Cecil Sharp collected nearly 5,000 folk songs and dances from the UK and North America to promote English nationalism.
On our road to our next mystery artist, we hit a major stumbling block: Colonialism.
So much of the early indigenous music of the Americas was documented through the lens of Europeans, which makes tracing some music history more complicated.
But that same stumbling block helps us trace our mystery artist's musical roots back hundreds of years to a type of English folk dance called Morris Dance. Along the way, we meet Cecil Sharp, a complicated man who collected and documented nearly 5,000 tunes in his quest to assert "Englishness" and English nationalism through folk music.
In this "Show Your Work" episode, you'll learn how some of what Sharp collected wasn't even from England, and some of what was English, also had a problematic history.
Credits
The Influencers is part of the educational mission of Indiana University and produced by the small but mighty team at WFIU/WTIU Public Media in Bloomington, Indiana. Our producer, editor, and host for this episode is Lisa Robbin Young. Executive Producers are Eric Bolstridge and Justin Crossley.
Videography: Saddam Al-Zubaidi & Jake Lindsay
Theme Music: "Melting Pot" by 3Monkeys, courtesy of Universal Production Music.
Additional support from Sam Schemenauer.