Know any folk/traditional tunes in the Locrian mode?

Question

It's really rare to find tunes in this mode.

Thank you

If a dog and a few turtles are weird, yes. I was damaged by being exposed to "classical" music :)

Well, I didn't really think I'd find any traditional tunes in that mode, but it was worth a try. As far as I know, only heavy-metal tunes and horror soundtracks seem to feature it.

Answer 1

I don't think I'd like to meet any "folk" who had traditional tunes in Locrian.

Answer 2

Locrian mode is considered to be so unstable and unsatisfying that most composers consider it unworkable. There are few songs written in the Locrian mode, which has lead some music experts to label it a 'theoretical' mode. It exists because all seven notes of the Ionian scale could form modes in a mathematical sense, but the relationship between intervals in the Locrian mode is simply not that interesting musically. To try to make a harmonic structure based on the locrian mode does not make very much sense.

I couldn't tell you if it has been used in folk/traditional music. However, it was used considerably in classical music before 1850. In modern times the dissonance created by the Locrian scale is preferred by Jazz musicians in order to create a sense of tension.
It is also used by some rock bands. You will find it used in the first section of the composition "YYZ" by Rush: the synthesizer melody is in C Locrian, over a guitar riff based on the C-G? tritone.
It is also used in the main riff of Painkiller by Judas Priest.

Answer 3

You are absolutely right. The Locrian mode has a half diminished quality that does not lend well to traditional harmony. I took a little look around though and found a site called the Sessioner, which claims to have found one such tune. I hope this is what you are looking for.

Answer 4

There will not BE any folk or traditional tunes in this mode - you can search Bulgarian and other things, but not likely to find any. You will find constructs - modern pieces, written for the heck of it, in imitation of that style, by people like yourself who just want to see one. Like the PDQ Bach "F # major Folk Song".

Betcha you had weird pets when you were a kid.