The Song Carriers - Ewan MacColl (1968)

Subject: RE: The Song Carriers - Ewan MacColl (1968)
From: Vic Smith
Date: 21 Nov 14 - 08:02 AM

It would be worth pointing out to those who are not aware that Brian has fairly recently conducted extensive research into Sharp as part of his project Sharp's Appalachian Harvest in which he worked with Jeff Davis. The result was a delightful multimedia show which we were able to present to an enthusiastic capacity crowd at the 2013 Lewes Folk Festival along with an excellent CD.
Funnily enough, the song that really remains in my mind most from the album and the show is a version of Barbara Allen that Sharp collected from an old African-American woman who, I seem to remember without going back to the album notes. was born a slave. The tune has a slightly bluesy quality. Sharp noted only the tune and a couple of verses and Brian reconstructed the words from other sources - but has come up with a really worthwhile version.
It is known that the slaves were strongly forbidden to communicate in their own African languages and who were removed from their own musical cultures were encouraged to adopt the tunes and songs of their slave owners. I wonder if Cecil Sharp had been aware of this, if he would have tried to seek English songs amongst black ex-slaves. He was not above working with outcast groups. His interactions with English gypsies when collecting from them seem to have been mutually enjoyable.

This all reminds me of seeing the Carolina Chocolate Drops on their first British tour. This black group were researching and performing the neglected black repertoire of their state from the early part of the 20th century, My most vivid memory was when Rhiannon Giddens stood up and said that where she was brought up, a lot of the plantations had been owned by Gaelic-speaking Scots and that she was going to sing unaccompanied a song in Gaelic that was collected from an old black woman. What??? A friend of mine, a Gaelic-speaking fiddle player was in the audience and I made a bee-line for him afterwards. "What was her accent like?" I asked. "Pretty damn good!" was his reply.

Subject: RE: The Song Carriers - Ewan MacColl (1968)
From: Brian Peters
Date: 21 Nov 14 - 08:29 AM

Yes, Vic, 'Barbara Allen' was sung by the freed slave Aunt Maria Tombs. I'd love to know what made him call on Aunt Maria, given his general attitude towards black communities in the mountains - perhaps someone tipped him off that she knew the ballad. It seems to have been the only one, though.

I'd heard about slaves being forbidden to perform African music, so it's quite possible that ex-slaves would have known English songs. The one generally known as 'Seven Drunken Nights' was in the repertoire of black musicians like Coley Jones, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Boy Fuller. It was also popular with early white string bands (Mainer's Mountaineers sang almost identical words to Coley Jones), which makes me wonder whether a version was used in minstrel shows - the risqué humour would probably have fitted right in. And I wonder how 'The Maid Freed from the Gallows' got to Lead Belly as 'Gallows Pole'!

Subject: RE: The Song Carriers - Ewan MacColl (1968)
From: GUEST,IWASTHERE
Date: 21 Nov 14 - 12:10 PM

Why waste your time listening to MacColl's programmes about the ins and outs of folk music. Choose one of the many other versions instead.

There's always.... let's think, didn't Richard Stilgoe do a programme about folk music once, back in the 70s? Or was it Steve Race, another radical musicologist.

Or really get up to date, and go on Twitter. So many MBAs in traditional folk music these days that there must be thousands of fellow academics willing and ready to share their views.

Or...

Until history throws up a new MacColl, man or woman, with his dynamism, his passion, his knowledge, his skills (to which anyone who saw him in front of an audience can attest), then for god's sake temper your often-justified criticism with heart-felt thanks that Ewan MacColl lived, and lived in our time.

A

Subject: RE: The Song Carriers - Ewan MacColl (1968)
From: GUEST,jibber
Date: 15 Feb 23 - 08:25 AM

Well for whatever it's worth the series is now on YouTube. Hopefully it reaches some new listeners and stays up for a long time (having been uploaded without the permission of the BBC), touch wood.

Playlist of episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLulaTxzRnD0rkOU9sLPIqLPDvsSEx3OLo

Thanks CJB for sharing the mp3s here.

(This is my first post on Mudcat; visiting the forum over the years it always seemed like 'bumping' an old thread with an on-topic post was generally accepted here compared to other forums, I suppose due to the subject matter, I hope this is the case. Apologies if not.)