FOLK SESSION – LOW ROW

 

 

We were very pleased to welcome several visitors to the folk session in The Railway Inn on 17th August.  Thanks go in particular to Stuart, John and Ed, who contributed (respectively) with voice, viola and concertina and ‘cello.

 

The theme was ‘water’.  Some of the songs and tunes had titles that were obviously ‘wet’.  Thus, The Song of Artesian Waters from Phil; The Loch Tay Boat Song from John, accompanying himself on concertina; The Water is wide from Frank; Sweet Thames flow softly from Mary; I will put my Ship in order from Alison.  On the instrumental side, Ed gave us My Bonny lies over the Ocean and a hornpipe (in which all the other instrumentalists joined enthusiastically), and John played The Green Banks of Yarrow on viola.

 

Other songs worked in ‘water’ in less obvious ways: Stuart sang The Working Chap because the opening verse mentions Nelson, and The Maginot Waltz because the action takes place in Brighton and Brighton is by the sea!  Miriam and Lizzy sang a grim environmental number, Woke up this Morning, about rising sea levels due to global warming.  Mary’s song, All my Trials, invoked the image of the River Jordan.

 

Not surprisingly, several of the songs were tragic: Phil’s Annan Water and Miriam’s Martha went down to the Well spoke of tragic love; Katy’s Threescore and Ten recalled a shipping disaster on the Lincolnshire coast; Ruth’s The Mermaid told of shipwreck.  On the other hand, the theme was treated humorously in the poem Daddy fell into the pond (Ruth); The Hippopotamus Song (Frank) and Jack Tar (Alison).

 

Our next session meets in The Railway Inn, Low Row on Tuesday, 21st September from 8.30pm onwards.  The theme will be ‘earth’ (which falls at the right time for for harvest, but could also be developed in other directions, eg environment).  ALL WELCOME!

 

August Review