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Comment - No 6


Voice of the People

sleeves1.jpg - 39.1 KWe are now able to reveal what the sleeves of Topic's 'Voice of the People' 20 CD series will look like.

May now seems to be a likely release date in Topic's opinion - almost nine months after originally scheduled.

Further details of the individual CDs can be found in our News 04 page.

sleeves2.jpg - 39.1 K


Harry Green - 1874-1968

Veteran Tapes' latest offering is of recordings made by Fred Hamer in the mid '60s of this great singer from Essex.  Almost impossible to believe that he was 93 when recorded!  Equally difficult to believe that the tapes have been sat on by various institutions for over 30 years.


Music Workshops for young people - Fylde, Spring '98.

Jenni Melsom, Youth Activities Officer for the North West Federation of Folk Clubs, will be running some monthly workshops in the Fylde area, probably on the 3rd Saturday morning of the month, starting April or May time.  Anyone interested in more information should contact her on: 01772 683283.


The Inishowen Traditional Singers' Circle present:

9th International Folksong & Ballad Seminar

"Songs of War and Rebellion"

March 27th to 30th 1998 at Ballyliffin, Co Donegal, Ireland

Guests: Tom Munnelly, Norma Waterson, Frank Harte, Sylvia Barnes, John Moulden, Ray Fisher, Peggy McMahon, John Waltham, Kevin & Patrick Brannigan, Róisín White, Jerry O' Reilly, Luke Cheevers, Gearóidín Breathnach, Mick Quinn, Patricia Flynn, Brigitte Kloareg, Éamon Ó Broithe, Peadar Ó Ceannabháin, Rita Gallagher, Gabriel McArdle, John James Kelly.

Information from: Jimmy McBride, Dun Emir, Shore Road, Buncranna, Co Donegal, Ireland.
Tel: 077 61210 (Int. 00353 77 61210)


1998 appeals from Veteran Tapes

English Hammered Dulcimer Players & Phoebe Smith

Following last year's highly acclaimed double album of East Anglian Melodeon Players - VTVS05/06 The Pigeon on the Gate - they hope to launch a similar project this year featuring English traditional dulcimer players.  John Howson is therefore looking for private recordings of traditional players and would be interested in hearing from anyone who has any such recordings, whatever the quality.

Also this year they have launched a sponsorship scheme and the first project is a CD of probably the greatest gypsy singer Phoebe Smith.  j_shand.jpg - 27.9 KAgain John would be interested in hearing from anyone who has any private recordings of her, and/or anyone who would like further details of the sponsorship scheme.

Veteran Tapes are at: Veteran@compuserve.com


Jimmy Shand is 90

Scots country dance music maestro Jimmy Shand celebrates his 90th birthday on 28th January.

A new biography, 'The Jimmy Shand Story' by Ian Cameron, published by the Scottish Cultural Press at £15.99 is due out on the same day.  If we can get hold of a copy, it will be reviewed here shortly.


The American Folklife Center announces the release of its latest online presentation:

Voices from the Dust Bowl:

The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection

A multi-format ethnographic field collection from the American Folklife Center's Archive of Folk Culture, has just been made available through the National Digital Library Program of the Library of Congress - http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tshome.html

This collection documents the everyday life of residents of Farm Security Administration (FSA) migrant work camps in central California in 1940 and 1941.  This collection consists of audio recordings, photographs, manuscript materials, publications, and ephemera generated during two separate documentation trips undertaken by Todd and Sonkin.


In addition, on January 8th , viewers may enjoy "Today in History," accessible through the Library of Congress's main homepage - http://lcweb.loc.gov/   The entry uses the fiddle tune "Eighth of January" as represented in Voices from the Dust Bowl.


The following materials on the website may also be of interest:

California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the '30s, another ethnographic field collection from the American Folklife Center's Archive of Folk Culture, continues to be available online - http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/afccchtml/cowhome.html   This elaborate online collection includes sound recordings, still photographs, drawings, and manuscripts documenting the musical traditions of a variety of European ethnic and English- and Spanish-speaking communities in California.  It comprises 35 hours of folk music recorded in twelve languages representing 185 musicians.

Folklife Sourcebook: A Directory of Folklife Resources in the United States has been revised and expanded for 1997.  Chapters include directories for graduate programs, public sector folklore organizations, archives, serial publications, and more.  This edition will be available as an online resource only.  Please send updates on information in the directory to Peter Bartis, peba@loc.gov.  The URL for this publication is: http://lcweb.loc.gov/folklife/sourcebk.html

In addition, the Folklife Center's web pages include many popular publications, guides to collections, information about projects to publish recordings from the collections on CD, and the Folkline information service.  The URL for the Center's home page is: http://lcweb.loc.gov/folklife/


Correspondence:

Rod Stradling - e-mail: rod@mustrad.org.uk    Tel: 01453 759475
snail-mail: 1 Castle Street, Stroud, Glos GL5 2HP, UK

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