<html><div style='background-color:'><P>Good Sir:</P>
<P>I know of no one who can truly be called a bard, but what i do is to try to more accurately reflect the way bards actually were. I bring news from surounding Baronies (By subscribing to their websites) i tell stories of the past and of heroes and ancient lore. I also play 7 instruments and have composed more than 75 original songs, most of which i simply make up on the spot. I also do poems to poke fun at certain people at the event, even the Baron, and i sing and juggle and do magic tricks. At some gatherings I have been called upon to even settle disputes and many Marshals ask me to watch heavy combat matches so I can settle exactly who won. In my last Bardic gathering, I just saw so many good gentles who thought all they had to do was sing, or tell a story, or play an instrument. While none of us can ever possess the skills of a true BARD in the old sense, at least we
can see that the singers and storytellers and musicians know that to come close to being a BARD, they have to do so much more. In my last competition, I defeated the titled bard of Sharrgardr because all she did was sing an original song about the Barony and i did many things. What i wish is that, when these competitions are held, the Baron, or whomever runs them, know that a bard is many things to many people and not just a singer or player. I have refused to enter several events, because all they wanted was really a minstrel and not a bard. They wanted only music and not a real bardic event. I just want people to know that SOME of us strive to be like the true bards of old and even though we will never achieve it, we keep on memorizing and dancing and telling tales and performing tricks and bringing news of other places near and far from the Kingdom of Ansteorra.</P>
<P>Lors Cormac of Namron<BR><BR></P><BR><BR><BR>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Handwriting, Cursive" color=#ff3333><STRONG>Okiewiter</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
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From: <I>Scott Barrett <barrett1@cox.net></I><BR>Reply-To: <I>Ansteorran Bardic list <bards@lists.ansteorra.org></I><BR>To: <I>Ansteorran Bardic list <bards@lists.ansteorra.org></I><BR>Subject: <I>Re: [Bards] (no subject)</I><BR>Date: <I>Sat, 4 Nov 2006 02:15:43 -0600</I><BR>><BR>>On Friday, November 3, 2006, at 10:33 PM, Dan Corley wrote:<BR>><BR>>>" What i have seen here is that most of our "bards" think that a <BR>>>bard was only a musicion or singer when they were actuall a <BR>>>travelling news source, juglers, jokers, musicians, magicians and <BR>>>even law keepers and judges in many cultures. If we have a college, <BR>>>let it truly reflect that a true Bard is so many different things. <BR>>>To quote from the Bardic Handbook "A bard is not a storyteller or <BR>>>harper playing long.....A Minstrels job it is to
sing, a Bard's to <BR>>>BE the song" "<BR>>><BR>>>Lord Cormac "The Black" Starwalker of the Barony of Namron<BR>>><BR>>><BR>>><BR>>><BR>>>Okiewiter<BR>>><BR>>>_______________________________________________<BR>>>Bards mailing list<BR>>>Bards@lists.ansteorra.org<BR>>>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bards-ansteorra.org<BR>><BR>><BR>>I like your enthusiasm, Cormac, nice to see you here on the board.<BR>><BR>>As to your comments, to be quite frank with you, we are not bards in <BR>>the true Gaelic/Cymmri sense of the word.<BR>><BR>>I know of no one person who could recite over 200 poems from memory <BR>>by the age of twelve (and compose another 200 on their own before <BR>>they are considered legit) and can tell you the entire family <BR>>history of every person in their
shire or barony, as well as <BR>>interpreting both SCA and Kingdom law for the Crown from memory <BR>>while traveling to every group with news of marriages, funerals, <BR>>births, disputes and awards. The Welsh bardagh and the Irish Filidh <BR>>required the sort of rigorous decades-long training that we might <BR>>compare to some eastern religious orders. Yes, bards were much more <BR>>than entertainers, but what would be required to become a <BR>>functioning imitation would require many years of mental preparation <BR>>and a constant refreshment of knowledge most SCA folk don't need in <BR>>oral form. I can't begin to imagine the time that would take from my <BR>>real life.<BR>><BR>>Despite the SCA-wide tendency to label vocal performers as bards, <BR>>many people ARE...<BR>> minstrels,<BR>> gleemen,<BR>> riddlers,<BR>> poets,<BR>>
singers,<BR>> skalds,<BR>> scops,<BR>> minnesingers,<BR>> musicians,<BR>> storytellers<BR>> and historians.<BR>> They are those things intentionally. It's more accurate to their <BR>>personas.<BR>> Not everyone is Scots, Irish, Manx or Welsh, either, and <BR>>"bard/bardoi/bardagh" may not be appropriate to what they do. A <BR>>Saxon tale teller and poet is not a bard, he/she is a scop and not <BR>>as pressed for social authority as the bards of Ireland or Western <BR>>Scotland. Not by a long shot.<BR>><BR>>A viable college/grove/fellowship/whatever would welcome all these <BR>>different people as resources, not try to give them a universal <BR>>style so that they can all fit a particular image of a bard.<BR>><BR>>I personally strive to be a seanachie, an Irish storyteller and lore <BR>>keeper. Calling myself bard would have been
seen as outlandishly <BR>>arrogant among my fellow Irish and subversive to our English <BR>>conquerors/tourists. Bad idea.<BR>><BR>>So while I doubt I'll ever find an historically true bard, the word <BR>>bard is such a common term to describe what we do that I avoid <BR>>trying to determine if someone is a "true" bard or not.<BR>>I might just irritate a "true" Norse skald, and I don't need that <BR>>action.<BR>><BR>>~Finnacan<BR>
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