Mazurka Return

Feels like it's been a very long time since I've posted. It hasn't been very long, but it feels that way just because so much else has been going on. With the divorce, and moving, and my brother being ill ... after the end of "Folk Dance Season" in New England, I put down the box for a few months and just didn't think about it. But now I am in the new place. There is space and light, and the Shadows seem to have fled from the land. Let's hear it for new beginnings, which, as usually, I celebrate by playing old songs.

The mazurka in this video is one of the old ones, untitled, collected by Mel Stevens, and available in the Mallinson's Bal Folk book. As is my wont with untitled tunes, while teaching it to a student, I gave it the title, "Hannibal's Mazurka." I do love my Roman/Carthaginian history, and who are we to deny elephant's in the alps their right to mazurka? For some reason, that landing on the IV chord at the beginning of the B part seems especially touching. Hits you right in the feels.

UPDATE: Yes, I have shaved my head. And, no, I did not realize my legs looked like THAT.

Labels: Dave Mallinson, mazurka, Mel Stevens, Video