2.5.13

"Carillon" (1979) by Brenda Wootton


The late, great Cornish poetess and singer Brenda Wootton was my internet discovery - without internet I would definitely not know about her because her music was never commercial enough to be promoted by big recording companies and even as I searched later in London's largest CD shops, there was hardly anything still available from her. Which is pity because she was a deeply moving and passionate artists.

Wootton's 1979. album "Carillon" is fiercely patriotic, heartfelt tribute to her beloved Cornwall and its people - it starts with a anthemic "Cornwall the Land I Love", than moves on to a song about disillusioned fishermen who are pushed aside by big international fishing companies ("Rape of the Mackerel Shoals"), love song to Paris, includes song in a brittany dialect ("Kenavo Dew Genough-Why") and even some lilting folk pop sound ("Apple Wine", "Country style") that could easily have been something out of Judy Collins repertoire - Collins has long been one of my special favorites so naturally this kind of artistic sensibility is very attractive to me. Wootton had recorded recorded something like almost twenty albums and this is only one I have found so far, its truly beautiful statement from someone with inspired vision. Its truly tragical that artists like her are mostly left to themselves and media attention is focused on attention-seeking quasi-celebrities, once you hear "Carillon" you would understand what I mean.



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