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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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]



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



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



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



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



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

222



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

folk music on records

Documents