Woodstock and a Brief History of the Music Festival

With the fortieth anniversary of the Woodstock Music & Arts Festival and the upcoming movie Taking Woodstock by director Ang Lee, media outlets have been congested with coverage of the historic event. With such an occasion, lets look into the importance of Woodstock and the history of the music festival prior to Woodstock.

A music festival by definition is a social event that includes music while incorporating other social pursuits and community oriented events. The first music festival can be traced back to around 4500 B.C. when the Ancient Egyptians held music festivals that featured religious ceremonies and rites. In Europe during the Middle Ages, music festivals were used for competitive feats and other political tasks. By the late nineteenth century, the concept had reached Ireland with the creation of the Irish Music Festival in 1897.