Most everyone has heard of Bob Dylan, but what about the many other folk protest singers just as famous in their respective countries: Victor Jara in Chile, Vladimir Vysotsky in the Russian-speaking world, or Wolf Biermann for the German. Here we explore the global folk protest singer as rooted in the existentialist philosophy of Albert Camus. The authenticity of the voice as the agency of the artist is nowhere clearer than in this musical genre once globally dominant.

The Folk Revival is the most iconic modern case of music and politics intertwined. It presents a vital master class in how music can advance and support political change. The dominant musical form of this era, the lone voice with a folk guitar, took on a global import and proved remarkably transferable, with leading figures in countries, from Chile to East Germany to Russia ...