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CORINNE MALE - To Tell The Story Truly

CORINNE MALE - To Tell The Story Truly
Private Label CJHM01

“Over a lifetime of singing, I have learned, recorded, and collected a lot of songs.” This is a long overdue selection of 17 songs which in various ways highlight a lifetime immersed in English and Anglo-Irish song. There are old and new songs, many unfamiliar or unjustifiably neglected, delivered with impressive interpretative skill and stylistic flair: from the vigorous, dramatic narrative to the delicate and lyrical.

To this point I’d only heard Corinne sing unaccompanied, however here she is supported by a stellar cast of musicians who provide tasteful, diverse accompaniments on a good proportion of the tracks and of a minimalistic nature in the service of the song. These include Keith Kendrick and Sylvia Needham et al.

The first track, Duke Arthur’s Nurse, is a well paced narrative delivered in a robust, buoyant manner (which, incidentally, is an anglicised version of the Scots, Duke Of Atholl’s Nurse - Child 212). Irish sources and inspirations are well represented: The Doffing Mistress, the sprightly Tantalary Jig and a remarkable My Good Looking Man collected from Nonie Lynch of County Clare. There are a number of new songs in this varied selection: Childhood penned by Corinne, Song Of The Under Tens from Lyn Cooper, and the quite outstanding, poignant, Market Day written by retired Yorkshire sheep farmer John Greaves. The penultimate song is the well known Salsibury Plain from the important Penguin Book Of English Folk Song which has been in Corinne’s family for three generations.

There is much to savour and digest in this production. A quality performance from a singer of substance.

Geordie McIntyre


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This album was reviewed in Issue 111 of The Living Tradition magazine.