[Bards] Kingdom Eisteddfod report

[Jay Rudin]

Nine bards braved the cold and the wet at Dragonsfire Tor (" ... the cold 
and wet of dragon's fire?"  "Work with me here.") to enter the Kingdom 
Eisteddfod in their quest to be Premier Bard of Ansteorra.  We enjoyed the 
typical Finnican Eisteddfod.  (Both the ones he won were outdoors, and 
extremely cold and wet.  I would speculate that he's winning when the 
intelligent people stayed home in the warm, except for the inconvenient 
fact that I entered both of them as well.)

I would like to give especial thanks to our King ,Queen, Prince and 
Princess, all of whom attended and lent their dignity and patronage to the 
occasion.  While Queen Ebergardis devoted her attentions to the main hall 
and our hosts of the Tor, King Ulsted and Princess Vanessa watched most 
most of the competition, and Prince Aaron helped judge it, along with the 
Honorable Lord Antigonus and Master Finnican.

Each performer was expected to present his or her best piece, and then drew 
an emotion from a box, which their second piece needed to encompass.

Master Ihon impressed us with a beautifully crafted presentation of a poem 
by John Skelton.  It amazes me that anybody can make Skeltonic verse sound 
normal.  He drew "classic", and offered the judges a choice of classic 
medieval, classic Ansteorran, or classic Current Middle Ages.  They chose 
the latter, and he sang Ioseph of Locksley's "Once Upon a Time".

Adelina, in her first Kingdom Eisteddfod and second bardic competition 
ever, gave a compelling rendition of Darius's "Just One Time".  She drew 
"violent", and told a stirring tale of the Bridge Battle at Gulf War (which 
she has never attended).

Lady Nix told a Nordic alliterative piece, called "Ansteorra Still Stands". 
The audience was pulled into at the same time into both the alliterative 
structuire and the Ansteorran heart.  She drew the adjective "silly", and 
sang a song about ... er, well, ... that told the tale of ... ummm.... 
Well, let's just say that she successfully met the challenge of presenting 
us with something silly.

HL Mea gave us a beautiful piece in Italian, which (we were told) was 
titled "I Give No More False Hope to Love".  She carried amotion and beauty 
through her voice alone, though most of us knew not the words.  She then 
sang "Johnny be Fair" and made us laugh, as her response to "satirical".

HL Maggie told us the Chinese Legend of Mulan, in a style I didn't 
recognize but that worked and held our attention well.  How well?  I never 
once thought about the Disney movie.  She drew the adjective "creepy", and 
I was unfortunately called away and heard only bits of the rest of the 
second round.  (I guess I drew the adjective "frustrated".)

Lady Bella sang a lovely song, sufficiently compelling that I have no notes 
on it.  But I have a very strong memory of the repeated line "And none knew 
she loved him but herself and God."

Then Lucas ripped our hearts out with a tale about a water-bearer.  Really. 
Ask him for it sometime.  Bring a hankie.

Bring two.

Rosia, who I don't know well, sang a wonderfully poignant war song -- "I'll 
have the honor of a warrior's death."  Then she drew "romantic" and sang 
about the same situation from the lady's viewpoint.

Baron Donnchad ... ummm Duncan ... no, that is, ah, wait, I can spell this 
...  Donchhadd... I mean, er, ....  (I'll come in again.)

The Baron of Namron sang Ivar's "Raised as a Warrior", pulling us at once 
into the mind of a medieval warrior and into the early days of Ansteorran 
bardcraft.  (Ivar was one of the first two to receive a Sable Thistle for 
performing arts.)

When everyone had done their two pieces, three bards were invited into the 
final round to praise our generous hosts.  Nix, Mea and Ihon each gave 
their praise of the Tor.  Ihon was chosen the winner, with his tale of a 
land scorched by dragon's fire, and then rising above by the nobility and 
generosity of its people.  I hope that all bards who had pieces ready will 
send them to the Tor for use in their newsletter or website.  (Their 
chronicler is HL Nicolaea MacFionndlaigh: darwinexcel at yahoo.com.  This is a 
public service announcement.)

In court, Master Ihon was presented with the insignia (no, not regalia) of 
the Premier Bard of Ansteorra, including the traditional cloak made by the 
ladies of Elfsea in the 1980s (in a project spearheaded by Baroness Maggie) 
and a beautiful new cloak made for this occasion by HL Rixende de Rouen. 
All bards, please be sure to thank her for the lovely new cloak 
(rixende at gmail.com).

I really enjoyed the competition.  Thanks to all who attended and listened, 
and especial thanks to Dragonsfire Tor, whose traditional Yule revel we 
descended on.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin