Right up there among my favourite folk singers is June Tabor. Except she's not just a 'folk' singer - the songs she carefully chooses and individually interprets range from wartime ballads like Lili Marlene to jazz standards such as Round Midnight. She always sings with passion, intensity and commitment. Her extraordinary, unforgettable alto voice is as dark and rich and deep as a fine, oaky red wine - with strong notes of roughness and toughness. Yet she does tender too. Very much so. I love this singer's work.
This song is from her wonderful album Against The Streams - the 1st CD of hers I possessed. (In fact, someone bought it me for a 40th birthday present, um, a few years ago. Better late than never!) Since then I must have heard most of her recordings, and seen her in concert several times. In live gigs she's spellbindingly intense. In the late 1970s I worked with her for a short period in Hornsey Library, London - she was a qualified librarian and I a trainee. This was around the time her first record Airs And Graces came out.
7 comments:
Oh yes, she's brill!
I've not seen her live yet...but I will. Saw her in a concert on TV (women folk musicians thing) and she was quite magical...even on TV.
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I like this best so far of your current collection of music!
Go see her, Rachel - you will be knocked out.
So pleased you are enjoying the music, Raph!
I like alto voices too. So much more soothing and pleasant to listen to than a soprano. To me, anyway.
But I couldn't hit a high C if my life depended on it!
I've just been listening on You Tube to June Tabor singing with Maddy Prior - you're really extending my education on human music, SW!
You may be amused by my sister Nektareeni's singing on my current post :)
Don't all her album titles start with the letter A? Librarian's instinct, perhaps, to want to be at the beginning?
Not all, Roy - but most of them. (Librarians can be humanly inconsistent, too, you know!)
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