It makes your blood HOT!!!

 

...

 

Last edited: Dec 12, 2017

funky session ;)

 

Well since im passed halfway to a 100 i have always been into to "Real Music". Even if i ended up going in the rock direction this funk and soul has been my thing since i was like 7 years old. Living in Sweden it wasnt that easy to hear alot of it but as my father introduced me to some radio stations that sent without permits etc i could find some really cool music. As years passed me and some friends even started up some pirate radio station and imporeted vinlyls form all over the world. So in the late 70 and into the 80s we we funkin the best we could with what we had. Graham central station bass riffs was better than a blowjob ohh that was the days.

I dont really know if any of you have touched it yet but to me Funk is a ver yspecial vibe. Even the next lvl P-Funk is to me maybe a little more noisy and not so clean. More elctronical stuff was used and Bootsy and his gang guys did go more and more into that while bands like General Caine, BarKays etc took it even further later on. Anyhow, i could write miles about funk bands i love and loved over the years. for sure there isnt much music today that makes it impossible to start movin or shaking thoose legs. Not to mentioned how it makes you happy. I mean just compare thoose musicians head to head with Maul555552222 (or whatever his name is) etc and then come and tell me who will make you move your body no matter what age you have. Damn how i miss it. Becuase of that i now have to go back and find one of my old gems with the Fatback band, the funkier side of them and dance around the studio for an hour or two..

And to demostrate what funk is for me.. (really hope i havnt lived my life thinking about funk the wrong way ) Here is Holy Ghost with Barkays..

 

Ayup. So's classical. It's gotta be in your [blue] blood, fostered by your genteel upbringing and your lavish, palatial surroundings.
If you're not born into it, you could try to imitate it, but it wouldn't really be classical.

​

 

Do you mean that they may not qualify because of where they are from, or their color?

 

Well... I love the topic but i feel the title question is slightly misleading. Because funk is a mixture of genres and styles that preceeded its birth. Mainly soul, rhythm 'n' blues and jazz. So it was all of those things and yet something new. Which means nobody can absolutely really tell what exactly is funk because there is no parthenogenesis here, only evolution. But let's see what happened.
JB's being officially credited as the godfather of the genre with 1965's "Papa's got a brand new bag". Early funk, at least to me, always sounds like soul music with elements of r'n'b and jazz, albeit with a heavier -than r'n'b- groove, more danceable than soul and more repetitive than jazz although it borrows many articulations and a lot of instrumental phraseology from the latter. The main differences noted from r'n'b,soul and jazz is the heavy emphasis on the groove's downbeat, and that (in funk), the main instrument to "carry the weight" is the bass, which at the time was indeed something new.
I could go on describing how Funk and its evolution led all the way to current dance music but maybe this is for another thread?
So, if it's funky it contains the funk. Discriminations like white musicians cannot play funk are more or less ridiculous. ie,Tower of Power is funkier than half the current hiphop scene will ever be. And because funk is all about the groove, musicians like Mark King with his brand of pop jazz funk and Flea with his brand of funk rock, are a perfect showcase of how funky bass can carry the weight in other styles as well.
As for me, i live for the funk. Any kind of it. It has always been my passion and my main influence as a musician. And while my personal work is mainly deep house and disco music, i find no real separation from the 60s JB, Sly Stone, etc etc. It has always been about the funk, the whole funk and nothing but the funk.
So Funk, all details aside and more than anything, is the "uplifiting feeling" that leads to a specific optimistic way of life those who choose to embrace it.
Best regards

 

Last edited: Dec 11, 2017

When I was thirteen I wanted more than anything to be black and felt totally ripped off for being born white. Hendrix, Sly, Muhammad Ali, Walt Frazier of the N.Y. Knicks, Emerson Boozer and Matt Snell of the N.Y. Jets, these were all my heros. Reading H. Rapp Brown's Die Nigger Die, Griffin's Black Like Me and hearing a speech of Malcom X's convinced me that I was for sure in the wrong body as well as family. Curtis Mayfield was God. So, seriously I ask, does one need to be black to embody and authentically play funk? Is it an experiential thing and do genes and culture play the only role in being The Funk? Is it a white boys can't jump scenario. I am not trolling. There were white folks in The Family Stone, but was this just golden by association?

 

 

Last edited: Dec 11, 2017

so well put ,i love this

make that the title of your next song/track ?

 

Not all funky music is Funk.

Even music that sounds like country can be really funky.

People who love it, listened to it, and have skills, can play it.

James Brown is the king. The Meters are awesome.
Are the Blackbyrds considered as Funk or are they RnB?
I think Jamiroquai is Funk. Same as K.C. and the Sunshine band. They're just a bit different from lets say, Curtis Mayfield.
Sometimes what i hear as Funk other people might say is more Soul:

I've listened to Funk all of my life. And cannot stop it from creeping into every song i make, even if it is just the feel.

 

Love Holy Ghost. Hope to make it to the Stax museum in Memphis. hard groovin.

 

I know i left without posting any music. So here you are, some of my favorites, some classics and some obscure, for all old and new funkateers:
60s:

70s:

80s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkFccx0ycCk

90s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap2MqHmXlQc
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8b9z2
2ks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF-kLy44Hls

 

Last edited: Dec 11, 2017

Would be a dream to go there.. I may set up a goal to go therewhen turning 60 something haha..

I may add that Funk for me is Bass.. hard riffing slaps or cool things on a moogyish synth, dont matter but as i more than ever now understand the OPs question. The roots may come from all over the place and but the simple truth is that it wasnt only about the music itself, it was a movement including wierd clothes (not to mention the hair styles lol), crazy and happy music that to me made it so special. They didnt follow any rules and just jammed the shit out of everything and instead of sampling they freakin played it instead.. just listen to this track form Graham Central Station, its like funk in a nutshell. After saying "what did you expect" (00.49 into the track) they just go nuts and they must have had a ball recording it.. maybe a acapella like this.. haha.. hilarious..

Actually this song was one of the reasons i had to go in the rock directions.. i couldnt play the bass like that and the distorded sound i couldnt even come close to create so i turned to the guitar.. But the music is always back there..