Talk and Tea: Cecil Sharp

South West Heritage Trust

Discover more about the life and work of folk music collector Cecil Sharp (1859 – 1924).

Museum of Somerset

Talks in Taunton

Our Talk and Tea sessions are a chance to explore the themes of our exhibitions and the knowledge of our curators and guest exhibitors in an informal setting with a cup of tea in hand.

Discover more about the life and work of Cecil Sharp (1859 – 1924) at this talk with local author David Sutcliffe who has written a new biography of the folk music collector.Cecil Sharp was an English collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was a key figure in the folk-song revival in England. Sharp collected his first folk songs in Somerset in 1903. Over the next ten years he met more than 300 singers in the county making careful records of their lives and music. Amongst the songs were The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies, Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron, O No and John. Sharp went on to collect over four thousand folk songs, both in South-West England and in America. David Sutcliffe:David is a freelance researcher with a particular interest in Somerset folksongs. He is a morris dancer with Taunton Deane and an occasional singer.His book, '<a href="https://theballadpartners.co.uk/publications" title="https://theballadpartners.co.uk/publications" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Cecil Sharp and the Quest for Folk Song and Dance</a>' was published by the Ballad Partners company in November 2023.