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Author
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Comment
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Ailanna
Registered User
(8/13/04 12:04 pm)
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Fairy tale inspired music?
Another thread made me curious as to what is available in fairy
tale inspired music. I'm primarily a new age and world music listener,
so I've come across a few artists who are influenced by myths and
ballads-- Loreena
McKennitt, Ceoltoiri,
Kim
Robertson, and arguably The
Mediaeval Baebes. I suspect that there are quite a few in the
filk music genre, with which I am totally unfamiliar. I've heard
of Boiled
in Lead (in Emma Bull's War
for the Oaks!), and although I'm not much for 80s music, I'm
willing to give it a try. I'd welcome any recommendations for music
concerned with fairy tales, or more broadly, anything that makes
you think of fairy tales.
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Terri
Windling
Registered User
(8/13/04 1:07 pm)
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Re: Fairy tale inspired music?
I recommend Aine
Minogue's The Twilight Realm. More info on her web site: www.minogue.com.
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AlisonPegg
Registered User
(8/13/04 2:43 pm)
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Re: Fairy tale inspired music?
What about Edvard
Grieg's Peer Gynt? Full of trolls, huge ethical questions, and
music that evokes the Norwegian forest like nothing else!
Alison
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Terri
Windling
Registered User
(8/14/04 8:24 am)
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Re: Fairy tale inspired music?
The late, great Johnny Cunningham did an album of music inspired
by Peter Pan, called Peter
and Wendy. And there was an off-Broadway musical a while back
based on Christiana Rossetti's Goblin
Market with truly lovely music.
Are you familiar with the Green Man Press "Ballads" series
of comics based on traditional ballads, gorgeously illustrated by
Charles Vess? Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman, Emma Bull and others
wrote the text -- including some of the folks on this board (Jane,
Midori...). There's a new edition coming out quite soon from Tor
Books that collects all the "Ballads"
plus adds a few new ones. It contains a thorough music list in the
back that should point the way to many good recordings.
Here's the playlist for the "Fairy Tales" show on Ellen Kushner's brilliant radio program Sound & Spirit:
www.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/pri/spirit/shows/029play.html
And for her "Music as Magic" show:
www.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/pri/spirit/shows/067play.html
Edited by: Terri Windling at: 8/14/04 8:29 am
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Amal
Registered User
(8/15/04 3:31 pm)
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Re: Fairy tale inspired music?
Ever heard of Heather Alexander?
www.heatherlands.com/
She's got this great, growly voice. I think you can listen to some
cuts of songs on her website... I think "Creature
of the Wood" may be one of my favourites.
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C Patton
Registered User
(8/15/04 8:49 pm)
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Fairy tale inspired music
Some of Stevie
Nicks/Fleetwood Mac's songs are mythopoeic - especially 'Rhiannon'.
Also, Sting/The
Police have a few songs with folklore imagery, like 'King of
Pain' and 'Wrapped Around Your Finger'.
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Ailanna
Registered User
(8/15/04 9:52 pm)
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Thanks for the recommendations!
Thank you for bringing the "Ballads"
series to my attention. I've been an admirer of Charles Vess's work
since the original illustrated Stardust,
and the pairing of his artwork with the written word of the authors
you mentioned *and* lists of pertinent music-- it sounds like the
recipe for a perfect afternoon. I have several different songs inspired
by my favorite ballad, "The Twa Sisters," but would love
to find more.
I've heard a little Heather Alexander. I confess I wasn't crazy about it. My musical tastes run more towards new age and electronic than folk. Is her work typical of filk?
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Amal
Registered User
(8/16/04 10:06 pm)
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Re: Thanks for the recommendations!
I haven't listened to much filk, so I'm not sure if Heather Alexander is representative or not -- but I will say, her style varies alot. She's done work to accompany some Mercedes Lackey stuff which I think tends to run on and become annoying. Unfortunatley I've only got a live CD of hers, so wouldn't know which CD to recommend based on what songs are on it -- but songs I love are "Creature of the Wood," "The Black Jack's Lady," "Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Gruagach," all quite different, though all firmly folk-styled.
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Black
Sheep
Registered User
(8/17/04 4:10 am)
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Folk
My favourite album of tales in song, although not necessarily all
fairy tales, is the folk compilation "Voices"
(Fellside CD) which is a long collection of mostly English folk
songs sung unaccompanied by some of the most famous and respected
names in the business. There is another Fellside CD called "Ballads"
which is a similar collection of, guess what, ballads but it doesn't
hit the spot for me for some reason.
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CrCeres
Unregistered User
(8/17/04 6:39 pm)
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Ballads
These are my two favorites at the moment:
Jennifer Skromeda, a Canadian singer who has two CDs full of ballads, though she sings them in the traditional style (fiddle and bodhran accompaniment).
Fairport
Convention did a number of songs like Tam Lin and Matty Groves
(and Crazy Man Michael, and...) with a rock sort of interpretation.
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Elizabeth
Registered User
(8/21/04 9:38 pm)
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Voices CD
Black Sheep, that Voices CD sounds wonderful. I can't seem to find it on the Fellside website, though, or on Amazon.com. Is that title right? Is it out of print, maybe? I'd love to have a look at the track list.
I have the "Ballads" CD, too. I like it, but I daresay
I like Frankie Armstrong's "Tam Lin" from "I
Heard A Woman Singing" a little better.
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Black
Sheep
Registered User
(8/23/04 9:37 am)
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Re: Voices CD
Hi Elizabeth and Folks,
The "Voices"
CD is Fellside CD 087 which is still available try:
http://www.fellside.com/Shop/Dept01.asp?offset=80
There's also a sequel called "Voices
In Harmony" which I haven't heard.
Yes, Frankie
Armstrong is a Goddess of ballad singing _and_ a proud feminist
_and_ a brilliant singing teacher (even for people who claim they
can't sing). She's also one of the scariest folksingers in England!
My current Fellside favourites are Nancy
Kerr and James
Fagan.
If anyone wants non-anglophone folksongs of fairy tales I'd highly recommend Gjallarhorn's first album "Ranarop" which means Call of the Sea Witch. Their anglophone website is:
www.gjallarhorn.com/
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Elizabeth
Registered User
(8/23/04 2:27 pm)
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Voices
And there it is! Thank you so much for the info, Black Sheep. I'm so ordering that!
The Fellside peeps are good folk. The last time I ordered from them, it arrived here within a week, which isn't half bad for overseas ordering.
What makes Frankie Armstrong scary, pray tell?
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Black
Sheep
Registered User
(8/24/04 3:59 am)
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Re: Voices
Hi Elizabeth,
Framkie Armstrong is scary for lots of reasons, tee-hee, but in
her role as a ballad singer she's scary because she sings true.
If someone's singing a ballad about murder, incest and/or the supernatural
then your hair ought to be standing on end. If you're not scared
then they ain't singing it true.
I was at a ballad singing conference a few years back when the compere stood up to apologise for all the doom and gloom and someone from the floor of the hall replied, "That's what we're here for!" which gave us all a good laugh at our own expense.
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Elizabeth
Registered User
(8/24/04 7:25 pm)
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*shudder*
Ah, I see what you mean now! Yep, nothing like getting the chills
when listening to music. I think the only contemporary singer who
can do that to me these days (ballad singers excepted) is Kristin
Hersh.
I've only recently begun to sing ballads, after having them on the brain for quite some time. A ballad singing conference, eh? See, I need to start getting out to these events, but I don't know where any of them are! Suggestions?
(If this is too much thread creep, we can take it offline...)
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Black
Sheep
Registered User
(8/31/04 2:58 am)
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Ballad Singing
I don't think ballad singing could be off topic on a fairy tale music thread?
I'm in England where there are lots of folkie events from summer festivals to academic conferences and everything in between. I assume you're American unless you say otherwise (I haven't checked your "Elizabeth" ID) so you're also in luck as there are many similar folkie events across your continent. If I were you I'd begin with a workshop or two at your nearest well-established festival where you'll also be able to make contacts, pick up leaflets, and acquire website recommendations from real live folkies.
Storytelling events are usually fun too.
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Gunnlods
Cup
Registered User
(9/23/04 2:27 pm)
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Myth Inspired Music
You might also try Heather Dale's modern Celtic music, based on the King Arthur legends. I know I've seen her CDs in Chapters, but they can also be ordered from her site.
www.heatherdale.com/
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Ailanna
Registered User
(9/23/04 6:31 pm)
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Re: Myth Inspired Music
I wanted to thank Terri for her suggestion of Aine Minogue, and
then realized I'd bought the wrong CD-- Between
the Worlds instead of her recommended Twilight
Realm. It was delightful anyway, if fewer of the songs were
directly linked with mythology and folklore. I wonder why Aine Minogue
isn't better known.
I just read Janet McNaughton's An
Earthly Knight. Does anyone know of musical versions of the
ballad she includes in there of the knight who drowns maidens (until
he is quite justly drowned by the seventh)? I've been listening
to Susan McKeown's Lowlands,
which has some haunting versions of old Celtic ballads. "Bonny
Greenwoodside" is amazing.
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learysdad
Unregistered User
(9/23/04 8:10 pm)
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fairy music
What about Enya's "Music
for the Celts"(?) and "In
Memory of Trees"(?) ?
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