Music of Cornwall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cornwall has been historically Celtic, though Celtic-derived traditions had been moribund for some time before being revived during a late 20th century roots revival.
| Music of the United Kingdom | Celtic music |
|---|---|
| England | Brittany and Northern Spain |
| Scotland | Cornwall |
| Wales | Man |
| Northern Ireland | Ireland |
| Caribbean and Indian | Celtic Canada and Celtic America |
Contents |
[edit] Folk music
Cornish musicians have used a variety of traditional Celtic instruments, as well as embracing the use of imported mandolins. More recently banjos and accordions were added. The bodhrán (crowdy crawn in Cornish) has remained especially popular for years. Old inscriptions and carvings in Cornwall (such as at Altarnun church at Bodmin Moor) indicate that a line-up at that time might include an early fiddle (crowd), bombarde, bagpipes and harp [1].
In medieval Cornwall there are records of the tradition in performances of ‘Miracle Plays’ in the Cornish language, and also (as mentioned in the Launceston parish records of 1462) by the hiring of minstrels to play for saints day celebrations.
Folk songs include "Sweet Nightingale," little eyes, and lamorna. Traditional Cornish music generally is notable for its lack of words, the decline of the language resulting in the loss of words to the older songs. Hence many of the English words to songs were either fitted much later, are rather brief or belie the relative youth of the tune. In some cases lyrics of common English songs had become attached to older Cornish tunes. Only a few tunes have "traditional" lyrics in the Cornish language.
Cornish music is often noted for its similarity to the music of Britanny, in fact some of the older songs noticeably share the same root as Breton tunes.
Cornish dance music is known for 'Joan Sanderson’, the cushion dance from the 19th century, which was based on an old tune adapted for French court dances. The cushion dance was originally an aristocratic past-time, that eventually crossed over to the poor. The dance's popularity peaked in the early 1820s [2].
In the late 19th century, with the massive tin and copper mining industry, working conditions were poor (men were not expected to live much beyond 35.) This drove the Cornishmen to find escape either in drink (when music and dance became more riotous and less respectable), or religion. Dancing at this time was usually confined to farmhouse kitchens or fish cellars and often took the form of a challenge between two or more step dancers.
The temperance movement, frowning upon dancing and the playing of music, encouraged the demise of many customs, but in turn gave rise to the choral tradition, where many traditional tunes were assimilated into hymns and carols. Sunday School treats became widespread - a whole village processing behind a band of musicians leading them to a picnic site, where ‘Tea Treat Buns’ (made with smuggled saffron!) were distributed. This left us a legacy of cheerful marches and polkas. To this day in the town of Helston, once a year on May 8th, the towns people all dance the ‘Helston Furry Dance’ behind the town band, who lead them through the streets, in and out of shops - and even through peoples houses. Thousands of people converge on Helston to witness the spectacle.
Cornish music festivals called troyl were common, and are analogous to the closely-related fest-noz of the Bretons. From Cornwall Brittany was more easily accessible than London and for a long time they shared a mutually intellegible language, for this reason there was much cultural and marital exchange between the two countries and this has had its influence on the music and dance.[3].
Sport has also been an outlet for many Cornish folktunes, and Trelawney in particular has been taken up as a kind of unofficial national anthem by Cornish rugby fans.
[edit] Modern scene
The most famous modern Cornish folk performer is likely the singer Brenda Wootton. Other well-known musicians include the Cornish-Breton family band Anao Atao and the 1980s band Bucca who are recognized as pioneers in the popularization of Cornish music.
It has been estimated that there are over 100 bands playing mostly or exclusively Cornish tunes in Cornwall at present. As the traditional music corpus is not as large in some other countries (though still a great number of tunes) many bands will fill some specific niche in the style, giving great variation in an event.
The town of Cadgwith (on the Lizard Peninsula) is known for an informal, weekly gathering of singers; their material includes a number of common folk songs, as well as their anthem "The Robbers Retreat". The Camborne Town Band is a long-renowned band, formed in 1841 in a tin mining town.
Bands such as Dalla and Sowena have spearheaded the noze looan movement of Cornish dance and music, which focuses on audience participation whilst negating the need for a caller. This scene has produced many new bands, often displaying modern influences and using a more contemporary style. There are regular nozow looan now across Cornwall, including 'club noze looan' in Truro.
Troyls (generally with a caller) are popular and occur across the duchy, led by bands such as Asterveryan, the Bolingey Troyl band, Ros keltic and Pyba. Such dances are also a popular choice at events such as weddings.
Whilst many musicians become involved in Cornish music through more accessible instruments such as fiddle (many through the infamously large bagas crowd), other, perhaps more 'traditional' but less available instruments such as the bombarde and Cornish bagpipes are also learnt specifically for playing in Cornish music.
Cornish bands also appear at pan-celtic festivals in the other celtic nations.
The Cornwall Folk Festival has been held annually for more than three decades. Other notable festivals are the pan-celtic lowender perran and midsummer festival golowan. Numerous other festivals and annual events have a Cornish music theme.
Cornwall has won the PanCeltic Song Contest three years in a row between 2003 and 2005.
- 2003: Naked Feet
- 2004: Keltyon Byw
- 2005: Krena [4]
Skwardya and Krena are linked by being fronted by Matthew Clarke. Both bands play rock, punk and garage music in the Cornish language.
'The cornish musicians collaborative' [5] distributes cornish musicians albums and provides online database of cornish bands and albums.
A record label, Top of the Hill Recordings [6] was set up in 2003 to promote Cornish music and Musicians.
[edit] References
- Mathieson, Kenny. "Wales, Isle of Man and England". 2001. In Mathieson, Kenny (Ed.), Celtic music, pp. 88-95. Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-623-8
- Cornish music on www.kesson.com
