Subject: RE: Obit: Peter Kennedy (10 June 2006)
From:
GUEST,Mike Yates
Date: 20 Jun 11 - 09:22 AM
Good Soldier Schweik makes a valid point. Peter Kennedy made a large number of important field recordings when he was attached to the BBC collecting scheme. He then returned to the EFDSS who, eventually, sacked him. Apart from a spell teaching at Dartington Hall, Peter was never able to be paid again as a collector. There were just no such schemes around at the time. So, he had to earn a living and he did so by selling "his" recordings via Folktrax. To be frank, I am sorry that he had to do this. Most of the cassettes were badly made, had little, if any, notes, and he certainly was not quick in paying any royalties to the performers (if at all!)I am actually saddened by all this. In an ideal world Peter Kennedy would have ended up directing a University department, or, failing that, a National Archive. But, of course, we do not live in such a world and Jim Carroll is right to say that we are still trying to sort out some of the mess that Peter left behind. I recently had correspondence with someone who was researching Peter's Appalachian recordings and it took me a whole day just to figure out what he had done with one of the songs that his aunt, Maud Karpeles, had previously recorded in North Carolina.
Many years ago I worked as Peter's assistant when we were both at the EFDSS. To be honest, he was always kind to me and helpful in many ways. It was, actually, a pleasure to work for him. As to what happened after he left the EFDSS, well, things just did not work out for him, and the rest, as they say, is history.
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