That Blod-woman was pretty poor,” said Roger, “however you look at it.”
“No,” said Huw. “She was made for her lord. Nobody is asking her if she wants him. It is bitter twisting to be shut up with a person you are not liking very much. I think she was longing for the time when she was flowers on the mountain, and it is making her cruel, as the rose is growing thorns.” ― Alan Garner’s The Owl Service
I’ve been reading The Owl Service these past few days as Gus, our Estate Head Gardener, pointed out to me on a recent afternoon as I took a walk outside on a particularly brisk day that many of the owls that winter over here have made their seasonal transition into the protected spaces we built generations back to harbour them when the Winter gets too cold for them to be outside.
I’ve always found our owls to be as fascinating as our corvids are though the owls are far more aloof than those birds are. And I’m certainly not the only one that does as I found a long note in The Sleeping Hedgehog from 1845 in which Alexandra Margaret Quinn, Head Gardener here for many, many years during the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, wrote for the Estate inhabitants about the need to be respectful of the hollow trees and other places they took residence for the Winter.Our first review is apt given my reading of that novel: Welsh Mythology and Folklore in Popular Culture, which Robert notes, ‘edited by Audrey L. Becker and Kristin Noone, is, as one might expect, a scholarly anthology focusing on the influence and outright appropriation of Welsh mythology and legends in popular culture through the twentieth century.’ Read his review to see why he found it to have a glaring fault.
Marta McDowell’s Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life was a work much liked by Gus: ‘Like many serious gardeners, I collect books about gardens and those who created them. This one is a recent acquisition of mine that ranks among the best I’ve encountered! Subtitled ‘The plants and places that inspired the classic children’s tales’, it is just what it says it is: a look at the gardens (and botanical things) that inspired her children’s writings.’
I reviewed the audiobook edition of The Owl Service when it came out several years back: ‘Listening to The Owl Service as told by Wayne Forester, who handles both the narration and voicing of each character amazingly well, one is impressed by his ability to handle both Welsh accents and the Welsh language, given the difficultly of that tongue, which make Gaelic look easy as peas to pronounce by comparison.’
I’ve also been reading Thomas Godfrey’s English Country House Murders, a collection of short stories that’s just what it says it is. Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers are just two of the many, many stellar writers here.
Our next book review in this themed section was actually written for Folk Tales, one of the printed publications we did, oh, maybe a quarter of a century ago: Two Mabinogions, one translated by Jeffrey Gantz, the other by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones are examined by Jo; who notes that though the texts that got stitched together much later into The Mabinogion, dated supposedly to the twelfth century, ‘The true history of the tales is unknown, having been lost along with the tellers.’
Robert takes a look at another book that, in spite of the forbidding title, derives from Welsh sources: ‘The Arthur of the English: The Arthurian Legend and Medieval English Life and Literature is the second volume in a series of scholarly anthologies centered on the Arthurian literature of the Middle Ages. . . . As the series editor, W. R. J. Barron, points out in the Preface, the new series takes full advantage of the more expansive scholarship in the field and is thus able to focus on the cultural and historical as well as linguistic aspects of Arthurian literature in Europe.’
And a short jaunt across the Irish Sea, and we have Robert’s look at the great Irish epic in a translation by Ciaran Carson: ‘In his new translation, The Táin, Ciaran Carson notes specifically that he used the Old Irish texts edited and published by Cecile O’Rahilly . . . augmented by the 1969 translation by Thomas Kinsella, with the same title (in order, Carlson surmises, to make it sound less like a B-Western and to bring it into line with other epics). This was simply because there is no “final” version of the story, only assemblages of earlier or later provenance.’
The White Goddess by Robert Graves bears the subtitle of ‘The White Goddess — A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth’. As our Robert notes, ‘obert Graves was a well known poet, novelist, translator, mythographer, and, in some quarters at least, crackpot. I found his renderings of the Greek myths, informed by an awareness of their historical and anthropological context, to be illuminating, and his novels to be both entertaining and substantial.’ Read his review to see how this work stacks up.
A Japanese series finds favor with Robert: ‘Utawarerumono is the title of an anime series from Japanese TV that has made its way to North America on DVD, and it’s — well, it’s somewhere in the realm of historical romance cum science fiction future history. If you know what I mean. Hint: the title Utawarerumono translates as “He Whose Song Is Sung” — we are clearly dealing with a legend in the making.’Dark chocolate bread pudding… Cocoa in huge mugs with homemade marshmallows… Chocolate chip cookies… We here at the Kinrowan Estate love chocolate in all its guises, so it’s not surprising that we review chocolate bars here with this review being by Robert of three Ritter bars: ‘The bars in this case are all square and all weigh in at 100g (3.5 oz.), and all seem somehow weightier than an equivalent size of American chocolate — I suspect because of the shape and size: they’re all about 3 inches on a side and are actually very nice to hold in the hand (if you can restrain yourself from ripping off the wrapper and stuffing your face).’
Let’s start off our music section with not a review, but a remembrance. Barb has a look at a hundredth anniversary celebration of the birth of Charles Ives: ‘The most memorable concert of my life was one I had the pleasure to be involved with. Fortunately, my involvement was minimal so I had the opportunity to experience most of it from the audience’s point of view.’
In the same vein, we have some comments on the New Riders of the Purple Sage from Deborah in “Down for the Ride: 45 years of the New Riders of the Purple Sage“: ‘“Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest alt-country rock band in the universe…” It’s Halloween, 2015, and I’m perched on the back of the soft bench running along the wall of the Sweetwater Music Hall, in Mill Valley, California. Mark Topazio, affectionately known as Captain Toast and the band’s tour manager, is introducing the New Riders.’
Wintersongs was a great listen for April: ‘This beautiful follow-up to 1998’s eponymous Triakel celebrates not just Yuletide, but Advent, St. Stephen’s Day, New Years and Epiphany with a glorious blend of tunes and words old and new, both joyous and somber.’
Northumbrian piper and fiddler Kathryn Tickell contributed to Wintersmith, the Terry Pratchett novel Steeleye Span adapted into a recording. So let’s talk about her latest recording which is with the classically trained Side group which Michael also reviewed: ‘On their debut album Kathryn Tickell & The Side create an exciting mix of folk and classical music, with some hints of more modern sounds. Most of the music is written by KT herself, and her training as a composer shows. She does not merely write tunes, she composes pieces, well-structured and exciting.’
Gary has a review of Ben E. King’s The Complete ATCO/Atlantic Singles, Vol. 1—1960-1966. King, who died in 2015, had a lengthy career as an R&B crooner that was dominated by his first two big hits, “Spanish Harlem” and “Stand By Me.” But Gary says, “with 49 songs, most of which were mid-level hit singles in the early to mid-60s, this set is really a treasure trove of music that for the most part you just don’t hear any more.”
From the Isle of Man comes a trio called Barrule. Gary says their album Manannan’s Cloak, their second, is “a wonderfully lively collection of tunes and songs.” The trio takes its name from the island’s central peak, which is said to be the home of Manannán mac Lir, a Celtic sea god who watched over the islands by drawing his cloak around the mountain to hide the isle from intruders. You’ll find Gary’s review here.
Nolan Porterfield’s Jimmie Rodgers, The Life and Times of America’s Blue Yodeler has a title that might surprise many of us who had no idea what a blue yodeler is, but Gary notes his influence is wider than that, as ‘few people realize that Jimmie Rodgers was every bit as crucial in the history of pop and the American music business as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Bob Dylan.’
I forgot to note earlier in this commentary that the Sleeping Hedgehog for this month included a letter from the Archives by Lady Alexandra Margaret Quinn, Head Gardener here in the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, about preparations for the holidays here in her time.
It’s my habit to finish off with a choice bit of music from a band that I’m rather fond of, this time being the Scottish Peatbog Faeries whose Mellowosity is one of the best debut recordings ever done. My live cut for you this time is “Toss the Feathers-Oyster Woman’s Rant” from a recent performance by them at the Towersey Festival.
What’s New for the 19th of April: Psychedelic Turkish music And Cuban Jazz, E.B. White biography, Tricksters, Music of a Heavenly Nature, On Tap in Our Pub, and other cool matters
Ahhhh, I see you’re studying the chalk board that lists our libation offerings this evening. It shows that we’re currently offering Full Moon Ale, Celebration Ale, White Horse Ale, Lady in The Wood IPA, Queen’s Lament IPA, Wind in The Willows IPA, Albion Cider, Draw Down the Moon Cider, Kinrowan Special Reserve Cider, High Meadow Mead, Widdershins Mead, Dawn Breaking Mead, Odin’s Ravens’ Metheglin, Banish Misfortune Stout and Oberon’s Wood Stout. And of course all are produced here on the Estate by Bjorn, our Brewmaster.
Quite a list to choose from. As the Pub Manager here, I’ve sampled all of them and I’d particularly recommend the Queen’s Lament IPA named after a story told here late on an Autumn night, Drink Down the Moon Cider which is named after a novel by Charles de Lint, a favourite writer round these parts, is rather good and I recommend the Banish Misfortune Stout if you’re in the mood for something seriously dark. If you’re a drinker of Welsh style meads, our metheglin is well-worth trying.
Speaking of de Lint, we’ve been updating our edition on him and his works for an Autumn publication as he’s been quite busy as his Triskell Press has been releasing new editions of his rather deep catalog and impressive new offerings as well including ‘Somewhere in My Mind There Is a Painting Box’ which is one of the reviews we’ll have soon, and it involves one of the three Dillard Sisters who are to be found togather in Seven Wild Sisters; with just two of them, Laurel and Bess in Medicine Road and Lillian who’s related to them in The Cats of Tanglewood Forest.
Denise takes us from espionage to E.B. White, with a review of Melissa Sweet’s Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White. At first, Denise thought she might not be up to the task of reviewing an autobiography of this esteemed author, but quickly changed her mind. ‘I needn’t have worried; Sweet did all the work for me, and beautifully too. For anyone else who wonders if a book about a writer they remember from childhood tales (and perhaps that Freshman English guide) may be outside of their bailiwick? I say dig in.’
In keeping with her YA theme this edition, Denise also looks at Maryrose Wood’s What I Wore To Save The World . “A very engaging story with a main character that is down to earth and not just an author’s wish fulfillment in prose form. This will be a fun series to follow in future volumes; Ms. Wood has provided just enough change in Morgan’s life — natural and supernatural — to keep readers hungry for more.”
Robert brings us a look at an investigation of folklore — from an unexpected source: Avram Davidson’s Adventures in Unhistory: ‘What makes this collection of more than passing interest, and particularly appropriate for Green Man Review, is that it is, quite legitimately, an exploration of the mechanisms of folklore. Call them lectures, call them essays, call them wild speculations with a solid foundation in the ways people rationalize their universe, they are a series of madcap, breathless adventures in the histories of many of our archetypes.’
And from the frying pan into the fire, so to speak: next up is Robert’s look at a particular kind of folklore — what we can call “Trickster tales,” as presented by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling in The Coyote Road: ‘Trickster gods have long fascinated me, mostly because they are the most entertaining characters in mythology. They also represent the element of chance in the universe, and point as well to an underlying truth about our conception of godhood: Tricksters are the polar points on the continuum of “good” and “bad” — heroes and villains, buffoons and sages, creators and destroyers — most points in between.’
Gereg looks at an interesting culinary book: ‘Where does your food come from? What elements of the landscape made their way into the flavour of your favourite maple syrup, or your apples? If you haven’t been asking yourself questions along these lines already, Rowan Jacobsen’s American Terroir will make you eager to start.’
The Seattle-based trio duende libre plays ‘solid, groove-filled Cuban jazz,’ Gary says. Their self-titled debut CD, he says, ‘is a solid, upbeat collection of tunes that, like Cuba itself, is an engaging blend of musical styles.’
Lebanon’s Marcel Khalife is a prolific, controversial and well-known composer, singer and player of the oud. Gary takes a look at his latest work, Andalusia of Love, which draws on the poetry of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. He’s joined by his sons, pianist Rami and percussionist Bachar, and Jilbert Yamine on the hammered dulcimer called the kanoun. ‘Throughout this work there is virtuosic playing, some of a solo nature but mostly by the ensemble,’ Gary says. ‘It’s a moving performance of music that is complex yet welcoming.’
Psychedelic Turkish music released by a German label in the ’70s and ’80s? That’s what Gary says Uzelli Psychedelic Anadolu is. The label is preparing for digital re-release of its massive catalog, and this sampler focuses on psychedelic recordings on cassette and vinyl from 1975 to 1984.
Robert has a look at a new take on an old form in a newly released recording from ECM, Trio Mediaeval and Arve Henriksen’s Rímur: ‘My first exposure to rímur came about when a recording by the Icelandic performer Steindór Andersen crossed my desk. Having wrapped my head around the forms and sounds in Andersen’s renderings of a traditional Icelandic form with strong foundations in medieval sources, I was intrigued by the idea of Trio Medieval tackling the same kind of material, given their own background in medieval music.’
The biblical quote that is at the beginning of this post is in itself wonderful language, but it was also turned into a song by Pete Seeger in the late 50s. The song was originally released in 1962 as ‘To Everything There Is a Season’ on the Limeliters’ album Folk Matinee and then some months later on Seeger’s own The Bitter and the Sweet. In late ’65 when it was covered by the Byrds, it became an international hit reaching the top of the charts stateside and here.
The performance of it that I’ve got for you here is neither by Seeger nor the Byrds but rather done by Judy Collins at the Newport Folk Festival, 25th of July 1965. So here’s ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’ as superbly performed by her.