What a fantastic evening at Warwick Arts Centre! Went along not knowing what to expect but I'd heard that they'd been nominated for a Radio 2 Folk Award so the band were obviously highly regarded. They were magical! From the first song, I was hooked. This was imaginative, considered and delightfully arranged traditional music, most of it from Rachel and Becky Unthank's Northumbrian roots. Rachel and Becky do most of the singing- Rachel's voice is sweet and melodic; Becky's is more flinty and sombre. Their harmonies are pure magic! Accompanied by Nieve on fiddle and Sam on piano, together they bring a fresh new face to old songs.
They are booked for the Warwick Folk Festival in July. We'll be there!
Thursday 7 February 2008
Tuesday 22 January 2008
FILMS 2008
Our first visit to the cinema in 2008 was to see 'No Country for Old Men' directed by the Coen Brothers and taken from the novel by Cormac McCarthy. I haven't read the novel so didn't know what to expect. The film opens with the camera scanning the dry dessicated landscape of rural Texas with a voice-over by the small town sherriff (played by Tommy Lee Jones) talking about the changes he's seen in his life time when sherriffs were not even armed. Then the mood changes with a shocking killing, the first of many. The psychopathic killer, played by Javier Barden, is a truly evil character that will haunt your dreams. He is cold, ruthless, lives by his own murderous code and manages to keep coming back. Think 'The Terminator' with much less humour!
I found the tension almost too much and the gore a mess of blood and guts (literally!). Hitchcock couldn't have played the audience on a string any better. You almost couldnt bear to watch in places. The sherriff representing 'Good' admits defeat in the end and ruminates at the end in retirement as he re-lives his days as a young man, working with his father.
I found the tension almost too much and the gore a mess of blood and guts (literally!). Hitchcock couldn't have played the audience on a string any better. You almost couldnt bear to watch in places. The sherriff representing 'Good' admits defeat in the end and ruminates at the end in retirement as he re-lives his days as a young man, working with his father.
Tuesday 8 January 2008
Wassailing 2008
“Here we come a-wassailing”
What is wassailing? Well, it’s nothing to do with boats or water, that’s for sure, or I wouldn’t have been a happy bunny! I’d always based my perceptions of wassailing to be a ceremony held around the Christmas period involving Morris Dancers and Mummers Plays- this is based on my reading of Thomas Hardy novels and, being a ‘townie,’ I’d never actually been a-wassailing. Our friends, Ben and Wendy, who live on the borders of Worcestershire and Herefordshire invited us to join them on January 6th, the traditional night for wassailing as it used to be Christmas Eve and is just at the end of the midwinter period when the Wild Hunt rides.
The word “wassailing” is said to come from the Anglo Saxon 'was hael' meaning “good health” - literally 'be whole'. In many parts of the country the ceremony has been muted and traditional carol-singing by singing house to house takes place instead. But where there are still substantial orchards, in counties such as
We arrived in the small village of Dilwyn to find a sizable crowd already assembled outside the Crown Inn, a 17th century inn overlooking a village green surrounded by black and white timbered cottages. Many of the crowd had already lit their ‘blazing torches’= baked bean cans filled with broken up firelighters!! Black faced Morris Men wearing fantastically decorated hats were weaving in and out of the crowd. Their drummer started out at the front and everyone processed behind him along the lane, carrying their flaming torches with the bells adorning the legs of the Morris Men jingling.
“Nigel, Nigel, did you ever see the Wicker Man?” someone behind me called. I turned round – it did remind you of those movies where irate villagers march on the enemy, whilst seeming to pluck flaming brands out of the ether. Theirs never seem to blow out in the wind either like mine did!
We reached the orchard after about a half mile and we were instructed not to enter the circle formed by 12 piles of bonfire wood. As soon as the stragglers had all arrived the ceremony began. First of all the Master of Ceremonies (one of the Morris side) announced that the tree in the centre of the circle would be given a drink. Cider was liberally sprinkled on the ground. Then the tree would be given something to eat; Christmas cake was crumbled on the ground and toast soaked in cider placed in the forks of the tree’s branches. Next, the Herefordshire Lantern was ignited: this is a beribboned thorn-cage stuffed with straw on a pole. It represents the sun reborn, and shows why this ancient ceremony took place at this time of year. At the midwinter, the coldest and darkest part of the year, people encouraged the return of light and warmth. Next, the 13th fire was lit and immediately stamped out; the Fire of Eternal Renewal or the Judas Fire. This was the sign for the simultaneous lighting of the ring of twelve fires.
The Morris Men then danced several dances and sang a wassailing song to the accompaniment of accordions, drums. A special ceramic wassailing bowl was brought around for people to take a sip of cider. The ceremony then involved someone with a shot-gun firing into the air above the most venerable tree; this is believed to assist the tree in awakening from its winter sleep as well as frightening away any evil spirits which might be lurking in the branches. After more cider was consumed we processed along the dark lanes back to the pub where we gathered for the Mummers Play.
The Play was performed by the Leominster Morris ‘side’. I didn’t know the origins of Morris and it appears no-one else does either. No trace of the Morris has been found in recorded history before the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509). A century after his reign ended, the Morris was well established and Herefordshire had a renowned side, recorded in a contemporary pamphlet ('Old Meg of Herefordshire for a Mayd-Marian, & Hereford-Towne for a Morris Daunce' from Miscellanea “Antiqua Anglicana” 1609.):
'The Courts of Kings for stately measures: the Citie for light heeles, & nimble footing: the country for shufflin dances: Westerne-men for gambouls: Middlesex-men for tricks above ground: Essex-men for the Hey: Lancashire for Horne-pypes: Worcestershire for Bagpypes: but Herefordshire for a morris-daunce, puts downe, not onely all Kent, but verie neare (if one had line enough to measure it) three quarters of Christendome.'
There is little recorded material covering the 18th & 19th centuries and most “sides” had died out by the time of the Great War. In 1899, Cecil Sharp came upon the Morris and recognised the need to save a dying heritage. He along with others (the English composers Vaughn Williams & George Butterworth) collected songs & dances throughout
Many clubs sprang up, & in 1934 representatives of six of these instituted the Morris Ring, intended as a federation of all the clubs.
Although the old sides danced their own 'traditions' (i.e. their particular village variants of the dances and tunes), and only at certain times of the year, the usual practice nowadays is to draw widely from the Cotswold and Welsh Border traditions and to dance more or less all year.
THE LEOMINSTER MORRIS performed the Mummers Play. The usual characters from the traditional mummers or guisers plays were all there: the fool, the quack doctor, St George, the dragon and the Turkish knight. Saint George saw off the Turkish knight and the dragon pretty smartly and the good old doctor revived the knight. The rhyming couplets were enlivened by the addition of topical references. When one character’s broom head fell off, someone called ‘Well what do you expect for £2.99 from B&Q?”
The play ended with the entrance of "Little Johnny Jack, his wife and family on his back". Johnny, traditionally played by the youngest mummer in the group, first asks for food and then more urgently for money. His ’wife and family’ were small dolls literally hanging from his back!
The collection box came round and everyone then retired inside the pub for more dancing and drinking!
From Wikipedia… the words of a wassailing song
Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand'ring
So fair to be seen.
CHORUS
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you
A Happy New Year
And God send you a Happy New Year.
Our wassail cup is made
Of the rosemary tree,
And so is our beer
Of the best barley:
CHORUS
We are not daily beggars
That beg from door to door;
But we are neighbours' children,
Whom you have seen before.
CHORUS
Good master and good mistress,
While you're sitting by the fire,
Pray think of us poor children
Who wander in the mire.
CHORUS
God bless the master of this house
Likewise the mistress too!
And all the little children
That 'round the table go.
CHORUS
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