Trish Winter and Simon Keegan-Phipps
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719097300
- eISBN:
- 9781781708699
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719097300.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
Performing Englishness looks in detail at the growth in popularity and profile of the English folk arts in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Based on original research within English folk ...
More
Performing Englishness looks in detail at the growth in popularity and profile of the English folk arts in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Based on original research within English folk culture, it is the only ethnographic study of its kind. By closely scrutinising various facets of this folk resurgence – discursive, musical and visual – the authors explore how it speaks to a broader explosion of interest in the subject of English national and cultural identity. How does contemporary English folk music and dance relate to ideas about England and Englishness? What kinds of English identities are expressed through the works of musicians like Seth Lakeman or Bellowhead? How does morris dancing contribute to ongoing political debates around multiculturalism, globalisation, and the devolution of the British nations? And how does the English folk scene reconcile a new-found commercial success with anti-capitalist roots? In their quest for answers to these and other questions, the authors combine the approaches of British cultural studies and ethnomusicology, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews with central figures of the resurgence and close analysis of key musical and dance texts. Their presentation of the English case contributes to debates about English identity and calls for a rethinking of concepts such as revival, indigeneity and tradition.Less
Performing Englishness looks in detail at the growth in popularity and profile of the English folk arts in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Based on original research within English folk culture, it is the only ethnographic study of its kind. By closely scrutinising various facets of this folk resurgence – discursive, musical and visual – the authors explore how it speaks to a broader explosion of interest in the subject of English national and cultural identity. How does contemporary English folk music and dance relate to ideas about England and Englishness? What kinds of English identities are expressed through the works of musicians like Seth Lakeman or Bellowhead? How does morris dancing contribute to ongoing political debates around multiculturalism, globalisation, and the devolution of the British nations? And how does the English folk scene reconcile a new-found commercial success with anti-capitalist roots? In their quest for answers to these and other questions, the authors combine the approaches of British cultural studies and ethnomusicology, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews with central figures of the resurgence and close analysis of key musical and dance texts. Their presentation of the English case contributes to debates about English identity and calls for a rethinking of concepts such as revival, indigeneity and tradition.
Trish Winter and Simon Keegan-Phipps
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719097300
- eISBN:
- 9781781708699
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719097300.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
Chapter 1 introduces the main themes of book, the scholarly contexts within which the research is situated, and the methods by which the research for the book was conducted. It begins by giving a ...
More
Chapter 1 introduces the main themes of book, the scholarly contexts within which the research is situated, and the methods by which the research for the book was conducted. It begins by giving a brief overview of existing approaches to the study of the English folk arts (e.g. socio-historical, folkloristic) before defining the book’s key terms (folk; resurgence; and performing Englishness). The chapter goes on to explain the methods and scope of the ethnographic research on which the book has been based. It then gives a broad overview of the English folk scene, itemising the key performance contexts of music and dance. The chapter ends with a short synopsis of the book’s remaining content and structure.Less
Chapter 1 introduces the main themes of book, the scholarly contexts within which the research is situated, and the methods by which the research for the book was conducted. It begins by giving a brief overview of existing approaches to the study of the English folk arts (e.g. socio-historical, folkloristic) before defining the book’s key terms (folk; resurgence; and performing Englishness). The chapter goes on to explain the methods and scope of the ethnographic research on which the book has been based. It then gives a broad overview of the English folk scene, itemising the key performance contexts of music and dance. The chapter ends with a short synopsis of the book’s remaining content and structure.
Trish Winter and Simon Keegan-Phipps
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719097300
- eISBN:
- 9781781708699
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719097300.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter focuses on the creative outputs of the contemporary English folk resurgence, looking at folk artists’ growing engagements with the cultural mainstream and examining the wide variety of ...
More
This chapter focuses on the creative outputs of the contemporary English folk resurgence, looking at folk artists’ growing engagements with the cultural mainstream and examining the wide variety of ways in which English folk music and dance is thus being represented, redeveloped and reinvented. After discussing the idea of the ‘mainstream’, the chapter goes on to analyse four case studies which exhibit different kinds of engagements of English folk with popular music or dance (Seth Lakeman; Jim Moray; the English ceilidh dance scene; and the Demon Barber Roadshow). It also examines the referencing of historical popular culture (e.g. Jim Moray; Bellowhead), and art-orientated folk music acts (e.g. Morris Offspring; English Acoustic Collective). The chapter concludes by arguing that the stylistic plurality illustrated by these examples is itself a semi-unifying theme of the contemporary English folk resurgence.Less
This chapter focuses on the creative outputs of the contemporary English folk resurgence, looking at folk artists’ growing engagements with the cultural mainstream and examining the wide variety of ways in which English folk music and dance is thus being represented, redeveloped and reinvented. After discussing the idea of the ‘mainstream’, the chapter goes on to analyse four case studies which exhibit different kinds of engagements of English folk with popular music or dance (Seth Lakeman; Jim Moray; the English ceilidh dance scene; and the Demon Barber Roadshow). It also examines the referencing of historical popular culture (e.g. Jim Moray; Bellowhead), and art-orientated folk music acts (e.g. Morris Offspring; English Acoustic Collective). The chapter concludes by arguing that the stylistic plurality illustrated by these examples is itself a semi-unifying theme of the contemporary English folk resurgence.
