Subject: Joan Baez not a fraud exactly: Joe Heaney's view
From:
GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 11:10 AM
I didn't want to extend the previous thread, that so many were trying to kill, but not actually killing it by ignoring it! My input is part of this interview that many of you may not have seen between Ewan McColl (EM), Peggy Seeger (PS) and Joe Heaney (JH) the full interview can be found here,
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/heaney.htm
on MUSTRAD, but in this section of the interview they are talking about the authentic Folk style, the spirit, the heart, the closeness of the performer to the material, and how it comes across to the listener. VERY INTERESTING, NO?
JH: Not alone of Gaelic songs, even of English songs. EM: English singers like Harry Cox. When Harry Cox sings The Cruel Ship's Captain, he sings 'mmnnn; a boy to me was bound apprentice'. 29 JH: That's not even said in words - it's in the voice there between the words and the language. I don't know the hell what to call it. It's something in the voice that keeps on even though the words aren't spoken. It still keeps going. Do you know what I'm trying to explain? PS: I know and you know but I'm looking for it in words because I want to hear it explained so that people who don't know can find out, you know. (Break) JH: I think the best way to explain it is you'll keep the song alive, Peggy, all the time even though you're not pronouncing the words. You're keeping the song alive through humming it, through droning, whatever you like to call it. That's what I'm trying to say. (At this point various recordings of folksongs were played, including a recording of an Azerbaijani singer ../sound/azerb.ra
../sound/azerb.raand Ó hÉanaí was asked to compare them with his own tradition. He rejects the first one.) (Sound clip - Azerbaijani singer.) EM: This is another traditional singer. (tries to play a recording - Joe interrupts). PS: Put another one on. JH: How can I better explain it. There's something in the tone and the way it's put over that tells you it's original, that it's very … it's the way it's sung because that is terrible like a caoineadh 30 that the old women sing at home. Its like the song you asked me to learn for this Radio Ballad. 31 There's something about it, you see, that I know it's the real genuine stuff. I wish I could explain it better, but I can't. EM: Nobody's found a way of explaining it yet, Joe. Nobody has. I want to play you something else, just one other thing to see … (Plays a record of Joan Baez) JH: Well, I'll tell you one thing, she hasn't got what I'm trying to explain. I can't explain to you why, but it's not there. I mean she's singing, whether she's too serious or to my ear she's singing it so straight that nothing I've been looking for is there. Nothing like the others. EM: Even though you can't understand the language [of the other singers]. JH: Even though I can't understand the other ones at all, I know they have. I know definitely, I heard, they have got what I would know, the person who has it, the first line is enough. In fact, the first few words, the start of a song, you know whether they have it or not. EM: Joe, when you listen to those other singers, those Indians and Azerbaijan people, are you moved by it? JH: Well I feel like I'm listening to something from home. EM: So you are moved by it? JH: I am. I really am. EM: It makes you feel better? JH: It makes me feel at home. EM: And this doesn't, this last piece, the Joan Baez. JH: No, not one bit. I might be wrong, but that's my opinion. (Plays someone else, unidentified.) EM: What do you make of that? JH: You want my honest opinion? No, that one hasn't got it either. PS/EM: Did she come any closer than the other? JH: No, I wouldn't say so. She definitely hasn't got it. I know she's trying, but it's not it. (Plays several records of American singers including The Carter Family (Wabash Cannonball ../sound/johnson.ra
../sound/johnson.ra../sound/carter.ra
../sound/carter.raand Little Moses) and Blind Willie Johnson (John the Revelator) (Sound clips - The Carter Family, Wabash Cannonball [left]. Blind Willie Johnson, John the Revelator [right]) PS: Honestly, what do you make of it? JH: That's very hard. I liked the girl 32 That's very hard. Honestly, it's very hard for me to judge that now. EM: That's a Negro called Blind Willie Johnson. JH: I think it's nearer, much nearer that the other one. EM: That is true Negro style - this man is a street singer, was a street singer, he's dead now. Blind Willie Johnson. 33 (Break)
sums up my feelings for Joan's singing, she was never the real thing, folkwise, a little too commercial, too much vibrato and technique, though enjoyable nonetheless,
BUT I have nothing but respect for her as a person, her views, her stands, her courage, her influence on thousands of listeners who might have never heard of Child's Ballads except for her. And I love her versions of some songs, though I hate the FAKE, twangy, 'love is just a four letter word' thing. Worst use of steel guitar in a recording, maybe.
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sj
