English Dance & Song

74 - 4 Winter 2012

The cover feature is Whapweasel, a band that has recently changed direction from high-energy festival ceilidhs to become a concert band with a repertoire of songs as well as tunes with the distinctive Whap-sound. Whapweasel are the featured artists in the Singer, Song and Source series, with the song ‘The Hexhamshire Lass’ and a source section written by Dave Harker.

There are two seasonal articles. Maypoles to Mistletoe features this annual show, led by Martyn Wyndham-Read, which looks at the changing seasons through folk music and dance. Come Sing for the Season is an article by Wren Music co-director, Paul Wilson, on the tradition of local carols on Exmoor, which are enjoying a new lease of life.

A regular series on folk in education initiatives looks at a recent dance project in Kent, Keeping Traditions Alive, written by Michelle Chorley.

There’s an article on The Lock In, a collaborative folk dance and street dance show currently touring the country, written by Julian May, with photographs by Alan Cole.

This issue carries a list of over 170 Folk Festivals taking place in England and Wales during 2013. This list also appears on this website: www.efdss.org/festivals/2013

The citations of three Gold Badge presentations are published – singer Nic Jones, Folk South West director Eddie Upton and clog dancer Jackie Toaduff.

There is an extended tribute to Ivor Allsop who died recently.

Plus all the regular features – EFDSS Matters, Festive Round-up, Lives Remembered, news, reviews and dance events.

English Dance & Song

74 3 Autumn 2012

Tim Edey is the cover feature in this issue. Winner of Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2012, Tim grew up in Broadstairs, home of the week-long August festival.

The Singer, Song and Source series features young singer, Maz O’Connor, and the song ‘The Constant Lovers’. The source section illustrates how difficult it can be to pin down where a song comes from!

The English Contra Band is featured – an increasingly popular duo playing for American contra dances.

There are articles on four EFDSS initiatives. Youth Dance Showcase reports on a folk dance event at London’s Southbank Centre in July. 80 Years previews the birthday celebrations for the English Folk Dance and Song Society. Rapper! previews the book and DVD/DVD-Rom publications which will be launched in October. And there’s a feature on the recent expansion of online resources in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, covering historic dance and tune collections.

The third article in the Letter from America series looks at English folk song in the USA, written by English-born John Roberts, who has lived and worked in the USA for many years.

The second in the Unsung Heroes series looks at George Wilkinson, one of Sharp’s pre-1914 demonstration morris team members.

An article, Short Sharp Shanties, examines the new recording and concert projects of the shanties collected from John Short from Watchet.

Plus all the regular features – EFDSS Matters, Festive Round-up, Lives Remembered, letters, news, reviews and dance events.

The list of almost 150 folk festivals in England and Wales taking place in 2012, is available here

English Dance & Song

74 2 Summer 2012

The Singer, Song and Source series features the Oxfordshire folk band, Magpie Lane. Their song, ‘Travel the Country Round’ comes originally from the Sussex traditional singer and bell-ringer, Henry Burstow. Jon Boden and Vic Smith are the two contributing writers to this feature.

As Olympics fever grips the country, we have a feature on folk music and dance events that are part of the London 2012 Festival, the Torch Relay and community events. The 400-year Olimpick Games in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, is also featured. Plus, a humorous (well, we think it’s funny - we hope you do too) cartoon courtesy of the Daily Mail’s Mac.

There are features on two new publications. Author of A.L.Lloyd’s biography, Dave Arthur, whets our appetites for the long-anticipated book. And Steve Roud and Julia Bishop are interviewed on their new song collection, The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs.

The centenary of the birth of American singer, Woody Guthrie, is marked by a feature which looks at the impact of his songs on the British folk scene, especially in the 1950s.

Fylde Folk Festival reaches its fortieth year, and there’s an article on the event and its director, Alan Bell. Vic Gammon has written an article which offers a new interpretation of the well-known song, ‘The Mermaid’. And there’s a page of photographs of recent sword dance events.

There are two EFDSS Gold Badge award citations, for George Peterson and Steve Roud.

EFDSS Matters gives news of the Heritage Lottery Funding for The Full English project, and there’s a feature on Unsung Hero, Pat Kingwell, who is the Society’s volunteer funding consultant.

Plus all the regular features – Festive Round-up, Lives Remembered, letters, news, reviews and dance events.

The list of almost 150 folk festivals in England and Wales taking place in 2012, is available here

The Singer, Song and Source series continues with a young trio who were nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award, Pilgrims’ Way. Their song, ‘The Handweaver and the Factory Maid’ comes originally from William Oliver of Widnes, via A.L.Lloyd, and the source article is written by Roy Palmer. (See below for sound and video files).

In the run-up to the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, Peta Webb contributes a feature on songs written about the maritime disaster: ‘The Mighty Ship Titanic’. One of the songs is available to listen to (see below) and there is also an extended list of further recordings and readings available here.

In the second in the brief series, Letter from America, Tim Radford writes about morris dancing in the USA.

William Darling has hitherto been best known as the father of heroine Grace Darling. But William was also a fiddle player, and Bryan Jackson has unearthed his tune book; Bryan writes about the problems of interpreting the tunes.

The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards article includes all the award winners, photographs and a special feature on EFDSS Librarian Malcolm Taylor’s Roots Award.

There’s a feature on Thomas McCarthy and Simon Doyle and family – Irish Travellers settled in England who performed to great acclaim at a couple of folk festivals last year. See video links below.

There is a feature on the current visual arts exhibition in Cecil Sharp House, and news of a forthcoming morris dance photograph exhibition.

Following on from the Folk Dancing – Present and Future article in the last issue, there’s a series of letters on the subject. The original article is now available to read here. Further comments are welcome.

There are two EFDSS Gold Badge award citations, for Johnny Handle and Les Seaman. The Branching Out item features Scots singer Sheila Stewart.

Plus all the regular features – Festive Round-up, EFDSS Matters, Lives Remembered, news, reviews and dance events.

The list of almost 150 folk festivals in England and Wales taking place in 2012, published in the last issue, has now been updated and is available here.