I was very pleased to be commissioned to do artwork for the recently released album by Tim Jones & The Dark Lanterns, called St. Giles' Bowl.
St. Giles' Bowl refers to the last drink a convict would receive courtesy of St. Giles in the Fields when on the way to the gallows at Tyburn.
Tim's lyrics are also often dark, and so it was great to immerse myself in the imagery! The artwork was created using a mix of linocut prints and digital art. Good luck to Tim Jones & The Dark Lanterns!
I recently had the pleasure of designing and printing a logo for The Village Folk Club in Manchester - a cracking folk club based in Taurus bar in Manchester's gay village. Text and image both hand linocut.
Lewes Bonfire Night
Lewes, Sussex - 5th November 2013
I think it's safe to say that nowhere celebrates Bonfire Night quite like Lewes! Parades from the local bonfire societies started soon after we arrived at 5pm and continued into the early hours of the morning. The air filled with smoke and the firelight from the torches and flares cast an eerie pink light over the sky. Firecrackers were strewn onto the streets like confetti, the noise of which reverberated through your whole body. Banners of those revered by the societies were carried in remembrance, whilst effigies of "enemies" were paraded before the crowds before being ceremoniously burnt at the evening bonfires. The oldest of the societies, Cliffe Bonfire Society (est. 1853), had this year chosen Bashar al-Assad as its enemy, along with Margaret Thatcher and the two traditional effigies of The Pope and Guy Fawkes.
Margaret was set alight at the Cliffe bonfire site, during which a short speech was given by a mock pope who was interrupted by jeers from the crowd and a pelting of firecrackers. His speech ended with the chant of the traditional "Remember, remember the 5th of November..." rhyme. The last three remaining effigies were then literally sent "off with a bang", in what was the most spectacular fireworks display I have ever seen. Quite satisfying, although admittedly fairly barbaric!
Photos were taken with an Argus C3 using an 800 ISO lomography 35mm film, f 3.5, 1/14 sec shutter speed, no flash.
The camera is a 1940s-60s model and doesn't contain an inbuilt flash. This meant that long exposures were needed, which unfortunately doesn't work all that well when trying to photograph parades! Nevertheless, I thought these three photos came out well enough.
The Chapbook : A Garland of Songs And Notes On Folk
I'm pleased to announce the release of my first letterpress print project, The Chapbook : A Garland Of Songs And Notes On Folk. Huzzah!
Chapbooks were little ephemeral booklets which used to be sold on streets back in the 18th and 19th centuries. The content could be on a range of different subject matters, but some were dedicated to songs, ballads, and plays which later become the folksongs and customs we know today. I have taken the chapbook idea and the traditional printing techniques, and given it a contemporary spin to create a publication containing my own musings, stories, and jokes based on the “contemporary” folk scene.
The chapbook was printed using a table-top platen letterpress. This means that all the type was composed using movable type, fixed into a chase, and hand pressed. All the illustrations are hand made linocuts, produced specifically for this publication.
Ted and I have just recorded a new demo - a version of the well travelled song The Trooper Cut Down In His Prime (provisionally Roud 2 and 23650). It is one of those songs that belongs to no one, but simultaneously belongs to everyone, having been found in England, Ireland, Scotland, America, and beyond, but under different titles and featuring different characters. What in one case is a sailor, is in another a poor lass, and in another a cowboy on the streets of Laredo.
The British version centres on a poor victim of syphilis. He/she tells of their demise, either through promiscuity or a false hearted lover, and how they wish to be buried. The American version of St James' Infirmary is along the same theme, but puts the song into third person, while the American cowboy is suffering from a gun shot in the chest. But often a common phrase can be heard:
"Beat the drum slowly and play your fifes lowly,
Sound the dead march as you carry me along."
It can be quite a haunting song, and the British version deals with a not so pleasant subject matter!:
"And six young maidens to carry white roses
So they won't smell me as they pass me by."
The version Ted and I sing seems to have a tune which is similar to others in the English tradition. It was collected from Harry Sladen in Openshaw, 1946.
You can hear the demo on our Reverbnation page, or on the Music section of my website. Enjoy!
I was messing about on the internet (as one does), and came across this review for a support slot Ted and I did with Laurel Swift at the Green Note last month. Lovely!
"The support is a double act: Laura Smyth and Ted Kemp. Laura is Lancashire born, with a passion for her (and my) home county; she introduces each traditional Manchester folk song with a little explanation of its origins, and much of it is quite colourful. Clearly Madchester began many years before New Order, Inspiral Carpets et al put the cotton-mill city on the map. She’s accompanied by the mystical-looking Ted on banjo, with Laurel playing the fiddle. Their voices harmonise beautifully."
I was recently asked by a friend if I could help the Furness Tradition Festival celebrate their 15th anniversary by providing a logo for their marketing copy. I had less than a week to put one together, but I'm glad to see it is already being put to use! Awesome.
Since moving to Southern England and meeting a host of non-Mancunian people, I have often had the peculiarities of my speech pointed out and (affectionately) mocked. I have since become fascinated with Manchester and Lancashire dialect, and so have attempted a dictionary of Mancunian vocabulary (with the odd Lancastrian word) with their more commonly known synonyms. Those with a star are historic words, not used in modern Mancunian dialect. Historic words have been found in dialect poetry and literature e.g. Waugh, Laycock, Gaskell, etc. This is a work in progress, and I hope to continue adding words to this dictionary as and when I remember them!
Manchester/Lancashire - Queen's English
Ain't never been seen - Unfashionable
Barm - Bread muffin
Bobbins - Terrible
Boff - Fart
Brass - Money*
Brew - Tea
Buzzin' - Happy
Clem - Starve*
Cricket - Stool*
Cheers big ears - Thank you
Dinner - Lunch
Dree - Long-suffering*
Fod - Forehead
Ginnel - Alleyway
Gruds - Underpants
(H)angin - Disgusting
Hoo - She*
Keks - Underpants or Trousers
Love - Affectionate term
Nah - No
Nasty pasty - Mean
Nesh - Soft/Wimpy
Nowt - Nothing
Main (h)ead - Crazy person
Mam - Mother
Mard-arse - A moody and complaining person
Mither - Nag
Our kid (pronounced Ar kid) - Younger sibling
Owt - Anything
Pure - Thoroughly
Proper - Incredibly
Reet - Very
Scally - Ignorant person with poor taste and low morals
Scrote - Person of low moral fibre
Skrike - Cry
Tea - Dinner
Townie (Used before Scally became the popular term) - Ignorant person with poor taste and low morals
T'ra - Goodbye
Y'all right - Hello, how are you?
Queen's English - Manchester/Lancashire
Affectionate term - Love
Alleyway - Ginnel
Anything - Owt
Bread muffin - Barm
Crazy person - Main (h)ead
Cry - Skrike
Dinner - Tea
Disgusting - (H)angin
Fart - Boff
Forehead - Fod
Goodbye - T'ra
Happy - Buzzin'
Ignorant person with poor taste and low morals - Scally, Townie
Ingredients: 250g self-raising flour; 100g medium oatmeal; 85g soft brown sugar; 175g golden syrup; 110g black treacle; 200g butter; 1 tbsp ground ginger; 1 egg; 70ml milk.
Method: Melt the syrup, treacle, sugar and butter in a pan. Mix together the oatmeal, flour, and ginger, and stir into the syrup mixture. Add the beaten egg and milk. Pour the mixture into a square cake tin, and bake for 1 hour at 150C.
Parkin is a dense, moist cake which is particularly popular in the Northern counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire. It is traditionally eaten on Bonfire night, although in the past I expect it was probably enjoyed year round.
“On the 5th November parkin, a sort of pepper cake, made with treacle and ginger, is found in every house in the West Riding. As, however, the cake is eaten several days before the 5th, I have no doubt it originally formed part of All-Hallow’s feast. The Sunday within the octave of All Saints is called Parkin Sunday” (Sabine Baring-Gould, in: Notes on the folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England and the borders / by William Henderson).
I’m not sure where the ‘pepper cake’ comparison came from, but there are certainly some strange ingredients to be found in some traditional Yorkshire recipes, e.g. Vinegar (!) (Watts, M., 1984. The complete farmhouse kitchen cook book. London : Collins)
There seem to be a number of variations for Parkin recipes, and it’s difficult to tell whether a certain type was traditionally favoured in Lancashire as compared with Yorkshire. It has been suggested that Lancashire Parkin is more likely to contain Golden Syrup as well as, or instead of, Black treacle, but I have found many Lancashire recipes which contain solely treacle. The recipe that I used has a combination of both.
I was asked to sing at the book launch for the New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs in June 2012. The two songs I chose were The Female Highwayman, as sung by Gordon Hall, and Bonny Blue Handkerchief, as sung by F. Kitching. The whole evening was recorded, and here is a (poor quality) audio clip of Bonny Blue Handkerchief. Both songs were collected from all over Britain, and attached is a broadside variant of Bonny Blue Handkerchief published by a Manchester printer.
A commission from Lyke Wake Dirges, offshoot from the fabulous Manchester record label The Folk Police. This cover was inspired by the book of the same name by Lewis Spence, and work of the arts and craft movement. The piece explores traditions from around England and connected motifs.
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