The Great Hope of English Folk

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 08:06 PM

It's OK, greg, the thread was still fun anyways!

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Folkiedave
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 04:52 PM


it's me
x e

Seconded!

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: GUEST,eliza c
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 04:39 PM

it's me
x e

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 03:40 PM

Was just about to salute Smedley for his post re fun etc... then he took that sideswipe at June... !!

Greg - nope, you got it pretty much in one there, I do believe...

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 11:52 AM

Thanks Willa . I am a very happy new fan for Ewan .. He is really wonderful . If he has not toured the US yet it needs to happen .. Thanks for this great bit of HEADS UP .. Yours Guy

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 07:09 AM

""The real hope might be here in this email I received today."

Yes, much more interesing. Thanks for flagging it up.""

I just had a swift look through this, and I'm sorry to say that it apopears to be the mixture as before.

The "Arts" that must be defended, promoted, and shoved down the throats of the public, are the usual suspects, Orchestral and other Classical music, Theatre, and Ballet.

Folk is mentioned just once, under the heading of other genres and amateur music.

So no likelihood of any support there, except of course that we don't have to worry about the price of concert tickets rising to the point where you need to be a senior civil servant, a multinational CEO, or a member of Parliament, to afford one.

Don T.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 10:17 PM

Thanks for the list of people to search on the net . This will be great fun for me and I am very thankful for the information .

I loved Richard Bridge's quote : If you want doom-laden traditional songs and can put up with the piano, I recommend Karine Polwart.      

I love doom laden traditional songs . Remember we have a lot of sun and vitamin B complex here in New England .No worries . Thanks to all for the ideas .. Yours Guy

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: GUEST,Guest Willa
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 09:17 AM

Post above was me; need to reset my cookie.
Add Ewan McClennan, to even up the score.

http://www.myspace.com/ewanmclennan

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: LesB
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 08:23 AM

Richard Bridge said..."LesB - shame on you. What has the appearance of a singer got to do with their musical ability? "

None whatsoever. I can dream can't I?
Cheers
Les

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: theleveller
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 08:09 AM

"Lucy Ward (especially as she had turquoise hair last time she came to our house)"

Lucy is a brilliant as her hair - which was pink at The Rock a couple of weeks ago.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: r.padgett
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 08:03 AM

So all is not done yet!

Good to hear new younger singers, although there are still one or two older singers on the go!!

The 2:1 ratio young females to males upcoming may be slightly out of kilter (merely suggested from Sylvia's posting)

I think it does take males a bit longer to sort out their repertoire

There are, I think, though, likely to be more mature male singers than females at clubs currently

Ray

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 07:50 AM

I'll agree with your final entry Sylvia and Lucy sang well from the floor at our place back in November.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: SylviaN
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 07:25 AM

To throw in a couple of other names -

Jackie Oates
Lucy Ward (especially as she had turquoise hair last time she came to our house)
Sam Lee - who was absolutely wonderful last night at the Derby Gaol FC.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: r.padgett
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 03:23 AM

Did she Dave!

You there too eh?

Good chance that she did go to the very famous folk club in Barnsley too

She would be what around 60y.o (if I might ask?)

Ray

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Folkiedave
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 07:21 PM

I wonder, did she ever go to the Centenary rooms folk club

I seem to remember she went to Folk Clubs in Hull. I would also be surprised if she didn't go the the University Folk CLub at that time - very strong with some great guests.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: greg stephens
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 06:13 PM

Borchester Echo makes a very bizarre suggestion that I should not set guessing games because the answer is publicly available. As anyone on Mudcat will know, I often set quizzes. Now, the answers to the questions are publicly available. Of course they are. What I can't follow is, why should that prevent me from asking the questions, for other people's interest and amusement? This sort of thing makes it so difficult for outsiders to take Mudcat seriously. I have set quizzes all over the place, for BBC radio programmes, for fRoots forum, for pub quiz leagues. This is definitely the first time anybody has said you shouldn't do it because the answers are publicly available. And dear B Echo obviously feels so wound up about it that (s)he felt it necessary to soboatge the guessing by giving the answer before anyone could guess. What on earth is this about? Am I missing something?

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Smedley
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 03:26 PM

Oh, my links failed to 'take'. C'est la vie.

And yes, Karine Polwart is wonderful.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 03:21 PM

If you want doom-laden traditional songs and can put up with the piano, I recommend Karine Polwart. Scottish, not English, and also does non-trad stuff.

LesB - shame on you. What has the appearance of a singer got to do with their musical ability?

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 03:09 PM

Certainly recommend Bella Hardy

You can find Anna Shannon and Wendy Arrowsmith on you tube

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Tootler
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 03:08 PM

Guy Wolff, I assume you mean Kathryn Tickell. A very fine player of Northumbrian Pipes and Fiddle.

She was partly responsible for reawakening my interest in folk music. I bought one of her CD's on spec and was wowed.

She is firmly rooted in the Northumbrian tradition but has also explored new avenues and taken the Northumbrian pipes to a wider audience.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Smedley
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 03:07 PM

OK, Guy, of the current younger crop of British female folk singers, I would recommend:

Nancy Wallace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg5RZ6PJ8bk
(though there is some unfortunate audience action!!)

Bella Hardy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpNUHgEYB2Q&feature=related

Ruth Notman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz5bjXq8-z4&feature=related

These aren't the greatest quality recordings but you should get an idea of how they sound.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 02:46 PM

So on an optimistic note <><>>< The intent at the beginning of this, I thought, was to guess at great new Traditional musicians that had been overlooked by the radio show .. Anyone have some nice things to say about young British musicians they love for what they are doing .. I found Julie Fowllis via Bruce Molski on YT.. Incredible . How about the young woman who plays Nothrumberland pipes and fiddle .She may get a bit showy on stage but her playing is wonderful . Ms Tickle is it ?? Im over here in New England very interested in whom you all Love .Isn't that a more interesting place to take this thread .. All the very best to all here . By the way thanks Good Soldier Schweik for the very kind words . I do wish I could afford a few months a year in Briton . I am such a fan of the history of music and crafts .

Yours Guy

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: GUEST,Mad Jack Wooley's Dog Captain
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 02:31 PM

Woof

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Banjiman
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 02:15 PM

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: LesB
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 02:14 PM

At one time I thought that Kate Rusby's ex duo partner Kathryn Roberts might have been the GWH. Better singer & better looking.
Cheers
Les

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Smedley
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 02:01 PM

The few things I looked at on Youboob seemed to be vary far from traditional content.

----------------------------------------

Indeed, which is why the 'folk' label rather sloppily slapped on her forehead by the BBC has been so discussed. But she has sung at concerts with unarguable folky folks and (if this wasn't almost always a negative phrase) is a kind of fellow traveller.

And she sang the best version of the much-covered and frequently-slaughtered 'First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' I have been privileged to hear.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 12:39 PM

The few things I looked at on Youboob seemed to be vary far from traditional content.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: The Sandman
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 11:15 AM

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Guy Wolff - PM
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 08:28 AM

Greg thanks for starting this thread . i had not heard of this young person .Ive had a look over at youtube .   I am shore Newcstle must be very proud of her . I would love to hear of any up and comming Traditional young people . Whos out there ?? All the best , Guy
well that fellow Guy Wolff is not so bad,he plays a mean banjo,throws a few pots[but not at gigs]and has a nice smile

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: theleveller
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 10:36 AM

"predictable, puerile, sexist, neandertal carping both of the under-researched script and of the character and scope of the programme itself. Typical blokey Mudcat"

Oooer! Actually, Woman's Hour just seems to me to be rather 'quaint', harking back to days when 'the little woman' was a housewife and mother. It brings back childhood memories of Listen with Mother, Mrs Dale's Diary, and The Archers when it was 'an everyday story of country folk'. Must stop sucking my thumb now.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 10:23 AM

I don't think Mr Silver would recognise how to promote music successfully in the media if someone broke the words into bite-size syallables and inserted hyphens. "Fun" it is not, but an aspect of the business.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Leadfingers
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 10:13 AM

Smedley - I dont thimk Ms Echo would recognise 'FUN' if it jumped up and bit her Bum !!

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Smedley
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 10:09 AM

I think Lady Gaga should do a duet with June Tabor.

'Poker Face' should suit them both.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: MikeL2
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 10:06 AM

hi lizzie

<" Is it Lady Gaga? ">   lol

Now there's a thought !!

But The Lady is certainly not GaGa...lol

Regards

MikeL2

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Smedley
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 09:53 AM

Borchie (as I am well aware I shouldn't call you), the 'blokey' stuff kicked off well into the thread. And i agree with you that a lot of it was uncalled for.   At the beginning this thread was, however underwhelming this seems to you, a guessing game which asked people to reflect on which artists they thought might have been given such a label.

You are right, 'minimal research' could have been undertaken to solve the mystery. Are you also given to approaching audience members waiting to go and see 'The Mousetrap' and telling them who the murderer is ? Some people like to have fun.

You must remember fun - you were probably there the day that Ewan MacColl banned it.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 09:16 AM

Kathryn Williams has been out there for ever, at least a decade. She gets a slot in a well-established strand on a flagship, mainstream radio programme, largely because she has a CD to promote. No surprise. No scope for a "guessing game". Just minimal research.

What we get is predictable, puerile, sexist, neandertal carping both of the under-researched script and of the character and scope of the programme itself. Typical blokey Mudcat. Should Woman's Hour decide to drop the slot because of the mindless carping, I suppose you'll fall back on whingeing at the BBC for ignoring whatever music YOU think should be played.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: GUEST,ChrisP
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 08:50 AM

It looked like a guessing game to me too. I didn't notice any implied criticism of anybody in it. Shame Greg has to get one in the ear for it.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 08:28 AM

Greg thanks for starting this thread . i had not heard of this young person .Ive had a look over at youtube .   I am shore Newcstle must be very proud of her . I would love to hear of any up and comming Traditional young people . Whos out there ?? All the best , Guy

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Smedley
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 08:27 AM

It looked like a guessing game to me.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 07:09 AM

I was setting a guessing game

What on earth for? It's publicly available information. No, what you were doing was sneering at unfunny scripting. Not clever.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: TheSnail
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 07:00 AM

Just done a bit of checking and, for the record, what Jenni Murray actually said was "Kathryn Williams has been described as 'the great hope of English folk'". Who she was quoting, we may never know.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: greg stephens
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 06:57 AM

I knew perfectly well who had been on the programme, Borchester Echo. I had just listened to it, as was clear from my post I imagine. I didnt criticise the choice, I made a point of not mentioning anything about the choice. I was setting a guessing game. You decided, for your own best reasons, to spoil it. Quite why, I can't imagine.
I am delighted that Woman's Hour publicises musicians. That is one of the reasons I am an avid listener.And I positively worship Jenni Murray.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 06:36 AM

Woman's Hour has long featured a strand showcasing women musicians, especially when they have a tour or CD to promote. People doubtless look on the programme's webpage to see whose turn it is, because most people (not just those in boats and / or seagulls bobbing on the ocean) know how to use the internet, and they listen or not accordingly.

It is not, thus, some kind of secret who will be on the programme, nor is it a surprise that it it scriptwriters not presenters who determine what is said in introductions. It is not useful to publicly criticise the BBC just because you don't personally agree with the inclusion of one guest. A far more constructive course of action would be to email Jill Burridge thanking her for her sterling work in continuing to showcase women musicians while pointing out that "f*lk" doesn't actually need "Great Hopes". Without such positive feedback the editor may well decide that the game isn't worth the candle.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: theleveller
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 06:16 AM

"Umm, it was a totally tongue in cheek comment - nothing more. Not intended seriously!"

Exactly!

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: greg stephens
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 06:08 AM

Very strange comment a post or two back, to the effect that Borchester Echo stepped in to stop my bear baiting. Who or what am I meant to be baiting? I started a (I hope) amusing thread, "guess who Jenni Murray picked as the great hope of English folk". And I asked people not to spoil the thread by revealing the answer, so that readers would have a chance to guess. Two posts i, said Borchester Echo barged in and revealed the answer. Where was the baiting? Who was the bear?
We get this in quizzes: quiz setters take great pains to type up a quiz, and they ask people doing the quiz to PM the answwers in, dont put them in the thread, so that others have a chance to think. And lo and hehold, some clever dick has to dash in a give the answer on the open thread. Sad. (Well, sad if done deliberately, as it was here apparently).

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 05:20 AM

"the point having thus been established that such 'interests' don't always have to be either shared or identical."

Umm, it was a totally tongue in cheek comment - nothing more. Not intended seriously!

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 05:02 AM

Is it Florence, and her Machine? I think she's smashing, and she'd do GREAT stuff for folk music! :0)

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 05:02 AM

But if it is asserted that footie progs, motoring progs, trains·steeplejacks·chimneys, police/bad‚drivers·hoodlums, cage·fighting (which I gather women are into now anyway) are to be regarded as "MEN'S" programmes ~~~ isn't all that just as 'sexist' as having a Women's Hour anyhow? If these are men's interests, why shouldn't there be a programme specifically geared to women's interests?; the point having thus been established that such 'interests' don't always have to be either shared or identical.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 04:54 AM

There are lots of "Men's Hour" programmes

Hour after hour after endless moronic hour of association football
Anything on the "Dave" channel
Top Gear
The C5 equivalent with Tiff Needell
All the things about big machinery, trains, and steeplejacks and chimneys
All the things about extreme exploration
All the "reality" things about police chasing bad drivers, cleaning hoodlums off the streets, etc
Cage fighting (I gather from a "bloke" that my daughter's ex-boyfriend Dan is now quite famous)

I'm sure there are thousands more.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: stallion
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 04:37 AM

oh, for the record, I wasn't commenting on the lady in question, not heard or seen her so i am not qualified to comment, it was a general overview of what I see and hear. Couldn't agree more with Ray about the songs.

Subject: RE: The Great Hope of English Folk
From: Splott Man
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 04:04 AM

It's sad to see people bad-mouthing a musician who was unfortunately saddled with an unwelcome description.

OK, so you're not a fan, but there's no need to be rude about her.