Sad news ...

From: Andy Peterson <lyrlsbro@...>
Subject: Jean Ritchie

I learned a couple days ago that
Appalachian folk singer Jean Ritchie has had a stroke and is
hospitalized. Her 89th birthday was December 8.

For those who would like to know how she is doing, her son
Jon has been posting at the Mudcat Cafe web site. She has
posted there under the name kytrad. The most recent posts
are at the bottom.

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=125802&messages=120#2788493

Also see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDdw4_fVDgs

Andy in Portland OR

I believe I've commented on the subject of names and spelling in a previous
thread (Obray Ramsey?). In genealogy this is a frequent issue and their is no
good answer in the absence of an official record (birth, death or marriage;
military service; tombstone or other church related record). Even worse some
folks alter their name, my great uncle born Ocheltree died O'Cheltree, my great
grandmother Tynes with her Tines cousins. Best practice would seem to be pick
one and annotate the alternative.

---- gardhams <gardhams@...> wrote:
> I'm probably stating the b******* obvious here, but it would seem from
comparing versions recorded by Sharp from Jane Gulliford of Combe Florey with
versions recorded by Hammond from Mrs Gulliver of Combe Florey that they are one
and the same person. Can anyone please shed light on this? And if this is the
case which is the correct spelling?

I'm probably stating the b******* obvious here, but it would seem from comparing
versions recorded by Sharp from Jane Gulliford of Combe Florey with versions
recorded by Hammond from Mrs Gulliver of Combe Florey that they are one and the
same person. Can anyone please shed light on this? And if this is the case which
is the correct spelling?

Also has anyone got access to Walter Pardon's fragment of Roud 665 The Man of
Dover/ Man of Birmingham Town and can let me know which stanzas of Frank
Purslow's excellent collated version in Wanton Seed it corresponds to? From the
Roud Index the first line would indicate it started at stanza 12. I have a
sneaky suspicion it may only be a single stanza as recorded by Jim Carroll.

The only currently available broadsides only have the same 10 stanzas whereas
FEP's collated version has 15. Allowing for Marina Russell's unique last stanza
and an extra one in the broadside, it would appear that FEP's collation is very
likely much closer to the original than the 2 19th century broadsides. As with
many ballads a longer 18thc stall copy is looking very likely. Another good
reason for investigating the many unpublished collections of 18thc garlands.



SteveG

Peggy Seeger has a dancing doll which was made by Harry Cox for Ewan MacColl,
and which she would like to donate to a suitable archive. Can anyone suggest
anywhere?

Cheers,

Fred McCormick.

If you are within travelling distance of Huddersfield UK, Chris Coe is
directing a show on Monday and Tuesday this week (14th/15th December) based
on the ballad 'The Wife of Usher's Well'.

This experimental show is a soundscape telling of the story where the
audience is blindfold and the experience is delivered entirely by live sound
effects and singing. (Note: there is no physical contact and the audience of
30 are cared for). The cast is second year drama undergraduates.

It takes place at Studio 2 in Huddersfield University's Milton Building,
home of the Drama department.


Mon 14th 7:30pm and 8:30pm
Tues 15th  8:15pm and 9:15pm

School of Music, Humanities and Media,
Milton Building,
The University of Huddersfield,
Queensgate,
Huddersfield,
HD1 3DH.

Miltonboxoffice@...

Hi folks,

Just to let everybody know, that the December 2009 edition of Worlds of Trad
Internet radio – a Christmas Special no less - is now uploaded and bringing
festive melodies and cheer from every part of the globe. You can pick the
programme up by going straight to the station player at

http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/mini.cgi?station_name=oneworldmusic&tm=7011 .

On the other hand, you can bring up the station page first. Click on
http://www.live365.com/stations/oneworldmusic . Then click the yellow PLAY
button. Then, if you press the green button to the right, you can save Worlds of
Trad as a preset. That will save you having to search the next time you listen
in.

You can check the complete playlist at 
http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/mini.cgi?station_name=oneworldmusic&tm=7011%20.&f\
rom=rma .

This month The Stanley Brothers, Lord Executor and Jesse Thomas regale us with
various seasonal salutations; Will Atkinson, Willy Taylor, Joe Hutton, Ola Belle
Reed, a bunch of Yorkshire Carollers and Fred Jordan remind us that Christmas
wouldn't be Christmas without a few shepherds and the gift of a lamb or two;
Leroy Carr, The Allen Brothers and Bukka White opine that that Christmas is a
rotten time to be stuck in jail; Jackie Daly, Micho Russell and Jean Ritchie
play us a Christmas tune or two; and there's a gorgeous version of the Dilly
Song from The Marshall Family.
We continue to celebrate Topic's 70th birthday, and this month recall some of
Topic's fabulous output from the 1970s and `80s. Just imagine how dull life
would have been without Songs of a Donegal Man, Music From Sliabh Luachra, The
Silver Bow, Folk Music of Yugoslavia, The Music of Cape Breton, The Broomfield
Wager, and Memories of Sligo!
The record companies have made sure Christmas has come early, and we sample some
new CDs from Len Graham, Ewan MacColl and The Red Fox Chasers. We also visit
some early, and some not so early T Bone Walker; and Sidney Bechet and Naftule
Brandwein battle it out for the title King of the Clarinet.
We bid a sad and fond farewell to Bess Lomax Hawes, who died recently aged 88,
and we recall some of her collecting work with the fiddler Emmett Lundy.
Then, just when it looked as though things couldn't get any crazier, we're
invited on a pilgrimage by a bunch of Rajasthani musicians. Thanks fellas but
we've got one of our own, all the way to Manger Square in Bethlehem.

Happy Listenings,

Fred McCormick.

Fredlive365@... .

This from the NZ Folk Music Mailing List:

Dear Friends,

Liam Clancy, the last of the legendary group the Clancy Brothers, peacefully
passed away a few hours ago in the Dublin hospital which he re-entered about ten
days ago.  His Pulmonary Fibrosis greatly weakened his heart, and with the
failure of both his lungs and heart his body just couldn't continue on.

I remember speaking to him on the phone some months ago, when he was
explaining to me that he had the same disease Odetta had.  And. . .  he has now
passed away one year and two days after that of his dear friend of more than
fifty years (Odetta was his first date when he arrived in New York in 1956 : )
).  I am so thankful that he didn't have to suffer with this disease for so many
years as Odetta had to, and that we were able to see him just seventeen months
ago at the Bitter End so full of vitality, vim and vinegar.   That night, with
the cameras rolling and with the assistance of Odetta, Tom Paxton, Eric Bibb,
the ever-wobbly Shane McGowen, plus two of Ireland's great young artists, he was
like a 30 year young lion on stage, with so much energy and a powerful voice,
countered by his memorizing delivery of poetry and verse between songs that was
equal to the greatest of Irish actors of the ages (of which he certainly was
one).   He was one of a kind.

I have no doubt that his brothers and Tommy have been waiting in
anticipation for his arrival and that they're all singing up a rousing storm as
I am writing you now.

God Bless Liam,

Doug

*Douglas A. Yeager Productions, Ltd.*
*300 West 55th Street
Suite # 15E
New York, New York 10019
TEL:               (212) 245-0240         (212) 245-0240
FAX: (212) 245-6576
SKYPE: DouglasYeager*

I thought it might be worth mentioning for the benefit of anyone going to
Haddenham Festival this weekend (5th January) that Ralph Jordan and I will be
presenting the last outing this year of our show "Listen and You Shall Hear"
there on Saturday evening. The show is a mix of songs,tunes and spoken word, and
covers some of the principle features of the life and work of Lucy
Broadwood,founder member of the Folk-Song Society in 1898, researcher and song
collector, mentor and influence on many classical musicians, and fellow
collectors who were to come after her. If you want to find out a little more
about this interesting (and important) lady then we'd love to see you there.

English Dance & Song

The Winter 2009 issue has just been published.

This issue includes a full list of 150 Folk Festivals in 2010, which is also
available on the website www.efdss.org/festivals.html

The Singer, Song and Source feature is Bella Hardy, whose song ‘All in the
Morning’ is 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, which Cecil Sharp visited a hundred years ago. 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.

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.

EFDSS Education Director, Rachel Elliott, writes on the Take 6 Education
Project.

We also celebrate Library Director, Malcolm Taylor’s 30 years at the EFDSS,
and the continuing party for Cecil Sharp’s 150th birthday.

Plus all the regular features – festive round-up, news, reviews and dance
events.

Visit http://eds.efdss.org to hear ‘All in the Morning’ sung by Bella Hardy,
and to hear
‘The Drayton Wassail’ sung by the Wassailers in January 2009, recorded by
Bob Patten.

The website also has a list of the advertisers in the Winter 2009 issue.

The magazine is free to members of the English Folk Dance and Song Society:
individual copies are Ł2.50.

By accident I came across this. Seems cheap for a classic CD of trad. singers
and musos.

http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/2381212/Hidden-English-A-Celebration-Of-English-\
Traditional-Music/Product.html?cur=258

Chris B.

Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2009 23:07:57 +1300
From: "Trevor Sommers" <tsommers@...>
Subject: [Nz-folk] Bob Copper - Song For Every Season
To: <nz-folk@...>

Copper friends may like to check out this interview with John Copper with
reference to the album: The Imagined Village

http://www.stirrings.co.uk/CmeetsC/index.html

Then right-mouse-click on The Imagined Village and Save As.

The file is

http://www.stirrings.co.uk/CmeetsC/shows/John_copper.flv

Trevor

responding to Martin Graebe:

I wonder if there would be interest in a meeting of the group in the US?
I would be happy to help organize it, and would suggest that a possible
time and location would be in conjunction with next year's Eisteddfod
Festival of Traditional Music in Upstate New York. . . probably second
half of October.

The festival has tried each year to have something of a folkloric and
oral history track, this past October a rather substantial one, so it
would fit right in, and the music at the event is quite stunning.

Jerry Epstein