I could not disagree more with this opinion, particularly as ballads are
indeed used to accompany dances and are sung with accompaniment and and used
as work songs, especially in Spain!
A couple of useful references:
Joan Amades, Folklore de Catalunya, 3 vols, 3rd edn, (Barcelona: Selecta,
1982)
- contains loads of Catalan ballads for dancing, sewing, olive picking, etc.
many of which have refrains for other singers to join in.
Paloma Diaz-Mas, Romancero, (Barcelona: Critica, 1994)
- contains accompanied Castilian ballads sung in groups. The book comes with
a CD so you can hear the "community singing" for yourself!
Cheers
Simon
>
> With ballads proper, I think there is still less of a point of calling
them
> COMMUNITY SINGING, no?
>
> I mean, the ballad is typically a narrative song to be sung a capella by a
> single singer, unaccompanied. The fact whether the origin "ballare" is
that
> it was used for dancing is dubious. At least I cannot *myself* dance (or
> make my friends dance) to Barbara Allen, however jazzy I play it...
>
>
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