A multimedia production highlighting the musical connection between Southwest England and Southwest Virginia has a limited run at the Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Virginia starting this weekend.
The show, which is from England, mixes archival music and film to cross the sea between the old world and the new.
A hundred years ago, a British folklorist named Cecil Sharp recorded old folk music in southern Appalachia --and traced its roots to Somerset in southwest England. Sharp’s documentation is said to have sparked a revival of folk music in England and the U.S.
Now British Artist, Amanda Boyd and company, are bringing those old English/Virginian songs back across the pond for a performance at the Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Virginia.
"The songs that they’re presenting and collecting are songs that traveled from England to our area and I think it’s how we told our story. I think it’s how we preserved our story for other people. And it’s interesting because you can find versions of songs like in the UK and versions of songs here that have evolved different so you can hear how the story got told and retold over generations," says Shawn Brenneman, a member of the Country Dance and Song Society
Live singers and musicians will perform with those archival photographs. Amanda Boyd produced and sings in the production. "We created a show specifically for the Lincoln and we do draw on the experience of Sharp collecting in this region and we’ve got some lovely photographs."
The multi media presentation will explore how this music evolved and is still evolving.
"Right. We’re not studying something we did. We are doing something. We are involved in – this is part of our lives, today. And it has grown from a place that we know about but yeah, it's not a preservationist sort of activity. It’s a living tradition," says Brenneman.
The show is called, “Those Were the Days.” It’s a Single Performance of Achieve Films and Folks Songs that grew out of Southwest England and Southwest Virginia is presented in Partnership with the Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Virginia.
The program on British Appalachian Music is this Saturday evening. Andrea Boyd and company will also be performing in “Song of the Mountains” the following week at the Lincoln Theatre.
