In this holiday episode of Folk Files, we explore the old, wild, wonderful world of wassailing. Wæs hæl!
Host: Olivia Harding
Special thanks to Aaron J. Morton.
Musical excerpts:
ARTIST: The Brown University Madrigal Singers
WORK: Wassail Song, arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams
SOURCE: 2010 Holiday Concert
ARTIST: Magpie Lane
WORK: The Somerset Wassail
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhWNp9vh39E
ARTIST: The King’s Singers
WORK: Here We Come A Wassailing
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YUGXr8FcdY
ARTIST: Ian Giles
WORK: God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nppGaVz_8cw
ARTIST: Electra Women’s Choir
WORK: Yorkshire Wassail
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCXM9G9uyt4
ARTIST: Unknown, recorded by Smithsonian Folkways
WORK: John Canoe Music
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nIdRnL7vRU
ARTIST: Lady Maisery, Jimmy Aldridge, and Sid Goldsmith
WORK: Cornish Wassail
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo1aGvEUtcI
ARTIST: Phil Tanner
WORK: The Wassail Song (Gower)
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqCxKtHr778
ARTIST: Rhodri McDonagh
WORK: Deck the Halls (Welsh version)
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGuTncYncbU
