New Video - The Virgin Unspotted

Here's a tune we've recorded for the FOLK Community to celebrate Yuletide! Head over to their Facebook Page to discover more about Shropshire Folklore :)

A hundred or more years ago, long before radio, TV and Now That’s What I Call Christmas CDs taught us the ‘correct’ way to sing popular songs and hymns, every region, village or even singer might have their own variant of a popular tune. This is certainly the case with The Virgin Unspotted, a hymn said to have mediaeval origins. 

Our melody is based on a version sung to the great collector of folk songs Cecil Sharp by Mr Samson Bates of The Trench, Shropshire on December 19th 1911, when Samson was 76 years old. Unlike many other versions which were collected this melody has an eerie, almost otherworldly atmosphere, perhaps reminding us that as well as being ‘the season to be jolly’ Yuletide is also a time of spirituality, mystery and contemplation.

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