EFDSS Blog

We had a great weekend at the Festival of History - fantastic performances from Will Pound, Dan Walsh, Simon Care, Sam Carter, Hannah James and Sam Sweeney.

Our stand got lots and lots of interest, including people who hadn't come across EFDSS before but were very keen to know more. Very interesting chats, including some with a few people who wanted to know why we had books on Appalachian songs and singers in Dear Companion; we were able to tell them about Cecil Sharp's time spent collecting in the Appalachians, and could even direct them towards Sharp's diaries (1915-1918) which are available on the website.

We also had some interesting stories - including a couple with two children who came up to ask us about Cecil Sharp House, and then told us they'd met there at a folk event many years before! They wouldn't have met were it not for Cecil Sharp House; what a lovely story.

We're just preparing to head up to Northamptonshire for the Festival of History this weekend. As at the Big Session, we'll be running a showcase event with performances from Will Pound & Dan Walsh, Simon Care, Sam Carter, Hannah James & Sam Sweeney, and Moulton Morris. Plus we'll be in the exhibition tent, talking to people about the work of the EFDSS - and admiring the costumes!

Jon Boden has launched a new project, A Folk Song A Day - you can read about the main idea behind the project.

As support for this project, we have offered to provide additional information on the sources of the songs, where possible, from our library and archives. You'll find the information in comments on Jon's site, and also on our own site in the News section. For example, for yesterday's song, Chickens in the Garden, we've provided more information on our own site. Amongst other things, you can see Anne Gilchrist's manuscript version of the same song if you search the Take 6 collection.

Thanks to Jon for all the songs so far - and the hundreds yet to come!

Morning! Today is looking beautiful and sunny, and everyone's already got their sunglasses on - now fortified by a couple of veggie breakfasts, we're looking forward to the EFDSS showcase. It starts at 11.40 with Moulton Morris, followed by Kerfuffle, Will Pound & Dan Walsh, James Findlay, Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman, and finally the magnificent Jackie Oates.

We've had some really interesting conversations with people who've dropped by; one man came to talk to us and said he always wondered where modern folk artists got their songs from, and we were able to tell him about the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library - he was really interested, especially after we showed him how to access Take 6 online.

We'd also like to say hello to our new members! We've been able to sign people up at our stand this weekend, so if you signed up at the Big Session - welcome!

Great day yesterday - despite the rain.  Lots of visitors to our tent and and a nice impromptu concertina session from one prospective Newcastle University Folk Degree student.

The best moment was from someone who came to see to tell they hadn't known who the EFDSS was until they heard Dance Idiot Dance by Chumbawumba and googled us. Having found out who we were they wanted to come and tell us what excellent work we do.  Thank you Chumbas - they are playing later today.

Unfortunately it's difficult to find time to see bands, but we did close in time to have the guilty pleasure of seeing a fantastic set by The Proclaimers.

It was a beautiful day when we set up our lovely new marquee yesterday at the Big Session.  Unfortunately, at the moment, it's raining - quite hard.  From where we are set up we can currently hear chains removed and gates moved as the site opens to the paying public, and the air is filled with the usual exotic aroma of festival food. 

We are literally a stone's throw from the Real Ale Tent, which is very convenient (we haven't actually thrown any stones to check - it's just a guess). Other than that all is calm as we await our first visitors.