The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #160478 Message #3807909
Posted By: Howard Jones
01-Sep-16 - 07:26 AM
Thread Name: Shrewsbury FF to ban 'blacked up' Morris
Subject: RE: Shrewsbury FF to ban 'blacked up' Morris
Les, I can't speak for border morris. For myself, I accept that minstrelsy had some effect on morris but not that it was the "most significant" effect. If it had been, I think other traditions such as Cotswold would also have taken it up. My interpretation is that it was those traditions which already blacked up which added aspects from minstrelsy, but that it was not the reason for them blacking up, and that aspect of it died out many decades ago, as did minstrelsy itself. (I know people are fond of referring to the Black and White Minstrel Show, but this was an intentionally nostalgic programme and no more indicates a survival of minstrelsy into the 1960s than the Good Old Days did of music hall).
I came across some earlier references for one of the earlier discussions on this topic but I'm not going looking for them now.