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Peter Kennedy (folklorist)
Peter Douglas Kennedy (18 November 1922 – 10 June 2006) was an influential English folklorist and folk song collector throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Family and upbringing Peter Kennedy was born and raised in London, and educated at Leighton Park, a Quaker school in Reading. Peter's father, Douglas Kennedy (1893–1988), was EFDSS director after Cecil Sharp, and his mother Helen, was founding secretary of EFDSS and the sister of Cecil Sharp's amanuensis Maud Karpeles. His great-aunt was Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, folk song collector and author, and his great-grandfather, David Kennedy, was a famous Scottish singer. Career Kennedy helped to film the world's first international folk dance festival in London in 1935 at the age of 13, and joined the EFDSS staff in 1948 at the age of 26. Peter helped the growing popularity of English folk dance with recordings and books such as ''The Fiddlers Tune Book''. Kennedy was one of the presenters of the BBC folk music program ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic period, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The English language, the Anglican Church, and Engli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British Library receives copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK. The Library is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The British Library is a major research library, with items in many languages and in many formats, both print and digital: books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, videos, play-scripts, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints, drawings. The Library's collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial holdings of manuscripts and items dating as far back as 2000 BC. The library maintains a programme for content acquis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paddy Tunney
Paddy Tunney (28 January 1921 – 7 December 2002) was an Irish traditional singer, poet, writer, raconteur, lilter and songwriter. He was affectionately known as the ''Man of Songs''. From Glasgow to Garvery Tunney was born in Glasgow to Irish parents, Patrick Tunney from Mollybreen, County Fermanagh, and Brigid Tunney (née Gallagher) from Rusheen near Pettigo, County Donegal. His mother came from a strong musical background going back several generations in her parents' families and had a huge stock of traditional songs. Within a few weeks of his birth the family returned to Ireland to his maternal grandfather's cottage in Rusheen. His maternal grandfather, Michael Gallagher, was his first song teacher and Paddy recalled learning his first song, "The Lark in the Morning", from him at the age of four. The following year the family moved a few miles across the border and settled in the townland of Garvery, in the parish of Mulleek, County Fermanagh. Throughout his childhood ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belle Stewart
Belle Stewart, born Isobella McGregor, (18 July 1906 – 4 September 1997) was a Scottish Traveller traditional singer. Her biography, ''Queen Amang the Heather: the Life of Belle Stewart'', was written by her daughter, Sheila Stewart, and published in 2006. Early years Isobella McGregor was born on the banks of the River Tay at Caputh, near Blairgowrie, into a family of Highland Scottish Travellers, who lived in bow-tents (similar to dome tents). Sheila Stewart corrects the frequently cited birthdate of 17 July 1906 to the 18th. As a result of their life-style, the family received much insult and abuse. Belle's father died when she was only 9 months old. Afraid that social workers might take her children from her, her mother stopped travelling and settled in Perthshire. The McGregor family tried to teach Belle how to read palms (fortune telling), but she didn't take to this. The family frequently went to Northern Ireland to do pearl-fishing. In the evenings they gathered at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeannie Robertson
Jeannie Robertson (1908 – 13 March 1975) was a Scottish folk singer. Her most celebrated song is "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day", otherwise known as "Jock Stewart", which was covered by Archie Fisher, The Dubliners, The McCalmans, The Tannahill Weavers and The Pogues. Variants are known from the US in the 1880s and Australia in the 1850s. Hamish Henderson and Alan Lomax Robertson was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and in her early life she sometimes lived at 90 Hilton Road, where a plaque now commemorates her. Like many of the Scottish Travellers from Aberdeen, Glasgow and Ayrshire, she went to Blairgowrie to pick raspberries once a year. Hamish Henderson was born in Blairgowrie and tried to track down the best singers there. In 1953, he followed her reputation to her doorstep in Aberdeen. According to legend Jeannie was reluctant to let him in. She challenged him to tell her the opening line of Child ballad no 163, "The Battle of Harlaw", and he complied. In Novemb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Makem
Sarah Makem (18 October 1900 – 20 April 1983) a native of Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, was a traditional Irish singer. She was the wife of fiddler Peter Makem, mother of musicians Tommy Makem and Jack Makem, and grandmother of musicians Tom Sweeney, Jimmy Sweeney (of Northern Irish Canadian group Barley Bree), Shane Makem, Conor Makem and Rory Makem. Sarah Makem and her cousin, Annie Jane Kelly, were members of the Singing Greenes of Keady. In the 1950s, song collectors from the United States toured Ireland recording its musical heritage. Makem was visited and recorded by, among others, Diane Guggenheim Hamilton, Jean Ritchie, Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle. Her rendition of "As I Roved Out" opened the BBC Radio folk music programme of the same name in the 1950s.Hammond, D. (1977) ''Sarah Makem'' outube Ireland: TG4. Available at: https://youtu.be/u-2S4pAoaOs (Accessed 18 April 2017). Background Sarah Makem lived in Keady her whole life. Living in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy MacBeath
Jimmy MacBeath (1894–1972) was a Scottish Traveller and Traditional singer of the Bothy Ballads from the north east of Scotland. He was both a mentor and source for fellow singers during the mid 20th century British folk revival. He had a huge repertoire of songs, which were recorded by Alan Lomax and Hamish Henderson. Life Jimmy MacBeath (pronounced the same as Macbeth) was born to a family of Scottish Travellers in the fishing village of Portsoy, Banffshire, Scotland. He learned songs such as "Lord Randall" (Child Ballad 12) from his mother. At the age of 13 he started work as a live-in farm hand at Deskford. He was a bachelor all his life and learned many songs in the bothies, or farm huts where the male farm workers lived. He was to be a traveller for much of his life; in 1908 he took his first long walk, from Inverness to Perth. In the First World War he joined the Gordon Highlanders and fought in Flanders. Later he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Irish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lizzie Higgins
Lizzie Higgins (20 September 1929 – 20 February 1993) was an Aberdeenshire ballad singer. Early life Born Elizabeth Ann Higgins in Guest Row, Aberdeen, she was the daughter of settled Travellers the piper Donald "Donty" Higgins and the singer Jeannie Robertson. In 1941, after her school was twice bombed during World War II, Lizzie 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 because she did not wish to distract public attention from her mother. "The folk scene claimed Jeannie. I didnae want it tae claim me", she explained later. She debuted at the Aberdeen Folk Song Festival, persuaded to sing by folk song collector Peter Hall. Personal life She married Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scan Tester
Lewis "Scan" Tester (7 September 1887 – May 1972) was an English folk and English country musician. Overview Lewis Tester was born in Chelwood Gate, near Horsted Keynes, Sussex, England. At about the age of five he acquired the nickname "scantelope". There are several variants on the story, but his immediate family used the name "Scan" and he used it when advertising himself as a musician. He spent most of life in the area north of Brighton, playing Anglo concertina, bandoneon, melodeon and fiddle. He occasionally sang. Both his older brother, Trayton and a younger brother, Will played concertina. He lied about his age in order to be able to leave school early and earn money for his family. Parish records of the school suggest he was born in 1887, but he claimed it was 1886. At his father's pub, the Green Man at Horsted Keynes he learned step-dancing. He danced and played at weddings, harvest suppers and pubs with his elder brother and other local musicians. Gypsies an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Roberts, Folksinger And Bargeman
Alfred William "Bob" Roberts (1907–1982) was a British folk singer, songwriter, storyteller, bargeman, author, and journalist. He was the last captain of a British commercial vessel operating under sail, and brought to an end a centuries-old tradition. Life Alfred William Roberts was born in the village of Hampreston, Dorset where his parents taught in the village school. Roberts's father, who was brought up in North Wales, ran the church choir as well as playing the piano, church organ, melodeon, concertina and fiddle for village dances. These musical interests led Ralph Vaughan Williams to visit him at the village. Roberts attended Wimborne Grammar School on a choral scholarship. After leaving school at 17, he eventually became a journalist at the ''Orpington Gazette'', before moving to work as a sports reporter for the ''Daily Mail'' on Fleet Street. Robert found it difficult to settle at his job at the ''Mail'', and twice took off on long sea voyages. Finally he left th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pop Maynard
George "Pop" Maynard (6 January 187229 November 1962) was an English folk singer and marbles champion. The folk singer Shirley Collins considers Maynard to have been the "finest traditional English singer, matched only by Harry Cox". Life and family George Maynard was born on 6 January 1872 or, as he put it, on Old Christmas Day in Smallfield, Burstow, Surrey, about north of the village of Copthorne, West Sussex, where he lived for his entire life. He was the eleventh of twelve children of James Maynard and his wife Elizabeth (née Skinner), four of whom died in infancy. Maynard was baptised on 3 February 1872 at the Church of St Bartholomew in Burstow, when his father's profession was given as "labourer". Maynard attended school on-and-off until the age of 12. He worked with his father and brothers, in the winter as a woodman cutting wood for the hoop trade, in the summer harvesting, hedging and ditching. He and his family also supplemented their income by poaching rabbit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Copper Family
The Copper Family are a family of singers of traditional, unaccompanied English folk song. Originally from Rottingdean, near Brighton, Sussex, England, the nucleus of the family now live in the neighbouring village of Peacehaven. The family first came to the attention of folklorists in the late nineteenth century and received wider attention during the folk revival of the 1960s. They have a unique style of harmonised a capella singing, which is in stark contrast to the typical style of solo singing found among English folk singers. It is unknown whether this style is a remnant of something that was once popular, or if it is a unique phenomenon. Unlike many traditional singers, the family wrote down their own songs. Their unusual singing style has been passed down through several generations along with their huge repertoire of local songs. History The Copper family has lived in Rottingdean since the sixteenth century, where they have worked as farm bailiffs, publicans, police ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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