Spooky men's chorale

Subject: Review: Spooky men's chorale
From: Llanfair
Date: 15 Aug 13 - 03:53 PM

I've picked up their rendition of "a svedish folk song" on facebook, recorded at the Shrewsbury folk festival. Anybody know more about them? I howled with laughter at this song.

Subject: RE: Spooky men's chorale
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 15 Aug 13 - 04:34 PM

Here it is on YouTube, performing in Oxford. Judging from their pronunciation, the gentlemen live around there - they cannot be bothered to utter a truly Svedish "Däncing Queen". Folk? Why not?!

Subject: RE: Spooky men's chorale
From: GUEST,Ellen Vannin
Date: 15 Aug 13 - 05:10 PM

You could always try their website http://www.spookymen.com/home.php

They are Australian, so no, not from near Oxford.

Subject: RE: Spooky men's chorale
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 Aug 13 - 06:35 PM

The Spookies are the cream of the crop - don;t miss them!

Currently touring UK with lots of sold-out concerts!

Subject: RE: Spooky men's chorale
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 15 Aug 13 - 07:12 PM

The pronunciation of the word "dance" gives rise to some confusion. In various regions both ways are encountered, and the criterion seems unclear. Aunt Macquarie simply states

Notice also the pronunciation of the vowel in "dance". Some speakers of Australian English use the same vowel as in "bad" for this word and others use the same vowel as in the word "hard".

The same seems to apply to some regions of the UK, in safe distance north of Oxford. ABBA consistently sing a decent Svedish mid-Atlantic ("dancing" rhyming with "man sing" or even "men sing" - approximately as I remember hearing it in Brisbane), but the Spookies may have found that too vulgar for Oxford, even in a parody.

Subject: RE: Spooky men's chorale
From: Johnny J
Date: 16 Aug 13 - 03:41 AM

They are coming to The Fringe on the 20th but I hope to see them next weekend in a far better place.
:-)

However, they've also got quite a few more gigs in the UK too.

Subject: RE: Spooky men's chorale
From: GUEST,Ellen Vannin
Date: 16 Aug 13 - 04:47 AM

Why would a Swedish accent be too vulgar for Oxford? Grishka, I'm guessing you are not in the UK. There's no unclear criterion about the short or long a. The further south you go in England, the longer the a.

Subject: RE: Spooky men's chorale
From: Llanfair
Date: 16 Aug 13 - 02:03 PM

Thanks for all that, I'd missed the Aussie accents.

Subject: RE: Spooky men's chorale
From: Tradsinger
Date: 16 Aug 13 - 05:26 PM

Saw them at Stroud and thoroughly enjoyed them, not knowing what to expect. Their humour is very quirky and their singing very impressive. Not folk, though, well, not as we know it, Jim.

Tradsinger

Subject: RE: Spooky men's chorale
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 16 Aug 13 - 06:38 PM

Ellen,

The further south you go in England, the longer the a.

- this much I understood, both from reading and from the many years I spent in the UK (some time ago), and less years in Australia. It is not only the length of the "a", but the principal question whether the vowel is as in "bad" or as in "hard". This allowing a precise answer for every single speaking act, we would expect a geographical border between the two - it does not seem to be all that clear, but clear enough of Oxford alright. (This is not my main point; I was just asking myself if they were refusing not only ABBA's, but also their native pronunciation, given the overall absence of Aussie accent as observed by Llanfair.)

In Mudcat threads, "mid-Atlantic" singing by non-Americans is often criticized, thus Oxford audience may be assumed to have similar feelings. The word "vulgar" is of course my musing exaggeration - not to be taken at face value.—

If folk is what, say, groups of girl scouts sing for their own pleasure, this comprises some ABBA as well as Beatles songs. And if folk parodies are folk themselves - voilà.

Never mind; great fun.

Subject: RE: Spooky men's chorale
From: GUEST,Ellen Vannin
Date: 17 Aug 13 - 12:58 PM

I think I understand - bad, baaaaaaaad or bard. Here in t'Narth of England, it's path and bath like bad. Soft southerners say parth and barth. In the Hampshire area it's a more open sound, a bit more like baarth, but the main difference is between bad and bard. As someone who's lived in North, South and Midlands, I find myself using either randomly. But as to whether it's eether or eyether - A little Derbyshire lad comes from school and says 'Dad, are we supposed to say eether or eyether?" "Ay-ther, lad ay-ther" says his Dad.