One of the spin-off shows had some extraordinary footage of the Abbotts Bromley Horn Dancers, rather insultingly in a programme about how the British Can't Dance, but wonderful to see all the same. A noticeable absence though, especially in the last programme covering the period from the 80s to the present, was any coverage at all the burgeoning e-ceilidh scene.
Elsewhere the programme had much to recommend it - from footage of grumpy mods on the "Ready Steady Go" set, to pogoing punks and (stretching the definition of dance somewhat) headbanging metal fans.
*BBC4 is so good! Why weren't there stations like this in the olden days? Oh, wait a minute there was; BBC2 and Channel 4. This was before reality TV though....
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bagrec- Richard Sanderson
- Everything You Need to Know About Me
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With all due respect to Doc Rowe – who knows a thing or two about traditional culture in these islands – that's a bit like saying that virtually all pub session tunes only go back to the 19th century at the earliest.
This is a discontinuous view of history, and an absolutist one of religion. Cultural evolves, both gradually and with a few jumps and starts. Sometimes traditions (and even languages) die and are reinvented, but they always have an eye on the past as well as the present.
"Morris" may have roots in the 16th century, but it is a somewhat amorphous dance form, and some of what we call "Morris" is no such thing. But even if it is Morris, from where did the 16th century dancers get their inspiration?
As for paganism, we have to go back to the middle of the first millennium CE for the British Isles to be fully "pagan". But even that term is devoid of substance, unless one simply means non-Christian.
And what of Christianity? It has certainly left its mark on our culture, and even the goodly Dr Dawkins likes to sing Christmas carols. That said, Christianity has for common people never been more than a thin veneer covering a complex mix of folk religious beliefs and practices, and no doubt a degree of (private) agnosticism and scepticism.
I think, like most morris men, I'm very wary of any attempt to identify the morris with other movements - Cecil Sharpe was clearly misguided in his reasons for celebrating an English culture, although the results were important and fortuitous. In my small time in the morris world, I've seen the BNP, Anarchists and Pagans all try to claim it as part of their culture...where-as it seems to me that morris is, and probably always has been about getting together on a day off to have some fun, show off and drink beer, and just maybe piss-off a few stuffed shirts in the process (in the loosest sense the anarchists were closer here).
I think some carbon-dating on the horns of the Abbotts Bromley (when one set shattered during a dance) places them pre-13th century but this does not signifie that the dance has earlier origins, simply presents the possibility. I for one do not accept that events begin with official records (look at how things are missed and misunderstood in the current, so-called, information age) but this doesn't mean things like morris dance have pre-Roman origin or any deeper significance than a dance and a piss up.
Which I thinks means I agree with you Richard.