Having just become a member of the Sealed Knot I am still finding my way within the regiment. There were many reasons for joining; love of 17th C English history, visiting old buildings and important sites which are often in beautiful rural areas, plus meeting new people - and the idea of singing folk songs around the campfire of an evening.
The latter may seem an unlikely reason for joining a 17thC army but I have always loved traditional folk music. The promotional music of this regiment on youtube is probably modern http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGs4VMloprE ,and I have yet to hear anyone singing at musters, but I gather there is a repertoire of songs with which to entertain the public.
There seems to be a dearth of books on the subject of English folk songs available here. The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams did much to try to preserve our folk music heritage before it was too late. I know from my own experience that, having heard guests from America whilst visiting the local folk group Ryburn 3 Step, that many songs lost from our own heritage are preserved in the American folk culture of the Appalachians. It seems strange that interest is greater there rather than here and one wonders why this is so, is it nostalgia at work?
As regards the doings of the local regiments during the Civil War the book written by David Shires (who was well known locally for riding around on his horse dressed as Captain Helliwell until his untimely death) “Halifax Cavaliers and the Roundhead Regiments” is hard to get though we do have a copy or two, and fortunately Steve Murty in his book “Summat a’Nowt” has a piece based on the original.
Carol
No comments:
Post a Comment