The characterful town of Southwold in Suffolk, on the east coast of England, captivates most visitors and has long been a magnet for musicians, artists and writers. This presentation was originally inspired by contemplating on what drew folksong collectors Ralph Vaughan Williams and George Butterworth to the town in 1910, and what they found there – and what they might have found if they’d stayed more than two days! I will look at some of the songs collected there, both on that trip and also by later collectors, and reflect on the meaning that such songs held for fishermen and their communities. I will also consider evidence of the vernacular cultural life of the resident community from a rather different source: the works of visiting artists, writers and photographers such as Joseph Southall and P.H.Emerson.
Katie Howson is a musician and writer, well known for her involvement in preserving and promoting the music, song and dance from the eastern counties.
In 2000, Katie and her late husband John founded the East Anglian Traditional Music Trust, running many community projects, events and festivals and publishing several books, including Blyth Voices, which includes songs mentioned in today’s talk. John’s recording label, Veteran Records features songs from later singers from the area such as John Winter, Ted Quantrill and Dinks Cooper.
Katie retired from her post as Director and General Manager of the East Anglian Traditional Music Trust in 2017, since when she has been pursuing various research interests, including the history of stepdancing, and dulcimers in the eastern counties. In 2019 she featured in All My Life’s Buried Here, a film documentary about the folk song collector George Butterworth. Most of her work focuses on microstudies of song, music and dance communities, but in recent years her research interests have expanded to include such varied subjects as the music on a barrel-organ taken on Arctic expeditions in the 1820s and early BBC radio programmes featuring traditional singing.
In 2010 both Katie and John were awarded the EFDSS Gold Badge Award. Katie’s book on the history of Jig Dolls (The Brightest of Entertainers, co-authored with Pat Pickles) was shortlisted for the 2019 Folklore Society Award and she also wrote the lead article in the Ballad Partners’ 2022 publication, Thirsty Work and Other Legacies of Folk Song about a groundbreaking series on BBC radio in 1940-41. She continues to publish on the internet (see below) and to manage the Veteran record label.
www.eastangliandulcimers.org.uk
Online event starts at 7.30pm
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Library Lectures, Spring 2025
