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8/20/2019 Folk Music on Records
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Folk Music on RecordsAuthor(s): Norm CohenSource: Western Folklore, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Jul., 1973), pp. 217-223Published by: Western States Folklore Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1498392Accessed: 26/08/2009 16:14
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Folklore.
http://www.jstor.org
8/20/2019 Folk Music on Records
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o l k
u s i c
o
ecords
[Please
send all
records for
review and
brief notice to NORM
COHEN,
John
Edwards
Memorial
Foundation,
University
of
California,
Los
Angeles,
California
90024.]
Standing
at the
head of a
fine
crop
of
recent
releases
of
traditional
music
from
Great
Britain
is Unto
Brigg
Fair
(Leader
LEA
4050;
5 No.
Villas,
London N.W.
1),
an album
of
outstanding
historical
significance
and commendable esthetic content as well. The album comprises nine
selections recorded
by
Percy
Grainger
on
cylinders
in
1908 in
Lincoln-
shire and
twelve disc
recordings
made
in
London
in the same
year
in
the
studios of
the
Gramophone
Company
at
Grainger's
instigation.
Grainger
was
already
an
established
concert
performer
when,
early
in
the
1900s,
he
became
interested
in
English
folksong,
and
interrupted
his
career
to
join
Vaughan
Williams,
Sharp,
Broadwood
and
others
in
the field
to
capture
the
last
survivals
of
English
folk
music. In
1906
he
took a
portable
Edison
phonograph
to
Lincolnshire
and
recorded
216
cylinders, probably the first sound recordings of English language folk
music.
Another
trip
two
years
later was
the
source for
some of
the
record-
ings
reproduced
on
this LP.
Grainger's
prize
singer
(literally,
for
he
took
first
place
at
the
1905 folk
song
competition
in
Brigg)
was
Joseph
Taylor
of
Saxby-All-Saints,
seventy-five
years
old
when
Grainger
took
him
to
the
Gramophone
Company
to
make some
commercial
record-
ings. Taylor's
performances
reproduced
here include
many
familiar
ballads
(Child
53;
Laws
N
11,
0
4,
P
30,
Q
23)
and
songs
( The
Sprig
O'
Thyme,
Died
for
Love )
and
the
rare
title song, the inspiration of
Delius'
Brigg
Fair.
From
Grainger's
field
cylinders
are
recordings
by
George
Wray,
Joseph
Leaning,
Dean
Robinson
(Child
140),
George
Gouldthorpe,
and
Mr.
Thomson
(Child
53),
probably
all in
their
sixties
or
more
at
the
time.
Leaning
offers
a
long
rendition of
The
Sheffield
Apprentice
(Laws
0
39),
a
familiar ballad
whose
relationship
to
the
Joseph
and
Potiphar's
Wife/Phaedra
motif
deserves
exploration.
Most
of
these
singers
sound,
to
my
ear,
more
like
concert
singers
of
the
early
twentieth
century
than
like
English
folksingers
of
three
of
four
decades
later, a point to be reckoned with in any intensive discussion of folksong
style
and
its
relationship
to
popular
or art
song.
On
several
tracks
one
can
hear in
the
background
a
voice
(presumably
Grainger's)
promoting
the
singers
when
words
fail
them-which
makes me
wonder
about
Grain-
ger's
field
technique.
Some fine
texts
and
outstanding
tunes
are
supple-
mented
by
a
handsome
brochure
with
complete
text
and
some
tune
transcriptions,
bibliography
and
discography,
and
a
facsimile
reproduc-
tion
of
a 1908
catalog
supplement
advertising
Joseph
Taylor's
folksong
[217]
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WESTERN
FOLKLORE
recordings-all
in
all
making
this a
collection
no
serious student or
in-
stitution
should
pass
up.
The Dorset singer, Charlie Wills, was first recorded by Peter Kennedy
in
1952,
and two
selections were released on Caedmon's
The Folk
Songs
of
Britain
series.
Charlie
Wills
(Leader
LEA
4041),
from
recordings
made in
1971
by
Bill
Leader,
is a
welcome collection for
those
impressed
with
the
earlier
releases.
This
selection from
his
repertoire
includes
older
ballads
(Child
84, 274;
Laws
K
43,
L
17,
M
25)
and
songs
( Darby
Ram ),
a
local murder ballad
( Ruth
Butcher,
to
the
tune
of
Just
before
the
Battle ),
music hall
songs
( Household
Remedies,
Cor-
duroy ),
and
folk
lyric
( Go
and
Leave
Me ). Though
Wills
was
eighty-
four when these
recordings
were
made,
he seems to be in
perfect
control
of his
voice,
and
the material
is
quite enjoyable.
Like
other
albums in
Leader's new
series of
traditional
material,
an
attractive
booklet
with
text
transcriptions,
photographs,
notes,
bibliography,
and
discography
is
included.
The
album
Garners
Gay
(EFDSS
LP
1006)
is
companion
to
the
book
of
the
same
title
published
by
the
English
Folk
Dance
and
Song
Society
-a
sampling
of
English
folksongs
collected
by
Fred
Hamer
prior
to
his
death in 1969. Included are two Child ballads (78 and a remarkably
complete
version of
4)
and
five
holiday songs
(two
for
May
Day,
two
Pace
Egg songs,
and a
rather
bitter
Christmas
carol).
The
Ramsey
Ram is
of
course
Darby
Ram ;
Sweet
Swansea is
a
variant of
Here's
Adieu
to All
Judges
and
Juries,
one
of
the
antecedents of
the
American
Prisoner's
Song ;
On
the Banks
of the
Clyde
is
a form
of
Laws
Q
26.
Until a few
years
ago,
it
has been
customary
to
turn
to
Ireland
only
for
survivals of
broadside
balladry,
with
England
and
Scotland
being
the
favored
haunts
for
uncovering
older
popular
ballads.
However,
of
late
field collectors have been finding some fine old survivals mid the
green
hills
of
Erin. Folk
Ballads
from
Donegal
and
Derry
(Leader
LEA
4055)
includes a
dozen
Child
ballads
recorded
by
Hugh
Shields
in
1968-1969:
Numbers
10
(in
Gaelic),
39
(one
stanza),
46,
84, 95,
100,
155,
200
(two
versions),
274,
and
281.
The
long
(twenty
stanzas)
version
of
Barbro
Allen
is
unusual for
the
inclusion of
two
stanzas
in
which her
parents
urge
her to
see
the
young
man
and
she
reminds
them
that
once
they
told
her
to
forget
him.
The
ballad
numbered Child
77 would
seem
more
properly
to
be
considered a version of 248; compare in particular Bron-
son's
ninth
version,
which
is
strikingly
similar.
Another
companion
to a
book of
the same
name
is
Folksongs
Sung
in
Ulster Vol.
1
(Mercier
IRL
11),
a
sampling
from
the
collection
made
by
Robin
Morton.
Sweet
William's
Ghost is
a
good,
long
version
of
Child
77;
The
Wee
Croppy
Tailor
is
the
old
tale
of
a
cuckolded
trooper
who
returns
home
unexpectedly
and
finds
the
tailor
hiding
in
the
cupboard.
Once
I
Loved
(Claddagh
CC
4)
features
Sarah
and
Rita
Keane,
sisters
from
Galway,
who
sing
unison
duet
versions
of Gaelic and
English
songs.
218
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FOLK,
MUSIC
ON
RECORDS
Lord
Donegal
is
an
Irish
version
of Child
75.
The
singing
is
tradition-
al,
the
vocal
quality
rich,
the
tempo
slow.
Once I Had a True Love (Topic 12T193) presents
a
Suffolk housewife
with a rather
unusual
singing style.
Her
extremely
slow
(sometimes
so
slow
that the
melodies are
difficult
to
follow),
free-rhythm
renditions
are
in some
respects
as reminiscent
of
Appalachian
rubato
parlando
as
of
English
singing.
Most
of the
nine selections
on this
album are
derived
from broadside
balladry-some
common
enough
in
the
Americas
(Laws
M
28,
0
36,
P
35),
others
recovered
only
in
Britain,
but
on
familiar
themes
( Young
Ellender is a
typical
ballad of
parental
opposition
to
a
daughter's
alliance with a
commoner;
High Germany -here
titled
Higher Germany -is close to Laws' N7 - N9 group). Dear Little
Maiden,
about a
woman who
takes
in a
babe
abandoned on
her door-
step,
sounds like
a late
nineteenth-century
music
hall
song.
Lizzie
Higgins
of
Aberdeen is the
daughter
of the
widely
acclaimed
ballad
singer,
Jeannie
Robertson.
Princess
of
the
Thistle
(Topic
12T
185)
is her
first
solo
LP,
and
it
proves
her to be
a
fine
singer,
although
to
my
ear her
voice is
a bit
mellower,
less
biting,
than
her
mother's. The
comparison
is easiest made
on
The
Laird
O'
the
Dainty Doonby,
which
her mother had
previously
recorded.
Other older ballads on the
LP are Davie Faa
(considered
by some a variant of Child
279),
The
College
Boy
(Laws
0
35)
and
Young
Emsley (Laws
M
34).
Other
selections
on the
LP
are
primarily
of
Scots
provenance.
Jack
Elliott
was a
Durham
miner with a wealth of
songs
and
lore who
died
in
1966
before
plans
for a
solo,
professionally
recorded
album,
could
be
carried out.
Jack
Elliott
of
Birtley
(Leader
LEA
4001),
recorded in-
formally
at
home
among
friends,
suggests
that this
was
the ideal
con-
text for
his musical wares.
Among
such
relaxed
surroundings
Elliott
regales his audience with ballads (including one of the few unexpurgated
bawdy
versions
of
Child
274
on
disc),
songs,
tales,
jokes,
miners'
songs,
children's
songs,
and tunes
played
on
harmonica,
jew's-harp,
and
banjo.
The School of
Scottish
Studies of the
University
of
Edinburgh
has
inaugurated
a
series
of LPs of
traditional
recordings
of
varied
content.
Scottish
Tradition
1:
Bothy
Ballads
(Tangent
TNGM
109;
Suite
11,
52
Shaftesbury
Ave.,
London W1V
7
DE)
is a
cross-section
of music
from
the North-east:
fiddle
and harmonica
instrumentals,
diddling
songs,
and
local ballads
and
songs.
Scottish
Tradition
2: Music
from
the
Western
Isles (Tangent TNGM 110) is a selection of Gaelic songs collected in the
Hebrides.
3:
Waulking
Songs
from
Barra
(Tangent
TNGM
111)
was
collected
from a
group
of oldsters
who
simulated
actual
working
con-
ditions
by pounding
a blanket
as
they
sang.
All
three albums include
booklets
with notes and text
translations
(a
glossary only
in
the
case
of
109).
At
hand
are
a number of albums
of instrumental
music,
mostly
from
Ireland.
Paddy
in the Smoke
(Topic 12T176)
is a
collection
recorded
in
219
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WESTERN
FOLKLORE
1967
in
a London
pub
on a
typical
Sunday
morning.
It
is
intriguing
to
hear
as
many
as
three
fiddlers
in
near-perfect
unison
following
the
intri-
cate turns of the Irish reels and jigs. Many of the reels, with the square
piano accompaniment,
offer
evidence
of the
origins
of
much of the
Texas
fiddling style.
One
of
the
fiddlers heard on
the above
LP
is
show-
cased
to better
advantage
on
Martin
Byrnes (Leader
LEA
2004)
in
Leader's Masters
of Irish Music series.
Again accompaniment
is
by
piano
and
again
reels
predominate.
Occasionally kinship
to American
tunes
can
be discerned: The
Duke of
Leinster sounds
much like
Leather
Britches to
me,
while
the fine
part
of
The
Sailor's
Bonnet
is reminiscent
of
Billy
in the
Lowground.
Again,
echoes of
Texas
can
be heard throughout. The Star above the Garter (Claddagh CC5; 29
Westland
Row,
Dublin
2)
is
a collection
of fiddle
soli and duets
by
Denis
Murphy
and
Julia
Clifford from
Kerry.
The
Fisherman's
Horn-
pipe
is
refreshingly
different
from
most American
renditions.
Pipe
fanciers will
enjoy
Ri na
bPiobairi
(The
King
of
the
Pipers) (Claddagh
CC1),
featuring
the well-known
Wexford
musician Leo
Rowsome
on
the
Uilleann
or Union
pipes.
His
descriptive piece,
The
Fox
Chase,
makes
interesting comparison
with similar
treatments
by
American
harmonica players. Rowsome can also be heard on The Drones and the
Chanters:
Irish
Pipering (Claddagh
CCll
1),
a
sampling
of
eight
Irish
pipers
offering twenty-one
reels, airs,
jigs,
lullabies,
and
flings.
Six
of
the
selections are
by
Seamus
Ennis,
who is also heard
on
Seamis Ennis
(Leader
LEA
2003).
On
this
LP
are
six
selections
on the
Uilleann
pipes,
two
on the
whistle,
and
one
ballad.
From
northern
Britain is
the
border
piper
Billy Pigg,
who
plays
the Northumbrian
pipes
with
great
skill.
Billy
Pigg
the Border
Minstrel
(Leader
LEA
4006)
samples
his
reper-
toire;
the
notes are informative
regarding
Pigg's background
and
the
his-
tory of bagpipes, but tell nothing of the specifictunes recorded.And from
further north
still
is
John
Burgess,
heard
on
King
of
Highland Pipers
(Topic
12T199),
a collection of
marches, airs,
jigs,
reels,
strathspeys,
and
a
pibroch, played
on the
highland
pipes.
According
to the liner
notes,
many
consider
Burgess, thirty-five years
old
at
the
time of
recording
in
1969,
the best of
living
Scots
pipers.
Most
of the
tunes are
northern,
save
for
the
ubiquitous
Irish Washerwoman.
The
folksong
revival in
the
British Isles
continues
to be
strong,
both
in
the
clubs and on disc.
On
The
Fox
Jumps
over the
Parson's
Gate
(Topic
12T200)
Peter
Bellamy sings
in
good
traditional
style
love
lyrics,
older ballads
(Child
49,
55),
broadside ballads
(Laws
26
and
P
36b;
The
Female
Drummer -a
disguised
female soldier
ballad;
The
Rigs
of
Londown
Town ),
and a
carol
( Saint Stephen ).
Anne
Briggs
sounds
a bit
more
arty,
as
she
accompanies
herself on
guitar
or bouzouki.
On
Anne
Briggs
(Topic
12T207)
she
sings
Child
39
and
100 and Laws P
15
as
well
as
some
widely
known
lyric songs.
Isla
St. Clair
Sings
Traditional
Scottish
Songs
(Tangent
TGS
112)
offers another
singer
popular
in the
220
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FOLK MUSIC ON
RECORDS
folk
revival;
again,
the
songs
are
indeed traditional
but the
renditions
seem a
bit
studied.
Derek &
Dorothy
Elliott
(Trailer
LER
2023)
presents
a husband and wife team who sing duets with guitar and fiddle accom-
paniment
that
are
thoroughly
enjoyable
but
unmistakably
revival.
Songs
and Music
of
Cork
and
Kerry (Mercier
IRL
1)
stars
James
N.
Healy
and
the
Shaun
Cross
Players
in
eight
Irish
songs
rendered in
a
concert
style
interlaced with
commentary by Healy.
Prosperous (Trailer
LER
3035)
features
Christy
Moore and
friends;
along
with British
pieces
(Child
200,
Laws N
35)
Moore offers his
respects
to
Woody
Guthrie
with
Dylan's
Tribute
to
Woody
and
as
good
a rendition of Guthrie's
grim
Ludlow Massacre
as
has been
recorded.
I find enjoyable the approach to traditional songs of such British folk-
rock
groups
as
Fairport
Convention and
Pentangle.
On
Angel
Delight
(Island
ILPS
9162) Fairport
Convention
sings
Lord
Marlborough
(sometimes
titled Lord
Melbourne )
and Banks of Sweet Primroses.
Pentangle's
repertoire
dips generously
into the ancient
ballads,
though
their
lead
singer
tends
to sound
overly
delicate.
On
Solomon's Seal
(Re-
prise
MS
2100) they
offer Child
54
and
100,
Laws
0
25,
and
High
Ger-
many ;
on Cruel
Sister
(Reprise
RS
6430)
are Child
10,
Laws
K 9
and
N
12,
and
Jack
Orion,
an
excellently
modernized
18-minute version
of
Child
67.
Traffic
performs
the title
song
on
John Barleycorn
Must Die
(Island
ILPS
9116);
Fotheringay
sings
Laws
N
9
on
Fotheringay (Island
ILPS
9125).
I conclude this
column
with
a brief
survey
of some
recent
foreign-
language
LPs. Pekka
Gronow
has
in
the
past year
been
initiating
a
study
of
the numerous
foreign
language
ethnic
traditions that
were
recorded
commercially
in
the
United
States
in
the
early
1900s.
Three
LPs of Fin-
nish
language
material
have
already
been
produced.
Hiski
Salomaa
(Love LRLP-17; Arinatie 8, Helsinki 37) is a collection recorded in
New York
between
1928
and
1930
by
Columbia
featuring
a
South
Range,
Michigan,
tailor of Finnish
birth.
Finnish
American
Folk and
Popular
Music:
1927-1932
(Love
LXLP
505)
is
a
broader
collection
featuring
various
artists,
including
Salomaa,
recorded
originally
by
Columbia and
Victor. Non-Finnish
speaking
listeners will
find
this
LP
more useful
as
the liner
notes
(in
Finnish
and
English)
discuss
the
music and
synopsize
the texts.
Proletaarit
Nouskaa
(Eteenpain
ETLP
301)
is
a
collection
of
left-wing
Finnish-American
political
songs
from
the
1920s.
The
titles
(translated) give some idea of the flavor of the songs: Proletarians
Arise,
Unemployment
Waltz,
March
of the
Proletariat,
and
To
the
Executed in
their
Graves.
Such
recordings,
like
hillbilly,
race,
and
cajun
records,
were
originally
issued
specifically
for
the
ethnic
enclaves
within
the
United
States-in
this
case,
the
Finnish-Americans
concen-
trated
mainly
in
Michigan.
Gronow is
performing
a
useful
service to
folklorists and
historians
by
making
this
fascinating
material
available
again.
221
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WESTERN FOLKLORE
Qualiton/Supraphon
have issued
some
outstanding
field
collections
from
eastern
Europe. Hungarian
Folk
Music
(Qualiton
LPX
10095-98)
is a boxed 4-LP set with a 75-page illustrated booklet including complete
text/tune
transcriptions
and
notes
in both
Hungarian
and
English.
The
set was
compiled
from the
collections
of the
Hungarian Academy
of
Sciences and
the
Hungarian
Ethnographic
Museum.
Volume
1
concen-
trates
on ancient
strata;
volume
2,
on
European heritage
and
songs
in
the
new
style;
volume
3,
instrumentals;
and
volume
4,
tunes
attached to
popular
customs
(Christmas,
wedding songs,
summer
solstice, whitsun,
carnival
chants).
Hungarian
Folk Music
(Qualiton
LPX-1187)
includes
mostly
unaccompanied
solo
singing,
with
some
instrumentals. Side one
presents
mainly
old
style
(parlando
rubato)
singing.
Authentic Folk-
lore
from
Czechoslovakia
(Supraphon
SUG
12458-60)
is a
boxed
3-LP
set
with an illustrated
44-page
booklet
including
text translations
and
notes
in
English,
French,
and
German. The
three
LPs
are,
respectively,
from
Bohemia,
Moravia
and
Silesia,
and Slovakia.
The Bohemian set
includes
new
recordings
made from
1893
transcriptions by
folklorist/
painter
L.
Kuba
of
bagpipes,
clarinet,
and violin in
Chodsko,
and
also
1929
recordings
made
by
the Czech
Academy
of
Science
and
Art.
The
other LPs seem to be contemporary recordings. The notes include gen-
eral information on
the
history
of the Czech
peoples
and
the nature of
their folk music.
Folk
Songs
of
Puerto
Rico
(Asch
AHM
4412)
was
recorded
by
Hen-
rietta Yurchenco
in San
Juan
in 1969 and
samples
both
the black and
white
musical
traditions of
the island.
Early
Cante
Flamenco: Vol.
1
(Roots
SL
509
and
Folklyric
9001)
is
an
unusual
collection of
commercial
78rpm recordings
originally
made in
Spain
between
1934 and
1939.
Music
of
Morocco
(AFS
L63-L64),
edited and
recorded
by
Paul
Bowles,
is the latest release from the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song.
It
samples
Berber
music from
the
highlands
and
influent
strains
from
the
lowlands-Spanish,
Arabic,
and
Hebrew elements.
Nonesuch
Rec-
ords has
issued
an
extensive
Explorer
Series
of
music
from
various
parts
of
the world.
Village
Music
of
Bulgaria
(H-72034),
In
the
Shadow
of
the Mountain:
Bulgarian
Folk
Music
(H-72038)
and
Village
Music
of
Yugoslavia
(H-72042)
are
all
collections
of
traditional
field
recordings
made
by
Martin
Koenig
and
Ethel Raim.
The Real
Mexico
(H-2009/
72009)
was
recorded in
Michoacan by Henrietta Yurchenco from tradi-
tional
artists.
However,
most of
the
other albums
in
the
series
are not
what would
be
considered
traditional
folk
music. Music
of
Bulgaria
(H-2011/72011)
features
the
Ensemble
of the
Bulgarian
Republic,
an
official
troupe
of
folksingers
and
dancers
of rural
background,
but evi-
dently
highly
directed
if
not
trained.
Bouzoukee:
The
Music
of
Greece
(H-2004/HS-72004)
includes
selections
by
contemporary
composers
re-
creating
and
adapting
ancient
folk
dances
and
songs.
The
Soul
of
Fla-
menco
(H-2002/HS-72002)
features
the
Cuadro
Flamenco,
a
city
group
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FOLK
MUSIC
ON
RECORDS
from
Madrid;
their
guitarist
is a schooled
musician.
A
Heritage
of
Folk
Song
from
Old
Russia
(H-2010/72010)
is the usual
arty
choral
arrange-
ment of Russian folk and art songs.
John
Edwards Memorial Foundation
University
of
California,
Los
Angeles
NOTE TO
CONTRIBUTORS
As a
courtesy
to
the
Editor,
authors
preparing
manuscripts
for
consideration
by
Western
Folklore should follow the
strictures
outlined in
chapter
2
of
A
Manual
of
Style
for
Authors,
Edi-
tors,
and
Copywriters,
12th
ed.,
rev.
(Chicago:
University
of
Chicago
Press,
1969).
Footnotes
must
be
complete
references
and be modeled after the samples in chapter 15 of the Manual
of
Style.
223