This issue has quite an emphasis on dance, in all its forms, and also focuses on Cecil Sharp, in continuing celebration of the 150th anniversary of his birth. The Singer, Song and Source feature is Hannah James & Sam Sweeney, whose song is ‘William Taylor’ collected by Sharp in 1903 from sisters, Lucy White and Louie Hooper. John Messenger of Leominster Morris describes how they celebrated the centenary of Cecil Sharp’s visit to Herefordshire and 2010 is the centenary of Sharp’s first visit to Sheffield’s Grenoside Sword Dancers. The present-day team decided to celebrate in a novel way. Cecil Sharp’s diaries from his collecting trips to the southern Appalachians of America are now available on the web. Mike Yates introduces this fantastic resource. There’s a feature on the National Youth Folklore Troupe of England (NYFTE) , and a celebration of Swindon Folksingers’ Club and its organisers, Ted and Ivy Poole. Jackie Toaduff was a superb clog dancer in the 1950s and 60s. Chris Metherell and Alex Fisher recall his dancing, Ron Smedley remembers his impact then, and Demon Barbers clog dancer, Laura Connolly, talks about his impact today. Caller Cat Kelly has started a scheme to encourage new dance callers. Roger Nicholls’ Gold Badge citation is published. |
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The Singer, Song and Source feature is Bella Hardy, whose song is ‘All in the Morning’ from her latest CD, In the Shadow of Mountains. The song is from Derbyshire’s Castleton Carol Tradition, which Ian Russell writes about in The Source. Continuing the seasonal theme, there’s a feature on The Drayton Wassail song custom from Somerset, and news of the re-publication of Percy Maylam’s book about The Hooden Horse of Kent. In Never on Sunday in Widecombe, Rollo Woods examines a unique manuscript collection of tunes from the famous village in Dartmoor, Devon and there’s a feature on the remarkable dance and music group, The Fosbrooks, from Stockport in Cheshire: The Fosbrooks Phenomenon. Fellside Recordings are the latest in our series on independent record labels. There’s a feature on the EFDSS’s latest publication, The Fallibroome Collection, a new edition, by Nic Broadbridge, of Bernard Bentley’s classic collection of English country dances. An article focuses on the Take 6 Education Project, written by Education Director, Rachel Elliott. |
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This issue celebrates the 70th anniversary of Topic Records, with an article, featuring an interview with Topic’s managing director, Tony Engle. The Singer, Song and Source feature is Brass Monkey, one of Topic’s artists, and their song, ‘Bold Archer’ as sung by John Kirkpatrick of Brass Monkey, and based on the version of the song sung by Harry Cox, whose double CD is on the Topic label. There’s a brace of features on Cornwall – one on Dance Tunes, and the other on Folk Dances to be found in the Duchy. An article focuses on the six manuscript collections that have formed the focus of the EFDSS’s Take 6 Project and which are now available on the internet. http://library.efdss.org/archives The youth activities at Cambridge Folk Festival come under the spotlight. There’s a feature on The Ballad of Britain – the title of a new book and forthcoming concert at Cecil Sharp House. |
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Award-winning Bellowhead is the subject of the Singer, Song and Source feature, with the song ‘The Rigs of the Time’– dating from Napoleonic times, the song has a contemporary relevance. Leaders of the three morris organisations reflect on morris dancing in the twenty-first century, and there’s a feature on the rapper sword competition, DERT. There’s a double feature on walking and singing – Oysterband’s John Jones’s Feet Don’t Fail Me tour, and Ed, Will and Ginger’s Walk Around Britain. There’s a selection of dances and tunes from a 1745 manuscript, now known as Kitty Bridges, in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library; There are features on the Flash Company exhibition at Cecil Sharp House and the Singing Histories books, plus future EFDSS initiatives, Cecil Sharp House events, and reports on the recent St George’s Day events. |
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Jim Moray is the subject of the Singer, Song and Source. The song is ‘I’ll Go and List for a Sailor’ with an unusual source – John Kirkpatrick and Morris On. Sadly, we also report the deaths of a number of folk music and dance enthusiasts: Francis Shergold and Sonner Townsend from the Bampton Morris traditions, the three guitarists, John Pearse, Davy Graham and John Martyn, the dance caller John Lagden, musician Johnny Conquest, morris dancer and Towersey Festival founder Denis Manners and song collector Ken Stubbs. |
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We
mark the election of Shirley Collins MBE
as the new President of the EFDSS. Gordon Philips has written about his project teaching molly dancing in Fenland schools and there’s a report on October’s Big National Ceilidh. There’s
a feature on an intriguing mummer’s costume, possibly from Bellerby,
that has turned up in New York, and Robbie Thomas writes
about some new style dance events, Sets in the City. |
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This
issue marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the composer and folk
song collector, Ralph Vaughan Williams. There is a feature on Vaughan Williams’ folk song collecting by editor Derek Schofield, with additional contributions from classical music writer and Vaughan Williams expert Michael Kennedy, author Roy Palmer, singer and author Shirley Collins, film maker Tony Palmer and singer Jim Moray. Haddenham
Ceilidhs celebrate their 35th season, and organiser John Heydon
and resident Haddenham caller Hugh Rippon explain the
philosophy behind this long-running ceilidh series. |
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| To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Lucy Broadwood, folk song collector, singer and editor, the Singer, Song and Source article features the song ‘The Sweet Nightingale’ from Broadwood and Fuller Maitland’s 1893 collection, English County Songs. The singers are Lancashire’s Trio Threlfall – sisters Jane and Amanda Threlfall and instrumentalist Roger Edwards. The source is Lucy Broadwood’s singer, Mr Grantham. To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams, his 1948 tribute to Broadwood is re-printed, with an introduction, showing that there was no single view about folk song in the early twentieth century. The issues raised still have relevance today. Ian Russell on the centenary of Cecil Sharp’s visit to Derbyshire’s Winster Morris Dancers, Dance and concert band, Boldwood, are featured, revealing the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library as the source of some of their tunes, two of which are printed in the article. There are 580 more tunes in The Great Northern Tune Book, which has just been published in a new edition by the EFDSS and the Northumbrian Pipers’ Society: Alistair Anderson and Colin Ross give their personal views of this important collection.
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| To
celebrate Liverpool European Capital of Culture, Songs
of a Seaport looks at Liverpool’s maritime heritage, with
a ‘new’ version of the well-known song The Leaving of
Liverpool. Jack Coutts writes about the International
Shanty Festival, The importance of Irish music in the city is explained
by Chris Boland, and Clive Pownceby looks at the long-running Radio
Merseyside Folkscene programme. The ‘Singer, Song and Source’ feature looks at the Young Coppers, the song Come All Bold Britons, and Derek Schofield looks back at previous generations of the Copper family. Gavin Atkin investigates a new tune book from East Anglia, Before the Night was Out, and there are two versions of the tune Oh, Joe, the Boat is Going Over, from Oscar Woods and George Craske. Caller Cat Kelly is interviewed by Joan Crump and contributes a new dance. In Sam Bennett – the Film Star, Elaine Bradtke describes an amazing film of the traditional Warwickshire fiddle player – a ‘talkie’ that pre-dates The Jazz Singer. Ron Smedley draws on his experience as a dance teacher with the Royal Ballet School in the article Teaching Billy Elliot, to explain the use of folk, morris and rapper dance in the training of the young ballet dancers. The EFDSS has a new Chief Executive, Katy Spicer, and this issue has a feature article about her. |
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| ‘Singer,
Song and Source’ feature highlights the young female singer,
Jackie Oates The song is ‘My Ship Lost
Her Rigging’, sung originally by the Traveller singer,
Biggun Smith from Gloucestershire. Joan
Crump writes about the Christmas Champions show. |
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Alan James on The Imagined Village featuring Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, The Gloworms, The Young Coppers and Chris Wood, as well as Benjamin Zephaniah, Sheila Chandra and Billy Bragg. ‘Singer, Song and Source’ features Ed Rennie, former member of the Bismarcks, now performing with Housewives’ Choice and forging a career as a solo singer. The song is ‘The Trees they are so High’ from the Devon singer James Parsons, known to Sabine Baring-Gould as ‘The Singing Machine’. Martin Graebe writes about James Parsons. Marilyn
Tucker on the Baring-Gould Folk Song School.
Cecil Sharp
House’s regular Scottish Ceilidh Club by Robbie
Thomas |
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A
focus on the music, song and dance of Dorset as well
as features on new EFDSS publications. To round off the Dorset theme, editor Derek Schofield looks again at the county’s best known folk dance, ‘The Dorset Four-Hand Reel’. Sound files from The Mellstock Band, Faustus and The Gloworms. |
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Tim
van Eyken and his version of ‘John Barleycorn’ learnt from
Fred Jordan are this issue’s Singer, Song and Source feature. The new Radio Ballads. John Tams, Musical Director of the new Radio Ballads, explains how and why … Rapper from High Spen and Black Swan Two features on different styles of rapper sword dances: the traditional High Spen as they celebrate their eightieth anniversary, and the innovative Black Swan. Contributed by Chris Metherell, Phil Heaton, Damien Barber and Joan Crump. The Somerset Folk Map: Yvette Staelens explains why Somerset has its own map. Regular Features: Branching Out; Festive Round-Up; Lives Remembered, Songs under the Microscope; News; Dancing with the Spring in your step (list of dance events); EFDSS Matters; and The Source (list of county contacts). |
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| This
issue complements the EFDSS book and CD, Traveller’s Joy, and has
a special theme: Reviews – including Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick, Nic Jones, Waterson:Carthy, Swarb’s Lazarus, The Dartmoor Pixie Band, Jackie Oates, John Kirkpatrick, Mawkin, Pete Cooper, Barry Lister, Robert Harbron & Emma Reid, Paul & Liz Davenport, Jeff Warner, Keith Kendrick, The Albion Band, MidWinter, Bill Whaley & Dave Fletcher, Ron Taylor & Jeff Gillett, Bodega, Belzebub, Matt Norman. |
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| A Hampshire Special |
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| A
48-page summer special featuring: Reviews – including Nancy Kerr & James Fagan, Kathryn Tickell & Corrina Hewat, Alasdair Roberts, Jennifer Cutting’s Ocean Orchestra, Aglo International!, Florida, Jim Moray, Dave Bordewey & Dave Young, Craig; Morgan; Robson, James Ross, Mark Dowding, Graham Metcalfe, Steamchicken, Hughie Jones, The Occasionals, Roy Clinging & Neil Brookes, Finest Kind, Audrey parks, Stomp, Chumbawamba, Shirley Collins & Davy Graham, Dancing Folk DVD, The Day it Daws book, History and the Morris Dance book. |
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| The
Singers, Song and Source: The Singers (Lauren McCormick & Emily Portman)
… the Song (The Seeds of Love) … the Source (George ‘Pop’
Maynard). See sound files. Folk Britannia
– a review of the BBC4 series – Derek Schofield Will Atkinson’s
Tune; ‘Ninety Three Not Out – Derek Schofield Branching Out – BBC Folk Awards Reviews – including The Anglo Concertina Music of William Kimber by Dan M. Worrall (Vic Gammon), Sara Grey, Pauline Cato, James Raynard, Flook, Catriona McKay & Chris Stout, Brian Peters, Anna Tabbush, Crucible, Davy Graham, Bruce Scott, The Askews, Alan Bell, 422, Jim Causley, CrossCurrent, The Halliard. |
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| Lincolnshire
– Special Issue!
Tunes
from Lincolnshire – Johnny Adams and Chris Partington. Dance,
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| Autumn 2005 Special
in this issue! - Nelson’s Death Branching
Out – Nettlebed Folk Club; Jabbour & Perlman; Womex; The Copper
Archive. Plus sound files. |
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| A
Black and White Issue?– Derek Schofield (the custom of
blacking up) |
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| St
George’s Day – Derek Schofield * A Song for Saint
George – John Kirkpatrick
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Where
available, back copies of the magazines can be bought from Tel. Sales on 0207 485 2206 or email folkshop@efdss.org |
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