#medieval folk songs

[uwmspeccoll]

It's Fine Press Friday!

Today's book includes text from an old English folk song with prints by Polly B. Johnson of the Press of the Unseen Unicorn in San Antonio, Texas entitled The Fox. The Fox is a traditional English folk song, the earliest versions of which are from the 15th century and written in Middle English. It is number 131 in the Roud Song Index. This song has also been used and modified throughout the modern age, and has been covered by popular musicians and groups from 1950s to today.

The story is about a fox that goes into a town to terrorize the people and animals living there, while also gathering food for his family living outside the town limits. As the fox goes back to his family, the children exclaim about how wonderful the food he has gathered from the town is, and request that he go back frequently for more exploits.

The Fox was printed with hand-set Masterman type using a Golding Pearl Letterpress on Teton Text Paper, except for the black paper, which is Canson Mi Teintes paper, in an edition of 50 copies. The prints were made using linoleum, wood, and torn chipboard. The cover is made of a rough woven cloth and includes a bone that was boiled, washed, and soaked in Clorox, and dipped in shellac. Our copy is another gift from the estate of our late friend Dennis Bayuzick.

View another book by Polly B. Johnson.

View other books from the collection of Dennis Bayuzick.

View more Fine Press Friday Posts.

– Sarah S., Special Collections Graduate Intern

[daisyachain]

The nature of time is that (culturally) Christian Euro/Anglo colonial consumers (hereafter white ‘people’) fetishize the idea of being ‘close to nature’ or ‘primitive’ or ‘savage’ and latch on to the idea that there are groups of people in the world who are somehow bestial or who have some kind of special powers from holding animist beliefs/beliefs that acknowledge the body as opposed to the Christian belief that the body is a kind of useless appendage to a person. We see this across decades from the 19thC to today in the racist fetishization of indigenous people across the globe, particularly residents of the Americas, Australasia, and southern/eastern Africa.

White consumers use a warped conception of other cultures to live out the fantasies that the Christian soul/body stuff engenders. You keep getting told that your emotions and physical sensations are the devil’s work? You want to get in touch with those physical sensations, but you don’t want it to interfere with your worldview? Simply project them on to a convenient group of people with slightly different conventions from you. Imagine how cool it would be to be 100% physical sensation (especially those pesky violent and/or sexual urges) and no mental burden, then unleash that in a way that causes millions of deaths worldwide via the dehumanization of entire nations of people just trying to live their lives. White consumers love a Proud Warrior Race Guy.

Flash forward to the 2010s, it’s generally considered impolite to spread the same propaganda that justified the genocide and dispossession of many different groups of people. However white culture hasn’t changed that much and normal human activities still need to be explained away to maintain the veneer of white intellectualism that has been used to justify white violence for years and years. You can’t just stomp around and clap your hands and dance badly, you’ve got to project it somewhere else.

But wait! There’s a community of people considered ‘tribal’ and ‘savage’, considered violent and bestial, who were never colonized! It’s…the Norse. Fetishizing early medieval North Sea raiders can’t be cultural appropriation, see, they’re white! It’s not offensive to replace an entire culture with white (male) ideas of what’s cool if that culture is totally unassociated with colonizer stereotypes and is in fact a culture of colonizers!

And that’s my theory on why there are so many Norse-inspired folk bands/video games/tv shows/memes/literally anything in the 2010s. VSaga not counted because that manga has been running since 2003 and is actually well-researched and comes out of a culture with a similar but distinct tradition of racism. The Euro storytelling tendencies of needing some kind of violent avatar have taken on ye anciente Norseman now that people care a little bit about the gallons of blood used to sketch other ethnic stereotypes. Done and dusted. Except the other side is that the fetishization of early medieval Norse culture is literally just white supremacist 101 and a lot of artists don’t step around that nearly as carefully as they should

[mischievoussilvertongue]

Motley Folk songs about The Bluejay, The Firedancer or The Black Prince anyone?

Okay. I want songs to sing about out beloved three. Sadly Cornelia Funke didnt include any in the books, so I will try to write some myself.

I need ideas. Anything YOU want to hear about? What do you think there would be songs about? Tell me!

I will try to write them in German and English but idk how well the translation will go. We'll see.

If u have a melody/free to use medieval - folk music that could work or that u want to be used: GIVE IT TO ME.

EDIT: I found the two Songs that are there. (thank you swug on @schleierkauz (EDIT AGAIN: it's @toxic-duck sryyy) for the English Versions)

[oedonchapeldweller]

believe it or not humans do in fact kill and fuck and drink a lot and have done all of this and made music about it for a very long time and i dont think anyone is gonna stop just bc it makes you feel weird

[sezja]

For the record, I was right about "shanty" being my top genre this year.

[scarefox]

Faun - Hellfest 2023 - ARTE Concert

[greencheekconure27]

Mediaeval Baebes: Sing Ivy

[blueslight]

It would be so sick to be able to talk about music with a conversation partner that isnt clearly trying to prove something about their music taste . Howveer when you listen to metal I guess those people are hard to come by

[thunderboltfire]

That'll probably be 'Bogurodzica' (13th-14th c.)

please do look it up if you dont know the date bc there may be at least an approximate answer and otherwise the last option will completely dominate and this poll will be boring.

and dont be like 'but i cant sing'... just answer the earliest tune you know well enough that you COULD sing it

periods of western classical music provided only for reference

[a-contemplative-soul]

This is not just a song, it's a journey, an adventure, an odyssey, not only the lyrics, but also the notes tell a story, it has this epic vibe to it, like how the troubadors used to tell old stories and poems. I think it could feature in a epic medieval movie/tv show, however at the same time it could also fit well in a western movie as well. Definitely a folk classic, possibly they are one of the first artists that come to my mind when I think about portuguese music.

Song: Agora

Artist: Madredeus

Year: 1997

[music-history-funfacts]

Hello! Welcome!!!

I’ve decided to make a blog about music, history, and general fun facts!

My main focuses will be: songs + artists from before the 1940s, medieval music, and folk music. However, I am definitely going to post about songs or artists that fall outside of those categories if I think there is an interesting enough story behind them! At the time I'm writing this post, I have around 250 songs/artists that I want to talk about and 50 specific posts planned, so this blog will probably be going for a while.

If you want to submit a song, artist, or piece of music history for me to write about, go ahead and send an ask or a dm! I might not write about every suggestion. I think it depends on if i think it fits the vibes of the blog or i personally find it interesting. im doing this just for fun after all. it will probably help your case if you give me facts/articles/resources, because thats less work for me lol. Also, I encourage adding your own facts or discussing my posts in your tags, reblogs, or comments! I love discussing music with people and i’m not going to be able to cover every single piece of trivia about a song or artist.

How my trigger warning tagging system works: if a song has sensitive subjects, i’ll tag it with a tw. The tw will always be at the end of the tags so you don’t have to search through my long block of tags for it. The tags i’ve come up with so far are: (tw: f slur, tw: n word, tw: gore, tw: death, tw: sexual themes, tw: cursing, tw: mature content, tw: rape mention, tw: suicide mention) ... If you have other tags you want me to add, let me know!

[nonenglishsongs]

Folksy Friday | Wilde Roses - An Awhesyth (Cornish)

Cornish (Kernowek) is a Celtic language that went extinct in the late 18th century, but in 1904, language scholar and Cornish cultural activist Henry Jenner, began the revival of the language by publishing the book: A Handbook of the Cornish Language. UNESCO changed its classification of Cornish from “extinct” to “critically endangered” in 2009. In 2015 it was estimated by Cornwall Council that there are approximately 300-400 fluent speakers and 5000 people who can hold a basic conversation in Cornish. Although it doesn’t have official status anywhere, it is recognised as minority language by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

An Awhesyth (The Lark) is a Cornish folk song, although there are English versions of the song dating back to the eighteenth century. Lyrics below, although I don’t have a translation.

Keep reading

[oedonchapeldweller]

i feel like weve already been over this a million times but its weird that people talk about how violent and misogynistic rap is and then they go listen to classic rock like im almost completely recreating a post i saw like 5 years ago about this exact subject

[stevependle]

Listen/purchase: "The Witch" by Steve Pendle

[critme20]

Bardic style music playlist; medieval, folk, celtic & coven songs, check it out!