It has been said that "shut up and dance" is the unofficial motto of American contra dancers, and these four CDs suggest that English dance music, which is based on traditional forms, is also doing quite well, thank you. Mind you, that this is not music that simply repeats the old forms, but rather is music that builds upon the old forms and creates something new and, I think, rather exciting!

First up is a nifty disc called Spin from a group called Whirling Pope Joan. Whirling Pope Joan's named after a once popular English card game played with an ordinary pack of cards in which the Eight of Diamonds represented the Pope; all this was played on a circular revolving tray -- hence the name Whirling Pope Joan! If my English sources are to be trusted, this game was named after a mythical woman who was reputed to be the only female ever to be acknowledged as Pope. Shall we make it even weirder? Whirling Pope Joan is an offshoot of Blowzabella, one of me favourite bands. Yes, that infamous group gave birth to three odd side-projects of which Whirling Pope Joan, featuring Nigel Eaton, Ian Luff and Julie Murphy, was one.

Spin is both like and unlike Blowzabella -- not surprising as only Nigel Eaton (hurdy-gurdy, 'cello, percussion) and Ian Luff (guitars) remain from that group. Julie Murphy provides vocals on this album. This is dance music centered on the hurdy-gurdy, a stringed instrument, rather like a bulbous guitar, which dates back to the 10th century. It's dramatic, strident tone lends itself well to the rhythms both of modern and traditional melodies. Spin sounds vaguely like Blowzabella filtered through an odd Welsh/French perspective. It's quite danceable!

Just as danceable is the debut album from the Bollywood Brass Band. Bollywood is the name for the great Indian film production center. But the Bollywood Brass Band is a London-based band that is, according to their record company, "Britain's only Indian wedding brass band. 9 musicians, playing saxes, trumpets, trombones, tuba, snare and bass drums and featuring drummers from The Dhol Foundation playing dhol, the loud and exciting Punjabi drum played in Bhangra music." Now I can hear some of you muttering very loudly that this is not English dance music as it is based on Hindi music forms, but I will argue that India and England have been long enough fused as cultures that the music of India can be counted as part of the English music experience. Eight years into their existence as a band, the Bollywood Brass Bands are rapidly winning listeners with their truly unconventional brass band arrangements of popular Indian music (mostly film hits and wedding songs). Like all brass bands, they tread an extremely fine line between tunefulness and cacophony, between glorious sound and extremely awful racket. (We will have a review of Herbert Trevor's The British brass band a musical and social history shortly.) At the center of this band is the driving beat of the dhol drums, more commonly heard in bhangra music. You'll be dancing in no time at all. Add in the rather sinuous interplay of the saxophones, trumpets, trombones and Alice Kinloch's sousaphone, and you get a sound that never gets even slightly boring. If you only ever buy one brass band album, this should be it.

Captain Swing's and other likely stories is definitely more tradition than either of the two offerings already discussed, but it still is clearly part of the modernity. Captain Swing is an English country dance band that comes from Worcestershire near Birmingham. This is the band's debut CD, and a superb one it is too, having just the right amount of up-tempo swing while not feeling too modern. The band is, not counting Mike Griffiths, the caller for Captain Swing who is not on the CD, a four piece band with the following members: Andy Casserley (melodeon, concertina, saxophone, clarinet), John Davis (electric bass guitar), Liz Griffiths (recorders, concertina, and saxophone) and Rob James (guitar, mandola). The tracks on this album all regularly feature in the live performances of the band. The tunes were recorded on two Sundays in March 1998 and produced to replicate what the live sound of Captain Swing is. What you get are tunes such as "Walter Bulwer's Polka" by Walter Bulwer, a Suffolk fiddler; and "Heel And Toe Polka," a traditional tune from Southern England; and a lovely little number called "Roger's Waltz." The band in the liner notes apologizes for the quality of the CD as it was recorded on two Sundays in March 1998, but I see nothing here but very fine music!

Bismarcks's Upstream -- Traditional Dance Music from England is the most traditional of the albums reviewed here. All three band members: Nina Hansell (fiddle); Gareth Kiddier (piano); Ed Rennie (melodeon) are all superb musicians. In fact, Nina's among the creme de le creme of fiddlers that I've heard. This is a tight CD with none of the energetic sprawl of and other likely stories or Spin. This is traditional music played with a sense of verve, but not with a whole lot of frills. It is very danceable music nonetheless. Jack, our resident fiddler, told me that his wife Brigid thought they sounded as good as the Nettles -- high praise indeed as that's one of her favorite bands! Now I admit she's a bit biased as she likes damn near anything that can be danced to, but this is one of the most impressive debut albums I've heard. There are rants, jigs, hornpipes, marches, and reels on this CD; everything one expects from a band that, according to the Country Dance and Song Society "play traditional English music, suitable for ceilidh or barn dances, in a distinctive rhythmic and percussive style, which makes it highly danceable."

So there you have it -- dance music ranging from the tastefully traditional to the exotic. All of these CDs are, not unsurprisingly, more fun to listen as one moves around a space than just sitting still as this music to move to! Good job, all!

[Cat Eldridge]