Summary/Abstract |
While the Roud Index at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library in London contains over 19,000 folk songs about wars waged by Britain and its allies, there are comparatively few composed specifically about World War One. This article explores the musical heritage of the Great War in the songs about the conflict that have been composed, or rearranged, by singers in the early twenty-first century. By studying folk songs sung during the war itself, we can learn how new folk songs draw on historical elements to create a new World War One folk canon.
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