The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #131826 Message #2984998
Posted By: Jim Carroll
12-Sep-10 - 08:12 AM
Thread Name: Child Ballads survived in oral trad.
Subject: RE: Child Ballads survived in oral trad.
Sorry, didn't mean to start a thread drift, but I wanted to put singing in context. These are the ballads still being sung in the tradition in this area, within a circle of about twenty miles, most of which we have been lucky enough to find versions of, but the most outstanding work was carried out by the Tom Munnelly, with 22,000 songs to his credit. Singing isn't doing as well as music in Ireland or in this part of the world, where most of the traditional singers are dead. There is an increasing interest in singing among young people, but it still has some way to go to catch up with the instrumental music scene (which is in rude health). There is an increase in interest in Irish language songs, which are virtually all non-narrative, but the narrative songs, and most of the Anglo Irish songs have almost entirely disappeared from the repertoire. BALLADS IN CLARE 20 The Cruel Mother. (not the children's version) 46 Captain Wedderburn's Courtship. 53 Young Beichan. 73 Lord Thomas And Fair Annet. (fragment) 74 Fair Margaret And Sweet William. 75 Lord Lovel. (among the most popular) 76 The Lass Of Roch Royal. 84 Bonny Barbara Allan 209 Geordie. 221 Katherine Jaffray. 272 The Suffolk Miracle (probably the most popular) 279 The Jolly Beggar. 281 The Keach In The Creel.