A Four Star review from the Guardian for Steve Tilston‘s album ‘The Reckoning‘ This article titled “Steve Tilston: The Reckoning – review” was written by Robin Denselow, for The Guardian on Thursday 21st July 2011 21.31 UTCIn the Pennine hills in Yorkshire there lives a singer-songwriter and guitarist who has never achieved the public attention he deserves, but has always been praised by fellow musicians. Steve Tilston writes thoughtful, highly personal songs and is one of the finest instrumentalists on the folk scene, with a style that echoes the elaborate, rhythmic “folk baroque” guitar work of Bert Jansch and Davy Graham. He writes about anything that takes his interest, and the songs here range from unashamedly lyrical pieces about the countryside to others concerned with memory, nuclear waste, or a cheering story from the Spanish civil war, given a flamenco edge. There’s even a thoughtful meditation on the existence of God, Doubting Thomas, given a slinky, bluesy backing, and an update of the traditional Nottamun Town, now treated as a contemporary political nightmare. There’s occasional backing from accordion, harmonica and even a string section, but the album is dominated by Tilston’s exquisite guitar work, and features two spirited solo instrumental tracks, including a suitably virtuosic tribute to Graham.guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogSteve Tilston: The Reckoning – reviewRelated posts:The Unthanks: Last – reviewRadiohead: The King of Limbs – reviewGolden rower Tom James forces his way back into Olympic reckoning
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Steve Tilston: The Reckoning – review
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/07/22/steve-tilston-the-reckoning-%E2%80%93-review
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July 22 2011, 5:46am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
English as she is spoke? Voice map finds American stresses not so loud
Project claims “evidence to show that British English is diverging from American English” rather than the other way around or convergence. Of course there’s no such thing as British English. If there were such a thing presumably, it would be some strange mixture of Welsh, Scottish, Irish and English accents, that doesn’t exist. Evidence of American influence in the British media is getting stronger.
This article titled “English as she is spoke? Voice map finds American stresses not so loud” was written by Mark Brown, Arts correspondent, for The Guardian on Thursday 10th March 2011 18.54 UTC It is a common accusation that Britons are sounding more American these days, but new evidence suggests that may not be so after all. Try saying aloud these words: controversy, garage, neither, scone, schedule, attitude. The British Library holds recordings of thousands of people saying those six words and early conclusions cast interesting light on the way English is spoken. As part of the Map Your Voice project, library curators have also listened to many thousands of people reading extracts from Mr Tickle (part of the Mr Men children’s books) – “tickles are small and round and have arms that stretch and stretch and stretch” – in an attempt to provide a log of contemporary spoken English. More than 10,000 English speakers from across the world have so far contributed to the project. “We’ve had an extraordinary response, we’re delighted,” said the library’s curator of sociolinguistics, Jonnie Robinson. One early conclusion is that Britons are not necessarily pronouncing their words as Americans do. Take “controversy”. Americans tend to put the stress on the first syllable – which the Oxford English Dictionary says is correct – while a majority of Britons now emphasise the second. “This is something that linguists have been tracking for some time but this is wonderful evidence,” said Robinson. “It is a pronunciation that is changing in the UK but not in America. It is good evidence to show that British English is diverging from American English, and scotches the myth that we’re all sounding more like Americans. It seems British English speakers are changing the way they speak and Americans aren’t.” Why Britons are increasingly stressing the second syllable on some words – applicable and harass are others – is another question. Another word being studied is “garage”, which for the vast majority of British English speakers rhymes with “marriage”, but for Americans still mostly rhymes with “mirage”. Then there is “neither”, which most British people still pronounce as in “scythe” while most Americans “seethe”. On the scone (gone)/scone (bone) debate, all the American speakers said the latter while two-thirds of British English-speakers said the former. The project is part of the library’s exhibition Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices, which runs to 3 April. Robinson said: “We have had lots of non-native speakers, which is important because they are thought by linguists to have an increasing influence on the way English will develop. Non-native speakers hugely outnumber native speakers.” So far 10,000 people’s voices have been recorded for the British Library collection and curators hope there will be significantly more over time. “I think we will have a collection the like of which does not exist anywhere else; that number of voices reading the same passage is going to be great for linguists to work with and is a great snapshot of the way English was spoken in a huge number of places at the start of the 21st century.” As well as many thousands of recordings of Mr Tickles and the six words, contributors also say a word that is special to them. One man from the Yorkshire dales offered “brozzen”, meaning full after a meal. But one of the most popular offered is one not yet in the OED but which will probably be known to anyone under 16: “peng”. As anyone down with the kids will know, it means attractive. • Add your voice at http://www.bl.uk/evolvingenglish/mapabout.html
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogEnglish as she is spoke? Voice map finds American stresses not so loud
Related posts:Andrew Roberts – History of English Speaking Peoples Zippo Lighter – American Embassy Paris Half of living languages face extinction
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March 10 2011, 2:10pm | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Leeds to Paris in four hours – but high-speed rail plan faces protests
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/02/leeds-paris-eurostar-high-speed-rail-plan-protests
Leeds to Paris by Eurostar in four hours when the high speed rail network is completed.
This article titled “Leeds to Paris in four hours – but high-speed rail plan faces protests” was written by Dan Milmo and Martin Wainwright, for The Guardian on Monday 28th February 2011 19.51 UTC The battleground over a £32bn high-speed rail network moved from the shires to the north after the government outlined the case for a second phase linking Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds. Undaunted by a backlash in Tory heartlands over plans for a 225mph London-to-Birmingham line, the transport secretary, Philip Hammond, backed plans for joining it to a Y-shaped national network. The proposals include a link to the Channel tunnel rail route that would transport passengers in Manchester and Leeds to Paris in less than four hours without a London stopover. However, the proposals for 200 miles of new track are likely to be of more immediate concern to the thousands of households that line the potential routes in Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire. The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said the economic arguments in favour of the northern extension of High Speed Two (HS2) could be drowned out by protests over blight. “As this proceeds, we are going to hear some very different voices from the north, arguing passionately about the beautiful local countryside,” said Ralph Smyth, CPRE’s senior transport campaigner. “Take the Cheshire area around Wilmslow, which lies right on the likely route of the Birmingham-to-Manchester line. You have got very wealthy, very influential people there, who are not going to take happily to HS2 driving through.” Launching a consultation on a national high-speed network, Hammond was confident that the economic case would prove more powerful with residents in the north than it has in the home counties, with the full route forecast to produce a £44bn boost to the UK. “Ironically the further north we get the easier it will get. Once you get further away from the south-east people seem to understand more clearly the argument on jobs and growth.” According to the Department for Transport, the first phase alone would help create 40,000 jobs. Hammond said the northern section could open in 2032, six years after the London-to-Birmingham route. A consultation on the specific route will start next year after detailed plans are published. It is understood that more than a dozen routes are under consideration for phase 2, which will be reduced to a shortlist by early 2012. If the proposals receive the green light, journey times to Manchester and Leeds from London will be reduced from more than two hours to 73 and 80 minutes respectively. Sources said planning for the Birmingham-to-Leeds section has proved particularly challenging, due to the hilly landscape and the number of small mining communities and former collieries dotted along the potential route. “It is a complicated landscape,” said one expert. Hammond said ramblers in the Peak District would not be disturbed by bullet trains tearing through an area of outstanding natural beauty, with the Birmingham-to-Leeds line likely to pass between Derby and Nottingham, and to the east of one of Britain’s most stunning national parks. However, the Chiltern Hills, another area of outstanding natural beauty, have been less fortunate and the first phase of the network will pass through the area when the line opens in 2026. Hammond said environmentally friendly amendments to the London-to-Birmingham route published in the consultation, such as deeper cuttings, would be repeated when the northern extension is drafted: “We will be doing exactly the same as we are doing in the Chilterns. We will work with communities and engineers to minimise the effect on sensitive landscapes.” The Department for Transport is confident the rail route will challenge one of the major bastions of domestic aviation – the London to Scotland route – with a forecast journey time of three-and-a-half hours. Rail would take half of the air-rail market, the consultation argued. The current figure stands at 20%. Under the proposals high-speed trains will leave the network at Manchester and Leeds and travel to Scotland on conventional lines. The consultation argues that high-speed rail is the obvious solution to a looming capacity shortage on England’s major rail routes, pointing out that passengers are already forced to stand up on peak-hour services on those lines. The document states: “Long-term forecasts have been developed on demand growth on these three main north-south lines out of London which connect the majority of Britain’s major cities. These forecasts look forward to the early 2040s and show that, even allowing for a range of enhancements to these lines, crowding levels on long-distance services will continue to rise.” However, the debates over blight and economics are likely to rumble on. Critics of the programme pounced on revised figures in the consultation, which showed that the economic benefit of the first phase would equate to £2 for every £1 spent, instead of the £2.70 that was forecast last year. “That is mediocre value for money by official Treasury standards,” said Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation. A government source said that earlier estimates had been based on “fantastical” forecasts by the Labour government.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
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March 2 2011, 12:44pm | Comments »
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I posted to andyroberts.me
The Last Nail – Romford Folk Club
http://andyroberts.me/andy-roberts/the-last-nail-romford-folk-club
Last Tuesday I rushed out from finishing my podcast Episode 15 and caught the train to Romford, just like so many times on Wednesdays, except this was to visit Romford Folk Club. It’s always on Tuesdays, so not the best fit with the weekly podcasts, but I’ve proven that it can be done in time without even missing the opening number. The guest artists were supposed to be from Yorkshire but because of some hiccup, a couple of musicians who normally host the folk club at Lee On Sea, Mick and Pete stood in at short notice and entertained all with a hearty selection of mostly Irish and Australian folk songs. I’ll be playing a guest spot myself at the Romford Folk Club in April next year, the 5th I think, but on Tuesday I played one Andy Roberts original song, The Last Nail.
The Romford Folk Club meets on Tuesdays at 8.00pm downstairs at the Sun, London Road, Romford RM7 9QA The Last Nail Lyrics Above the stone walled harbour, or down the winding hill That’s where they built the boatyard, and the structure stands there still. Not much boat building happens now, just repairs and fitting out but when the wind rattles the boatmasts, you can hear the old boatbuilders shout: Will you pass the last nail over and I’ll knock it into place, Then with four more coats of varnish, she’ll be ready for the race. Our grandfathers put up the boatyard, to build the fishing fleet, more than fifty boats in the harbour, and shops all down the main street then the steam age brought in the drifters, boat builders became engineers Now the wind blows straight through the boatyard, there’ll be no more boat building here Will you pass the last nail over and I’ll knock it into place, Then with four more coats of varnish, she’ll be ready for the race. With a keen eye for staying in business, they switched over to build leisure craft And the weekend yachtsmen snapped them up, no expense spared fore or aft Then wooden hulls went out of fashion, the order book emptied last year So the bankers foreclosed on the boatyard, and there’ll be no more boatbuilding here Will you pass the last nail over and I’ll knock it into place, Then with four more coats of varnish, she’ll be ready for the race. Now the Vikings invented the clinker for both strength and shallow seas and the herring boats followed the coastline, until the canning ships found the key There’s a regatta here every August, and the whole village turns out again But the Sea Queen’s no real competition, and it’s guaranteed to rain Will you pass the last nail over and I’ll knock it into place, Then with four more coats of varnish, she’ll be ready for the race. Above the stone walled harbour, or down the winding hill that’s where they built the boatyard, and the skeleton stands there still. No more boat building happens now, not even fitting out but when the wind rattles the boatmasts, you can still hear the old boys shout: Will you pass the last nail over, we’ll knock it into place, Then with four more coats of varnish, she’ll be ready for the race.
October 18 2010, 12:25pm | Comments »
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