Honouring Cecil Sharp
In this time of fast technology and data overload it is easy to forget or at least overlook the importance of oral tradition in music and magic. Folk musicians on these Isles have a long tradition of learning songs and music from others on the road, in the club, pub and home. I suspect it is the same for folk music around the globe generally. Listening, learning and playing to explain and remember the past or customizing for a new era and changing needs. The Celts had a rich tradition of orally transmitting their insights and culture called in Gaelic “beul aithris.” Similarly t he Jewish people had a long tradition of only verbally teaching key elements of their Kabalistic Tradition, particularly the practical or magical side of it. What many modern day practitioners and writers on Western magical traditions often seem to miss is the importance attached to the transmission of magical knowledge and wisdom through oral methods only, and, of course through song too. ...