Child Ballads were a huge collection of English and Scottish ballads collected by the American Francis James Child and published in 5 volumes as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, ed. by Francis James Child, in New York over the years 1882–98. Child placed variants of these ballads side by side. Some of these were ancient stories, dating back to the 13th century though most were of later date. They were nearly always dark tales of
“romance, enchantment, devotion, determination, jealousy, forbidden love, insanity, hallucination....supernatural experiences, supernatural deeds, half-humans, betting, lust, death, punishment, sin, morality, vanity, folly, dignity, nobility, honor, loyalty, dishonor, riddles, omens....”
Some of the ballads are well known, and had already caught the attention of antiquarians and enthusiasts especially Walter Scott who had in his Scott's Minstrelsy in 1812 published ballads like the ‘Twa Corbies’, derived from the 16th century ‘Three Ravens’ and ‘John’ or 'Jock' o Hazeldean’ or 'Hazelgreen', about an older man who encounters a weeping maiden, though the stories diverge about what happened next.
All this is interesting, but also an excuse to introduce some music into the back room! Here’s ‘Jock o Hazeldean’ Performed by Joss Cameron and Amy Dudley recorded specially for #plagueopomes in Joss’ kitchen. They are part of an exciting group called Shianfolk. Book them for after Lockdown!
More details about Shian here!
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