MR. SHARP MEETS MR. BARING GOULD
A Celebration of the Westcountry’s foremost folksong collectors
Which songs were sung in Devon and Somerset over a hundred years ago?
The work of The Rev. Sabine Baring Gould (1859-1924) and Cecil Sharp (1834-1924) provides some answer to this question. They collected songs in many Westcountry villages in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
A Centenary Celebration
As 2024 marks a hundred years since the passing of these folksong pioneers, a selection from their collections will be presented by Martin Scragg and Sam Richards in St. Mary’s Church, Totnes, on May 31st at 7.30.
Sabine Baring Gould was Rector and Squire of Lew Trenchard just north of Dartmoor. Much of his collection is from around the moor. Sharp also visited Devon – around Meshaw and Rackenford in the north of the county – but is best known for his collecting in various parts of Somerset. Subsequent folksong enthusiasts have been critical of their methods, but there is no escaping the fact that their manuscripts and publications contain some marvelous songs and incidentally give a glimpse of village culture of well over a century ago. Sharp and Baring Gould knew one another and collaborated on some publications, the best known being “English Folk Songs for Schools”.
Avid Collectors
All the early song collectors had to travel rough country, pick their way along lanes, communicate across social class divides and create fair copies of everything they noted down. In those days before audio recording devices everything was hand-written. The singers had to repeat songs many times for the song collector to note down words and music as accurately as possible.
Martin Scragg and Sam Richards recently presented a programme mainly featuring songs known by Robert Hard of South Brent. Hard sang to Sabine Baring Gould and it was appropriate that their programme was presented in South Brent itself.
Artists of Today
Martin Scragg was one of the pioneers of the folk revival in Torbay but is also known as a singer/guitarist much further afield. He started and hosted the Country House Folk Club in Torquay and was one of the organizers of the legendary Devon Dumpling club also in Torquay. He has two CD albums to his name.
Sam Richards is also known as a composer of experimental music, jazz pianist and improviser. His singing of folk material goes many years back as does his own fieldwork in collecting songs. His audio archive is held by the British Library.
Martin and Sam bring many years of experience and a deep love of local song traditions to their performances whether solo or together, recorded or live.