Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger

Subject: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,Pseudonymous
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 06:07 AM

BBC Two in the UK has been showing some programmes on folk music presented by Phil Cunningham. It crosses the Atlantic, with performances on both sides. Among items of interest were a set of old 'ballet' sheets printed in Belfast. Has anybody else watched this? Discussion and comments?

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08lnlhz

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 06:17 AM

Damn. It doesn't seem to work in the US. Anybody know a workaround?

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,Peter Cripps
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 07:42 AM

It was unfortunately only on BBC2 Scotland, not BBC2 UK, so I was unable to watch it

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 08:08 AM

I don't understand that Peter. Its available on the iplayer for over a year.

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,Pseudonymous
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 08:16 AM

I found it on iplayer under the 'music' category.

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,Peter Cripps
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 09:33 AM

I cannot access iPlayer unfortunately, my internet speed is too low

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: leeneia
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 12:10 PM

Hello, Pseudonmyous. That sounds like an interesting program, and I hope you find someone to discuss it with.

I'm an American, and I usually find that I am blocked from BBC programs on the Internet. But if I do occasionally get one, I may find afterward that my MIDI feature has been turned off. So I have decided to avoid the BBC.

Nonetheless I would be interested to learn more about the 'ballets' from Belfast.

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 07:30 PM

When blocked ...alwayz first try..

The root number code .... then slip to the "dark-side"...

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Look at the postings within, and within.........

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,Pseudonymous
Date: 16 Jun 20 - 05:08 PM

Leeneia

Nice post, thanks!

It was a bit tantalising as he mentioned these ballets (ie song sheets) had been found in a linen chest in 1922, and that the Clellands (?), a family of barbers, had bought them, and so somebody in the family must have enjoyed singing and cared enough to buy and keep them, but beyond this there was very little. I was wondering whether this is a famous collection (perhaps I have seem mention of it before but forgotten).

I've only seen one part of this yet: he intends to trace people across to the US Appalachia especially, but this must be for the future programmes. It's a mixture of history and performance and discussion of songs. Some of, no all, of the performances have been excellent.

I'm guessing this will appear on some channel with more open access in the end. So perhaps worth looking out for?

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 16 Jun 20 - 05:43 PM

This was a series of 3 programmes, first broadcast on BBC Scotland in 2017. The programmes pretty much follow on from the book [ and CD ] of the same name by Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr, which was published in 2014.
Are you sure he said "ballets", and not "ballads" ?

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 16 Jun 20 - 06:05 PM

Why do people from outside the UK expect to be able to watch programmes on the BBC iPlayer? Even those of us in the UK are legally required to have a TV license in order to view it.

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 16 Jun 20 - 07:36 PM

Ray, people from outside the UK mostly don't even know what a TV license is.

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: leeneia
Date: 16 Jun 20 - 08:25 PM

Well said, Gerry. And see the "www" in the link in the OP? It stands for World-Wide Web.

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: G-Force
Date: 17 Jun 20 - 04:23 AM

I thought anyone with a satellite dish could get BBC Scotland on freesat. We certainly do, and we're in S.E. England.

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 17 Jun 20 - 04:27 AM

Gerry - let’s put it another way, we’ve paid for it, they haven’t. Would you buy a concert ticket if you knew that, if you turned up on the night, you could get in for n’owt?

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,crumbly
Date: 17 Jun 20 - 08:39 AM

BBC TV has the great benefit of having no commercial ads unlike UK commercial channels and most (?) other countries who have varying amounts of ad time. Some, like Ireland, have BOTH!

The BBC licence provides the money for the BBC to carry on producing its programmes without commercial interests calling the shots.

Could that be why BBC productions, folk or not, are still highly respected, despite the current government's attempts to destroy it?

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,pseudonymous
Date: 17 Jun 20 - 07:54 PM

He definitely said 'ballets' ie 'ballots' and not as per French at the end, I chose the spelling I did for various reasons. He uses the term ballad with fairly standard pronunciation also.

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: GUEST,pseudonymous
Date: 17 Jun 20 - 07:59 PM

My guess given Boris and a party full of entryist right wingers the BEEB is basically a walking corpse. Sad. Thanks Kenny for the info. Phil Cunnungham well worth seeing live with Ali Bain.

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: leeneia
Date: 19 Jun 20 - 12:31 AM

I read the first of John Jacob Niles' books about collecting old music in Kentucky. There, the people called the old songs 'ballards.' Clearly the word varied from place to place, and it doesn't surprise me that in Ireland they were called 'ballets.'

Subject: RE: Phil Cunningham Wayfaring Stranger
From: Allan Conn
Date: 19 Jun 20 - 03:18 AM

In regard to the use of “ballat” instead of “ballad”. There are various alternatives to the word “ballad” in both the Concise Scots Dictionary and Chambers Scots Dictionary which combined give examples given being “Ballan” “Ballant” “Ballat” and “Ballett”. So maybe no great surprise if said usage still exists in some Ulster Scots speakers. I was brought up as a speaker of the Border Scots dialect and “ballat” certainly isn’t used here even among older folks but there are massive differences between the various Scots dialects.
As to BBC I-Player parts of it are actually accessible to everyone in the world but on the whole for the TV programmes they are blocked. There are several reasons for that. The obvious one being that it is a subscription service. There are lots of things available on the www that are subscription services like Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. The subscription for the BBC service is paid for by the license fee as paid for by UK residents. You are supposed to be a license holder even to access the service in the UK. There are then issues over copyright as well as in each country distribution rights etc if all the programming was available worldwide. That is not what the remit of the BBC programming is for though. It is a service for the domestic audience paid for by said domestic audience.   The BBC is moving into the world-wide streaming market as it is involved in the BritBox streaming service. Like all such commercial ventures though it’ll go for shows with maximum audience potential so I doubt the likes of this would get on there.
The said programmes – or at least certainly the first two episodes – are available on Youtube in their entirety. Just search for - wayfairing stranger cunningham. But here's a blue clicky for episode one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0F0k_vMAns