Don’t talk to me about computers! My main PC has collapsed completely, and while I have been working my way around its numerous components in an effort to narrow down the possible cause, I have been using my old machine. But emails are stacking up, I have had to upload an emergency stripped-down version of the Ram Club web site, and surfing seems sooo slooow with this modem, I am tempted to go back to playing my guitar to amuse myself in the evenings. As a result, I have been spending most of my surfing minutes exploring computer support sites rather than anything to do with folk music.
But not all of them. For reasons best known to myself I decided that this was the year I would by myself a Martin guitar. It is so much more comfortable, when you are about to part with oodles of your hard-earned cash, whether it be on a motherboard or a Martin, to be well informed. What better site to browse than Martin’s own? Included on the site are histories of the company and its celebrated Dreadnought guitars, catalogues of instruments, parts and equipment, and various snippets of information on topics such as new editions. There is also a handy facility where you can type in a serial number and check which year the model was made. The rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic newsgroup is another useful source of information on current prices, and guidance on buying secondhand. Hopefully by the time I write my next Folk on Line I will have resolved both issues, mother and fret. (Update: I put a new motherboard in, which of course meant I also had to get both a new processor and a new tower to put them in, and ended up buying a Taylor – and it is absolutely beautiful! - GMG October 2002)
I have always had a soft spot for Robert Burns, as we share birthdays so I have always felt honoured to have all these Scots unwittingly celebrating with me. And though I have only tried haggis the once, the poems and songs I can go back to again and again. I have never quite understood why Burns’ work translates so readily into the folk circuit repertoire, but am more than happy just to enjoy it doing so. Whether it’s Dick Gaughan performing Song, Composed in August (Now Westlin Winds) or Janet Russell with Blude Red Rose or anyone singing Auld Lang Syne, his lyrics just seem so haunting. And they are all at Burns Country, the grandly subtitled Official Robert Burns Site. Not only that, but if you hover your mouse cursor over any of the “difficult” words, a translation pops up. As well as the Complete Works, the Burns Encyclopedia is online, and the site is fully searchable. You just have to ignore all the tourist board stuff – or support it if you are that way inclined.
I don’t know why I have never looked at the Topic Records web site before, but I quick peak was enough to see that there is a mine of information there, and that it is not merely a vehicle for getting you to buy its records. For example, you will find the full text of the Topic booklet on the Radio Ballads there, giving a fascinating account of the background to and subsequent story of Charles Parker, Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger’s seminal programmes. The site has information and track listings for most of the Topic catalogue. Perhaps for all the catalogue – I haven’t got time to check, I have a PC to rebuild!
It is a time-honoured part of the tradition to knock the BBC for not doing enough for folk music, and I am not about to let Auntie off the hook. But I do urge you to check out the folk resources on the BBC web site. There are two main sections, both with loads of information. One is tied in with Radio 2, and has news and features, such as, at the time of writing, the Folk Awards results and an interview with Paul Brady, links to numerous folk-related sites and an artists database. The Virtual Session is quite fun, and includes folk quizzes – now there’s something you don’t often come across – and, as you might expect, tunes to learn. The other section relates to the BBC’s folk and world music ideals, and widens the envelope a bit to provide links to information about music on programmes such as Late Junction, and Andy Kershaw and Bob Harris’s shows. It also enables you to hear radio shows such as Archie Fisher’s Travelling Folk, from BBC Radio Scotland, which we can listen to from the comfort of our southern England homes.
I usually like to include something in this column that acknowledges that the guitar is not the only instrument to have a place in folk music. With Free Reed celebrating 25 years of its recordings with the release of This Label is NOT Removable, it seems appropriate for the concertina to be this issue’s spaniard in the works. Before I move on to the Free Reed site, I must mention the HTML version of Chris Timson’s concertina FAQ. It originated as the FAQ document for the squeezebox newsgroup – rec.music.makers.squeezebox – but is readily accessible on the Web, and is a mine of concertina information on topics such as buying advice, microphone techniques and repairs. There are many web sites dedicated to this most uplifting of instruments, and of course I should mention Free Reed itself. Obviously the main thrust of the site is to give information about the various releases available on the label and its artists. But there is also information about back issues of Neil Wayne’s Free Reed Magazine, as well as working notes for another up-and-coming concertina compilation and a draft treatment for a television programme on the history and music of the instrument. Incidentally, in the course of compiling the 3-CD set, the entire archive of Free Reed recordings has been digitally recorded, and is available in its entirety on CD at the EFDSS. Maybe computers aren’t so bad, after all.