Bríd Harper
Inis
by Fiona Heywood
We met up with fiddler Bríd Harper at the Cup Of Tae traditional music festival in Ardara in Co. Donegal this May bank holiday weekend.
The Gilchrist Collective
Most truly yours, Aunt Anne …telling the story of important song collector, Anne Gilchrist
by Sue Burgess
Kevin Henderson
Travels with Mr Extra Item
Ian Bruce
…in conversation at home (where else?)
Martin Simpson
in conversation with Jo Freya
Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman
by Fiona Heywood
Onward, Christian!
Brian Peters checks out an exciting new face in English traditional music… Mossy Christian.
If we regard folk music as a spectrum, then Fay Hield leads an extraordinarily busy life at the performing end of that spectrum; another in the middle as an organiser; and at the other end as a well-respected academic in the music department of the University of Sheffield. These roles have never been mutually exclusive for we have performer-academics and organiser-musicians – but rarely have we had someone who fulfils all three roles.
In the years either side of 1975, a revolution took place in English Social Dance. The dominant force throughout the 20th century had been the English Folk Dance and Song Society. There had been a previous major change in the first years after 1945 when the young royal princesses took an interest in square dancing after visiting Canada. The EFDSS heartily endorsed this and the bands that played for their ubiquitous dance clubs adopted many of their reels and played them at speed.