A wintry song for Wayland's Smithy.  This combines my past as an archaeologist (going back to teenage times exploring megalithic stone structures) with my love of folklore, landscape, old maps and music!  This uses the woody sound of plucked violin and voice and is a live recording.  Sparse and spare like the winter!

If you like my music and would buy me a cup of tea, support me at:  https//ko-fi.com/kathrynwheeler   Thank you!

This site lies just off the Ridgeway in Oxfordshire - an ancient chalk trackway connecting many old sites including Avebury, the White Horse of Uffington and many hillforts along the route.  It is a Neolithic stone chambered long barrow dating back to around 3500 BC.

The map featured in the video is the Ordinance Survey One Inch map from 1885 to 1903.  I love how the contours of the hills are shown!

The folklore of the site - that this is the smithy of Wayland, ancient metal worker - is extremely evocative.  Although the fact that the site was used over five thousand years ago to bury the dead is amazingly atmospheric in of itself!

The lyrics are by Giles Watson and I set these to music.  The poem is from his collection  'On the Chalk: Poems for the Ridgeway'.  He has also written another collection inspired by the nearby White Horse of Uffington.  His work is available here: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/gileswatson

Wayland in Winter

A song inspired by dealings with the boggarts and bogles, local creatures of folklore in Lincolnshire, to bring a hard winter to an end...and the terrible cost that must be paid.

Music by Kathryn Wheeler, Lyrics by Giles Watson, 2013
Inspired by a tale in ‘Legends of the Lincolnshire Carrs’, recorded in 
Folklore, 1891, by Mrs Balfour.

“So thou 'st heerd tell o' th' boggarts an' all the horrid things o' th' au'd toimes ? Ay ; they wor mischancy, on- pleasant sort o' bodies to do wi', an' a 'm main glad as they wor all go'an afore ma da'ays. 

I ha' niver seed nowt o' that sort ; cep' mappen a bogle or so — nuthin wu'th tellin' of. But if thou likes them sort o' ta'ales, a can tell 'ee some as ma au'd gran'ther tould us when a wor nobbut a tiddy brat.”

“at da'arklins ivery noight th' fo'ak 'd bear loights i ther ban's roon' ther ha'ouses, sa'ain' wo'ds to ke'p 'um off; an' a 'd smear blo'od o' th' door-sil' to skeer awa'ay th' horrors ; an' a'd put bre'ad and salt o' th' flat stouns set oop by th' la'ane side to get a good ha'arvest ; an' a'd spill watter i' th' fowcr co'ners o' th' fields, when a wanted ra'in"

“ a reckon tha made nigh iverythin' as they seed 'n heerd into sort o' gre'at bogles ; an' tha wor alius gi'un 'um things, or sa'ayin' so't o' prayers loike, to keep um fro' doin' th' fo'ak anny evil."

The Green Mist

An excerpt from a longer song, "The Hunger". Lyrics by Sean Langford, music by Kathryn Wheeler.

The Hunger

Inscrutable

Harbourside

Live recording - vocals and piano accordion
Music by Kathryn Wheeler,
Poetry by Giles Watson, from https://www.scribd.com/document/168030812/A-Kind-of-Bright-Darkness

https://sites.google.com/site/drgileswatson/home

The lyrics are a response to "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44266/mending-wall

Boundaries

Steal Out is a poem from "At The Gates of Dawn: A Collection of Writings" by Ella Young, set to music by and performed by Kathryn Wheeler in this demo.

Ella Young https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Young

Kathryns Tunes

Steal Out

Based on a tale from Eirwen Jones, Folk Tales of Wales, London, 1947
https://sites.google.com/site/drgileswatson/home

Lyrics by Giles Watson   
Music by Kathryn Wheeler
Demo performed by Kathryn Wheeler. Recorded, with thanks, by Erin Holden of Tinkerscuss  http://www.reverbnation.com/tinkerscuss

Hywel and the Mermaid

The Three Singers is a poem from "At The Gates of Dawn: A Collection of Writings" by Ella Young, set to music by and performed by Kathryn Wheeler in this demo.

Ella Young https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Young

Three Singers

When Dobby the House Elf goes bad...what happens when you don't fulfil your side of the bargain!

Don't be deceived by the relatively sweet start to this one!

A hob is a house-spirit or brownie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hob_(folklore)


Lyrics by Giles Watson (2013), music by Kathryn Wheeler
Based on a story recorded by H.L.Gee, "Folk Tales of Yorkshire", London, 1952, pp.17-22

The Farndale Hob

Based on a Rip van Wickle-like tale from Eirwen Jones, Folk Tales of Wales, London, 1947, pp. 66-68.

Lyrics by Giles Watson   http://www.flickr.com/photos/29320962@N07/
Music by Kathryn Wheeler
Recorded, with thanks, by Erin Holden (also guitar) and lead vocals by Bryony Holden of Tinkerscuss  http://www.reverbnation.com/tinkerscuss

Lyrics can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29320962@N07/3411787002/



Roderick and the Nightingale

Hello! I’m Kathryn Wheeler - a playful, inquisitive musician who loves to improvise, jam and set poetry to music.

This Soundcloud page is for original songs inspired by folklore, landscape and natural environment.  Here is where I put my ideas for these songs, mostly recorded live and fairly immediately after. 

I spent early years exploring castles and megalithic stones and trained as an archaeologist (and went on to do a Doctorate in reconstructing what ancient landscapes would have looked like).  I have also worked in nature conservation and taken many a close up photo of plants.  

I have loved setting poetry to music and have been extremely fortunate to work with Giles Watson https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/gileswatson

Recently I have written tunes for 20button anglo concertina.  These are instrumentals inspired by the same subjects.  I also play medieval instrumental music on the vielle (medieval fiddle) www.youtube.com/KathrynWheelerMusic

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