Robert Graves - The White Goddess

All Saints revile her, and all sober men

Ruled by the God Apollo's golden mean –

In scorn of which we sailed to find her

In distant regions likeliest to hold her

Whom we desired above all things to know,

Sister of the mirage and echo.

It was a virtue not to stay,

To go our headstrong and heroic way,

Seeking her out at the volcano's head,

Among pack ice, or where the track had faded

Beyond the cavern of the seven sleepers.

Whose broad high brow was white as any leper's,

Whose eyes were blue, with rowan-berry lips,

With hair curled honey-coloured to white hips.

The sap of spring in the young wood a-stir

Will celebrate with green the Mother,

And every song-bird shout awhile for her;

But we are gifted, even in November,

Rainiest of seasons, with so huge a sense

Of her nakedly worn magnificence

We forget cruelty and past betrayal,

Heedless of where the next bright bolt may fall.

---

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CALLING ARTIST KIND

If you can scratch a twig, you're who we need.

This winter's walking project is going to be a public event, with released materials going around...

We're crafting a website, recording an album, and writing a book.

We need help from those who find beauty, and do transcribe to paper (or pc or what-other). Of almost any ilk, along any lines...

If you want to help, we have pictures of potential source usefulness, otherwise anything is lovely, & please wing it our way.

We are looking for long-term (more than once) collaborative works, for mutual reward and bounty. At this stage, pre-later, we still might be able to cover artists' costs. Just be cheap.

We look forward to seeing.

All love, Will, Ed and Ginger

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its a poem by a man we’ve never known

Abdu'l-ala - The Rose

Deep in a silent chamber of the rose

There was a fattened worm. He looked around,

Espied a relative and spoke at him:

It seems to me this world is very good.

A most unlovely world, said brother worm,

For all of us are piteous prisoners.

And if, declared the first, your thought is true,

And this a prison be, melikes it well.

So well that I shall weave a song of praise

And thankfulness because the world was wrought

For us and with such providential care –

My brother, I will shame you into singing.

Then, cried the second, I shall raise a voice

And see what poor apologies are made.

And so they sang, these two, for many days,

And while they sang the rose was beautiful.

But this affected not the songful ones,

And evermore in beauty lived the rose.

And when the worms were old and wiser too,

They fell to silence and humility.

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Ed in England, new song up, on we go...

Ed's back in the country.

So we're three again.

That's good.

There's another new song up. Hope you like it. It's an east English 'bring in the harvest' song, a cheery number with horns and cheeses.

There's also a working selection of videos, growing daily.It's time we caught up.

Stories, tales, gathered learnings...more words will soon follow, as well an update on monday of how the tv commission wotnot is going in Bristol.

We are preparing to write to Cecil Sharp House, for potential alignment, and also CAMRA, for possible friendship.

We're also trying to acquire astrological support for our coming journey.

If you know of any other groups who deserve promoting throughout the British landscape, please send them word of us, and us of them.

All the very best,
Cheerio and Love.

11:21 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Information on Supper Songs

Every song is story-riddled...

The Diggers' Song

We learned this song in a fireside night off the Ridgeway path. Performing it is necessarily an episode of wild gesture and shaken fist.

Written in 1649 by Gerrard Winstanley, this is a political song, seeking recognition for the plight of the Diggers' cause. The Diggers were active during Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, and Winstanley was their leader and spokesman. They were various people, all unwilling to pay the harsh taxes needed to maintain civil warfare. They squatted and farmed the wasteland, built their little communities, and presumably they sang.

Priests and Landlords sent wave after wave of militia to smash their houses, to uproot and burn their crops, and beat them down. The Diggers were notoriously non-violent, and lasted only two years before dispersing. This song, and their message, survives them. Winstanley himself is said to have died as a corn merchant, vexed by delays in obtaining an inheritance he believed himself owed.

"When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?"

John Barleycorn

This song tells the life cycle of barley. It can be dated to the early 1600s, and is an anthem of the English Folk Scene, and an icon of its links with paganism and ale.

Such associations have a mixed past. Theorists assert that this song was propagated by the Saxon Church, to ease the transference of Anglo-Saxon pantheism into the newly risen Christianity. Its lyrics use recognizable pagan symbols, the nature cycle, vegetation spirits, the sacrifice and renewal of a divine king…but it is bound to a single central figure, the Christ-like John Barleycorn. Later, Robbie Burns re-wrote it, infusing it with Masonic symbolism. It has been cited academically as evidence for national Vegetation Cults, re. Frazer's Golden Bough. It has been a propaganda vehicle for many causes, with success for each. We have found that when we sing it, we attract cattle, a phenomenon open for interpretation.

The "beat-boxing" on this recording was a one-off novelty, and represents the type of baseless modernization that traditionalists suffer with every new generation of folk singer.

Grey Funnel Line

This again is twentieth century song, but is undeniably 'folk', for it gives the emotional responses of an individual within a situation that cannot be changed, and must be gone through. This song concerns life in the Royal Navy, and the title is a bluejacket's (a sailor's) nickname for the RN.

We find this song an absolute pleasure to sing, and its sweetness causes regular comment.

"Oh yeah, butter wouldn't melt in your mouths, boys".

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What now?

The situation is this:

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A review of the glastonbury show.....
Current mood: cheerful

we had lots of fun on tuesday evening......many many thanks to everybody who came along, to Emma and Nathan and all the fine musicians......
Heres what Nathan wrote about the evening's revelries:

"I'm not sure I've recovered from this one yet! It was definitely the busiest night we've ever had; standing room only in the hall and a head count of around 140 people at one stage in the evening. 'The boys' did us proud, thrilling the audience with two twenty minute sets of unaccompanied traditional folk songs in glorious three-part harmony, with gestures and theatricality and a terrific stage presence. The harmonies and diction were, as ever, immaculate; surely this trio rank with the finest folk acts in the country, or will very soon once they're properly 'discovered'. The lads insisted we clear the mics away, and entertained a packed hall with just their voices, proving that the old ways are the best! We hope they enjoyed what must surely have been their most exciting gig yet, as they are new to being in a headlining slot.

Other floor spots: Richard, who had arrived with the Old Down people on April 1st, sang a great anti-war song called 1973 (a somewhat better song than James Blunt's recent song of the same name).

Shah played two numbers with a guitarist called Chris from Portsmouth; it was great to hear his blues harp played with proper guitar backing, quite a treat.

Emma and I did a song each, harmonising for each other. It being almost St George's Day, and we with a gig to promote (we did a St George's Day gig at the Hawthorns pub, Glastonbury the following evening, 23rd April), we decided to sing in honour of the dragon, and covered the Spacegoats' 'Dragon Song', which has a lovely sing-along chorus, which just about worked. Emma sang 'The Lampton Worm', which is very jolly indeed and also had people singing along. It's a kind of dragon (or rather wyrme) slaying song, but a very silly one.

Wayne who organises Glastonbury's G.A.S. club did three numbers which were well received. I particularly enjoyed his original songs. He covered the classic Indigo Girls song 'Closer to Fine' (or whatever it's called) too, though perhaps I'd like to have heard him sing it higher, perhaps with capo? I hope we hear from Wayne again as he's great on stage.

Forcenra! played, ie Dora, Gem and Sophie, and did 4 numbers which were brilliant. This band get better and better, and Dora is performing her extraordinarily magical ballads with increasing confidence. I just wish I could remember to pronounce their name right - the 'en' is accented, apparently!

Richard Chisnall did two numbers following Forcenra at a prime time of the evening, and rose to the occasion splendidly, singing a song about a garden ('Seeds of Love'?) collected from Cecil Sharp which is definitely one of the loveliest English folk songs I've heard. It suits Richard's voice, and he carried it very well indeed. His new original 'Song for You' is recently complete, and was brilliant too. A very catchy song. This was the best non-comic perfromance I've heard from Richard; he'd really been working on his performance it seemed, and the work definitely payed off!

Then it was 20 minutes from Ed, Will and Ginge, who I've described earlier. They held the audience spellbound and delighted. I haven't mentioned their table of paraphernalia, which included a statue of a cockerel, a 1000 year old oak wiggly stick which looked like a dragon, and a sign saying 'Singing for our Supper'. Fortunately, due to a large paying audience, we were able to sort them out even more generously than that!

After the interval, Jamuna the Bard kicked off proceedings with a short poem which worked very well for that time of the evening, followed by Maya, lead singer of Dragonsfly, who sang three numbers that I'd never heard her sing before. The first one I can't remember, except that it was beautiful; the second was a powerful, almost tantric sounding devotional song which was very effective, and the third was a well chosen song written by Robert Wyatt, which Maya sang with a lovely southern inflection that was just right. It was a rare treat to hear her sing solo, and I think the audience were very glad to hear her.

Ash the Poet did some shorter poems at my request, the evening being so full of performers, and - as usual - blew us away! His diction is spectacular, and as a friend commented to me, he has an amazing ability to put the meaning of each word across, even at high speed. He vibed us up well and truly.

'The boys' followed him (almost reluctantly as he was rather good!) and did more amazing folk songs, culminating in an encore that, like Ash's poems, was a total tongue-twister, which they executed perfectly and with great gusto. 'Here's to the landlord, the landlady, the barmaid, good luck to the barley mow' - it was one of those cumulative songs that adds more and more words on the chorus each time. Great fun!

And finally, last but not least, Stevie P surprised us all by getting a spontaneous band together for the final floor spot, featuring Gem on acoustic bass, Willow on percussion, Tre on amazing virtuosic jazz/funk sax, and Maya on backing vocals. They did three of Stevie's songs, including a funked-up Heathens All song that had people dancing (unusually for a FFF night!). No-one could quite believe how good this little set was; it was a true piece of Avalonian tribal magic for Stevie to scratch such a good 'band' together with very little notice. It took great skill, bordering on genius (from him and all the performers) to pull this one off so well.

Surely the most successful gig we've done since Martha Tilston at Christmas. We heralded Beltane somehow with this one, methinks, and the evening had quite a full-on vibe. Well done everyone!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

10:38 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Tibet petition 1 million already signed.....

Find it here:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/22.php/?cl=64503912

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Our film to be shown on BBC....

we heard today that the bbc like the film of us that Molly made and want to show it at end of April sometime. We’ll keep you posted about what time and what channel.
how exciting
....

6:14 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Review of our gig with Chris Wood....

We were in a cafe garden with Saoirse, the chap who is wandering this land helping anyone he can. A noble cause (check out www.justfortheloveofit.org  and sign up to share skills and tools with your neighbours), we sang a song, went to pay for coffee, some geezers inside asked us to sing more, we did, they asked whether we wanted a gig, we did.
So we turned up at the Gulbenkian theatre in Canterbury, late....rushed in front of the audience, and blasted them with song (we were probably a bit loud, we're used to street performance). They seemed surprised, we think they liked it.  ......we passed a hat round and people were jolly generous...thanks.
Chris Wood was on next. He's famous, as he liked to tell us....been on "jools" and had an anecdotal time. Hes been working on the Imagined Village Project....a great venture as you may have heard, with loads of trad and world musicians, poets and storytellers getting together to re-energise englishness. its really good. www.imaginedvillage.com
His songs were understated, with some real gems in the set, subjects ranging from old uprisings to fish and chip romance, and some slightly (dare we say it without appearing young and uncultured)....boring ones......
He tells good stories.
He said we should call ourselves the "Walker Brothers"....we thought that anyone as perceptive and subtly intelligent as himself should know that this is a really crap name. So we took it as a dig. At one point there was an (half) offer of a song together, but Ginger had gone to the pub so it didn't happen.
We very much enjoyed the evening....with a rare visit from Ed and Gingers' folks, some very fine Glenlivet, and great music. Thanks to K-City Radio for their trusting support  and Chris Wood for his songs.
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GIG - GLASTONBURY ASSEMBLY ROOMS , 22nd April
Current mood: animated

We have been invited to perform our first proper headline show on 22nd April in Glastonbury Assembly Rooms with the Fabulous Furry Folk munchbunch (emma and nathans brilliant folk night - see in top friends).......
Its a tuesday.There will be others performing too.
We shall be singing old classics and probably getting very over excited,
see you there
love
Ed, Will and Ginger
xxxxxxx

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we have started to record some music....

we've begun recording some songs and bits......its been quite a rigorous relearning of what we perform, and how we go about it. There'll be a seven song CD out fairly soon.....meanwhile we're also embarking on some other recordings with instruments and much more messing around....that'll take longer.

Let us know if you want a copy of the 7 song CD at £5.

So at present we're in one place, consolidating and grounding ourselves......waiting for the next step......we'll let you know.

Meanwhile there is to be a summarisation of the previous journey posted up here shortly, along with information on the next leg of the oncurrence.

Much love

Ed , Will and Ginger  xxxxx

6:56 AM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

A further stroll along the ridgeway.....

a summer has past and much has come and gone.....we'll perhaps give you an account sometime.......

For the now we embark in a week or so along the Thames path from Oxford Town.....winding down to join the ancient Ridgeway to take us West once more. This is said to be the oldest path in Europe though how they tell this we know not........it criss crosses the famous Michael ley and leads through some stunning countryside and eventually ending at Avebury and West kennett longbarrow.

A further constitutional will probably take us back to Glastonbury town for some singing and whatnot.....then perhaps if time before christmas allows, Wales might give us some time.

This leg of the journey we are honoured with the company of Ed's brother ginger who also adds a third part to the songs which we have been parading around the Kent area at farmers markets, towns and street festivals......

thank you all for the continued support.....there is much to say and we have it written down.....its just a question of some laborious typing etc....

Much love

Ed, Will and Ginger

xxxxxxx

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Destitution

A monkey once said to a man: 'Do you not realize how destitute I am? I have no house, no clothes, no fine food like you, no savings, furniture, lands, articles of adornment – nothing at all. You, in contrast, have these things and more. Besides, you are a rich man.' The man felt ashamed. He made over everything he had to the monkey, beggaring himself. When the monkey had taken legal charge of his entire possessions, the man said to him: 'Now, what are you going to do with all this?'

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Pitcher Lore

Have you heard about the tragedy of the little jug? He heard a thirsty man calling for water from his sick-bed in a corner of a room. The jug was so full of compassion that by a supreme effort of will he actually managed to roll to within an inch of the sufferer's hand. When the man opened his eyes and saw a jug beside him, he was full of wonderment and relief. He managed to pick up the jug and held it to his lips. Then he realized that it was empty. With almost the last remains of his strength, the invalid threw the jug against a wall, where it smashed into useless pieces of clay.

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