Songs through Time ….. back from 1964 over 3,600 years

I like programmes which take you on a journey, and so it is with Time to the Music, which this week looked at that pop classic The House of the Rising Sun.

Broadsides from London, 1967

In the space of 30 or so minutes we ramble back from the Animals version of the song which came out in 1964, to the origins of Broadside music and right back 3,600 years to the oldest notated song found on clay tablets in a dig in modern Syria.

“In Time to the Music is the story of a piece of music, song, an air or melody travelling through time as a folk tune, a theatre melody, a hymn, a composition, a symphony - reinterpreted across years, centuries or millennia through revival, musical revolution, social fashions or archaeological discovery. 

We examine why certain tunes have managed to reach out over time, across genres, class, race and continents, how some are reimagined by oppressors even though they were written by its oppressed, how melodies from earlier periods are borrowed by subsequent composers, and how these illusive musical engravings change genre - from hymn to reggae, from court song to rock and roll - all with the passage of time.

The third episode explores the journey of The House of the Rising Sun - was it based on a 17th-century broadside ballad that travelled from northern England to the Appalachian Mountains in the US? Some version of it or a similar ballad passed down through generations until it was captured in a recording by celebrated musicologist Alan Lomax in the 1930s. It was a key song in the folk revival of the 1960s before becoming a hit for The Animals in 1964. The programme also examines other music that has travelled through time.

More London Songs, 1968

Featuring musicologists Professor Laura Tunbridge, Professor Richard Dumbrill, singer Ian Shaw and pianist and educator Gareth Williams.

Written and Presented by Andrew McGibbon

Assistant Producer: Saul Sarne Producer: Nick Romero

A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4”*

But hurry it is available  for just 26 more days.

Pictures; cover albums from the Critics Group, Sweet Thames Flow Softly, 1967, A Merry Progress to London, 1968, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The House of the Rising Sun, In TimeLondon songs through time, 1968 to the Music, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hwws

Women and Folk Music ......... one to listen to on the wireless

"This May bank holiday Emma looks at women and the tradition of folk music. *

You may have a stereotypical image of a woman in a floaty dress walking through a flower meadow - but we want to challenge that. From protest songs and feminist anthems - it's not all whimsy in the world of folk.

Emma talks to Peggy Seeger who has enjoyed six decades of success with her music. Peggy was married to the singer Ewen McColl. He wrote the song "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" for her. Together they revitalised the British Folk Scene during the 50s and 60s, working on the BBC Radio Ballads; ground-breaking documentaries - which wove a story from the words of real people working in the mining and fishing industry or building the M1 motorway with sound effects, and songs. Now 86 years old, Peggy's own songs have become anthems for feminists, anti-nuclear campaigners and those fighting for social justice.

Emma examines the uncomfortable elements of folk music, and how artists are finding ways of reinterpreting old songs, or writing new ones to represent missing narratives and stories. Who were the female tradition-bearers, writers and performers and the often forgotten collectors - those who would record and notate traditional songs handed down orally from generation to generation? And what is being done to improve the gender equality and diversity in folk music?

Emma is joined by: Peggy Seeger http://www.peggyseeger.com/about, 

Fay Hield, https://fayhield.com/about.html Anne Martin https://www.annemartin.scot/ Amy Hollinrake https://www.amyhollinrake.com/about Rachel Newton http://www.rachelnewtonmusic.com/about.html Grace Petrie https://gracepetrie.com/ Angeline Morrison https://linktr.ee/angelcakepie

Peggy Seeger and Grace Petrie will be playing at Norfolk & Norwich Festival's 250th anniversary later this month".

Picture; Right On Jane, 1977, courtesy of Debbie Cameron ; cover from the LP, Waterloo to Peterloo, a collection of traditional songs from the period, Argo, ZFB 68 1968. It still sits along side A Merry Progress To London 1966, Argo ZDA 46 and Sweet Thames Flow Softly, Argo ZDA 47 1967 in my collection

*Women and Folk Music, Woman's Hour, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016x8c

Using folk music to discover who we are .......on the wireless today

This I think you should be interesting.

On Radio 4 today at 11.30.

"As a teenager, Zakia Sewell became entranced by English folk music, initially through Pentangle's haunting rendition of the traditional song, The Cuckoo.

But with this enchantment came a tension - a question - of whether such a song could really belong to her. Being of Caribbean and British descent, Zakia is sensitive to the darker histories that connect these two places and yet is drawn to a vision of Albion - an ancient, mythical land evoked in so many folk songs, symbols and stories.

Spiralling out from the personal to the national, from the present into the past - both real and imagined - Zakia grapples with the complexities of British national identity with the intent of resolving her own inner conflict and finding hopeful visions for the future.

With artist Ben Edge, musician Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and his mum Mignon, warden of Kilpeck Church, Hesketh Millais, members of Boss Morris - a feminist Morris Side - and Zakia's dad, Caspar.

Produced by Zakia Sewell and Alan Hall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4".*

Pictures; Pictures; Manchester Piccadilly Railway Station, 2018, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Mr. Higginbotham and men on the meadows, originally in the collection of the Higginbotham family and now part part of the Lloyd Collection

*The Cuckoo, My Albion Episode 1 of 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000pffx

Michael Morpurgo's Folk Journeys ...... Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye, on the wireless

Now I have never lost my love of folk songs, which I first came across nearly 60 years ago, and today they still speak with an authority and truth which can not be bettered.

So here is a short series which explores that folk tradition by Michael Morpurgo.

"The author Michael Morpurgo (War Horse, Private Peaceful) explores the ways in which folk songs have reflected timeless human experiences, both in the past and today.

With help from singers, songwriters and other passionate experts, Michael admires the indelible stories within classic songs that deal with migration, war, protest and love.

Over the four themed episodes, Michael considers the locations and historical contexts that gave rise to much-loved traditional songs, and finds out how the same topics are inspiring new folk songs in the 2020s.

In the first episode, Michael considers a song about an injured man returning from war: Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye.

A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4"*

Picture; The Battle of Culloden, David Morier, 1746

Next; In the second episode, Michael considers a song of protest: Four Loom Weaver.**

Michael Morpurgo's Folk Journeys ...... Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000nll9

**Loom Weaver, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000nv5r