English Folk Dance and Song Society
Abbreviation | EFDSS |
---|---|
Formation | 1932 |
Type | Nonprofit organisation |
Purpose | Research, study and promotion of English folk music and folk dance |
Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
Region served | England |
Chief Executive and Artistic Director | Katy Spicer[1] |
Budget | £1.5 million[2] |
Website | www.efdss.org |
The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS, or pronounced 'EFF-diss'[3]) is an organisation that promotes English folk music and folk dance. EFDSS was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dance Society.[4] The EFDSS, a member-based organisation, was incorporated[5] in 1935 and became a registered charity[6] in 1963.
History[]
The Folk-Song Society, founded in London in 1898,[7] focused on collecting and publishing folk songs, primarily of Britain and Ireland although there was no formal limitation. Participants included: Lucy Broadwood, Kate Lee, Cecil Sharp, Percy Grainger, Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Butterworth, George Gardiner,[8] Henry Hammond, Anne Gilchrist, Mary Augusta Wakefield, and Ella Leather.[9]
The English Folk Dance Society was founded in 1911 by Cecil Sharp. Maud Karpeles was a leading participant. Its purpose was to preserve and promote English folk dances in their traditional forms, including Morris and sword dances, traditional social dances, and interpretations of the dances published by John Playford. The first secretary of the society was Lady Mary Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis; Trefusis Hall in the EFDSS HQ, Cecil Sharp House, is named after her.[10]
One of the greatest contributions that the EFDSS made to the folk movement, both dance and song, was the folk festival, starting with the Stratford-upon-Avon Festival in the 1940s and continuing with festivals in Whitby, Sidmouth, Holmfirth, Chippenham and elsewhere.
Publications[]
Since 1936 the EFDSS has published English Dance & Song at least four times a year. This has become the longest-established magazine devoted to folk music, dance and song in the country. English Dance & Song is aimed at stimulating the interest of the membership of the EFDSS, as well as the wider folk music and dance community.
Their regular scholarly publication is Folk Music Journal, published annually in December, which was formerly entitled the Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society until 1965. The work continues the earlier journals of the two societies: Journal of the Folk-Song Society, 1899–1931;[11] Journal of the English Folk Dance Society 191431.
Cecil Sharp House[]
The Society is based at Cecil Sharp House in Camden, North London.[12] Originally conceived as a purpose-built headquarters for the English Folk Dance Society, and now Grade II-listed, it was designed in the neo-Georgian style by architect Henry Martineau Fletcher,[13] and opened in 1930 by Sharp himself.
The building’s most striking feature is Kennedy Hall, a large concert and performance space with a sprung ballroom floor for dancing. The space features acoustic-focused design elements, courtesy of Fletcher’s friend and fellow architect Hope Bagenal.[14]
One wall of the hall originally accommodated a raised musicians gallery, but this was destroyed by bomb-damage in the Second World War. When the damage was repaired, in works concluding in 1954, the decision was made to commission a mural by the British abstract pastoral painter Ivon Hitchens. When unveiled, it was the largest single-wall mural in the United Kingdom.[15]
In addition to Kennedy Hall, Cecil Sharp House contains several smaller performance and rehearsal spaces; a café and bar; and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library and Archive. Cecil Sharp House is an active and popular venue for concerts, as well as conferences and other private functions. In 2015, the building was voted as one of London’s 20 best music venues by readers of Time Out magazine.[16]
Recent developments[]
In 1998, with the folk movement strongly supported by a number of other organisations and the seeds planted by EFDSS thriving, the EFDSS altered its strategy to focus on education and archiving, with its primary goal the development of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library as the country's national archive and resource centre for folk music, dance and song.
In 2009, the society became a regularly funded organisation (now called a National Portfolio Organisation) of Arts Council England.[17]
In 2011 the society entered into a joint commission with Shrewsbury Folk Festival to create the Cecil Sharp Project, a multi-artist residential commission to create new works based on the life and collecting of Cecil Sharp. The project took place in March 2011, the artists involved being: Steve Knightley, Andy Cutting, Leonard Podolak, Jim Moray, Jackie Oates, Caroline Herring, Kathryn Roberts and Patsy Reid.[18]
In 2013, EFDSS launched The Full English, an ongoing archive project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Folklore Society, the National Folk Music Fund and the English Miscellany Folk Dance Group. This free and searchable resource of 44,000 records and over 58,000 digitised images is the world's biggest digital archive of traditional music and dance tunes.[19]
As well as folk music, the EFDSS is home to a number of performance artists, providing a regular performance platform for acts including the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, the Massive Violins and the Swingle Singers.
EFDSS Gold Badge Awards[]
The EFDSS Gold Badge Award, created in 1922, is made to those deemed to have made exceptional contributions to folk music, dance, or the wider folk arts and folk community. Many past recipients are prominent figures not only within the folk community, but of wider British culture and society.[20]
1922 Lady Mary Trefusis; Griselda Hervey
1923 Cecil Sharp; William Kimber
1928 Maud Karpeles; William Wells
1929 Helen Storrow
1930 Winifred Shuldham-Shaw
1934 W H Bonham Carter
1938 Anne Gilchrist; Miss E F Lawrence
1940 Miss C Holbrow
1943 Dr Ralph Vaughan Williams
1945 Miss H Cornock Keen
1946 Lady Ampthill; Frank Howes
1948 Frederick Keel; R J Tabor; Rev E A White
1950 Richard Callender
1954 Violet Alford; Elsie Avril; Marjory Sinclair
1956 P J Terry
1957 Janet McCrindell
1960 Kenneth Constable; Irene Fisher; Marjorie Heffer; Dr Robert Kenworthy Schofield; George Osborne
1961 Kathleen Adkins; Miss L Chapin; Lily Conant; May Gadd; Margaret Grant; Sybil Lightfoot; Grace Meikle; Philip Merrill; Marjorie Penn; Evelyn Wells; Elsie Whiteman
1962 Alec Hunter
1963 Everal de Jersey
1964 Lady Mary Trevelyan; Dorothy Bessant
1965 Douglas Kennedy & Helen Kennedy
1969 Harry Cox; Arthur Marshall; Edward Nicol
1970 Dr W Fisher-Cassie; Fred Hamer
1971 Nan Fleming-Williams; Patrick Shuldham-Shaw
1973 Mollie Du Cane; Dr Leonard C Luckwill
1974 William Ganiford
1975 A L Lloyd
1976 Kenneth Clark; Johnson Ellwood
1977 Stan Hugill; Rev Kenneth Loveless
1978 Sybil Clark; Bob Copper (Copper Family); Kathleen Mitchell
1979 Bill Rutter
1980 Dr Russell Wortley
1981 Dr Lionel Bacon; Bob Cann
1982 Sam Sherry; The Watersons (Lal, Norma and Mike Waterson, John Harrison and Martin Carthy)
1983 Nibs Matthews; Walter Pardon; The Spinners (Tony Davis, Mick Groves, Cliff Hall and Hugh Jones)
1984 Philip Bloy; Leslie Hyner
1986 Hugh Rippon
1987 Reg Hall; Ewan MacCoIl; Peggy Seeger; Michael Yates
1988 Joe Brown; Ursula Vaughan Williams
1989 Peter Dashwood; Jack Hamilton
1990 Tom Cook; Pat Tracey
1995 Ivor Allsop; Liza Austin; Brenda Godrich; Cyril Jones; Fred Jordan; Harry Pitts; Rex Laycock
1996 May Beeforth; Elsie Cloughton; Tony Foxworthy; Francis Shergold
1997 Barbara Kinsman; Ivy Romney; Cyril Swales
1998 Jill Copper, John Copper & Jon Dudley (Copper Family); Marjorie Fennessy; Dr Ian Russell
1999 Roy Judge; Ron Smedley
2001 Roy Dommett; Dr Denis Smith; Trevor Stone
2002 Dr Christopher Cawte; John Kirkpatrick; Dave Swarbrick
2003 Dave Arthur; Shirley Collins; Iona Opie; Roy Palmer
2004 Steve Heap; Peter Kennedy; Geoff Rye; Malcolm Taylor
2005 Alistair Anderson; Tony Engle; Phil Heaton; Aubrey O’Brien; Doc Rowe
2007 Eliza Carthy; Michael Heaney; Frank Purslow; Pat Wilkinson; The Yetties (Bonny Sartin, Pete Shutler and Mac McCulloch)
2008 Ray Fisher; John Heydon; Lou Killen; Colin Ross
2009 Jack Brown; Beryl Marriott; Roger Nicholls; Steve Roud; Derek Schofield
2010 Jim Coleman; Vic Gammon; John Howson; Katie Howson; Taffy Thomas
2011 Johnny Handle; Nic Jones; George Peterson; Les Seaman; Jackie Toaduff; Eddie Upton
2012 Bill Leader; Graeme Miles
2013 Ashley Hutchings; Ricky Forster; David Blick
2014 Maddy Prior; Sandra Kerr; David Leverton; Alan Bearman
2015 Ian A. Anderson; John Tams; Rollo Woods; Paul Wilson and Marilyn Tucker (Wren Music)
2016 Maggie Fletcher; Pete Coe and Sue Coe; Mike Wilson-Jones and Mary Wilson-Jones
2017 Johnny Adams; Nicolas Broadbridge; Dave and Maggie Hunt; The Wilson Family
2018 Frankie Armstrong; John Bacon; Antony Heywood; Vic Legg
2019 Carolyn Robson; Chris Coe; John Graham; Mike Norris; Kate Rusby
2020 Paul and Liz Davenport; Benny Graham; Mick Peat
See also[]
- Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
- Country Dance and Song Society, the American counterpart to the EFDSS
References[]
- ^ "Staff". EFDSS. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ "Report of the Year 2016-2017" (PDF). EFDSS. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ Challenges of Designing the Roud Folk Song Index, Library of Congress, YouTube, 9:00
- ^ Karpeles, Maud and Frogley, Alain (2007–2011). 'English Folk Dance and Song Society'. In: Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online. Retrieved 24 October 2011. (subscription required).
- ^ Limited Company no 297142
- ^ Charity no 305999
- ^ Keel, Frederick (1948). 'The folk song society' (1898–1948). Journal of the English Folk Dance & Song Society, Vol 5, No 3, December. Retrieved 23 October 2011 (subscription required).
- ^ "G. B. Gardiner, folk song collector". Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
- ^ "Ella Mary Leather". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
- ^ Seddon, Laura (15 April 2016). British Women Composers and Instrumental Chamber Music in the Early Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 171. ISBN 9781317171348. Retrieved 24 April 2019 – via Google Books.
- ^ Dean-Smith, Margaret (1951). 'The Preservation of English Folk Song in the Journal of the Folk Song Society'. Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, vol 6, no 3 (December), pp 69–76. Retrieved 24 October 2011 (subscription required).
- ^ "History of the house".
- ^ "CECIL SHARP HOUSE".
- ^ "Cecil Sharp House, Camden, London".
- ^ "Ivon Hitchens' 'Mural'".
- ^ "The Best Music Venues in London: Cecil Sharp House".
- ^ "Our History".
- ^ "Cecil Sharp Project". English Folk Dance and Song Society. Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ Chilton, Martin (21 June 2013). "'Staggering' digital folk music archive launched". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
- ^ "Gold Badge Awards".
External links[]
- English folk dance
- English folk music
- English folklore
- Ralph Vaughan Williams
- Arts organizations established in 1932
- 1932 establishments in the United Kingdom
- Charities based in England
- History of the London Borough of Camden
- Organisations based in the London Borough of Camden