Monday, May 21, 2012

Music Monday: A.L. Lloyd

As mentioned here before, the famous folk song collector/ singer/ writer A.L. 'Bert' Lloyd (1908-1982) lived in Greenwich at  16 Crooms Hill for much of his adult life. A new biography has been published, and later this month there's a free talk coming up by the author at Goldsmiths in New Cross.



'Goldsmiths Popular Music Research Units presents The Life and Music of A.L. Lloyd.

A talk by Dave Arthur to coincide with the publication of his book Bert: The Life and Times of A.L. Lloyd (Pluto Press).

Small Hall Cinema, Richard Hoggart Building Goldsmiths College New Cross London SE14 6NW/   Tuesday 29 May, 5.00pm, followed by drinks. All Welcome.

Folk singer and folk music collector, writer, painter, journalist, art critic, whalerman, sheep station roustabout, Marxist, and much more - this is the story of A. L. (Bert) Lloyd's extraordinary life.

A. L. Lloyd played a key part in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 60s, but that is only part of his story. Dave Arthur documents how Lloyd became a member of the Communist Party, forceful antifascist, trade unionist and an important part of left-wing culture from the early 1930s to his death in 1982. Following his return from Australia as a 21-year-old, self-educated agricultural labourer, he was at the heart of the most important left-wing movements and highly respected for his knowledge in various fields.

Dave Arthur recounts the life of a creative, passionate and life-loving Marxist, and in so doing provides a social history of a turbulent twentieth century.

Dave Arthur is writer, painter, singer and instrumentalist (guitar, banjo and melodeon), writer of plays for stage, community and puppet theatre and Director of the Society for Storytelling'.

Goldsmiths library houses the A.L. Lloyd Collection and Archive, as well as the Ewen McColl archive, must get down there some time and do some SE London folk music research.


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