minstrel: Bardic in the Known World Q

[CAB]

                      Bardic in the Known World Question           4/21/97

<Snip>
Take for example the song "Bonny Banks of the Virgeo." I have heard 
dozens of different interpretations of this song over the years. Most 
have been slow and depressing. When I perform this song I speed it up 
considerably and have added hand gestures. Instead of depressing my 
audience I often end up making them laugh with the idiocy of the whole 
thing. I also always sing the two additional verses that a Bard from 
Ansteorra tacked onto the end (his name escapes me at the moment):

One maiden left stood all alone
All a lee and a lonely oh
And on her face a smile was shone
By the bonny bonny banks of the virgeo.

"I have no brothers at all my dear,"
All a lee and a lonely oh
"But I've avenged my sisters here."
By the bonny bonny banks of the virgeo.

-Pendar
<snip>

Those are great lines.  I know and preform this piece but I have always
thought it was a bit depressing for how "pretty" the tune was. I like those
two verses, because they add to the whole irony of the song.  I am definitely
going to add those two verses when I next preform this and surprise everyone.
= ) Thank you so much for including those.

Now this brings up a couple of questions that I had been thinking of posing to
this list.

I live in (southern) Ansteorra and I have never even heard these two lines (or
anything close to them) though you say they were written by an Ansteorran. 
And even though, I have seen this song in many places, I have only actually
heard it preformed by someone else one time.

The question I would like to pose is this.

What is bardic like in the different kingdoms?

>From what I have seen of Ansteorra, Bardic is hard to find.  This is not to
say that we do not have FANTASTIC bards.  We have lots of super-talented
people, but, we hardly ever hear them.  At events, the only time you hear
bardic is occasionally at a feast, if you listen in on a chance bardic
competition, or if there happens to find a bardic circle. (I probably event
2-3/times a month, and I probably only see a bardic circle once every couple
of months).

When I lived in Calontir for a short time, bardic seemed to be done far more
frequently.  And everyone was highly encouraged to participate whether they
thought themselves a bard or not, they were expected to have a song, poem,
story or a "no-shit-there-I-was" story to contribute.

In the various kingdoms, how is bardic viewed?

Do bards preform "all the time" at events?  before court? during/before most
feast? lots of bardic circles? between rounds in a tourney? other times,
places?

Who do you hear preform bardic (only the super bards, or everyone?)  (I was
very intimidated, and still am, around where I live, because, most of the
bards that I hear are so talented, while I have to rely upon seemingly endless
repetitive practice and a lot of luck. =)

Any other observations?

L Crystal Berringer 
  









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