Most Popular Books by Edith Fowke

New folk music and folk-song materials in this comprehensive study are particularly important for singers, folk music enthusiasts, ethnomusicologists, comparative and cultural studies scholars, and those interested in Canadian culture. LaRena Clark was a great singer and knew many fine songs. Her wide repertoire covers almost the complete range of types and topics of traditional Anglo-Canadian songs. Comparison with other collections in Canada, the United States, the British Isles, and Australia indicate just how unique and far-reaching it was. Clark''s background and her varied ancestry shaped her repertoire. The account of her parents'' activities gives a vivid picture of folk life in rural Ontario during the early years of this century. She knew some Canadian songs previously unreported, and she wrote songs with a strong Canadian flavour. Musically, Clark''s songs are a microcosm of practices characteristic of British folk music throughout the English-speaking world. Particularly noteworthy is her constant reworking of traditional materials, procedures, forms, and individual tunes.

In this study of Canadian folklore, Edith Fowke, a much-published scholar and anthologizer of Canadian folklore, argues that it is "the material that is handed on by tradition, either by word of mouth or by custom and practice...about which historians write." She examines in detail collectors, folktales, folk music, minor genres (speech, riddles, proverbs, childlore, beliefs), folk arts and material culture, folklife and customs, and various books about these subjects.

This book is the only comprehensive bibliography of Canadian folklore in English. The 3877 different items are arranged by genres: folktales; folk music and dance; folk speech and naming; superstitions, popular beliefs, folk medicine, and the supernatural; folk life and customs; folk art and material culture; and within genres by ethnic groups: Anglophone and Celtic, Francophone, Indian and Inuit, and other cultural groups. The items include reference books, periodicals, articles, records, films, biographies of scholars and informants, and graduate theses. Each items is annotated through a coding that indicates whether it is academic or popular, its importance to the scholar, and whether it is suitable for young people. The introduction includes a brief survey of Canadian folklore studies, putting this work into academic and social perspective. The book covers all the important items and most minor items dealing with Canadian folklore published in English up to the end of 1979. It is concerned with legitimate Canadian folklore – whether transplanted from other countries and preserved here, or created here to reflect the culture of this country. It distinguishes between authentic folklore presented as collected and popular treatments in which the material has been rewritten by the authors. Intended primarily for scholars of folklore, international as well as Canadian, the book will also be of use to scholars in anthropology, cultural geography, oral history, and other branches of Canadian culture studies, as well as to librarians, teachers, and the general public.

Grade level: 5, 6, 7, e, i.

An anthology of Canada''s diverse folk traditions, including a section on native peoples with tales from each of the major groups.

Legends Told in Canada is Edith Fowke''s selection of Canadian historical legends, of British and French origin, illustrated with artifacts from the collections of the Royal Ontario Museum. Of historical legends Fowke writes, "They are more apt to be linked to a particular place or situation, and therefore reflect a country''s history and culture more than other folktales.".

Grade level: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, p, e, i, t.

Death and danger are dominant themes in the shantyboy''s repertoire, as they were prevailing realities in his life. The ballad of Jimmy Whelan, one of many tragic heroes who went to a watery grave, ends with the warning to take care. "For death is drawing nearer and trying to destroy the pride of some poor mother''s heart and his father''s only joy." If constant occupational hazards are not enough to sour one''s outlook, surely hard work for poor pay, loneliness, and lack of creature comforts will make a bitter person. Not the shantyboy. His songs may complain of hard times, but more often they celebrate his pride in a job well done, his strong sense of camaraderie, and his good humor, elements especially evident in the "moniker songs," which name each member of a crew and describe their job. Indeed, in one breath the shantyboy brands the food as such that dogs would bark at; in the next he cheerfully inquires, "who could lead a happier life than a jovial shantyboy?" In Ontario and adjoining areas of Quebec, the lumbercamps played a major role in preserving and spreading folk songs of all kinds, for the logger sang everything from British ballads to American music-hall ditties and also inspired the region''s largest group of native songs. The compiler''s collection of sixty-five songs, recorded from former shantyboys, is unique, being the first in this field to exclude the more general songs popular in the bunkhouse. By limiting her collection to only those songs that feature the shantyboy and his work, she presents a vivid picture of life in the north woods before the days of mechanization. This book includes many songs never before published and four ballads previously listed as of doubtful currency in oral tradition. The texts and music are complemented by detailed documentation and by comments on the history and currency of the songs and on their relation to other folk songs; variant texts and tunes are also given. Both published works and recordings by traditional singers are thoroughly covered in the references, which cite not only sources that give the same song or similar versions, but those that contain tune relatives. An essay by Norman Cazden, who transcribed the music and compiled the information on tune relatives, discusses the analysis of traditional tunes. --Dust jacket.

Three hundred singing games include skipping and ball-bouncing rhymes, tannts, teases, and silly songs.

Grade level: 2, 3, 4, e, p, i.