Is this an example of sturdy independence?
Not so: if it were, each local band would have its own
version of the music, different from its neighbours`,
and this is not the case either! In fact, ALL bands outside
Helston play the tune in the same way as each other –
and none of them even seem aware that it`s not the Helston
version.
 How has this come about ? Should
we care? After all, tradition nowadays is regarded as
a living thing, capable of change. But should change be
merely the product of ignorance?
Apart from Helston, all Cornish Brass Bands
you will see performing for local furry
dances will be playing from written music – identical
music. No serious harm here, we may agree: brass band
music is complex, and difficult to learn from memory.
But this written music was only published in 1948. Moreover,
it was written by Roger Barsotti, an Anglo-Italian bandmaster
in London, who had never been to the Helston Flora, and
who had never heard the tune in its traditional form –
and it`s the wrong tune!
By a curious accident, this otherwise blameless gentleman
had learned the tune from another source – an English
source, and a flawed source. In 1911, Katie Moss had written
her famous song THE FLORAL DANCE, describing
her own experience of the Helston Flora the same year.
Katie had placed in the piano accompaniment a musical
`quotation` from the traditional Furry dance tune; however,
in doing so, she had found it expedient to change the
shape of the ancient tune – by 25% !
Like almost everyone in the world by this time, Barsotti
knew and loved Katie`s song. Unfortunately, he also took
Katie`s version of the furry tune to be authentic, and
it is this version which he arranged for brass bands in
1948, and this version which bands all over Cornwall still
slavishly play.
Barsotti also used the wrong title for the
tune: he called it THE FLORAL DANCE.
Millions of people, including the Cornish, thus refer
to the ancient tradition by the English name, and Cornish
folks don`t seem to care about that either. The habit
was re-inforced by the popularity of the famous Brighouse
& Rastrick Band`s revival of Katie`s song in 1977.
So: Cornwall has been, for fifty-five
years, happy to play a corrupt English version of our
most ancient tune, and continues, in total ignorance or
apathy, to call it by a corrupt English name.
Self-rule, anyone?
By Ian Marshall |
