Morris Music

Morris music is the traditional English dance music played for morris dancing, the ritual folk dance of teams (sides) performing with bells, sticks, handkerchiefs and swords. Its repertory consists of named village dance tunes, collected chiefly in the Cotswolds by *Cecil Sharp*, played on melodeon, concertina, fiddle, accordion and pipe and tabor, with a musician standing at the head of the set to set the tempo and signal the figures. In its modern recorded form, defined by *Ashley Hutchings*'s "Morris On" (1972), the tunes are given electric folk-rock treatment, pairing melodeon and fiddle with bass guitar and drums.