|
Date: |
|
Description: | This is a drinking/farewell song in which a traveller prepares for the journey to Jamaica. Jamaica was not as popular as America or later Australia as a choice for emigrants, but work was available on the numerous plantations and before 1834 it may have been possible for travellers to catch a ride on the many slave ships destined for the Carribeen Islands. - Bellingham is a small town in Northumberland.The song forms part of a nineteenth century manuscript held at Gosforth Records Office. In 1855 the first attempt at a large-scale regional survey of traditional song to be made in the country was put into action. It would be almost thirty years until this work would be published under the title of the Northumbrian Minstrelsy and during the intervening years the Ancient Melodies Committee set about collecting songs and tunes from local musicians, composers and other collectors. This manuscript, by Thomas Hepple of Kirkwhelpington, was sent to the Committee following an appeal by the Duke of Northumberland. The Duke, having been approached by the Committee, offered prizes of ��10 and ��5 for the two best collections of ancient Northumbrian music in score. Hepple's collection of songs appears to have been the only set of Northumbrian music to have been entered. It was nevertheless warmly received by the Committee, who included Hepple's fine Whittingham Fair in their final publication. Two more songs from this manuscript were later published by Stokoe and Reay but many remain unpublished - we now fortunately have the opportunity to finally see the collection in full ... ; Songs and tunes collected by Thomas Hepple | Rights holder: | rights holder : Society of Antiquaries | Subjects: | travel & emigration travel and adventure | Temporal: | start=1841;end=1860; | Source: | Folk Archive Resource North East | Identifier: | farne:R0803501 | Go to resource |
|
|