Anson, Richard F
'The religious revival among the Scottish fisher-folk', from The Month, [November] 1922. Check out "Fishermen and Fishing Ways" (1932) by Peter Anson in which he explains that: "The fisherman, no matter to what Church or sect he belongs, is generally more inclined to interest himself in religion than the average landsman."
Arbaugh, Hank
For 40 years, Hank has integrated performing, teaching, and studying music. He has 3 degrees including an M.A. in English-folk studies. He is an expert of Medieval Ballads.
Dewey Balfa (March 20, 1927 - June 17, 1992) was an American Cajun fiddler who contributed significantly to the popularity of Cajun music. Balfa was born in Mamou, Louisiana. He is perhaps best known for his 1964 performance at the Newport Folk Festival with Gladius Thibodeaux and Vinus LeJeune, where the group received an enthusiastic response from over seventeen thousand audience members.
Barker, Clive
Bedford, Lily May
"...On the other hand, Lily May Bedford has three solo vocal/banjo songs that are beautifully chilling examples of pre-bluegrass three-finger modal banjo playing, including what are probably my favorite versions of "Pretty Polly" and "Red Rocking Chair."
About thirty years ago we decided to into the country for a drive with our youngsters. Whilst we were driving past a pub called The Fox we saw morris dancers performing and stopped to watch. I didn't fancy the dancing but the music appealed to me. One of the musicians was a well known folk singer called Brian Blanchard who played a CG Jeffries Anglo concertina. I fell in love with the instrument the moment I saw that it packed away into a little box after making so much noise. I immediately went out and purchased a cheap German Anglo concertina with big white buttons and started learning "Shepherds Hey" and went on from there.
Blank, Marion
There is an American linguist of this name, who has written books on child care, child development, language and poverty.
Daddy, what did you do in the strike? - 1985: an hour-long program on Ewan. Granada Television, produced and directed by David Boulton.
In October, 1972, Charles Parker, a friend and colleague who, at the time, was employed by the BBC as a radio features producer, sent us a tape-recording of a song called "The Handy Barque the Campanero". The singer was Ben Bright, a retired seaman who lived in Edmonton in North London. Parker, a skilful field worker, suggested that there were hidden depths in Bright that might yield rich rewards to a patient and persistent folklorist.
Brown, Gwen:
The handloom weavers: unpublished BA Hons research project, North East London Polytechnic
Burman, Martin
Political song performance styles of the old and new left: unpublished MA thesis, Wesleyan University, 1978...."Some of that legend has been used to create ''Railroad Bill,'' the name of a musical, with blues and ragtime by C.R. Portz. This saga is set within the context of the Populist movement of the late 19th century. Then, Eastern finance and industry were being enriched at the expense of Southern and Middle West agriculture and some black and white Southerners worked together to try to change the power structure in the United States. This musical will be taken on tour in the United States later this year, after its run at the Labor Theater. The cast includes Gussie Harris, Chuck Portz, Horace Foster Jr., James Foster, Preston Boyd, Bruce Willis and Martin Burman."
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (October 25, 1714 - May 26, 1799) was a Scottish judge, scholar of language evolution and philosopher. He is most famous today as a founder of modern comparative historical linguistics .
Burson, Anna Kristina
The Influence of Ewan MacColl on the English Folk Song Revival of the 1950s and 1960s" Dissertation by Anna Kristina Burson, University of Wales, Bangor, 25 April 2002.
One of the Critics Group: "The Critics Group was a group of singers and musicians who met regularly with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger from 1964 to 1971 to explore the art and politics of performance and provide criticism for each other. As well as the development of folk singing they took part in theatre projects such as the 'Festival of Fools', giving annual performances based on political satire. They also recorded, in 1966, as a radio ballad, a modern version of 'Romeo and Juliet' for schools. The group were also involved in the 'Folksingers against Vietnam' anti-war movement and in the Women's movement. Again, recordings were made of the sessions for reference and educational reasons. Persons recorded on these Critics' Group tapes were (in alphabetical order): John Andrews; Frankie Armstrong; Rex Benjamin; Bob Blair; Brian Byrne; Jim Carroll; Phil Colclough; Pat Creedy; John Faulkner; Luke Kelly; Donniel Kennedy; Floyd Kennedy; Sandra Kerr; Pat Mackenzie; Jim O'Connor; Roy Palmer; Charles Parker; Brian Pearson; Jimmy Ross; Irwin Silber; Dick Snell; Denis Turner; Jack Warshaw; Terry Yarnell."
Carn, Trish
A Singers' Club organiser and long-standing friend of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger.
A member of The Critics Group, who stuck with it for most of its existence. Together with Pat Mackenzie, Jim Carroll made many field recordings, assembling a monumental body of work of tremendous value to singers, musicians, sociologists and anyone interested in music. Much of their collecting focused on Irish musicians, but the most prolific singer they recorded was an Englishman (born in 1914) from rural Norfolk called Walter pardon. The National Sound Archive began to acquire, preserve and catalogue the Jim Carroll and Pat Mackenzie collection in 1984
Cazden, Norman
Norman Cazden (1914-1980) was a folk song collector, well known to the Seeger family and best known for co-compiling "Folk songs of The Catskills", a project which started in 1941 before tape-recorders were widely available and continued until 1962. This involved systematic collecting of the songs in an effort to conserve and document the rapidly-disappearing traditional culture of the Catskill region of North America.
Clark, Bob
Bob Clark gets a mention on Internet sites as "a little known folk-singer", who performed in the Seattle area (United States) during the 1950s along with other singers such Walt Robertson, Bob Nelson (Deckman), Dick Landberg, Rae Creevy, Claire Hess, Patti McLaughlin, Mike Reedy, Danny Duncan, John and Sally Ashford, Ron Ginther.
Cleverdon, Douglas
Cleverdon, (Thomas) Douglas James (1903-1987), bookseller and radio producer. He sold and published limited editions for sixty years, a span only broken between 1939 and 1969 when he worked as a producer for BBC radio. Cleverdon worked with David Jones while producing radio broadcasts of 'In Parenthesis' and 'The Anathemata' and through these recordings moved back into publishing, printing 'The Ancient Mariner' illustrated by Jones, and 'The Engravings of David Jones'. This collection represents the working relationship between Jones and Cleverdon, including notes and correspondence pertaining to the 'Third Programme' radio broadcasts produced by Cleverdon about David Jones.
Cole, John
A versatile musician, well known in The Singers Club and noted for playing the harmonica. John played with Ewan and Peggy on many recordings, including a harmonica part in the landmark Ballad of John Axon first transmitted by the BBC on 2 July 1958. John Cole's father, Ernest, was an engine driver on the Great Western Railway. John still remembers his father lifting him up on to the plates, the smell of the grease, oil and steam. He says the best toasted cheese sandwich came off of the firemans shovel.
Often considered to be the best slow air player on the tin whistle, Festy Conlon is a noted musician from An Spide/al [Spiddal] in the Connemara Gaeltacht who derives many of his airs from his mother's songs. His mother was a fine singer who contributed a number of songs to the collection 'Amhra/in Mhuighe Seola'. Festy can be heard on the Topic LPs 'Breeze from Erin' and 'Grand Airs from Connemara' and on 'Totally Traditional Tin Whistles'.
Monumentally great English traditional singer, born in 1885, Harry Cox (right, with Packie Byrne) was discovered by the English composer, E. J. Moeran in the 1920s, and some of his repertoire was first published in the Folk-Song Journal. He was recorded several times by numerous collectors, and also appeared on radio and TV.
Co-author with Joyce Kornbluh of 41-page documentary play, "I Just Wanted Someone to Know" published in 1981 - "a documentary play with music tracing the inner lives of working class women from the early 1900s to the present"
David Craig is author of The Real Foundations: Literature and Social Change (The Marxist case that the real foundations of literature lie in history itself). A.L.Lloyd also took an interest this book. Chapter 3, entitled "Songs of the Bleak Age" would have appealed. This was drafted many times (and delivered in many places) before the book was published in hardcover by Chatto and Windus on 4 Oct 1973.
The Critics Group was a group of singers and musicians who met regularly with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger from 1964 to 1971 to explore the art and politics of performance and provide criticism for each other. As well as the development of folk singing they took part in theatre projects such as the Festival of Fools, giving annual performances based on political satire. They also recorded, in 1966, as a radio ballad, a modern version of 'Romeo and Juliet' for schools. The group were also involved in the 'Folksingers against Vietnam' anti-war movement and in the Women's movement. Again, recordings were made of the sessions for reference and educational reasons. Persons recorded on these Critics' Group tapes were (in alphabetical order): John Andrews; Frankie Armstrong; Rex Benjamin; Bob Blair; Brian Byrne; Jim Carroll; Phil Colclough; Pat Creedy; John Faulkner; Luke Kelly; Donniel Kennedy; Floyd Kennedy; Sandra Kerr; Pat Mackenzie; Jim O'Connor; Roy Palmer; Charles Parker; Brian Pearson; Jimmy Ross; Irwin Silber; Dick Snell; Denis Turner; Jack Warshaw; Terry Yarnell.
Davison, Ian
Ian originally helped organise, and perform in, Scottish Lowland folk clubs, especially in Glasgow and Rutherglen. He is now known mostly as a top songwriter, with over 200 songs, in traditional and modern styles, half of them written in the 1990's. His songs are being sung in clubs and festivals all over the world, and recorded by artists like Peggy Seeger, Archie Fisher, Adam MacNaughton, Ed Miller, Brian McNeill and Toni Wood.
A socially committed documentary film-maker. Philip Donnellan (1924-99) worked for the BBC from 1948-84. Much of his professional life was spent in the Midlands where he worked first in radio and then in television. One of his contemporaries and colleagues was the trailblazing radio producer Charles Parker and they collaborated on a number of works and shared many ideas about broadcasting and how it might better serve and represent society. Both expressed a belief in the value of ordinary life and culture and the need to give working people and underrepresented social minorities a space in which to articulate their concerns in their own voices.
Youtube video links
- Who was Philip Donnellan?
- film documentary based on the Radio Ballad `Singing The Fishing*
- film documentary based on the Radio Ballad `The Big Hewer'*
- film documentary based on the Radio Ballad `The Big Hewer'*
***by Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker.
Bruce Dunnet, club owner: 1923-2002, was one of the giants who wrested the folk revival out of the effete middle-class hands of those who thought to make it over into a never-never land of milkmaids and pewter tankards - and turned it into something which changed the way we look at the world. He was a Rabelaisian, lantern-jawed, foul-mouthed, stooping, commanding presence at the folk clubs and concerts he ran. As well as launching clubs all over London from the Fifties onwards, Dunnet also for a long time ran MacColl's Singers' Club.
Ewan MacColl wrote in Sing Out!, "Our traditional songs and ballads are the creations of extraordinarily talented artists working inside traditions formulated over time... But what of Bobby Dylan?... Only a non-critical audience, nourished on the watery pap of pop music could have fallen for such tenth-rate drivel." Bob Dylan was kinder in his appraisal of Ewan MacColl's work!
David Edgar is a British playwright who has been particularly active since the late 1970s and has written on the history of the theatre. Howard Goorney (in his Epilogue to the collection: "Agit-prop to Theatre Workshop, Political Playscripts 1930-19") laments that "The Workers' Theatre Movement of the thirties, as important a cultural and political manifestation in its own time as the Alternative movement of the seventies, has been almost completely ignored in the main stream of writing on theatre history". He observes too that even David Edgar wrote in the Theatre Quarterly of winter 1979: 'There are two reasons why 1968 can be taken as the starting date of political theatre in Britain'.
Hanns Eisler (1898 - 1962) was a German and Austrian composer. His sister was Ruth Fischer (Elfriede Eisler), a leader of the German Communist Party (KPD) during the 1920's, and author of The Sexual Ethics of Communism, and Stalin and German Communism: A Study in the Origins of the State Party. His brother was the journalist and Communist Gerhart Eisler who was believed to be a major Comintern agent operating under the name of Hans Berger. Hanns Eisler's music became increasingly oriented towards political themes and, to Schoenberg's dismay, more "popular" in style with influences drawn from jazz and cabaret. At the same time, he drew close to Bertolt Brecht, whose own turn towards Marxism happened at about the same time. The collaboration between the two artists lasted for the rest of Brecht's life.
The Elliotts of Birtley, a family from the NE of England, had a rich repertoire of traditional songs, many related to coal mining: their family occupation. Their singing group consisted of the father of the family, Jack Elliott; his three sons Pete (+ wife Pat), John & Len; his daughter Doreen (+ husband Bryan). They were at the forefront of the folk revival in the late '50s and early '60s. Ewan and Peggy supervised the recording of an LP of their songs for Folkways Records *ELLIOTTS OF BIRTLEY collected and edited by PS/EM portrait of a NE England coal-mining family 12" disc 1960s FG 3506 .
Seamus Ennis (5th May 1919 - 5th Oct 1982) was an Irish piper, singer and folk-song collector. In 1951, he became the subject of 1951 Alan Lomax and Jean Ritchie's collection when they arrived from America to record Irish songs and tunes. The same year, he joined the BBC. His job was to record the traditional music of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland and to present it on the BBC Home Service. The programme was called "As I Roved Out" and ran until 1958. The poet Dylan Thomas managed to wangle his way onto this project. For him it was a pub-crawl around Britain. Meeting up with Alan Lomax again, Seamus was largely responsible for the album Folk and Primitive Music (volume on Ireland) on the Columbia label.
Everett, Peter
Peter Everett is a BBC Radio 4 producer, who together with BBC broadcaster Mark Lawson reviewed Topic's reissue on CD of MacColl/Seeger/Parker's Radio Ballads.
John Faulkner met Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger in 1964. From working with them as a member of The Critics Group during the English Folk revival 1960's and 70's, John gained an insight and understanding of the vast body of folk music and songs of the British Isles and Ireland.
Feltham, Ann
Ann Feltham worked for the Campaign Against The Arms Trade: "The current attitude of the UK's trade union movement to the arms trade is mixed. Many individual trade unionists are opposed to the arms trade, and some union branches have policy against all or aspects of it. However, some trade unions have members in the arms industry and are therefore supportive of it. Unions like Amicus and the TGWU actually spend time arguing for the government to prop up the arms industry and support new arms export deals."
Trevor Fisher is a current Friend of the Charles Parker archive and author of a pamphlet entitled: "Charles Parker: Aspects of a Pioneer - a personal account", (1986) priced 2 pounds.
Boris Ford (1917-1998) was a literary critic, writer, editor and educationist. After spending time in the army, he worked at the United Nations Secretariat in its early years, was the BBC's head of schools' broadcasting (Ewan and Peggy were contributers to this!), was Education Secretary to the Cambridge University Press, edited important academic journals and anthologies, and became Professor of Education at Sussex University and later at Bristol. Many people own at least one volume of 'The New Pelican Guide to English Literature' or 'The Cambridge Guide to the Arts in Britain', both edited by Boris Ford.
Ruth Frow , together with her late husband, Eddie (Edmund Frow) who died in 1997, has written countless articles and essays on aspects of the labour movement, making great use of the Library as a source. As well as these are the numerous books and pamphlets on the history of the Chartist movement, the Spanish Civil War, the growth of Trade Unionism, the Co-operative movement, peace organisations and other political organisations from the Labour Party and the CPGB through to the ILP, SPGB, etc....and in particular their relationship with Manchester and Salford. When asked how they managed to write joint book reviews they replied that Eddie did the reading and Ruth the writing!
Vic Gammon is currently Senior Lecturer in Folk & Traditional Music (School of Arts and Cultures) in Newcastle University, where his teaching and research draws from his interests in the vernacular musics of Britain and North America, his enthusiasm for music education and his continuing activity as a performer (Vocals, Anglo-Concertina, Banjo, Melodeon). He was previously Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds where he managed the BA in Popular and World Musics.
George, Banjo
BANJO GEORGE AND HIS TRIO "TIGER RAG"/"CHINA BOY" DECCA RECORDS 9-29745 - 45rpm, probably late 1950s - still available from second hand dealers.
Alex Glasgow (1935 - 2001) was a singer/songwriter from Low Fell, Gateshead, England. He wrote the songs and music for the successful musical play "Close the Coal House Door" by Alan Plater and scripts for the TV drama "When the Boat Comes In", the theme song of which he sang. He also worked in Germany and emigrated to Australia in 1981. Glasgow was a traditional Geordie 'working class' singer-songwriter. His style would be regarded as solidly within the British (and wider) folk music tradition. He became widely known for his own style of Geordie folk songs, often on political topics, generally socialist and/or trades union-focused.
Howard Goorney (1921-2007) joined Theatre Union in 1938 during the formative years leading to Theatre Workshop, which was founded in 1945. As a 17-year-old he noticed in the Manchester Guardian that auditions were being held for Hasek's The Good Soldier Schweik, and landed the part of the old shepherd. He was among the longest serving from that northern touring troupe, which eventually - though far from unanimously - settled at the old Theatre Royal, in Stratford, East London. There it made a name for itself in the 1950s and 1960s by taking into central London such productions as The Quare Fellow, The Hostage, and Oh! What a Lovely War. At Ewan MacColl's suggestion, Howard Goorney wrote "The Theatre Workshop Story" (1981) Eyre Methuen Ltd ISBN 0 413 47610 3 and also co-edited (with Ewan MacColl) "Agit-Prop to Theatre Workshop", containing Ewan's political playscripts 1930-50, published by Manchester University Press 1986 ISBN 0-7190-1762-9 hardback.
Graeme, Heather
Reception Teacher / Teaching Assistant and Singers' Club Organiser, known to Peggy & Ewan since 1976.
Gray, Jimmie
Last heard of as a fictional character in one of Peggy's (1971) songs entitled "Jimmie Gray" and recorded on Folkways Record of Contemporary Songs - FW 8736. The character in the song was one of those rare men who would do all that was asked of him. Whether there was a real "Jimmie Gray" with the same willing character ...one would have to ask Peggy.
Gregory, E. David
David E. Gregory, a graduate of Sussex University and resident of Lewes East Sussex in the late 1960s, is now Associate Professor of History and Humanities at Athabasca University. He is currently writing two books. One is on the collecting of English folksongs during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Its working title is English Folksong, 1878-1903: The Persistence of Melody. The other is on ballad collecting and editing during approximately the same period. Its working title is The Late Victorians and the English Ballad, 1880-1901. He is also researching aspects of the life and work of four individuals who were involved in one way or another with the English folksong revival: Lucy Broadwood, Maud Karpeles, Peter Kennedy, and A. L. 'Bert' Lloyd. His plan is to eventually write a book on the rebirth of the English folksong movement in the postwar era, with the tentative title Eel's Foot to Aldermaston. He has written a number of articles for different journals (see footnote 2) documenting Alan Lomax's work for the BBC in the 1950s: "Lomax in London: Alan Lomax, the BBC and the Folk-Song Revival in England, 1950-1958," Folk Music Journal, 8/2 (2002), 136-169. He emphasizes that although Lomax possessed a modest singing voice and adequate guitar skills, he never viewed himself as a performer, but rather a chronicler of folk music and promoter of folk musicians. His radio shows in America featured recorded songs and displayed his wide-ranging knowledge of current country and folk performers, including Red Foley, Cousin Emmy, Josh White, Bradley Kincaid, Pearl Bailey, Bob Crosby and His Orchestra, Roy Acuff, Pete Seeger, Salty Holmes, Merle Travis, Uncle Dave Macon, and Robert Johnson. His radio work in England during the 1950s demonstrated a similar eclectic approach and interest. Lomax always stressed his radio work and publishing-his role as a musical interpreter, moderator, and promoter for a wider, general public-while his legacy as a field collector has dominated his popular biography.
Griffiths, Bryn
A poet, also known for the LP recording: The Stones Remember : Poems Written and Read By Bryn Griffiths and Bryan Walters : Argo PLP 1189 : 1975
Mick Groves was born in Salford Manchester uK, and came to public attention as one of the four members of The Spinners Folk Group, also consisting of Cliff Hall, Tony Davis, and Hughie Jones. Mick was the grey-haired one, who led most of the songs from the North and provided the strong basic guitar rhythm for most of the group songs. Now he has re-located to Exeter in Devon and is starting at the beginning again. He does gigs with a variety of local musicians, some of whom worked on his first Solo CD 'Fellow Journeyman' where he sings songs collected and written by Ewan MacColl.
Hague, Rene
Rene Hague (1905-1981) was a printer and scholar. He was born in London to Irish parents, and was educated at the Benedictine Ampleforth College, Yorkshire. Rare book: HAGUE, Rene. The Death of Hector. A version by... after Iliad XXII with drawings by Peter Campbell. (Wellingborough: Christopher Skelton) 1973. First edition, one of 200 copies signed by both Hague and Campbell, tall 8vo, 32 pp. 4 full page illustrations.
Healey, Tim
Freelance writer and record producer Tim Healey is also a popular broadcaster. He has worked chiefly for BBC Radio 4 for whom he presented the 'At Home with Healey' series on the subjects of the Victorian Song and Supper Rooms; Murder Ballads; Unusual Instruments; Britain's Town Waits; Political Songs; the Great British Barn Dance; and John Clare as a Country Fiddler.
Joe Heaney was a great Irish singer and storyteller, who sang mostly in Gaelic and died in 1984. A transcript of the tape-recorded interviews he gave to Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger at their home in Beckenham in 1964, also documents his enormous repertoire of songs.
Hamish Scott Henderson, 11 November 1919 - March 8, 2002; Scottish Gaelic: Seamas MacEanraig (Seamas Mor) was a Scottish poet, songwriter, socialist, humanist, soldier, intellectual, and living contradiction. He has been called the most important Scots poet since Burns, catalyst for the folk revival in Scotland, discoverer of Jeannie Robertson, the man who accepted the surrender of Italy on 19 April 1945, the author of the Freedom Come-All-Ye, the anti-Nazi whose love of German culture was deep and true, one of the bairns of Adam, Seamas Mor.
Melville Herskovits believed that a comparative study of folk music can contribute to an understanding of the process of human civilization, and the study of musical. Both Alan Lomax (Ewan's and Peggy's best friend) and Melville Herskovits before him, held a particular interest in the music of the Black/African populations of the Americas. What sets Lomax's Caribbean recordings apart from others, including those of Melville Herskovits, is that Lomax recorded with state of the art equipment (for 1962) at a time before the explosion of radio, records, or tapes in many of the islands. Thus, he had an advantage over earlier ethnomusicologists due to his superior recording equipment and an advantage over later ones in that many styles that were later to be forgotten still existed when he was visiting the islands.
Dorothy Coade Hewett (21 May 1923 - 25 August 2002) was an Australian feminist poet, novelist, librettist, and playwright. She was also a member of the Communist Party of Australia, though she clashed on many occasions with the party's leadership. Dorothy Hewett was first married in 1948 to Lloyd Davies, a communist Lawyer whom she met at university. The marriage had effectively ended in 1947 when Hewett ran off to Sydney to live with her lover, a boilermaker named Les Flood. She remained with him for nine years and bore him three sons: Joe, Michael and Tom. However, Hewett's and Davies's divorce did not follow until 1959. Lloyd Davies subsequently brought a series of actions against Hewett for alleged defamation. He then documented a successful libel action against her in a book entitled "IN DEFENCE OF MY FAMILY - The Inside Story of the Hewett Libel Cases" with an Introduction by The Honourable Mr Justice Wilcox of the Federal Court of Australia. (Peppermint Grove, Peppy Gully Press). It would appear from the entry in the Ruskin catalogue (benefit concert for Dorothy Hewett, Adelaide, 1977) that Peggy and Ewan took Dorothy Hewett's side.
Charlotte Higgins was mother-in-law to Cathie Stewart of "The Stewarts of Blairgowrie" - the singing Scots Travellers whose songs were collected/recorded by Hamish Henderson, Ewan & Peggy and others. Charlotte Higgins was responsible for passing the song "Bonny Lassie" to the Stewart Family, which became a precious item in their repertoire. The song is sung in a lilting but stately manner, rather than the 'funeral pace' that the revival seems to have endowed it with. All of the Stewart family have sung this at various times.
Hughes, Caroline
Traveller Queen Caroline Hughes (1900-1971), the matriach of the 'Hughes Group of Travellers' first visited by Ewan and Peggy on a piece of waste ground twenty yards off the Wareham bypass near Poole Dorset in 1963. Four years later, Ewan and Peggy returned to record Mrs Hughes, who was regarded as the Singer of the group and was custodian of a large body of traditional songs and stories. More on Queen Caroline Hughes can be found in "Travellers' Songs From England And Scotland" by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger 1997 Routledge & Kegan Paul ISBN 0 7100 8436 6.
Vera Johnson began her career as a folksinger in Canada in 1949 and gave public performances on her own radio programme out of Vancouver. Since then she has toured England every spring and autumn, playing the folk clubs. She still performs during the summer at folk festivals across North America. She is well known for her witty, original material on almost any topic: religion, sex, divorce, censorship, liberation, politics and family.
Folklorist, Raina Katsarova, was born in Sofia in 1901. She is among the finest of Bulgaria's folk music specialists. One of Raina Katsarova's key contributions was the launch of the Dance Archives in the Institute of Musicology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The focus of her interests and her perseverance gave an impetus to the study of folk rites accompanied with specific dance and music patterns. Later on her own students inherited her ideas about the organic fabric of the diverse elements of the art of folklore. She trained disciples who would become big names in Bulgarian folklore studies - Prof. Dr. Stoyan Djudjev, Prof. Nikolay Kaufman and Prof. Todor Todorov. The national musical instruments are the pipe, the kaval (vertical, end-vibrated flute), the tambura (a kind of lute). In general, Bulgarians are good singers and music performers. Orpheus, the legendary musician and spiritual leader, was born in the Rhodope Mountains. Among the famous Bulgarian-born opera singers are Hristina Morphova, Elena Nikolay, Boris Hristov, Nikolay Giaourov, Raina Kabaivanska, Gena Dimitrova, Anna Tomova-Sintova, Hristina Anghelakova, Vessela Katsarova.
Kelby, Ruby
Ruby Kelby (nee Stewart) was born in Aberdeen in 1918. Her father was a Stewart of Kinlochrannoch and her mother was Christina MacAllster, who contributed generously to MacColl and Seeger's collection of Traveller's Songs. 'The Banks Amang Red Roses', sung by Belle Stewart of 'the Stewarts of Blairgowrie' (another Scots family of travellers) was learnt from Ruby Kelby. See "Till Doomsday In The Afternoon" (MUP 1986) MacCOLL-SEEGER p230 Ruby Kelby; - PORTER-GOWER 1995 pp222-3 3v from Jeannie Robertson & notes; - see also BANKS OF THE ROSES (Love Song).
Peter Douglas Kennedy (1922 - 2006) was an English collector of folk songs in the 1950s. His 1961 book "Folk Songs of Britain and Northern Ireland" gave both the tunes and the words to hundreds of traditional songs, as well as brief notes about their origins. Together with Alan Lomax he went on to edit a series of records called "Folk Songs of Britain" (1968 - 71), issued on Rounder. Peter's father, Douglas, was EFDSS (English Folk Dance & Song Society) director after Cecil Sharp.
Kent, Enoch
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Enoch's love of traditional music was first inspired by his family. His father played the concertina, and popular songs, Scottish songs and old-time favourites were often sung at home. After graduating from the Glasgow School of Art in sculpture and ceramics, Enoch formed the traditional Scottish group, The Reivers (Scottish for The Thieves) with Josh MacRae, Rena Swankie and Moyna Flanagan. The Scotsman published the songs supplied by the band, which helped greatly to revive interest in traditional Scottish folk songs. Enoch was active in The Singers' Club in the early 1960s, but now resides in Canada.
Joseph Kerman (born April 3, 1924) is a known writer of music and a musicologist. He is a professor emeritus at University of California, Berkeley. He joined the University of California Music Department in 1951. An honorary fellow of the Academy of Music in London and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Kerman was a Guggenheim Fellow in l960, a Fulbright Fellow in 1966, and recipient of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Deems Taylor Award.
Lambert, Margaret
In 1937, Ewan MacColl and Margaret Lambert worked together in compiling a radio script: "Politics - third in a series of one-hour programmes entitled News of a Hundred Years Ago" . Produced by John Pudney.
Norfolk herring fisherman, upon whose life story the Radio Ballad Singing the Fishing was based. Sam Larner was born in 1878 in Winterton, Norfolk. He first went to sea when he was only eight, and signed on as a 'peggy' (cabin-boy) at 12. He learned many songs from his father and other fishermen and first performed in public at the age of nine, singing for pennies to coach parties passing through the village. Later, he sang at fishermen's smoking concerts in ports along the coast from Shetland to Cornwall, as the fishing fleet followed the annual migration of the herring. "We used to have some good old times when we used to come home from sea. We used to get in the old pub, have a pint or two around, give 'em the four-handed reel... A drink, a song and a four-handed reel. Round we'd go and up we'd go, and we used to have a rare old, good old time."
Mark Lawson is is a journalist, broadcaster and author. He presents BBC Radio 4's arts magazine Front Row . He has twice been voted TV critic of the Year and has won numerous awards for arts journalism. Together with BBC Producer Peter Everett, he also reviewed Topic's reissue on CD of MacColl/Seeger/Parker's Radio Ballads.
Roberto Leydi (1928 - 2003) Italian ethnomusicologt, started his career in the field of contemporary music and jazz, and in the 1950s started his research into the social significance of folk and popular music. He published widely, including L'altra musica (The Other Music; ed.Giunti-Ricordi 1991) and I canti popolari italiani, (Songs of the Peoples of Italy; Mondadori, 1973.) He was known as sponsor and coordinator of numerous projects and festivals to display and preserve Italian music, both traditional and recent. Shortly before his death, he donated his entire private collection (some 700 musical instruments), 6,000 records, 10,000 books, and 1,000 tapes) to the Center for Dialectology and Ethnography in Bellinzona, Switzerland. One of the traditional melodies (Scilian) which Roberto Leydi would have known acquired different lyrics and a slightly different musical arrangement when Ewan and Peggy turned it into "The Joy of Living". The original lyrics are entitled "Madonna Tu Mi Fai Lo Scorrucciato'. They have been set to the Sicilian melody on various recordings, one of the best known being "Antologia - Nuova Compagnia Di Canto Popolare - EMI CD 7243 4 98404 2 3
Sergio Liberovici was a member of 'Cantacronache', a popular Italian band formed in Turin in 1958. Other members of the band included Fausto Amodei, Michele Straniero, Giorgio De Maria and Emilio Jona. They were important in the Italian folk revival movement of the 1950s as one of the first such groups to use complex lyrics addressing social and political topics. Their modern sound helped them gain popularity among the youth of the Italian separatist movement.
Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 - 20 September 2002) was a British theatrical director, famous for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop. At her influential peak in the 1950s and 1960s, she was a well-known international figure not only in the area of theatre but in politics as well. Born in Stockwell, South London, she had trained as an actress at RADA but left after an unhappy start and moved to Manchester in 1934 where she met Jimmie Miller (better known as Ewan MacColl) and joined his troupe Theatre of Action. Littlewood and Miller were soon married. After a brief move to London, they returned to Manchester and set up the Theatre Union in 1936. In 1945, after the end of World War II, Littlewood, her husband, and other Theatre Union members formed Theatre Workshop.
Albert Lancaster Lloyd (29 February 1908- 29 September 1982), usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English folk singer and collector of folk songs, who was very active in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. He was born in Wandsworth in London. His mother sang songs around the house, mimicking Gipsy singers that she'd heard. By the age of fifteen his mother had died and his father, an ex-soldier, was a semi-invalid, and Lloyd was sent as an assisted migrant to Australia in a scheme organised by the British Legion. It was during this time, while working on various sheep stations in New South Wales, that he began to write down folksongs he had previously learnt. When he returned to the UK in the 1930s, in the absence of a permanent job, he pursued his interests in studying folk music and social and economic history, doing much of his research at the British Museum: he is quoted as saying that there is "nothing like unemployment for educating oneself".
Alan Lomax (January 31, 1915 - July 19, 2002) was an American folklorist, musicologist and Ewan Maccoll & Peggy Seeger's best friend. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, the West Indies, Italy, and Spain.
Lyle, Thomas
Among the principal collections of English and Scottish Ballads and Songs, is Thomas Lyle's "Ancient Ballads and Songs, chiefly from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Works," London, 1827.
Ewan MacColl (25 January 1915 - 22 October 1989) was a British folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. See www.ewanmaccoll.co.uk and the section on Ewan MacColl from The Working Class Movement Library web site.
The late daughter of Ewan MacColl and Jean Newlove, Kirsty Anna MacColl (10 October 1959 - 18 December 2000) was a British singer-songwriter, with a huge following among lovers of popular music. Her songs are noted for their variety of styles and thoughtful lyrics. For detailed information about Kirsty, go to www.kirstymaccoll.com or to the 'Justice For Kirsty' web site at www.justiceforkirsty.org. Kirsty's mother, Jean, has recently written a book about her daughter entitled Sun On The Water
MacColl, Kitty
Daughter of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. Kitty is a graphic artist, who has also sung (mainly backing tracks) on recordings released by her parents and with her brothers Neill and Calum MacColl.
Hugh MacDiarmid was the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve (Crisdean Mac a' Ghreidhir) (August 11, 1892, Langholm - September 9, 1978, Edinburgh), a significant Scottish poet of the 20th century. He was instrumental in creating a truly Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century. He wrote both in English and in literary Scots (often referred to as Lallans). In 1928, MacDiarmid helped found the National Party of Scotland. He was also a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He was later (in 1950) included on a list of suspected communist sympathisers, compiled by George Orwell for British intelligence.
MacDonald, Jessie
The Dowie Dens o Yarrow - "This was one of the first ballads I learnt back in the 1960s and the text is pretty close to the version in Norman Buchan's 101 Scottish Songs which was the most accessible source of traditional song in those days. The haunting tune is from the singing of Jessie MacDonald and was collected by Peter Hall on one of his field recording expeditions. (Child 214, GD 2:215; Roud 13)".
MacDonald, John
John MacDonald was a Lanarkshire Traveller, born at Tarbert, Lochfyne, a small fishing village on the coast of Argyll. He contributed 21 songs to Ewan and Peggy's collection. See page 38 of MacColl/Seeger's 1977 publication "Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland." Routledge & Kegan Paul ISBN 0 7100 8436 6.
Ian MacGregor is Sheila's husband (see below).
Sheila MacGregor is better known as Sheila Stewart (daughter of Belle) of Blairgowrie.
A member of The Critics Group. Together with Jim Carroll, Pat Mackenzie made many field recordings, assembling a monumental body of work of tremendous value to singers, musicians, sociologists and anyone interested in music. Much of their collecting focused on Irish musicians, but the most prolific singer they recorded was an Englishman (born in 1914) from rural Norfolk called Walter pardon. The National Sound Archive began to acquire, preserve and catalogue the Jim Carroll and Pat Mackenzie collection in 1984.
Mackenzie, Suzie
Suzie Mackenzie is a well-known journalist, who writes for "The Guardian" newspaper in the UK. Her 1991 article 'Knowing The Score', based on an interview with Peggy Seeger, refers to the upheaval (felt by all parties) when Ewan started his second family while still wanting close ties with his first. See Amber Good's University Thesis (page 24).
Sandra Mantovani, born in 1928, is one of the great ladies in the Italian folk music revival.
Acclaimed songwriter and broadcaster, one of the writers for the 2006 Radio Ballads. Veteran of The Circus of Poets performance group and Versewagon (the world's first mobile writing workshop), Ian is now a well-established performance poet, writer, playwright and broadcaster, working extensively for radio and television.
McPhee, Maggie
Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger collected a set from Maggie McPhee of Aberdeen (Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland. 1977: See page 40). Maggie McPhee (nee Stewart) was born in 1889. Her father, James Stewart, was a cousin of the Stewarts of Kinlochrannoch; her mother, Betty McPhee, belonged to a family of Travellers, noted for their inherent skill in playing the bagpipes.
McPhee, Willie
Big Willie McPhee (nee Stewart) known as 'The Blacksmith', was born in Helensborough, a coast town of Dunbartonshire, in 1910. There is a lot about him on page 40 of MacColl/Seeger's 1977 publication "Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland." Routledge & Kegan Paul ISBN 0 7100 8436 6
Mereu, Pino
Pino Mereu is currently a resident of the Hamish Henderson folk club in Rome
Miles, Graham
Graham Miles is a songwriter whose compositions (e.g. "The Shores of Old Blighty" and "Over Yonder Banks") have been performed by Scottish singers such as The Fisher Family.
Betsy Miller of Auchterarder, in Perthshire (maiden name: Hendry) was Ewan MacColl's mother. She taught Ewan (born James Miller) many of the fine Scottish ballads (e.g. The Collier Laddie) which became part of his traditional reperoire. Several recordings of Betsy's singing are preserved in the British Library Sound Archive. Some of these are also available in the Ruskin archive.
Denis Mitchell is a BBC Producer, who callaborated with Ewan MacColl in BBC Manchester in the early 1930s. At this time, Ewan worked in radio as a narrator, actor, writer and producer. Other experimental producers, who he worked with, were D.G. Bridson and John Pudney. Denis Mitchell became known for many social documentaries, including the 1957 UK BBC production entitled "In Prison" (directed by Roy Harris) made in 35mm about Strangeways Prison (the subject of The Lag's Song).
Kevin Mitchell is an Irish singer, who based himself in Scotland (Glasgow), immersed himself in Scottish songs, and got to know Ewan & Peggy's friend: the late Norman Buchan MP.
Mulligan, Oliver
Oliver Mulligan, originally from County Monaghan, is a much respected singer of mainly Irish traditional songs, most in English and a few in Irish Gaelic.
Naughton, David E.
David E.Naughton produced and directed Ewan MacColl's 70th birthday celebration folk concert, Royal Festival Hall, 21 January 1985, which was presented by Bruce Dunnett in association with Karl Dallas.
Darach O'Cathain (1922-87) was a traditional Irish unaccompanied singer. Born in Maimin, Lettermore, Conemara seventh in a family of twelve children, he acquired many of his songs and his love of singing from his mother. He married Brid Ni Chonaire, originally from Ros Muc in Co. Galway, who had moved to Co. Meath in 1937. He worked as a farmer for twelve years before emigrating to England. They lived in Leeds for many years where Darach worked as a builder. In 1975 he released an album titled "Traditional Irish Unaccompanied Singing" (Shanachie) which by wide consent is among the best sean-nos recordings ever made. His rendition of "Sail Og Rua" particularly stands out. Darach also wrote songs from the age of twelve. He has been an inspiration to many musicians as well as singers, including piper Neilidh Mulligan who has recorded an air from Darach's collection. Darach was also a partner-in-song and close friend of Sean O Riada.
O'Malley, Raymond:
Raymond O'Malley (1909-1996), co-author of Rhyme and Reason, was (as well) a teacher and editor of several song books.
O'Rourke, Michael
Michael O'Rourke and Mary Orr of Portland, Oregon are responsible for a nine part radio programme entitled "Parsley, Sage and Politics: The Lives and Music of Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl". It can now be obtained as a set of CDs.
Orr, Mary
Mary Orr and Michael O'Rourke of Portland, Oregon are responsible for a nine part radio programme entitled "Parsley, Sage and Politics: The Lives and Music of Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl". It can now be obtained as a set of CDs.
Roy Palmer has edited several songbooks and written several books about folk music. He is well known to the English Folk Dance and Song Society at Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, London, NW1 7AY. In 2005, he wrote about songs associated with Nelson in his article 'Nelson's Death', marking 200 years since the Battle of Trafalgar.
The Charles Parker Archive comprises the sound recordings and working papers amassed by H. Charles Parker D.S.C. M.A. (1919-80) during his lifetime. Charles Parker was born in Bournemouth in 1919, joined the Navy and commanded a submarine during the Second World War and was awarded a DSC; took a degree in history at Queen's College, Cambridge and joined the BBC in 1949. In 1954 he moved to Birmingham as a radio features producer, and was employed full-time by the BBC until 1972. He was passionate about the cultural importance of the oral tradition and folk song and devoted much of his life to activities through which he could demonstrate their significance and continued relevance. Through the BBC he did his most famous work on the development of radio documentary techniques. "Singing the Fishing", which he collaborated on with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, won the prestigious Prix Italia for the BBC in 1960. There is widespread recognition of the contribution he made to the art of broadcasting in the media today, a fact reflected in the biographical The Ballad of Charles Parker broadcast by the BBC in 1995.
Parr, Ian
Ian Parr is a trustee and committee member and past honarary secretary of The Charles Parker Archive and takes a special interest in the Radio Ballads.
Bruce 'Utah' Phillips (born May 15, 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, poet and self-described "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest". He describes the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action. He often promotes the Industrial Workers of the World in his music, actions, and words.
Bruno Pianta was a singer and musician in the Italian folk music revival. See also Sandra Mantovani.
Peter Pilbeam was BBC radio producer who took a keen interest Folk Music, taking the opportunity to introduce it on various radio programmes. He is also remembered for auditioning The Beatles for BBC radio in Manchester in 1962, and commenting: "Paul McCartney - no, John Lennon - yes. An unusual group, not as rocky as most. More country and western with a tendency to play music. Overall - yes."
Frank Proschan worked for The Smithsonian Institute Khmer, and is known for his work on classical dance, part of the celebration of cultures at the Folklife Festival.
Ridley, Nelson
Nelson Ridley, born in 1913 in Wineham Kent, was one of the Travellers whom Ewan and Peggy recorded and wrote about. See page 41 of their 1977 publication "Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland." (Routledge & Kegan Paul ISBN 0 7100 8436 6) which lists the 32 songs which Nelson contributed.
Ringrose, Charles
Charles Ringrose - Born on September 24th 1908 in North London, Ringrose was the son of a bus conductor. In the 1930s, he worked for a charity for down-and-outs, which led him into the Communist Party. He was further politicised by army service during the war in the Royal Engineers. He became a sergeant and took part in the D-Day invasion. A good amateur violinist and bass singer, he became involved in the Workers Music Association. In August 1951, as Chair of the WEA, he travelled with 300 young progressives en route to the East Berlin youth Festival. In the American zone of occupied Austria, they encountered problems with the hostile military, which threw the entire group off the train at Innsbruck, making them sleep out in the open on the railway line. The US troops carried fixed bayonets and forced the group to move with weapons jammed into their backs. Some began hitting some of the youngsters with rifle butts. Austrian progressive organisations helped most eventually get to Berlin. Ringrose became a full time WEA organiser, as such he spotted that the copyright of "Poor Paddy Works on the Railway", recorded as a B-side to Seven Drunken Nights by the Dubliners. He obtained substantial royalties for the organisation and thus saved it from demise at a difficult time. From 1962 to 1974, he was a member of the London Co-operative Society's Education Committee. In 1966, he was initiated the "Let's Make a Film" festival, which encouraged schools to do just that. It began with nine entries and today involves thousands. At one point he reported on football matches for the Daily Worker and Morning Star. He was secretary of the British-Hungarian Friendship Society from January 1952 to its dissolution in December 1986, receiving an honour for this work from the Hungarian government in 1980. Ringrose was married for forty years to a Hungarian from Romanian Transylvanian, Ghizela (Gizi) Schreiber, who died a year before him. Ringrose died on October 12th 1997, aged 89.
Roberts, Malcolm
Malcolm Roberts - responsible for an unpublished thesis on The Seaman's Life, lodged at Ruskin College Oxford.
Jeannie Robertson (1908 - 13 March 1975) was a Scottish folk singer. It is not known where Jeannie Robertson was born but she did live at 90, Hilton Street in Aberdeen, 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 November of the same year she was staying in the London apartment of Alan Lomax. In preparation for a TV appearance, Jean Ritchie, Margaret Barry and Isla Cameron were also there. They swapped songs with each other, while the tape rolled. Jeannie made the earliest known recording of "The Battle of Harlaw". Another of the songs she sang was Andrew Lammie (Mill o' Tifty's Annie) lasting over 13 minutes. At the end she told Alan Lomax about the parts of the story that she hadn't sang. Many of the 1953 recordings were issued as "The Queen Among the Heather" in 1975. They later reappeared along with other songs on a CD of the same name.
Robertson, Maria
Maria Robertson was born in 1930 in Bridge of Don, Aberdeen. Her father, David Robertson, a brother of Jeannie Robertson (the well-known Aberdeen ballad-singer) is known among Travellers as 'The Iron man', a title bestowed upon him during the time he worked the boxing booths at fairs and markets. Ewan and Peggy met maria at the home of Wilhelmina MacAllister and only recorded her for an hour, during which she sang them five traditional songs and 'yen I made up the day'. She contributed four items to their book "Travellers' Songs From England and Scotland" (Routledge & Kegan Paul 1977): 1. Edward 2. The Braes o'Yarrow 3. The Ale-Wife and Her barrel 4. Hooly and Fairly.
Rogers, Dave
Dave Rogers - In 1973, along with his mentor Charles Parker, Dave Rogers was a founder member of Banner Theatre and quickly became their resident songwriter. Charles Parker, incidentally, had found earlier fame working with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger to create the BBC's award-winning series of programmes, Radio Ballads. Following the folk tradition as espoused by that series, Dave's songs are about his own community - the real people who worked in the factories, mines, steelworks and sweatshops of late 20th century Britain. In particular, they tell of their struggles, injustices, disputes and tragedies. Dave is responsible for a book: 'Singing the Changes - a collection of 85 songs which he wrote for the Banner Theatre group between 1974 and 2001.
Benny Rothman (born Bernard Rothman: June 1, 1911 - January 23, 2002) was a UK political activist, most famous for his leading role in the Mass trespass of Kinder Scout in 1932. Born in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, Rothman's poor family circumstances dictated that he start work at the earliest opportunity rather than take full advantage of a scholarship that he had won. Working as an errand boy in the motor trade, he studied geography and economics in his spare time while his Aunt Ettie introduced him to The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and the works of Upton Sinclair. Increasingly committed to the causes of socialism and communism, Rothman lost his job after getting into some trouble with the law while selling copies of the Daily Worker. During a period of unemployment, with the help of a bicycle salvaged from spare parts, he discovered the nearby wilderness regions of the Peak District and North Wales. The combination of his political activism and interest in the outdoors led to his participation in the mass trespass of 1932, an enterprise that resulted in a spell in gaol and further employment difficulties.
Doc Rowe is arguably the most important English folklore collector since Kidson or Sharp. He has been documenting folklore, song, dance and cultural traditions for the last thirty years, and has amassed an archive of material on past and contemporary popular culture in Britain. With its particular emphasis on annual traditional events (what some call calendar custom), the collection containing a wide variety of media - video, film, photography, and audio, has already been acknowledged internationally as of major significance. If you had a year to listen you would still not work through the 3,500 hours of open reel recordings and the 4,000 or more cassettes. Amongst the 1,500 records are some rare transcriptions. The audiotapes include all Doc Rowe's own field recordings and actuality as well as material linked to documentaries and broadcasts. There are off-air recordings and material donated by other collectors. The records and catalogues are extensive, including BBC Sound Archives (10 volumes), EFDSS Sound Library Index and catalogues of commercially available recordings.
Robyn Rowland - Dr Robyn Rowland, Australian poet, was an international social science academic and researcher until 1996 (see her academic biography).
Carl Ruggles - Charles "Carl" Sprague Ruggles (born March 11, 1876 in Marion, Massachusetts; died October 24, 1971 in Bennington, Vermont), was an American composer. He wrote finely-crafted pieces using "dissonant counterpoint", a term coined by Charles Seeger to describe Ruggles' music. His method of atonal counterpoint was based on a non-serial technique of avoiding repeating a pitch class until a generally fixed number such as eight pitch classes intervened. He wrote painstakingly slowly so his output is quite small. Famous for his prickly personality, Ruggles was nonetheless friends with Henry Cowell, Edgard Var�se, Charles Ives, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Charles Seeger. His students include James Tenney. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has championed Ruggles' music, recording the complete works with the Buffalo Philharmonic and occasionally performing Sun-Treader with the San Francisco Symphony. Ruggles was also a prolific painter, selling hundreds of paintings during his lifetime.
Runkel, Richard
Richard Runkel recorded an interview with Ewan MacColl on 24.3.86, which is now in Ruskin College's Maccoll/Seeger archive as 2 audio cassettes.
Savage, Henry
Henry Savage edited, arranged and commented on "The Harleian Miscellany: An Entertaining Selection". Book Description: Cecil Palmer, London, England, UK, 1924. 2 b&w portraits of Robert and Edward Harley , the 1st and 2nd Earls of Oxford, entertaining ramblings from these gentlemen includings discussions of King Henry VII's letters, the original Ale-wife , Elynour Rummin, and Alexander Selkirk, the subject of the novel "Robinson Crusoe" by Defoe.
Scott, Dave
Dave Scott did the artwork for all but one issue of The New City Songster. The NCS, which ran for 21 issue until 1985, began in 1967 when there were nearly 2000 folk clubs in Britain. The reason for its formation was to circulate new songs before they became historical pieces, for communications between clubs in different regions was and still is fairly undeveloped. So truly speaking, NCS is a product of the folk revival, that invigorating resurgence of interest in our native music and song.
Scott, Irene
Irene Scott - Peggy Seeger writes: "PEGGY SAYS: I first met Irene Pyper-Scott (then called Irene Scott) on a concert stage in Belfast in 1964 ... she has become my partner and friend. We began as friends when she moved to England in the late 1960s and began to sing together when we formed the women's group JADE. We attended demonstrations together at Greenham Common, South Africa House, Trafalgar Square ad infinitum, and began to sing together regularly when Ewan was ill and wasn't well enough to take part in our duo concerts. After Ewan's death, she picked me up and dusted me off and we became more than friends. I owe her an incalculable debt of gratitude for her friendship and support since Ewan's death."
Charles Seeger - (born Charles Louis Seeger December 14, 1886, Mexico City - February 7, 1979, Bridgewater, Connecticut) was a musicologist, composer, and teacher. He graduated from Harvard University in 1908, then studied and conducted in Cologne before taking a position as Professor of Music at the University of California at Berkeley, where he taught from 1912 to 1916 before being dismissed for his public opposition to the US entry into World War I, where his brother, Alan Seeger was killed in action on July 4, 1916 while serving as a member of the French Foreign Legion . He then took a position at Juilliard before teaching at the Institute of Musical Art in New York from 1921 to 1933, the New School for Social Research from 1931 to 1935, and the University of California Los Angeles from 1957 to 1961. From 1961 to 1971 he was a research professor at the Institute of Ethnomusicology at UCLA. In 1949-50 he was Visiting Professor of the Theory of Music in the School of Musicat Yale University. From 1935 to 1953 he held positions in the federal government's Resettlement Administration, Works Projects Administration (WPA), and Pan American Union, including serving as an administrator for the Works Projects Administration Federal Music Project, for which his wife also worked, from 1938 to 1940. His first wife was the violinist Constance Edson; they divorced in 1927. One of their sons is Pete Seeger, the folk singer. They had two other sons, Charles III, who was an astronomer, and John, an educator. His second wife was the composer and musician Ruth Seeger (nee Ruth Porter Crawford); by her, he had two children who also achieved musical renown, Peggy Seeger and Mike Seeger.
Seeger, Elsie Adams
Mike Seeger - son of Charles Seeger and Ruth Crawford Seeger and brother to Peggy Seeger, a multi-instrumentalist and co-founder of the New Lost City Ramblers in 1958
Peggy Seeger - the subject of this archive. See her website at www.peggyseeger.com
Ruth Seeger - (1901-1953) mother of Peggy and Mike Seeger, an American composer (one of the "ultramoderns") and a folk music specialist (author of "American Folk Songs for Children").
Matyas Seiber (1905=1960) was a Hungarian-born British composer whose work linked various musical influences including jazz and folk song.
Sharpley, Olive
Short, Hannah
Smeaton Russell, Bill & Eve
Smith, Levi
Levi Smith was born on Epsom Downs in 1915. His family has always been associated with Epsom and one of his brothers was christened 'Derby' in honour of the famous horse-race of that name. Like most of the southern English Travellers he prefers to travel in a comparatively small area. In his case, this is mainly Surrey and Kent. When Ewan and Peggy recorded him, his caravan was parket on the grass verge of the Croydon-Westerham road. Since that time he was evicted and had to keep almost constantly on the move. He contributed two songs (1. Geordie 2. All Fours) to Ewan and Peggy's book: "Travellers' Songs From England and Scotland" (Routledge & Kegan Paul 1977).
Smith, Sheila M
Smith, Trevor
Speedwell, Jack
Spencer, Neil
Stewart, Alec
Alec Stewart was Belle Stewart's husband, and teller of a rich treasury of amusing travellers' tales (some rude) documented in "Till Doomsday in The Afternoon" (Manchester University Press) compiled by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger with the help of the Stewart family. Alec died of leukemia in 1981.
Belle Stewart was a proud and dignified traveller, who received a royal honour (as did her daughter) for her part in handing down traditions which may otherwise have been lost. A singer, songwriter and poet, Belle was born on 18th July 1906, in a 'wee bow-tent' by the side of the River Tay at Caputh. She died in September 1997. Belle Stewart first came to the attention of folklorists in the mid 1960s when Hamish Henderson, a folk music collector for the School of Scottish Studies, came to Blairgowrie seeking someone who knew the old folksong. Henderson recorded Stewart singing as many songs as she could remember with her husband and daughters, Sheila and Cathie. Word of Stewart's amazing ability to recall songs from the past spread quickly and she was visited frequently by folksong collectors, musicians, and musicologists.
Stewart, Sheila
Sheila Stewart, MBE, is Belle Stewart's daughter (see above) and author of the 2006 biography of Belle Stewart: "Queen Amang the Heather" ISBN10:1 84158 528 9, published by www.birlinn.co.uk.
Stubbs, Tish
Thompson, Jeannie
Jeannie Thompson was born in 1904, one of eleven children born to John Stewart, a small-holder of Kinlochrannoch, amd Nancy Campbell, a travelling woman. The Stewarts of Kinlochrannoch produced many distinguished pipers. Jeannie's great-grandfather was piper to the Duke of Atgyll and John Stewart Her father served the Duke of Athol, and later, Lord Dudley in the same capacity. All who knew her mother, Nancy, agree that she was a singer of tremendous ability and a compelling story-teller. It was from her that Jeannie, like her brother alec and his wife Belle, learned many of their songs and stories. Jeannie married Sammy Thompson, a Traveller from the Belfast area, and finally settled in Montrose, Perthshire, where she died in 1972. She contributed three songs (1. Young Beichan 2. The Lowlands of Holland 3. Twa and Twa) to Ewan and Peggy's book: "Travellers' Songs From England and Scotland" (Routledge & Kegan Paul 1977).
Tick, Judith
Tolly, Maria
Paddy Tunney - a renowned singer of Irish traditional music and an active participant in the Irish and British folk revival scenes of the 1950's and 60's.
Vacca, Giovanni
Giovanni Vacca, author of "Legacies of Ewan MacColl - the Last Interview", an expert on Neapolitan Song and writer of song lyrics for Italian groups such as PIETRARSA and SPACCANAPOLI. He also writes scholarly books and critical essays on folk music and cultural studies. See: The artist: maker or tool?: a symposium on cultural politics organised in celebration of Ewan MacColl's 70 years of creative struggle': documents 'La canzone politica in Gran Bretagna: Ewan MacColl'. Article by Giovanni Vacca in "Music/Realta", December 1991
Tony Walter - author of "The pervasive dead": Dispersal imagery can also frame scattering on land. While the reality of scattering is of ash falling onto the ground, the image of scattering ‘to the winds’ to become ‘Part of all you see/The air you are breathing’ (to quote Scottish folk singer Ewan McColl’s The Joy of Living, sung at his 1989 funeral by his widow Peggy Seeger and their children) is of dispersal...Four years after Ewan MacColl’s funeral, the UK’s first natural burial ground opened, the first of now around 250.
Warren Findley
Wenker, Jerome:
Wilkinson, Janet Claire
Williamson, Duncan
Wilson, Mervyn
Zenghinov, D
Rene Zosso - sings "hurdy-gurdies", especially French language traditional songs.