Here's a Health to the Barley Mow

[MichaelB]

Here's a Health to the Barley Mow: A Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games



From the sexy, savage' Cornish May Day rites of Alan Lomax's Oss Oss Wee Oss, to Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane's footage of ferociously fought traditional football; from children's games in London's bombed East End to intricate sword and step dances, this collection of poetic documentaries, long un-seen television reports and rare silent film footage reveals just how powerful and enduring the folk traditions of Great Britain have always been. This double-disc set of newly remastered films is accompanied by an illustrated 58-page booklet including detailed notes and essays by folk historians. The silent films feature innovative fiddle and melodeon accompaniments by contemporary folk musicians.

Disc 1:

Dance and Song:
Films taken from Kinora Spools Made in 1912 (1912/1982) Bampton Broom and Morris Dances (1928) Sword Dances in North Skelton, Handsworth, Sleights, Westerhope and Grenoside (c.1927) Dances by Ilmington Teams in the Grounds of Peter De Montfort’s House 1220 AD. Fiddler Sam Bennett (1926) Abbots Bromley, Painswick and Bampton (c.1928-36) High Spen Sword Dancers (c.1928) Bacup Coconut Dancers (1930) Grenoside Long Sword Dancers (1938) Wake Up and Dance (1950) Here’s a Health to the Barley Mow (1952) ’Winlaton Sword Dance’ from Mining Review 8th Year No 5 (1955) Dick Hewitt ’The Norfolk Step Dancer’ with Percy Brown - melodeon (1979) The Flora Faddy Furry Dance Day (1989) Rapper Dancers at ‘The National’ (2003)

Extreme Sports Newsreels:
Shrove Tuesday Football Games (1921-29) 600-Year-Old Custom! (1927) The Game of Haxey Hood (1929) Handba’ at Kirkwall, Orkney (1939) New Year Fireball Festival, Stonehaven (1965)

News Stories:
Shrove Tuesday in the 1960’s (1965-66) Ancient and Traditional Sport of Dwile Flonking (1966) Dwile Flonking from Harleston (1967) Tar Barrel Rolling, Ottery St Mary (2000) Shrovetide Football, Ashbourne (2000) Hare Pie and Bottle Kicking, Hallaton (2005)

Disc 2:
Mummers and Hobbyhorses:
The Tichborne Mummers’ Play (1919) Walk in St George (1952) Oss Oss Wee Oss (1953) Derby Tup (1974)

All Manner of Customs Newsreels:
Greater London May Queens (1922-30) NEWSREELS: Llandudno May
Queens (1927-29) Boy Bishop of Berden (1927) Merrie England (1928) One Potato, Two Potato (1957) Castleton Garland Day (1957) Election of New Mayor of Harwich and the Traditional Ceremony of Throwing Kitchels (1962) All Manner of Customs (1965) Informal Gurning Contest at Whitley Bay (1963) Girl Wearing Earring at School Dispute (1966) Children of the Moor (1975) The Face of a County (1976) Castleton’s Traditional Garland Day (2000) The Burry Man of South Queensferry (2000-02).

[antnield]

A double-DVD set examining a century of British folk customs and ancient rural games on film, from May Day queens to mummers, from bottle kicking to tar barrel rolling, from sword dancing to Shrove Tuesday football.

This has potential to be the BFI's most original release of the year, and the kind of thing only a distributor with access to a large archive can pull off. It's a by-product of the research that went into the recent Screen Heritage UK project, which flagged up lots of otherwise unclassifiable footage, sometimes dating back more than a century, recording and in some cases preserving weird and wonderful regional customs - in this case, the weirder the better. Fans of The Wicker Man should lap this up.

I'll post more concrete info when I get some myself.

This one's taken me completely by surprise - and is now my most anticipated release of the year so far.

[Opdef]

Sounds like a brilliant idea for a release, can't wait to hear more about it!

[antnield]

[Matt]

So DVD only? I know this is a pretty niche release, even by BFI standards, but I was hoping to see all of these interesting films in Region-free HD.

[MichaelB]

I suspect that would have pushed the production budget to a hopelessly unrealistic level. It's one thing to compile a two-disc set from SD materials that largely already exist (because they'd originally have been telecined for other purposes, such as clip sales to TV documentaries), but it's quite another to go back to basics, dig out what are often very fragile nitrate 35mm materials and telecine them again to HD.

[Matt]

Thanks for the clarification. I was unaware that this was being compiled mostly from existing transfers. I'll be very happy to have it in any level of definition.

[antnield]

Amazon product description:

HERE S A HEALTH TO THE BARLEY MOW

A Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games

From Cornwall s 'sexy, savage springtime May day rites to the dangerous rolling of burning barrels of tar in Ottery St Mary, this rich and wide ranging collection of films documents and celebrates the folk customs, songs and dances of Great Britain. Amongst the highlights included here are Alan Lomax s glorious Padstow May Day film Oss Oss Wee Oss (1954); a series of 1912 Kinora spools featuring traditional dances by pioneering folklorists Cecil Sharp and George Butterworth; 1920s newsreels charting Shrove Tuesday football contests; and recent footage shot by filmmakers Doc Rowe and Jeremy Deller showing the exhilarating contemporary performance of folk customs and rituals.

This sumptuous package draws on films collected over many years by the Britain's national and regional film archives and is presented by the BFI in collaboration with the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

Extra Features:

- 44 films each remastered from best available material.
- New semi-improvised musical accompaniment for the silent films
- 50-page illustrated booklet featuring contributions by Will Fowler, Vic Pratt, Rob Young, with photographs from the English Folk Dance and Song Society collection

[MichaelB]

Full specs announced:

Here’s a Health to the Barley Mow
A Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games

For the first time ever on DVD, the BFI has compiled an idiosyncratic and highly entertaining collection of startling short films, poetic documentaries, long-unseen TV reports and rare silent film footage all celebrating the traditional folk customs, songs, dances and games of Great Britain.

This double-disc set of 44 newly remastered films, accompanied by a 58-page booklet of essays and notes by leading folk authorities, reveals just how powerful and enduring our folk traditions have always been, and celebrates the enjoyment that these customs continue to bring to communities nationwide.

These eye-opening films, with subjects ranging from pagan customs to traditional dances and extreme sports, come from all over the country. There’s Cornwall’s 'sexy, savage Spring-time rite' performed on May Day; the highly anarchic ball games played in Leicester and Orkney; the Mummers' plays of Derbyshire, Dorset and Dartmoor; mischievous 'dwile flonking' in Suffolk; the extraordinary Burry Man of West Lothian; sword and step dancing in Yorkshire and Norfolk; and the carrying of barrels of burning tar in Ottery St Mary, Devon.

This ambitious 6 hour collection includes Alan Lomax’s glorious Padstow May Day film Oss Oss Wee Oss (1953); a series of 1912 Kinora Spools featuring traditional dances by pioneering folklorists Cecil Sharp and George Butterworth; Richard Philpott’s celebration of ancient pre-Christian spring rituals in The Flora Faddy Furry Dance Day (1989); 1920s newsreels charting Shrove Tuesday football contests; and recent footage shot by filmmakers Doc Rowe and the Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller with Alan Kane, showing the exhilarating contemporary performance of folk customs and rituals. The silent films feature innovative fiddle and melodeon accompaniments by contemporary folk musicians.

The films are divided into thematic sections titled Dance and Song, Extreme Sports, Mummers and Hobbyhorses and All Manner of Customs. Drawing on films collected over many years by the Britain's national and regional film archives, as well as the BFI National Archive, Here’s a Health to the Barley Mow is presented in collaboration with the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS).

Disc One

Dance and Song

Films Taken from Kinora Spools Made in 1912 (1912/1982)
Bampton Broom and Morris Dances (1928)
Sword Dances in North Skelton, Handsworth, Sleights, Westerhope and Grenoside (c. 1927)
Dances by Ilmington Teams in the Grounds of Peter De Montfort's House 1220 AD. Fiddler Sam Bennett (1926)
Abbots Bromley, Painswick and Bampton (c. 1928–36)
High Spen Sword Dancers (c. 1928)
Bacup Coconut Dancers (1930)
Grenoside Long Sword Dancers (1938)
Wake Up and Dance (1950)
Here’s a Health to the Barley Mow (1952)
‘Winlaton Sword Dance’ from Mining Review 8th Year No 5 (1955)
Dick Hewitt 'The Norfolk Step Dancer' with Percy Brown – melodeon (1979)
The Flora Faddy Furry Dance Day (1989)
Rapper Dancers at ‘The National’ (2003)

Extreme Sports

Newsreels: Shrove Tuesday Football Games (1921-29): Ye Olde Game of Football (1921); Shrove Tuesday Football (1924); Uppies and Downies (1926); Not For ‘The Cup’ (1929)
600-Year-Old Custom! (1927)
The Game of Haxey Hood (1929)
Handba’ at Kirkwall, Orkney (1939)
New Year Fireball Festival, Stonehaven (1965)
News Stories: Shrove Tuesday in the 1960s (1965-66); Shrove Tuesday Football at Sedgefield and Alnwick (1965); Sedgefield Shrove Tuesday Football Match Plans (1966)
Ancient and Traditional Sport of Dwile Flonking (1966)
Dwile Flonking from Harleston (1967)
Tar Barrel Rolling, Ottery St Mary (2000)
Shrovetide Football, Ashbourne (2000)
Hare Pie and Bottle Kicking, Hallatan (2005)

Disc Two

Mummers and Hobbyhorses

The Tichbourne Mummers’ Play (1919)
Walk in St George (1952)
Oss Oss Wee Oss (1953)
Derby Tup (1974)

All Manner of Customs

Newsreels: Greater London May Queens (1922-30); For I’m to be Queen of the May, Mother (1927); Prettiest May Queen (1926);London’s May Queen (1927); Call Me Early, Mother Dear (1930); Llandudno May Queens (1927-29); Llandudno – May Day Festival (1927); Llandudno’s Chosen (1929)
Boy Bishop of Berden (1927)
Merrie England (1928)
One Potato, Two Potato (1957)
Castleton Garland Day (1957)
Election of New Mayor of Harwich and the Traditional Ceremony of Throwing Kitchels (1962)
All Manner of Customs (1965)
Informal Gurning Contest at Whitley Bay (1963)
Girl Wearing Earring at School Dispute (1966)
Children of the Moor (1975)
The Face of a County (1976)
Castleton’s Traditional Garland Day (2000)
The Burry Man of South Queensferry (2000-02)

Release date: 18 July 2011
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIVD920 / Cert 12
UK / 1912-2005 / black & white, and colour / 365 mins / 2 x DVD9 / Dolby Digital mono audio (320kbps) / Mixed original aspect ratios

[safe cafe]

To our friends at Criterion Forum,

Event Information
DVD LAUNCH:
British Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games on Film
Venue: Cecil Sharp House
14 July 2011
In association with the BFI
Doors open at 7pm, event starts at 7.30pm.

To mark the launch of an exciting new double-disc DVD from the BFI, celebrating folk customs on film, produced in collaboration with EFDSS and the regional film archives, this evening will include rare silent films with live musical accompaniment and a special focus on the uniquely poetic 1950s documentaries of Peter Kennedy.

For tickets contact Verity Flecknell - verity@efdss.org - or follow this link.

Best regards

Stewart Morgan
Hires Administrator
English Folk Dance and Song Society | http://www.efdss.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, London NW1 7AY
Tel. +44 (0) 20 7485 2206

[MichaelB]

The main BFI website has just published a still and a video clip (from Oss Oss Wee Oss)

[MichaelB]

The Guardian:

This DVD may showcase national eccentricity gloriously, but it's not a simple, silly trek through ye olde Merry Britain. Instead, the disc reveals the peculiar rituals that have persisted here. In Ottery St Mary in Devon, tar barrel rolling was still going strong in 2000, for instance, as is sword dancing in Grenoside, Sheffield, and horn dancing in Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire. BFI curators Vic Pratt and Will Fowler began this project in 2009, wanting to reveal to the world this rich, other Britain...

[colinr0380]

I'm wondering whether there may be anything on this set about Well Dressings. As a kid I can remember my grandfather showing us dozens upon dozens of slides of pictures taken of these intricately designed artworks!

[antnield]

I haven't watched everything yet so it's a tentative no; there's certainly nothing dedicated solely to well dressings. However, your home county does feature in nine of the assembled shorts, Colin. (There's a handy map in the booklet for such referencing.)

[MichaelB]

The Guardian (again - this time their weekly DVD column):

A lot of the films are old, which only adds to the fun, making footage of customs where local men wear gaudy skirts for a day appear to be something far darker and primal. Still, who cares what they do as long as it makes the crops come in on time? It's a peek into a world hidden in plain sight, where young girls can perform precision dance routines with swords, under the watchful eye of a man dressed as a woman. A world that's often a lot like The Wicker Man, only far creepier.

[MichaelB]

...and this is almost certainly the first link ever posted from these forums to the Uttoxeter Advertiser.

[Wu.Qinghua]

Oops ... Shane Meadows doesn't feature prominently here ... I've got only 14 search results ... No wonder, noone mentioned U.A. before ...

[MichaelB]

My copy arrived this morning, and I immediately spotted the 12 certificate and the admonishing BBFC warning: "Contains dangerous activity which could be copied".

I think the specific "dangerous activity" is tar barrel rolling, so you can see their point. Especially once you realise that the tar barrels are set on fire beforehand.

The Tar Barrel tradition is hundreds of years old. The exact origins are unknown but probably started after the gunpowder plot of 1605. Various alternative reasons suggested for burning barrels have included fumigation of cottages and as a warning of the approach of the Spanish armada.

The West Country has a history of torchlight processions and burning barrels and Ottery was only one of the many towns and villages following an annual tradition containing barrels which were rolled in the streets on November 5th each year. Somewhere along the line someone decided rolling was tame and carrying barrels on your shoulders was far more appealing and so the present tradition was born and now Ottery is the only Town in the country carrying full sized lighted tar barrels through the streets.

[peerpee]

Practically every film ever made has "Dangerous activity which could be copied."

Driving cars fast, running around with guns (or scissors or knives), running fast down some stairs... smoking.... crossing the road... slapping people in the face... where do the BBFC draw the line?

They should just put "Oooo... be careful" as their Consumer Advice on everything.

[kieslowski]

[peerpee]

Haha - that's exactly what they should put on everything!

[MichaelB]

They gave a U certificate to Robinson in Ruins despite the visible (and prolonged) onscreen presence of "a crude and rather unclear drawing of a penis". Thankfully I decided to check out the film myself before subjecting either of my kids to it.

[Duncan Hopper]

After only a few days, every single copy of this has been sold, the BFI have no copies left and are having to repress.
I guess the main factor for its success is the local interest for towns all over the UK, with local news giving the release plenty of coverage.

I assume this is unprecedented as far as BFI releases go?

[antnield]

This month's Sight & Sound article on the set by Philip Hoare is now up on their website.

[jamie_atp]

Amazon say it's in stock?