It's a pity if the air to 'Hemp and Flax' is irretrievably lost, because I
suspect 'Whipping Cheere' is based on a worksong. If so, it is one of the
earliest known in English. I'm wondering whether the melody could be recovered
(or at least approximated) on the basis of analogous songs with the same metre.
Asian scholars have made some progress here. There's an interesting
international conference going on at the moment down the road from me in
Beijing on Oral and Non-Tangible Heritage which is addressing problems like
these. It gets fully reported in the Chinese media (something we could only
dream about in the All-Too-Tangible West), but I haven't been able to find
their website.
Gerald Porter
Quoting Automatic digest processor <[log in to unmask]>:
> There are 2 messages totalling 38 lines in this issue.
>
> Topics of the day:
>
> 1. Hemp and Flax (2)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2002 11:26:47 +0000
> From: Tamsin Lewis <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Hemp and Flax
>
> Can anyone tell me where I can find the melody for the tune 'Hemp and Flax'
> which is given as the tune for the ballad 'Whipping Cheer', Printed in
> London by HG c1612?
> Many thanks
> Tamsin Lewis
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2002 17:05:53 -0500
> From: Bruce Olson <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Hemp and Flax
>
> Tamsin Lewis wrote:
> >
> > Can anyone tell me where I can find the melody for the tune 'Hemp and
> Flax'
> > which is given as the tune for the ballad 'Whipping Cheer', Printed in
> > London by HG c1612?
> > Many thanks
> > Tamsin Lewis
>
> The tune is not in C. M. Simpson's 'The British Broadside Ballad and Its
> Music'. It is unknown. HG is Henry Gosson.
>
> Bruce Olson
>
> Roots of Folk: Old British Isles popular and folk songs, tunes,
> broadside ballads at my website <A
> href="http://www.erols.com/olsonw"> Click </a>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of BALLADS Digest - 7 Dec 2002 to 9 Dec 2002 (#2002-36)
> ***********************************************************
>
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