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The Folk Carol Service
Every year since 1978 something very unusual happens in Leigh-on-Sea,
Essex.
To most people of this day and age a "traditional carol service" is one with
nine lessons (read from the King James version of the Bible), lots of hymns
(most of them Victorian or Edwardian), angelic choirboys and organ accompaniment.
To lovers of folk music both "traditional" and "carol" mean something quite
different. Something which is traditional was composed or written by the
common folk of the time, not the skilled musicians; it would rarely have
been written down, instead being preserved by each generation learning the
tune and words by hearing them being sung - the "oral tradition" - and the
name of the original author or composer has long since been forgotten. A
carol was based upon dance music, and the Christmas carols would have been
played by the local dance band in the church gallery.
So every year the local dance band (the Famous Potatoes) gather to play genuine
traditional folk carols. A congregation of 150 and more somehow or other managed to crowd
in to the fishermen's church of New Road Methodist in Leigh's old town -
at least until health and safety reasons meant that we had to move! So we have moved "up the hill",
from 2005-7 in Wesley
Methodist Church, and since 2008 we've been in a new venue in St Clement's Church,
Leigh-on-Sea. From 2005 onwards it's attracted more people year on year (upwards of 200 in 2006,
probably 250 in 2009).
The leader, and the person who had the idea to hold these services,
is Professor Kenneth MacKinnon, a Methodist local preacher brought up in
Leigh-on-Sea. He is a former mayor of Southend-on-Sea and is Visiting Professor
Emeritus Reader in Sociology of Language at the University of Hertfordshire.
He also runs Sgrùd
Research, a Gaelic language research unit, from his home base in Ferintosh
on the Black Isle north of Inverness, Scotland.
Prof. Ken MacKinnon
Ken researches old material and regularly comes up with something that no-one's
ever sung before - we've had at least two world premieres of carols at the
Folk Carol Service! Paul McDowell ("The Prof" of the
Famous Potatoes) arranges the
music and Paul
and Ken have compiled a Book of Folk Carols, which came out in time for the 2004
service - see details to the right.
As well as the carols, there have been enactions by
Peter Monk ("Peter Optical")
involving juggling and fire-eating; singing and playing by other
local folk groups; and readings.
In 2009 BBC Radio 2 recorded the service, together
with interviews with some of the participants, for the final part in a
series of half-hour programmes on Keeping Tradition Alive at Christmas,
broadcast on Christmas Eve.
The next service is expected to be at St Clement's
Church, Broadway, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, SS9 2DE, at 6.30 pm on Sunday 12
December 2010. Come along and experience something totally different.
Details of the most recent services:
2009 Folk Carol Service
2008 Folk Carol Service
2007 Folk Carol Service
2006 Folk Carol Service
2005 Folk Carol Service
2004 Folk Carol Service
2003 Folk Carol Service
2002 Folk Carol Service
2001 Folk Carol Service
2000 Folk Carol Service
1999 Folk Carol Service
1998 Folk Carol Service
(includes some links to non-copyright carols and those for which the copyright
is owned by MacKinnon & McDowell).
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A
Book of Folk Carols
is a
collection of the carols sung at the annual Folk Carol Service at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, over more than 25 years.
It
contains over 50 “traditional carols”, in the true sense of
both words – composed by the common folk of the time and
passed on from one generation to another by hearing, learning
and changing over the years, and based upon dance music played
by the local band.
Paul
McDowell and Professor Kenneth MacKinnon have researched
manuscripts, tunes and many other old items over a long period.
You will find several carols which have probably never been sung
outside Leigh-on-Sea for hundreds of years, along with some old
favourites. The carols come complete with tunes and freshly
written accompaniments for you to sing and play on piano, guitar
or with your own dance band!
It
is illustrated by Kate Baxter and was published by Writersworld in
December 2004 at £7.99
via all bookshops - or direct from Paul
McDowell Musical Services. A sample carol is given below,
together with Kate's illustration that goes with it.
In
2009 BBC Radio 2 broadcast seven of these carols in the fourth and final part of
their series Keeping Tradition Alive at Christmas, together with
interviews with Ken and Paul and some striking singing from John Coppins,
Jon Boden and the Honeygales (singing one of Paul's other traditional
carol arrangements).
Do
come along to
The Folk Carol Service, Sunday 12 December 2010 (proposed date), 6.30 pm @ St
Clement's Church, Broadway, Leigh-on-Sea, SS9 2DE.
Paul McDowell
A
Book of Folk Carols
1
King Herod and
the cock
1.
There was a star in David’s land,
so bright it did appear
into King Herod’s chamber,
and brightly it shined there.
2.
The wise men soon espied it,
and told the king
on high
a princely babe was born that night
no king could
e’er destroy.
3.
“If this be true”, King Herod said,
“as thou hast
told to me,
this roasted cock that lies in the dish
shall crow full
fences three.”
4.
The cock soon thrustened and feathered well
by the work of
God’s own hand,
and he did crow full fences three
in the dish where
he did stand.
This
is the version found in the Oxford Book of Carols, as
collected from the singing of Mrs Plumb of Armscote,
Worcestershire. There are much longer versions and it was
reported of John Kirkpatrick that he was “familiar with all 30
verses”!
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