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A Book of Folk
Carols
is a collection of the carols
sung at the annual Folk Carol Service at New Road Methodist Church,
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.
Do come along to
The Folk Carol Service, 6.30 pm,
Sunday 9 December 2007 @ Wesley Methodist Church, Elm Road,
Leigh-on-Sea, SS9 1SJ
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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The Folk Carol
Service
Every year since 1978, around the
second or third Sunday in December, a very unusual service is held
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" to Wesley Methodist
Church in Elm Road, Leigh-on-Sea, and in 2005 and 2006 attracted
even more people than usual (upwards of 200 in 2006).
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 left.
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. But
it's a real church service, appearing in the Methodist Church
Plan.
So come along on Sunday 9 December
(6.30 pm) to Wesley Methodist Church and experience something
totally different.
Order
for the 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 links to non-copyright
carols and those for which the copyright is owned by MacKinnon &
McDowell). |