Fay Hield Commission to Create New Work From The Full English Archive
13-12-2012
Fay Hield Commission to Create New Work From The Full English Archive
Project will unearth rarely heard and previously unpublished songs and tunes
A new music commission will mark the launch of the world’s biggest online portal of English folk music and dance in 2013.
Fay Hield will create new work, arrangements and a full concert performance piece that will feature the discoveries from the 10 archives that are being drawn together by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) to create The Full English.
Funding for Fay’s project has been received from the PRS for Music Foundation. The Heritage Lottery Fund and the National Folk Music Fund are funding The Full English, which also includes a nationwide learning and participation programme delivered through nine regional partners.
The archive will bring together the collections of Harry Albino, Lucy Broadwood, Clive Carey, Percy Grainger, Maud Karpeles, Frank Kidson, Thomas Fairman Ordish, Cecil Sharp, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Alfred Williams for the first time, to create the most comprehensive free searchable database of British folk songs, tunes, dances and customs in the world.
The new web portal will be launched in June 2013 and Fay Hield & The Big Hurricane Party featuring special guests will unveil the results of their research at the event at Cecil Sharp House in London.
EFDSS is in the process of digitising the collections containing more than 58,400 items held within the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) at Cecil Sharp House, and significant folk collections from the archives of project partners: The British Library in London, Clare College in Cambridge, The Mitchell Library in Glasgow, The Folklore Society Library and Archive at University College London, and the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre.
Fay completed her PhD addressing the contemporary English folk singing scene in 2010. She currently lectures in Ethnomusicology at the University of Sheffield and these research interests will underpin the project.
Fay said: “This is a wonderful opportunity to explore a mountain of material previously out of grasp. Seeing the handwritten notes made by collectors in the field really makes these manuscripts come alive and that is what we will try to communicate through the show.
"Archives can be dusty old places, but this music is full of life and needs to be out there. Supporting EFDSS’ tremendous efforts to get all this material online we want to let people know what they’ve got access to.”
Katy Spicer, Chief Executive of EFDSS, said: “The digitising of the collections and the creation of the online portal is just the beginning of what The Full English aims to achieve. Fay’s commission will show how the portal will be able to bring to life some of the songs and tunes that make up an important part of England’s cultural history.
“It is very exciting as there will be lots of music in the archives that people have never heard of before and it will be exposed to a whole new generation through Fay’s work.”
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