Book discussion: Fire and Hemlock, Parts Three and Four (and Coda)
Here is the second of two discussion posts for Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones. This post is currently public, so that anyone interested can read and join in the discussion, but if any of my f-listers would prefer that I f-lock the post instead, let me know and I will do that
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I've just checked my iTunes library, and I have no fewer than 9 versions of Tam Lin! I have to admit to not being that fond of the Steeleye version - it just can't compare with the guitar bits on the Fairport one. I'm re-listening to the Bill Jones right now, and what a treat - it's been so long since I listened to any of her albums. I'd really recommend checking her out if you don't know her stuff already - Panchpuran is a particularly good album.
Thanks for the link to the tune, btw. I know you asked in the other thread, and I haven't yet answered, whether I knew it. I didn't, only the song (9 versions, apparently, lol). It's really lovely though.
I did discover though, completely by accident while trying to bring some sense of order to my iTunes this weekend is that Hunsdon House is a tune and a dance. The version I have is mixed in with Steeleye's 'Queen Mary'.
Finally, another Tam Lin link - poet Benjamin Zephaniah's modern retelling with The Imagined Village (the people who brought us 'Cold Haily Windy Night with sitars), 'Tam Lyn Retold'.
I have stuff to say about the book, honest, but I'm looking at the time and know I have to go to bed if I'm going to function tomorrow - work atm is like a game of whack-a-mole: for every job I get rid of, another pops up just as fast!
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LOL -- I have at least three versions of the Tam Lin reel, myself. (That cello player really wasn't doing it up to speed, but I thought it was cool that there was a cello version at all, heh.)
I have to admit to not being that fond of the Steeleye version - it just can't compare with the guitar bits on the Fairport one.
Hmm, see, I'm the other way. I really like the "♩. ♩ ♩." rhythm in the first section of the SS version. I also like that they used Bulgarian folk tunes. :) Sometimes it's just a question of what you hear first! (And for what it's worth, I like the SS live version from "Tonight's the Night Live" much more than the studio version they've got on another album.)
I'd really recommend checking her out if you don't know her stuff already - Panchpuran is a particularly good album.
I will! That link I posted was the first I'd run across Bill Jones at all, but she has such a beautiful voice.
Hunsdon House is a tune and a dance.
Oh, very nice, and thanks for the links! The dance video seems to be titled "Hudson House", but that may just be a variant, because it's clearly the Hunsdon House tune. (I don't know what that figure is called where the side couples take hands with partner, advance, take hands with neighbor, and turn and retire out the other direction, while the end couples move in center-wards; the path they're tracing on the floor makes it look like some kind of a hey, but it's all very squared-off and interlocking. Very cool!)
It's a little too cheery for the Leroy Perry house, though. ;)
poet Benjamin Zephaniah's modern retelling with The Imagined Village
Ah, there we go, nice and creepy. :)
(the people who brought us 'Cold Haily Windy Night with sitars)
I listen to those CDs quite a lot, by the way!
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Definitely! By the time I heard the Steeleye one, the Fairport version had already been fixed in my head as definitive. ;)
That link I posted was the first I'd run across Bill Jones at all, but she has such a beautiful voice.
I'm really surprised at myself that I didn't include her in your cd, but I think even at that point she had stopped doing stuff (she made 3 albums and won some awards then got married and had children, at which point I guess all the touring became a bit difficult) so perhaps that's why I didn't think of her. Still so glad you like them though - they're jam packed with my favourite folky stuff (just with a notable exception it seems...)
The dance video seems to be titled "Hudson House", but that may just be a variant
You know, I hadn't even noticed that! It came up when I searched for 'Hunsdon House' so I just assumed, but yes, I think it's one of those title variations you get with the tradition. Here's a cool version that I didn't link to originally because the quality is quite bad, where we get some background and a comparison with 'Grand Square' (which I'm pretty sure I've done at ceilidhs).
it's all very squared-off and interlocking. Very cool!
I know, isn't it pretty! The chap in the video above calls it a 'grand square' I think.
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