Chris Rowbury's monthly music round-up (April 2024) issue #105
April 2024
Welcome to the April edition of my monthly music round-up.
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A waulking song from the Outer Hebrides
A group of women singing while finishing Harris tweed in the Outer Hebrides islands of Scotland, known as “waulking the tweed”. A time capsule of a long vanished era. Filmed by cinematographer Jack Cardiff of Powell and Pressburger fame in 1940/ 41.
The original film — The Western Isles — is part of the British Council film archive of short documentaries made by the British Council during the 1940s. You can watch the full film on the British Council Creative Commons website.
Exhibits and experiments that are music to your ears
Google Arts & Culture lab has created two new experiments, Paint with Music and Assisted Melody, to offer you an easy and fun way to get creative with sound. Hours of endless time-wasting!
Modern music's death by Auto-Tune
Why Auto-Tune is "so unnerving that it makes the sound small". Rick Beato discusses the over use and impact of Auto-Tune which has become ubiquitous in all genres of modern music.
Blato Zlato
Blato Zlato (“Swamp Gold” in Bulgarian) is a New Orleans-based Balkan band featuring dreamy three-part vocal harmonies and hard-hitting instrumentals. The band performs folk and composed music from the Balkans, with a particular focus on Bulgarian songs and dark, original arrangements.
This is their debut music video dating back to 2017 featuring the song Miatalo Lenche Iabalka ("Lenche Tossed an Apple"). You can find more music videos on their YouTube channel and on their website.
17 evidence-based benefits of music education
“There’s a lot of content out there about the benefits of music education. That’s why we started Music Education Works – so you could find research suitable for your needs, and read summaries and links to the original source. But we know it’s also useful to have an overview, which is why we were pleased to discover this infographic and blog.”
Georgian women's ensemble Ialoni
The Georgian women's ensemble Ialoni performs a 30 minute "home grown" concert as part of a series from the US American Folklife Center. They present a range of songs from across Georgia, with background information. Enjoy!
The high lonesome sound
Faith, struggle and song intertwine in this classic 1963 film on Appalachian music by John Cohen. John was a founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers as well as a musicologist, photographer and film maker.
Songs of church-goers, miners, and farmers of eastern Kentucky express the joys and sorrows of life among the rural poor. This classic film evocatively illustrates how music and religion help Appalachians maintain their dignity and traditions in the face of change and hardship.
A blog post you might have missed
Learning songs by ear
Many people have no idea how to learn a song by ear. They assume that written music is a must. But don’t forget that people have been singing (and learning) songs for thousands of years without music.
But what is the best way to go about learning a song by ear? How long does it take? Are there any shortcuts? Why bother?
We are no longer an aural or oral culture. Pretty much everything is visual. Yet, many of us learn our favourite songs by ear without realising. The secret is repetition. Listening to our faves over and over again on Spotify means we end up knowing the melody and all the lyrics inside out. Yet, when asked to learn something by ear in a choir, we expect to learn a new song very quickly. But it takes weeks to learn a song properly.
Song of the month
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, originally written for Peggy Seeger by Ewan MacColl in 1957, is considered one of the greatest love ballads of the twentieth century.
In 1962, Peggy released a recording of the song on her and Ewan’s Folkways LP The New Briton Gazette, Vol. 2. It has been recorded by a number of artists over the years including Roberta Flack, whose version became a breakout international hit in 1972, winning GRAMMY Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Peggy has recorded the song multiple times throughout her career, with a 1983 version appearing on her album Folkways Years: 1955-1992: Songs of Love and Politics. Her most recent rendition was released last year, prompting her to reflect:
“I’ve had two life partners, one male and one female, and I have three children and nine grandchildren. I’ve come to realise that the lyrics can be interpreted in so many ways. Ewan wrote the tune to mimic the heartbeat of someone wildly in love and I used to feel like a soaring bird when I sang this song. Now I’m grounded within it and that makes me happy.”
Here is Peggy’s 1962 version:
And again from 2023:
Roberta Flack’s version from 1972:
And Gordon Lightfoot from 1966:
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