LL-L "Song" 2011.06.11 (01) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 11 June 2011 - Volume 01
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From: Hellinckx Luc luc.hellinckx at gmail.com
Subject: LL-L "Music"

Beste Lowlanders,

It's probably never going to become our anthem, but earlier today a
beautiful folksong caught my attention. "The Golden Vanity", as the song is
commonly known, dates back to 1635 and place of action is the Lowlands. Some
say it's not really the Dutch Lowlands, but rather the Scottish ones, others
even think it's about Virginia.

Anyway, it deals with the lost life of a cabin boy, a chap who proposed to
sink a ship of the enemy, and succeeded, but later on got killed himself, by
captain Sir Walter Raleigh:

The Sweet Trinity - Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Vanity>

I'm not feeling entitled to judge the endeavors of Sir Walter Raleigh, but
would merely like to draw your attention to four different versions of this
traditional song:

   - an American one by the Almanac Singers, a band featuring Pete Seeger
   and Woody Guthrie
   - an English rendition by Lonnie Donegan (Lonnie could be termed
   Scottish/Irish too I guess ;=))
   - a Dutch cover by Boudewijn De Groot
   - an interpretation by German band "Lack of Limits", a bunch of lads from
   Oldenburg

The difference in style is interesting. It seems that both the American and
English versions put more emphasis on instrumental backing, wheras the
continental performances are trying to highlight the singer's voice. Whether
this is remnant of a troubadour-tradition that may have been more popular on
the continent than elsewhere, I dare not say. I wouldn't exactly tag the
continental versions as belcanto, but the style is definitely more
ceremonial, more melodic, but less rhythmic. Somewhat halfway between
"Minnesang" and Wolf Biermann ;=).

On a sidenote, Russian is apparently using the (originally) Celtic term
"Bard" for a singer-songwriter.

If you'd like to listen to these four songs, you can download them here:

http://tinyurl.com/65to7j4

Lyrics: GOLDEN VANITY - Lyrics - International Lyrics
Playground<http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/g/goldenvanity.shtml>

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx, Halle, Belgium

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