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regmeuross

Listed below are comments made by regmeuross between Tuesday, 1st July 2008 and Tuesday, 21st July 2009.

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Fairies At The Bottom Of My Garden... 1:19pm on 21 Jul 2009 Great Story Mike. Synchronicity !

And I've been approached to develop a schools project on the Painting 'Tobias and the Angel' by the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio.It's a painting that's inspired a lot of stories, some of which are mentioned in The Book of Tobit, perhaps you could tell the lad the one about the huge fish that sprang out of a lake to attack Tobias, and Raphael ( his guardian angel) encourages him to kill it but to keep certain parts of the fish in order to heal his fathers blindness. (they also use other parts to cast out a devil who has killed everyone of Tobias new girlfriends seven previous suitors!)
Ralph McTell - A National Treasure 11:52am on 23 Oct 2008 Many years ago I sent a cassette of songs to Ralph when I found out that my then guitarist was one of those people he had busked around europe with. Ralph took the time to write a long and detailed reply essentialy warning me on how hard it was going to be to make a living being a songwriter whilst staying true.

Years later I toured with him as a member of Alan Franks' and Patty Vetta's band. Ralph couldn't have been more concerned about our sound and particularly my old Gibson, which it turned out was the same as the one he'd had for years and recently ditched. He even made us tea!

I loved what I heard last night on the programme. It showed almost a weary fascination with the world. The best storytellers have that, it draws you gently in and takes you somewhere unexpected.

A national treasure and a gent.
Reg Meuross asks What is The Tradition? 8:50pm on 30 Sep 2008 Thanks everyone who's written in. There's a couple of points I'd like to answer:

First, Anontradarr (the clue is in the username!) I think you will go a long way these days to find a 'Lone' Singer/Songwriter album. If you were to listen to any of my albums you would find they are chock full of the finest musicians a man can scrounge together, including Martin Carthy, Phil Beer, Jackie Oates, Rabbit Bundrick, Sarah Allen, Roy Dodds etc etc.. and that applies to the majority of singer/songwriter albums made these days.

My point being that the only difference between us and the people you mention is that the band may change from album to album. Yes, Variety too !

Secondly, I think you may have answered my question with these two phrases:

" it's a body of work that lives because singers and musicians play it, change it, mangle it, have fun with it, experiment, renew it and make it their own. It's a Living Tradition because each generation recovers it and puts their own stamp on it."

"How can singer-songwriters claim that their product is 'in the tradition' when their song has not been through this process of reclamation and reinvention yet? I don't think they can - that's for future generations to decide."

This sounds like the prejudice of the purist.

As Hellybass rightly points out 'All the old songs must have started life somewhere'.

For a song to be subjected to the processes that you deem necessary to validate it as 'of the tradition' it has to be recognised as true to the styles and the 'voice' and the living history of the people, but that won't happen unless you first of all listen to it ( see point 1.)
and then let it be judged or (back to my original blog ) reviewed and passed on to others so they can make up their own minds.
Reg Meuross asks What is The Tradition? 3:43pm on 29 Sep 2008 Hi Tom,
and thanks for your comment.

It is the second point I have a problem with. I don't agree that the tradition has been frozen or subverted by cds, recordings etc.

Like me, you will have taken your songs to folk clubs, vilage halls and house concerts all over the country and felt that interaction. You will have heard and shared stories and emotions with your listeners. Yes, hopefully some will have bought cds (songwriters have to eat too!)Some will have even taken away chords and words to sing those songs in their own voice. But everyone will have taken away the memory of a shared experience.

You compare the tradition to archaeology but it is not entombed or preserved in amber. Songs and tunes are constantly being up-dated and re-arranged by younger players, so why shouldn't the stories and the conditions from which they come also be retold and re 'invented' - as Cecil would have it?

The efforts shown by some purists to protect the tradition suggests that it needs protecting. I don't think it does. Promoting, celebrating, yes, but everything has to grow and scrape its knees and bump into things sometimes. It is not a museum piece, it's the voice of the people.

And no Tom, I won't be asking 'What is folk?' Do you take me for a complete suicidal lunatic!?

Reg
About Mark Kermode 10:34pm on 01 Jul 2008 Hi Mark,
Reg Meuross, ex Panic Brothers here. If you read this could get in touch?
regmeuross@aol.com.
Reg

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