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The Old Swan Band is a long-established and influential
English country dance A country dance is any of a very large number of social dances of a type that originated in the British Isles; it is the repeated execution of a predefined sequence of figures, carefully designed to fit a fixed length of music, performed by a g ...
band.


Early years

Its origins lie in the early 1970s with the English country dance band
Oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
, one of a tiny handful at that time that combined
melodeon Melodeon may refer to: *Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion *Melodeon (organ), a type of 19th-century reed organ * Melodeon (Boston, Massachusetts), a concert hall in 19th-century Boston * Melodeon Records, a U.S. record label in the ...
with
fiddles A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
. Two members of Oak, husband and wife Rod and Danny Stradling (melodeon and vocals), went on to form The Cotswold Liberation Front, which became The Old Swan Band in 1974. They recruited fiddler Paul Burgess, percussionist Martin Brinsford and the Fraser Sisters (Fi and Jo). Fi (short for Fiona) is a fiddle player and singer; her sister Jo (aged 13 when she joined the band) plays
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
, clarinet and
whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a lar ...
s, and is also a singer and composer. The new band took the English country dance scene by storm. Up to this point
the English Folk Dance and Song Society The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS, or pronounced 'EFF-diss') is an organisation that promotes English folk music and folk dance. EFDSS was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dan ...
had set the tone for polite decorum at
Cecil Sharp House Cecil may refer to: People with the name * Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) * Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Canada * Cecil, Alber ...
. With a drummer and sax player, The Old Swan Band brought punchiness to a very English repertoire of tunes (and occasional songs), drawn from recordings of
traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...
English country musicians such as
Walter Bulwer Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...
,
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 nickna ...
, the
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 fi ...
and
Reg Hall Reg Hall (20 March 1932 – 6 August 2013) was a former Australian rules footballer who played with Richmond in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for East Perth in Western Australian Football League (WAFL) While playing football fo ...
.


Albums

The title of the Old Swan Band's first album, released in 1976, was their
manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
– "No Reels". This was a way of saying you would not find fancy
reels A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a ''spool'') with flanges around the ends ...
and
jig The jig ( ga, port, gd, port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It is most associated with Irish music and dance. It first gained popularity in 16th-century Ireland and parts o ...
s or any frantically paced tunes here. In their wake came several other folk dance bands that combined brass instruments with fiddles - the
New Victory Band {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019 The New Victory Band was an English Country Dance band during the late 1970s/early 1980s. The original line-up consisted of the members of Muckram Wakes (Roger Watson, Helen WatsonJohn Adamsand Suzie Adams), Pete ...
, the
Cock and Bull Band Cock or cocks most commonly refers to: * Cock (bird) or rooster, a male of any bird species * Cock (slang), a slang term for the penis Cock or cocks may also refer to: Names * Cock (surname) * Cocks (surname) Places * Cocks Glacier, Ross Depe ...
and
Ramsbottom Ramsbottom is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 17,872. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the River Irwell in the West Pennine Moors, northwest of Bury ...
. After two more albums Rod and Danny Stradling left the band. The band became fiddle-dominated and after recording an EP in 1983, did not return to the recording
studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...
until 2004 – a gap of twenty-one years, during which time the band's members also worked on other projects and with other bands. The 2004 album, ''Swan-Upmanship'' was, as before, decidedly non-
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...
– almost all the tunes were drawn from the English tradition. The line-up on this recording wa
John Adams
(trombone, fiddle), Martin Brinsford (percussion), Paul Burgess (fiddle), Fi Fraser (fiddle), Jo Freya (tenor saxophone, whistle), Neil Gledhill (bass saxophone), Flos Headford (fiddle) and Heather Horsley (
keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
).


Other projects

Rod Stradling recorded with the English Country Blues Band, the English Country Dance Band,
Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...
and Edward II and the Red Hot Polkas. He became editor of ''
Musical Traditions Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the na ...
'', a highly respected magazine whose
archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual ...
s are now available onlin

The Fraser Sisters recorded as a duo. Jo Fraser changed her name to
Jo Freya Jo Freya (born 4 December 1960) is an English saxophonist, clarinettist and singer. She was born Jo Fraser, but changed her name to Jo Freya as a condition of joining the actors' union Equity, which does not allow two of its members to share the ...
as a condition of joining the
actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...
s'
union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
Equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the diff ...
, which does not allow two of its members to share the same name. Broadening her repertoire to embrace
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
an influences, she joined
Blowzabella Blowzabella is an English Folk music, folk Band (rock and pop), band formed in London in 1978. The band currently consists of Andy Cutting, Jo Freya, Paul James, David Shepherd, Barn Stradling, and Jon Swayne; members of the band have changed m ...
and its spin-off
Scarp Scarp may refer to: Landforms and geology * Cliff, a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure * Escarpment, a steep slope or long rock that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevatio ...
; she also plays with
Token Women Token may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Token, a game piece or counter, used in some games * The Tokens, a vocal music group * Tolkien Black, a recurring character on the animated television series ''South Park,'' formerly known as ...
(as do her sister Fi and Heather Horsley) and with her own pan-European group called
Freyja In Norse paganism, Freyja ( Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
. Martin Brinsford went on to join Brass Monkey, with
Martin Carthy Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such ...
. Paul Burgess and Flos Headford were founder-members of the Mellstock Band.


Discography

*''No Reels'' - (1976) - Free Reed Records FRR 011 *''Old Swan Brand'' - (1978) - Free Reed Records FRR 028 *''Gamesters, Pickpockets and Harlots'' - (1981) - Dingle's, LP DIN 322 *''The Old Swan Band'' - (1983) - Waterfront, WF EP 04, 7"ep with 5 tracks *''Still Swanning... After All These Years'' - Compilation album (1995) Free Reed Records, FREE-CD31 *''
Swan-Upmanship ''Swan-Upmanship'' is an album by the Old Swan Band. Although these (mostly) obscure tunes come from England, Ireland, Scotland, France and Sweden, the band puts a distinctively English stamp on all of them. Firstly they are taken at a steady, u ...
'' - (2004) - WildGoose, WGS320CD *'' Swan For The Money'' - (2011) - WildGoose, WGS378CD *''Fortyssimo - ''(2014) - WildGoose, WGS407CD'' *''Fortyfived - ''(2019) - Wildgoose, WGS434CD


Anthologies

*''This Label is not Removable - A Celebration of 25 years of Free Reed'' - (2001) - Free Reed Records, FRTCD 25 *''Stepping Up: A History of the New Wave of English Country Dance Music'' - (2004) - TOPIC-CD752 *''fRoots 24'' - (2004) (''
fRoots ''fRoots'' (pronounced "eff-Roots", originally ''Folk Roots'') was a specialist music magazine published in the UK between 1979 and 2019. It specialised in folk and world music, and featured regular compilation downloadable albums, with occa ...
'' magazine sampler)


References

{{Authority control English folk musical groups Music in Gloucestershire