Handed Down
Handed Down celebrates traditional songs and the people who sing them. The show is presented by Jenny Shaw, an amateur musician and professional writer. Each episode is full of music, tales and curiosities as we delve into the history a single song, often with the help of a fellow folk musician, to uncover the strange stories and colourful characters that lie beneath.
These are the songs that have been handed down from our ancestors. This podcast and the people involved in it help keep them alive so that we can hand them down in turn to future generations.
Handed Down
Apple Tree Wassail with Lunatraktors
What a time we had, talking about the bones and the spirit of the Wassail. The Lunatraktors, Carli and Clair, get right to the heart of things with their "Broken Folk" which provides an anchor, a refuge and solace, a shamanic art and a collective experience. They are experts at asking questions of our tradition, and passionate about telling the stories that have been hidden or lost.
The Wassail is about apples and cider and community and collectivism and so much more, and Lunatraktors' embodied approach to folk turns this an intense experience. We explore both the light and the dark of recent history and ask: what will be left when the apocalypse comes? Folk. The answer is folk, and it can be deeply healing.
But in the end you have to laugh. Their music can be dark and tragic but it is also playful and fun and, after we'd unpicked the state of everything, we were all gurning.
Content warning: This episode includes a discussion about suicide
Music
Now The Time
Rigs of the Time
Unquiet
Apple Tree Wassail
Songs are all from Lunatraktors, and if you want more please visit their website: https://www.lunatraktors.space/ or find all the points of connection on linktr.ee/lunatraktors