Wiltshire Music Centre is a purpose-built, 300-seat concert hall featuring world-class classical, folk, jazz and world music artists. Renowned for "the finest acoustic outside London" (Sean Rafferty, BBC Radio 3) the Centre attracts internationally-renowned musicians and hosts a series of family music shows and storytelling performances.
In addition to regular activities held at the Centre, including Jazz Factory workshops, choral singing sessions and music therapy groups, the Centre is the home to a variety of countywide orchestras and ensembles and runs an exemplary education and community programme across Wiltshire and beyond.
Very nice. Two problems. First, I would hardly recognise this as English folk music for two reasons - all very studied and lacking in the spirit you would hear at any folk club. Second, an hour of music and not a single song. Song is music too, you know! Possibly our greatest contribution as a nation is song, which, as another commentator has mentioned, spread to the USA and eventually underpinned the pop music of generations. Of course other music from the British Isles and Ireland has been important, but when you look at songs, English song has been the major influence. The collections of Cecil Sharp, Francis Child, Lucy Broadwood, for all their faux academic pretensions, demonstrate the breadth and depth of the song tradition in love, sex, work, play, war, protest, nature, birth, death, religion, the supernatural (just for starters). When I was at primary school, our songs were sung every week along with the radio and/or a teacher, and were an important part of our musical upbringing. Could you not find any singers down that National Youth Folk Ensemble? Oh, my error. It seems you can't, as it says on the NYFE home page the players of any instrument can join, but 'we are not looking for singers'. How odd since this is a subpage of the English Folk Dance AND SONG society home.
First saw Nick onstage with Roy in about 1992-1993 and solo thereafter. Always dazzling and good fun...it was at Brighton (Beachcomber i think) that it absolutely struck me, probably sitting on the floor near the stage :"this man holds this audience in the palm of his hand." Benevolent, peaceful, joyful.
this video is simply out of this world ! amazing musicians and great interventions too... the french listener I am is simply blown away... english brothers be proud of your folk music ! thanks for sharing this beautiful conference i'm watching on repeat
I love english music but I don't think these types of formal setting present it well if tgw audicience have had a couple of pints and sing or dance with you it's wasted effort
Irish traditional music over the last 300 years is really just re vamped old English sea fairing tunes as used in Morris dancing in an earlier form. I studied music of the British Isles at Newcastle Collage University.
I really really love this. I love folk but the musicality of this is beautiful and very well played. For what’s it worth I’m just an amateur. But absolutely thrilling and beautiful to hear.
These tunes are lovely to listen to and even lovelier to dance to. I would encourage anyone who enjoyed this concert too see if there is an English Country Dance community near them and perhaps give it a try.
Having learned at an early age that the English did their best to exterminate everything Irish, Scots and probably Welsh, Manx and Cornish too, it's refreshing and also somewhat surprising to know that England had a folk culture all along.
Thats true but they spent so much time trying to ape their " betters " that they nearly lost it . Being a nation of peasants who have rejected and struggled against our self appointed overlords rather than doffing our caps , we in Ireland support our traditional musicians and regard this music as a national treasure . I take my hat off to those English musicians who have taken on the thankless task of trying to preserve this music which was part of a musical culture that we all , Celt and Saxon, peasants once shared . Maith sibh.
AWWWWWW English trad tunes sound so lovely and cute, it's different from Scottish and Irish trad tunes, and surely English trad music has its own identity <3
Of course! I'm Irish and like the Scots and Welsh,are Celts. However, English trad music is rich and complex and is on a par with all these other music's. Put any of these nationalities together and great music will happen.
I think modern instruments can be folk. The whole point of folk music is that it is the music of the people, distinct from classical and court music of the aristocracy. If the common folk have access to lutes and bagpipes, then that will make their folk music, if they have access to flutes and harps, then that will make their folk music, if they have access to modern guitars and accordians, then that will make their folk music. As long as the tradition is still being taught and practiced, then I think the heart of it is still intact
It's so brilliant what you are both doing to resurrect the art improvisation across genres, and in particular for classical musicians. Demonstrating the adventure of spontaneous musical communication/conversation between skilled music performers is a wonderful mission that I'm sure will inspire many musician to explore beyond the borders of what is usually expected.
Really he's just stunning. I first heard him in a tiny art centre in Tyneside about 40 years ago. He was stunning then and he's stunning now. Great guy and although his dad may be ahead in the lyrics field, Nick blows him away on the guitar. - I pursued my princess to your music, we made love under the stars to your music, we lived and danced on our tiny Hebridean island to your music and now 37 years later we sit in our beautiful little home in Scotland still getting goosebumps as we listen to you play. Thanks Nick. I owe you a beer next time you are in the Inverness area. :) Paul.
English folk music is a major influence on American roots music..which in turn influenced, Elvis, Johnny cash, bank williams, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, buddy holly....who in turn influenced the Beatles, the Mersey sound, cliff Richard, the beach boys, Tom Jones, who in turn.....this is the root of all pop music
Exactly, many apalachian people are of English (among other] ancestry, and sing folk tunes from this country in their own arrangements. Many apalachians are descended from Northern English folk from the 18th and 19th centuries
Exactly,it gets totally overlooked but when Francis Child’s documented the songs of Appalachia,he found a great many were English folk tunes and ballads.83% of Appalachian settlers were from England,and most indentured servants were English and took their folk traditions,like step dancing,clogging etc.with them!
@MsMissy I was being ironic (at least trying to be). It's just that there seem to be a lot of RU-vid posters (mostly American) who presume that all folk music from these islands are by default Irish, 'Scots-Irish' or that awful term 'Celtic'. In fact people just like 'Milsic'.
