Like many things in the Science Fiction and Fantasy community, filk has been around a lot longer than most people think. Filk got its start at SF/F conventions, and those have been going on for over fifty years. But what is filk? How did it get such a peculiar name? Where is this mysterious beast found?

The precise definition of filk is, at best, something useful for starting debates within the fandom. The loosest and least likely to start controversy definition is, "folk music pertaining to science fiction or fantasy in some way." Even that definition can cause a little debate if someone takes exception to the term 'folk music'-in fact, when the rec.music.filk newsgroup was created, weeks of discussion resulted in the definition of filk being, "a genre of music that originated in science fiction fandom."

Within that loose definition, things that are considered to be filk cover an astoundingly broad range of things. Many people make the mistake of thinking filk is only SF/F lyrics set to pre-existing music, which isn't necessarily true at all-completely original compositions, both in music and lyrics, are equally considered to be filk as long as they fit the genre themes. So are pre-existing songs set to original melodies-Marian Zimmer Bradley did this for several of Tolkien's song. Parody-type songs, some of which are only vaguely within the bounds of the genre, are also considered filk, as are songs about real happenings in space, such as the first moon landing. In fact, when you stop to consider it, the best definition of filk might be, "whatever a group of filkers and fans say it is."

Filk also isn't entirely composed of songs no one outside the fandom has ever heard, which many people assume. Though it might not be well known, there are an amazing number of songs in mainstream music that qualify as filk. Everything from the relatively obvious - Weird Al Yankovic's The Saga Begins is deeply filkish-to the more startling - Elton John's Rocket Man is based on a Ray Bradbury short, probably qualifying it as the most widely popular filk song outside of the fandom.

However, most mainstream musicians who record such songs are usually not considered to be filkers. Most of those artists have written only a single song which qualifies for the genre, which makes them hardly dedicated.

The traditional filksinger is generally an amateur, both at performing and at songwriting. These people come from the fan community, and do it for the fun. That's not to say there aren't exceptions: there are filksingers who are also professionals, and some professional musicians who hang out with filkers without ever really being part of the fan community. There are also more and more filk singers who fit into a sort of semi-professional state: musicians who have become good enough to have their music recorded onto CDs, which are generally largely non-profit - or at least unprofitable - ventures. These CDs almost never appear in stores, and instead get sold at conventions and online.

So where does one find filk? Well, as the above would suggest, online is a good place to go up hunting pre-recorded filk, be it in CD or mp3 form, and an excellent place to get lyrics. But what about live filk?

Well, naturally the easiest place to find filk as it happens is at the SF/F conventions which birthed it. Though not as likely to be found at the larger, big media sort of conventions, plenty of other cons have concerts during the day, and filk singing is the late night activity at cons-that is, if you consider "running from the last programmed event until 6 am" to be late night. Since full participation in this sort of thing leaves little time for several other important activities (such as sleep), dedicated filkers can sometimes be spotted by scanning the crowd for people with dark circles under their eyes and coffee cups clutched in their hands like lifelines to salvation. These get-togethers are usually semi-informal, and not always listed on the program of the convention for that reason. Therefore, if you're trying to find one, it's often best to either find the filk dealers and ask, or wait up and try to spot someone heading off with an instrument, whom you can then follow. While most unofficial filksings usually can find a decent place to set up, don't be surprised if you find one going on in a very odd place-filkers are often forced to find any possible place to hold their gatherings, which in the notorious past has lead to filking happening in hallways, bathrooms, and even elevators.

But while filk got its start at conventions, it hasn't stayed there. In addition to filk gaining a large enough following to have its own conventions now, there are also house filks-quite simply regional gatherings of filksingers and fans at a kindly volunteered house. Depending on how large and well-organized your local SF/F fan community is, and how connected to it you are, these gatherings can range from very easy to very difficult to find, or be completely nonexistent. And, like filk itself, they can range wildly in tone and composition.

Of course, none of this answers the question which may be most perplexing about filk: how the heck did it get that name?

In the beginning, filk wasn't called filk-it was simply Science Fiction Folk Singing. The term filk was actually a complete accident-back in the 50's, a fan named Lee Jacobs wrote an article titled "The Influence of Science Fiction on Modern American Filk Music" and submitted it to the Spectator Amateur Press Society. The "Filk" was simply a typo, and the article itself was rejected by SAPS, but the editor noticed and liked the typo "Filk Song". He told his friends all about it-and apparently he had a lot of friends - and consequently what began as a mistake became actively embraced as a way to distinguish the genre of music from its folk roots.

Filk isn't an essential fan activity... but it is one that can be a heck of a lot of fun. Filkers, both singers and fans, tend to all have wonderful senses of humor, and the entire genre is laced with any number of jokes, both subtle and overt, which can be appreciated by anyone, and even more jokes, again both subtle and overt, which require some inside knowledge to appreciate. If you're interested in finding out more, a highly recommended site is Filk 101, without which this article would have been a lot harder to write.