Alison Gross
"Allison Gross" (Roud 3212, Child 35), also known as "Alison Cross", is a traditional folk ballad. It tells the story of "the ugliest witch in the north country" who tries to persuade a man to become her lover and then punishes him by a transformation. Synopsis Allison Gross, a hideous witch, tries to bribe the narrator to be her lover. She combed his hair, first. When a scarlet mantle, a silk shirt with pearls, and a golden cup all fail, she blows on a horn three times, making an oath to make him regret it; she then strikes him with a silver wand, turning him into a wyrm (dragon) bound to a tree. His sister Maisry comes to him to comb his hair. One day the Seelie Court comes by, and a queen strokes him three times, turning him back into his proper form. Motifs The horn motif is not clear. In " The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea", the witch uses it after the transformation to summon her victim, but nothing appears to stem from it here.Francis James Child, ''The English ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roud Folk Song Index
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadside Index (printed sources before 1900) and a "field-recording index" compiled by Roud. It subsumes all the previous printed sources known to Francis James Child (the Child Ballads) and includes recordings from 1900 to 1975. Until early 2006, the index was available by a CD subscription; now it can be found online on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website, maintained by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS). A partial list is also available at List of folk songs by Roud number. Purpose of index The primary function of the Roud Folk Song Index is as a research aid correlating versions of traditional English-language folk song lyrics independently documented over past centuries by many different collectors across (especially) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, but is now separate from the council area of Aberdeenshire. Aberdeen City Council is one of Scotland's 32 Local government in Scotland, local authorities (commonly referred to as ''councils''). Aberdeen has a population of for the main urban area and for the wider List of towns and cities in Scotland by population#Settlements, settlement including outlying localities, making it the United Kingdom's List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 39th most populous built-up area. Aberdeen has a long, sandy coastline and features an oceanic climate, with cool summers and mild, rainy winters. Aberdeen received royal burgh status from David I of Scotland (1124–1153), which transformed the city economically. The tr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rock Music
Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in rock and roll, a style that drew from the black musical genres of blues and rhythm and blues, as well as from country music. Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk music, folk, and incorporated influences from jazz and other styles. Rock is typically centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drum kit, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a Time signature, time signature and using a verse–chorus form; however, the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parcel Of Rogues (album)
''Parcel of Rogues'' is the fifth studio album by English folk rock group Steeleye Span. It was released in 1973 by Chrysalis Records. The album was their most successful album thus far, breaking into the Top 30. The album grew out of a theatrical project the band undertook, a version of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novel '' Kidnapped'', staged in Edinburgh. The book and play were set against the backdrop of the Scottish Jacobite movement, and in the course of developing the play, the band came across a considerable amount of 18th-century Scottish poetry that they mined for the album. If the album has a theme, it is change and the tension between old and new. "The Weaver and the Factory Maid" is about the tension of early industrialisation, with a young man celebrating the factory because there are plenty of women for him to pursue, while an old man denounces the factory because of its economic effects. There is a very sharp contrast between the sweet acoustically-driven "The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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British Folk Rock
British folk rock is a form of folk rock which developed in the United Kingdom from the mid 1960s, and was at its most significant in the 1970s. Though the merging of folk and rock music came from several sources, it is widely regarded that the success of "The House of the Rising Sun" by British band the Animals in 1964 was a catalyst, prompting Bob Dylan to "Electric Dylan controversy, go electric", in which, like the Animals, he brought folk and rock music together, from which other musicians followed. In the same year, the Beatles began incorporating overt folk influences into their music, most noticeably on their ''Beatles for Sale'' album. The Beatles and other British Invasion bands, in turn, influenced the American band the Byrds, who released their recording of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" in April 1965, setting off the mid-1960s American folk rock movement. A number of British groups, usually those associated with the British folk revival, moved into folk rock in the mid ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and were commercially successful in that period, with four Top 40 albums and two hit singles: " Gaudete" and " All Around My Hat". Steeleye Span have seen many personnel changes, with Maddy Prior being the only remaining original member of the band. Their musical repertoire consists of mostly traditional songs with one or two instrumental tracks of jigs and/or reels added; the traditional songs often include some of the Child Ballads. In their later albums there has been an increased tendency to include music written by the band members, but they have never moved completely away from traditional music, which draws upon pan-British traditions. History Early years Steeleye Span began in late 1969, when London-born bass player Ashley Hu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hearken To The Witches Rune
''Hearken to the Witches Rune'' is a studio album by the English folk music duo Dave and Toni Arthur, recorded in 1970 and released by Trailer Records. It features English folk music with a focus on uncanny and magical elements. Ahead of making the album, the Arthurs held discussions with the Wiccan leader Alex Sanders and were invited to Wiccan coven meetings. The title comes from Doreen Valiente's poem "The Witches' Chant". The album has not been rereleased and has developed a cult following. Background Dave and Toni Arthur were an English husband-and-wife folk music duo who recorded albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They married in 1963, released their first 7" record in 1965 and their first album in 1967. Their musical approach was minimalist and they gradually came to focus on obscure songs with uncanny, magical and potentially pagan elements. They did extensive research by interviewing farmers and folklorists. When they made ''Hearken to the Witches Rune'', they we ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Toni Arthur
Toni Arthur-Hay (born Antoinette Alice Priscilla Wilson; 27 December 1940) is an English theatre director, former folk singer and television presenter. Early life and education Arthur was born in Oxford, England. At the age of nine, she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, and gave a concert at the Wigmore Hall in the same year. She was educated at Mary Datchelor Girls School in Camberwell and the Royal Academy of Music. In 1959, Toni Arthur went to University College Hospital to become a nurse, and then went on to start a degree in psychology at University College London. Career Television Arthur was one of the presenters of the children's programmes '' Play School'' and ''Play Away'' with Brian Cant, Jeremy Irons and Lionel Morton. She also presented ''Woman's Hour'' and TV-am's breakfast show. Music After releasing their first single, the traditional songs "The Cuckoo" / "A Rich and Rambling Boy", under the name The Strollers on Fontana Records (TF 598) i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House. It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodicals, audio-visual materials, photographic images and sound recordings, as well as manuscripts, field notes, transcriptions etc. of a number of collectors of folk music and dance traditions in the British Isles. According to ''A Dictionary of English Folklore'', "... by a gradual process of professionalization the VWML has become the most important concentration of material on traditional song, dance, and music in the country." Subjects covered include: Folk/traditional/popular song, Child Ballads, Broadside ballads, Industrial/occupational songs, sea songs/shanties, singing games, Nursery rhymes, Street cries, Carols/hymns, Rounds/ glees/part songs, Music hall, Ritual/ceremonial dance, Morris dance/ sword dance and a great deal m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lizzie Higgins
Elizabeth Ann Youlden (née Higgins; 20 September 1929 – 20 February 1993) was a Scottish ballad singer from Aberdeenshire. Early life Elizabeth Ann Higgins was born on 20 September 1929, in Guest Row, Aberdeen. She was the daughter of settled Travellers Donald "Donty" Higgins, a piper, and the singer Jeannie Robertson. She had a younger brother, James. In 1941, after her school was twice bombed during World War II, Higgins moved with her mother to the rural town of Banchory, where the local children bullied her for her heritage. She was so unhappy in this environment that she left school at fifteen despite the pleasure she gained from studying. She moved back to Aberdeen to fillet fish and take seasonal agricultural labouring. Career She did not take up public singing until 1967 as she did not wish to distract public attention from her mother. "The folk scene claimed Jeannie. I idn'twant it oclaim me", she explained. She debuted at the Aberdeen Folk Song Festival, persua ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Jamieson (antiquary)
Robert Jamieson (1772 – 24 September 1844) was a Scottish antiquarian. He was born in Moray. In 1806 he published a collection of 149 traditional ballads and songs, along with two pleasing lyrics of his own, entitled ''Popular Ballads And Songs From Tradition, Manuscripts And Scarce Editions With Translations Of Similar Pieces From The Ancient Danish Language.'' Walter Scott, through whose assistance he received a government post at Edinburgh, held Jamieson in high esteem and pointed out his skill in discovering the connection between Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...n and Scottish legends. Scott also published some of Jamieson's translations, such as The Ghaist's Warning in the notes to The Lady of the Lake. Jamieson's work preserved much oral tradi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has come to be understood to further include ''any'' written, typed, or word-processed copy of an author's work, as distinguished from the rendition as a printed version of the same. Before the arrival of prints, all documents and books were manuscripts. Manuscripts are not defined by their contents, which may combine writing with mathematical calculations, maps, music notation, explanatory figures, or illustrations. Terminology The word "manuscript" derives from the (from , hand and from , to write), and is first recorded in English in 1597. An earlier term in English that shares the meaning of a handwritten document is "hand-writ" (or "handwrit"), which is first attested around 1175 and is now rarely used. The study of the writing ( ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |