Tag Archives: popular music

Blue Monday

Posted on 21 January 2021 by mj263

What with lockdown and miserable weather, it’s probably not surprising if you’re currently feeling blue. There might be another reason this week too, Monday January 18th was cited on several media outlets as “Blue Monday” the most depressing day of … Continue reading →

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Whose side are you on?

Posted on 14 February 2020 by mj263

There was a new arrival in the Music Department at the UL, this week: a copy of Carl Wilhelm’s famous song, Wacht am Rhein, translated here, by Henry Brougham Farnie, as The Watch by the Rhine, or as it is … Continue reading →

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A different track

Posted on 15 November 2019 by mj263

This week, I have been busy laying out a small exhibition in the Anderson Room to commemorate the start of the Second World War. I had a very clear idea in my head of what I was going to do … Continue reading →

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Minstrels

Posted on 25 October 2019 by mj263

Music can be a great resource for researching your family tree, especially if you have ancestors, who were involved in popular music. I was reminded of this the other day when I received an email from a reader, who was … Continue reading →

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To celebrate, to commemorate: A long weekend

Posted on 16 August 2019 by mj263

It’s not as though music festivals are a new thing. The Proms will celebrate their 125th birthday in their current form next year, while the Bayreuth Festival is even earlier dating back to 1876. A programme for the “Dr. Who” … Continue reading →

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One small step…or 50 years ago (almost) today

Posted on 19 July 2019 by mj263

One of my very earliest memories is sitting underneath the table in our living-room when I was a tiny child. It was the middle of the night, I’m sure I’d never been up so late before. The reason I was … Continue reading →

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Musical maps

Posted on 15 June 2018 by Kate

A conversation with a reader the other day about street pianos led to me stumbling across this. Mapping the ‘Play me, I’m yours‘ street piano project, the site records the locations of street pianos past and present. It is also … Continue reading →

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Songs of desolation II

Posted on 8 July 2016 by mj263

In last week’s blog post we looked at the popular music that was being published in Britain during the first half of the First World War. By 1916, songs published in the UK were moving away from the more militaristic … Continue reading →

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Up, up, and away

Posted on 18 September 2015 by mj263

Purely by chance this week I came across Le Navire Aérien by Gustave Huot. This suite of pieces for piano has the most extraordinary cover – a bizarre airship consisting of a set of 4 hydrogen balloons and, unlike the later Zeppelins, … Continue reading →

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70 years ago today….

Posted on 24 May 2011 by mj263

For those of a certain age it’s hard to believe, but Bob Dylan is 70 years old on May 24th, 2011. Robert Allen Zimmerman was born in Duluth, where he grew up listening to blues and country music broadcast out … Continue reading →

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