Ewan maccoll biography of christopher

See production info at IMDbPro. Photos Add photo. Top cast 8 Edit. Billy Bragg Self. Barbara Dickson Self. Christopher Eccleston Self. Matt Lanigan Narrator. Calum Maccoll Self. Littlewood was the sole producer and MacColl the dramaturgeart director and resident dramatist. The techniques that had been developed in the Theatre Union now were refined, producing the distinctive form of theatre that was the hallmark of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, as the troupe was later known.

They were an impoverished travelling troupe, but were making a name for themselves. During this period MacColl's enthusiasm for folk music grew. Inspired by the example of Alan Lomaxwho had arrived in Britain and Ireland inand had done extensive fieldwork there, MacColl also began to collect and perform traditional ballads. His long involvement with Topic Records started in with his release of a single, "The Asphalter's Song", on that label.

When, in Theatre Workshop decided to move to StratfordLondon, MacColl, who had opposed that move, left the company and changed the focus of his career from acting and playwriting to singing and composing folk and topical songs. Over the years MacColl recorded and produced upwards of a hundred albums, many with English folk song collector and singer A.

The pair released an ambitious series of eight LP albums of some 70 of the Child Ballads. InMacColl caused a scandal when he fell in love with year-old Peggy Seegerwho had come to Britain to transcribe the music for Alan Lomax 's anthology Folk Songs of North America published in At the time MacColl, who was twenty years older than Peggy, [ 23 ] was still married to his second wife.

Seeger and MacColl recorded several albums of searing political commentary songs. Many of MacColl's best-known songs were written for the theatre. He taught it to her by long-distance telephone, while she was on tour in the United States from where MacColl had been barred because of his Communist past. Seeger said that MacColl used to send her tapes to listen to whilst they were apart and that the song was on one of them.

Ewan has a short biography of his work in the accompanying book of the Topic Records year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten. MacColl was one of the main composers of British protest songs during the folk revival of the s and s. Joe Stalin was a mighty man and a mighty man was he He led the Soviet people on the road to victory. When asked about the song in a interview, he said that it was "a very good song" and that "it dealt with some of the positive things that Stalin did".

MacColl sang and composed numerous protest and topical songs for the nuclear disarmament movementfor example "Against the Atom Bomb", [ 29 ] The VandalsNightmareand Nuclear Means Jobs. MacColl dedicated an entire album to the lifestyle of Gypsies in his album The Travelling People. Many of the songs spoke against the ewan maccoll biography of christopher against Roma Gypsiesalthough some also contained derogatory remarks about " tinkers ", which is a word for Irish Travellers.

He wrote "The Ballad of Tim Evans" also known as "Go Down You Murderer" a song protesting against capital punishmentbased on an infamous murder case in which an innocent man, Timothy Evanswas condemned and executed, before the real culprit was discovered. MacColl was very active during the miners' strike of —85 in distributing free cassettes of songs supportive of the National Union of Mineworkersentitled Daddy, what did you do in the strike?

This collection was only released on cassette and remaining copies are rare, but some of the less aggressive songs have featured on other compilations. In his last interview in AugustMacColl stated that he still believed in a socialist revolution and that the communist parties of the west had become too moderate. MacColl had been a radio actor since By the late s he was ewan maccoll biography of christopher scripts as well.

In producer Charles Parker asked MacColl to collaborate in the creation of a feature programme about the heroic death of train driver John Axon. Normal procedure would have been to use the recorded field interviews only as source for writing the script. MacColl produced a script that incorporated the actual voices and so created a new form that they called the radio ballad.

Between andeight of these were broadcast by the BBCall created by the team of MacColl and Parker together with Peggy Seeger who handled musical direction, conducted a great many field interviews, and wrote songs, either together with MacColl or alone. MacColl wrote the scripts and songs, as well as, with the others, collecting the field recordings which were the heart of the productions.

In Ewan and Peggy formed the Critics Group from a number of young followers, with Charles Parker in attendance, frequently recording the group's weekly sessions at MacColl and Seeger's home. The initial aim of improving musical skills soon broadened to performing at political events, the Singers' Club where MacColl, Seeger and Lloyd were featured artists and theatre productions.

Other members, including Michael Rosenjoined primarily for theatre productions, the Festival of Fools, a political review of the previous year. As the theatre group's importance grew, members more interested in singing left. Order via ProperMusic. Explore More. XII — West Midlands They were both fined and barred from taking part in any kind of theatrical activity for the next two years.

In August they formed Theatre Workshop. Littlewood was director and producer, MacColl was writer and actor. Between and he wrote eleven plays, a number of which were translated into German, French, Polish and Russian. George Bernard Shaw once quipped that other than himself, MacColl was the best living playwright in Britain. By this time, enamoured with the Lallans movement in Scotland, he like many other writers had changed his name from Jimmie Miller to Ewan MacColl, the name by which he was known for the rest of his life.

In Theatre Workshop moved to Stratford, London, and MacColl began to turn his attention to traditional music and songwriting. In he met Peggy Seeger and they embarked upon a life-partnership. Between and they had two sons, Neill and Calum both of whom are singers and musicians and a daughter, Kitty. Peggy and Ewan became a well-known singing duo.

They recorded numerous albums, conducted workshops and toured worldwide as singers of traditional and contemporary songs.

Ewan maccoll biography of christopher

From the early s, MacColl had been involved in radio as a narrator, actor, writer and producer. He had worked with numerous experimental producers such as D. Bridson, Dennis Mitchell and John Pudney. These were a combination of recorded speech, sound effects, new songs and folk instrumentation and they were hailed as a major breakthrough in creative radio technique.