Phil Tanner (16 February 1862 – 19 February 1950) was a Welsh
traditional singer. He was from
Llangenith in the
Gower Peninsula (
South Wales
South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...
).
Songs and singing style
Tanner was an invaluable source of several once popular English language folk songs, such as the
Child Ballads "
Barbara Allen" and "
Henry Martin", as well as the songs "
Sweet Primroses" and "
The Bonny Bunch of Roses", all of which were recorded in the 1930s and 40s. His performance of the local Gower
wassailing song became known as "
Gower Wassail" and was printed by
A.L. Lloyd and covered by popular folk groups including
Steeleye Span.
His songs were all in the English language, using the
Gower dialect, since the Gower of his youth was still culturally distinct from the rest of Wales, and his style of singing is compared to that of
English singers.
Audience and broadcasts
Renowned locally as "the Gower Nightingale", he reached a national audience in his seventies with recordings for
Columbia and the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and an appearance on the
BBC radio programme ''
In Town Tonight''. Shortly before he died, he was featured in an article by
John Ormond Thomas for ''
Picture Post'', and recorded once again by the BBC.
Legacy
In 1976, he was remembered in a
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
tribute by the
Welsh radio
Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
broadcaster Wynford Vaughan-Thomas recalling "the voice of the sanest, happiest, kindest eccentric I ever knew, the voice of Phil Tanner, the Gower Nightingale".
His recordings have been reissued several times, most notably on the CD ''The Gower Nightingale'', which also includes the Wynford Vaughan-Thomas radio programme.
The editor of one reissue, the eminent
folklorist Alan Lomax wrote: "When Phil died, England lost her best traditional singer".
Folk revival musicians were inspired by Tanner's songs, particularly "
Gower Wassail".
Further reading
Phil Tannerin the Peter Kennedy Collection, British Library Sounds
You Tube"Welsh Folk Singer Phil Tanner Didles the Gower Reel and Sings the Wassail Song 1947"
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Phil
Welsh folk singers
Musicians from Swansea
1862 births
1950 deaths
People from the Gower Peninsula