The Ballad of Britain
()
About this ebook
In 1903, the Victorian composer Cecil Sharp began a decade-long journey to collect folk songs that, he believed, captured the spirit of Great Britain. A century later, with the musical and cultural map of the country transformed, writer and journalist Will Hodgkinson sets out on a similar journey to find the songs that make up modern Britain. He looks at the unique relationship the British have with music, and tries to understand how the country has represented itself through song. He visits remote pubs in the West Country where families have been passing down local songs for generations, monasteries in Oxfordshire where monks use plainsong to commune with God, sits in with Hindu devotional singers in the suburbs of Birmingham and learns an ancient folk tune from a Sussex farmer. Will goes from the heart of the mainstream music scenes to the very fringes as part of his quest, visiting in turn remote musical heartlands and great urban musical cities. London (The Kinks, The Who and Blur), Liverpool (The Teardrop Explodes, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Beatles), Manchester (Joy Division, Stone Roses, Oasis) and Sheffield (Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League, Pulp and more recently, The Arctic Monkeys) all feature prominently as the respective homes of clusters of great bands that have helped shape the British musical landscape. An engaging blend of humour and musical scholarship, The Ballad of Britian is as much a portrait of Britain as an adventure into lyric and melody. The project forced the author into an itinerant life, scouring the length and breadth of the country for singers and songwriters in an attempt to discover whether songs still travel the way they once did, to find out whether folk music still exists in a meaningful sense, and to see how regional variations contribute to a collective musical ''Britishness''.
Will Hodgkinson
Will Hodgkinson was born in Newcastle and brought up in Richmond, Surrey. He is the author of Guitar Man (2006), Song Man (2007) and The Ballad Of Britain (2009), and presented the Sky Arts television series Songbook. He has written for the Guardian, Mojo and Vogue and is currently the chief rock & pop critic for The Times. He lives in Peckham, southeast London with his wife and two children.
Related to The Ballad of Britain
Related ebooks
The British Beat Explosion: Rock 'n' Roll Island Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarrying: Skills of Offense in Shakespeare's Henriad Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFifty Classic British Films, 1932-1982: A Pictorial Record Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Men Who Stare at Hens: Great Irish Eccentrics, from WB Yeats to Brendan Behan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (Rev. C. L. Dodgson) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShakespeare Beyond Science: When Poetry Was the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Senator Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Listen in terror: British horror radio from the advent of broadcasting to the digital age Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Harbor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Body of Work: Embodied Administration and Teaching Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPilgrim Soul: W.B. Yeats and the Ireland of His Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBram Stoker Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChronicles (3 of 6): Historie of England (1 of 9) Henrie IV Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWuthering Heights Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Selected Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorld Film Locations: Helsinki Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Country Doctor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Work of Sir William Van Horne Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsZip It Up! The Best of Trouser Press Magazine 1974 - 1984 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRhapsody: Notes on Strange Fictions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Research Is a Passion With Me: The Autobiography of a Bird Lover Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCutty, One Rock: Low Characters and Strange Places, Gently Explained Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The History of the Motion Picture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOke of Okehurst - or, A Phantom Lover: (Fantasy and Horror Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStill in Print: The Southern Novel Today Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tam O'Shanter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnymore for Anymore: The Ronnie Lane Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHome Theatre Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEverland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Music For You
A Strange Loop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowie: An Illustrated Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weird Scenes Inside The Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & The Dark Heart Of The Hippie Dream Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Easyway to Play Piano: A Beginner's Best Piano Primer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Music Theory For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Me: Elton John Official Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Songwriting Book: All You Need to Create and Market Hit Songs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Circle of Fifths: Visual Tools for Musicians, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/588 Piano Classics for Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn Guitar A Beginner's Course Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Songwriting: Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure: Tools and Techniques for Writing Better Lyrics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Open Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Songwriting : Apply Proven Methods, Ideas and Exercises to Kickstart or Upgrade Your Songwriting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Music Theory For Beginners Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Meaning of Mariah Carey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Learn Jazz Piano: book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Zen Guitar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn Your Fretboard: The Essential Memorization Guide for Guitar (Book + Online Bonus) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Piano For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Step By Step Mixing: How to Create Great Mixes Using Only 5 Plug-ins Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Singing Coach Secrets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Ballad of Britain
0 ratings0 reviews