July 2010 Archives

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!