Chapter 4 Song Transmission
In: Scots Folk Singers and their Sources
Author:
Caroline Macafee
Caroline Macafee
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Abstract
This chapter sets out the historical stages of song transmission: oral tradition, publication, singers’ dependence on literacy, and audio recording and broadcasting. The Travellers recorded in the 1950s–1970s are seen to be distinctive in their lack of dependence on literacy to acquire and recall songs. The embedding of the Traveller song culture within the wider literate culture is discussed. Detailed comparisons are made between the sexes, and between the Travellers and the general population, in the information they give about how they acquired songs. Further comparisons are made in terms of family and non-family inter-personal transmission.