Peter Douglas Kennedy

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Peter Douglas Kennedy (November 18, 1922 - June 10, 2006) was an English collector of folk songs in the 1950s. Peter's father, Douglas, was EFDSS director after Cecil Sharp.

Kennedy's 1961 book Folk Songs of Britain and Northern Ireland gave both the tunes and the words to hundreds of traditional songs, as well as brief notes about their origins. Together with Alan Lomax he went on to edit a series of records called "Folk Songs of Britain" (1968 - 71), issued on Rounder, which have since been re-issued on CD. A curious feature of these albums is that a song is presented by splicing together several recordings. Kennedy also founded the record label Folktrax.

Kennedy's work raised some controversy amongst the folk music community. After his death, the magazine Musical Traditions^[1] went so far as to draw up a list of opinions for and against Peter's legacy. The number of items against him is 28; in favour, 8. For some people he appeared exploitative and difficult to deal with, but his scholarship was rarely questioned.

Folk musicians recorded by Kennedy:

• Bob & Ron Copper
• Lizzie Higgins
• Jimmy MacBeath
• John MacDonald
• The McPeake Family of Belfast
• Cyril Poacher
• Bob Roberts
• Jeannie Robertson
• Herbert Smith
• Phoebe Smith
• Belle Stewart
• Scan Tester
• Bill Westaway

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.mustrad.org.uk/enth53.htm Peter Kennedy - an appraisal, Musical Traditions, 14 September, 2006

[edit] External links

• The Guardian Obituary June 19, 2006
• Folktrax