BRATTLEBORO — In December 1975, two already well-known English folk singers joined forces with two contra dance musicians and performed a few concerts of folk carols and songs of the season. They chose a line from one of their songs as the name of the program, Nowell Sing We Clear.
Forty years later, and still one of the area's most popular holiday programs, Nowell Sing We Clear, featuring Tony Barrand, Fred Breunig, Andy Davis, and John Roberts, will be presented at the Latchis Theatre on Monday, Dec. 15, at 7:30 p.m.
Nowell Sing We Clear celebrates the mid-winter season as it was known for centuries in Britain and North America.
The songs come from an age when this time of year was a time for joyous celebration and vigorous expression of older, perhaps pagan, religious ideas. Many of these ancient customs are the basis of today's holiday traditions, such as carol singing door to door and the adorning of houses and churches with garlands of evergreen.
The first half of the program, “Good Will Henceforth,” celebrates the birth of Jesus as told in the vigorous carols and songs found in the folk traditions of Britain and North America.
“The Twelve Days,” the second half, offers carols heard in the Twelve Magic Days following the winter solstice. An annual treat is the enactment of a Mummers Play from Kentucky. Performed in the traditional manner, the play is typical of folk dramas surviving in Britain and North America portraying the death of the land at mid-winter and its subsequent rebirth in the spring.
Mummers plays often have political references, so the question always becomes, “Who will Tony be this year?"
The pageant of mid-winter carols is stamped with the energetic dance band sound of fiddle, accordion, concertina, and piano, although some of the songs are performed in unaccompanied four-part harmony. The audience will be supplied with song sheets and encouraged to sing along.
Nowell Sing We Clear has become an important part of the mid-winter celebrations of many New England families since it was first performed in 1975. A number of area schools incorporate material from the pageant into their holiday concerts.
Many area children have grown up with the group's songs and carols. In fact, some of those “children” are now having families of their own and are bringing them to the concerts creating a third generation of Nowell fans.
The group has travelled extensively over the years, as far south as Charlottesville, Va., and west to Ann Arbor, Mich. Nowell Sing We Clear usually criss-crosses New England and New York State every December.
Nowell Sing We Clear is performed by John Roberts and Tony Barrand, widely known for their lively presentation of English folk songs, and Fred Breunig and Andy Davis, well-known New England-style dance callers and musicians.
Roberts lives in Schenectady, N.Y., and maintains a full schedule of solo performances throughout the year in addition to his work with Barrand and the group.
The other three members are all Brattleboro residents. Barrand is a retired Boston University professor and a highly respected folk dance teacher and scholar. Davis teaches music at Oak Grove, Green Street, and Dover Elementary schools. Breunig is assistant director of marketing for World Learning.