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| Author |
Message |
krj
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British Folk
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Jul 13 20:57 UTC 2001 |
Folk music from Great Britain, not all of which is particularly Celtic;
this pigeonhole has largely disappeared in the US with the rise of the
Celtic Music marketing concept but it still exists across the pond, and
it still exerts a powerful fascination on some of us.
We'll start with the news which was long expected but only recently
confirmed, at least to me: Battlefield Band fiddler John McCusker
is indeed marrying English singer Kate Rusby. McCusker is leaving
the Battlefield Band; he's been in the group for about 10-12 years,
since he was 16 or so. One assumes that he and Kate will spend
all their time touring together; he was with her on Kate's Ark
appearance.
Kate's new album LITTLE LIGHTS came out in June, and Mickey and I
will crack open our copies and write reviews promptly.
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| 157 responses total. |
anderyn
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response 1 of 157:
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Jul 15 23:15 UTC 2001 |
On the new Battlefield Band album (which I finally got), there was a mention
in the liner notes that John and Kate own a house together, so I was kind of
expecting this news.
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dbratman
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response 2 of 157:
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Jul 24 05:50 UTC 2001 |
What exactly is the pigeonhole that has disappeared? English (i.e. non-
Celtic)?
I always thought the Battlefield Bank was some sort of Celtic outfit:
Scottish, IIRC.
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krj
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response 3 of 157:
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Jul 24 16:47 UTC 2001 |
Kate Rusby, on the other hand, is pretty English, from Yorkshire.
So is the work Kate and John will do together Celtic or not?
(*ahem*)
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orinoco
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response 4 of 157:
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Jul 24 20:50 UTC 2001 |
"Celtic" and "English" (or even "from the U.K.") aren't quite synonymous.
At one point, there were Celts all over Europe -- the Gauls that Caesar fought
were a Celtic tribe -- and there are still pockets of Celtic culture in
northern Spain and France. On the other hand, there's plenty of straight-up
English music with very little Celtic influence. (You were talking about "To
Anacreon in Heaven" a few items back -- there's an example. Also sea
shanties, ballads, English country dance tunes, and so on.)
So the "British" and "Celtic" pigeonholes aren't quite the same, and one has
replaced the other; a few artists have been left out who used to be included,
and a few have been included who used to be left out.
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