Folk Music Journal: Volume 11 Number 2

Folk Music Journal: Volume 11 Number 2

Volume 11 Number 2 (2017) contains the following pieces 

Articles: 

Frances Wilkins  ‘Da Merry Boys o Greenland’: Explorations into the Musical Dialogue of Shetland’s Nautical Past

Many of the songs and tunes in Shetland’s musical repertoire have been inspired by the islanders’ long associations with the sea and seafaring. A number of these were transported back across the Atlantic from whaling and fur-trading expeditions to the Arctic fringes and carry tales related to Shetland’s rich maritime past. During the time of the Greenland fishery in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most ships included a member of the crew able to play the fiddle and keep up the crew’s spirits. In this article, my main aim is to explore the concept of musical migration, particularly in terms of transatlantic musical flow, as an important aspect of both the Shetland musical tradition and the musical traditions of indigenous populations outside Shetland that have been influenced by the transatlantic nature of the music. In doing this, I will attempt to start drawing together two separate music histories, that of the Inuit musicians and dances influenced by European whalers and fur traders across the Arctic, and that of the Shetlanders who sailed to the regions and, for many years, shared a performance milieu with the indigenous groups that lived there.

Michael Heaney Folk Dance and Theatrical Performance in the Eighteenth Century

The history of morris dancing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is sometimes seen as following two paths: a theatrical tradition based on the creations of professional dancers; and a folk tradition embedded in local custom and tradition which owed nothing to professional performance. Evidence from contemporary newspapers of the activities of morris dancers from Bath, sword dancers from Cumbria, and other contemporary accounts reveals that the situation was more complex, with folk dancers appearing in professional performance space and consciously playing upon their origins.

David Plant Resources in the Vaughan Williams Memorial library: The Pat Shaw Archive

This year marks the centenary of Pat Shaw (1917–77), composer and collector, and this articles describes the Pat Shaw Archive now at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. The article comprises a select bibliography of dances, music, writings, and recordings. There is an also an outline of research into Pat Shaw’s work.

Note

Correspondence

Reviews — Books

Reviews — CDs 

Obituary

Cover illustration Pat Shaw at the EFDSS Gold Badge awards ceremony at Cecil Sharp House

Editor: David Atkinson