A Toast to Bob Copper

I've had some time to reflect more upon the amazing all-day 'Toast to Bob', which the baby duck and I attended at Cecil Sharp House last Saturday.

Musicians, from The Rakes and compere Shirley Collins to Martin Carthy and Billy Bragg, sang for and fondly remembered this gentle man who'd rescued from oblivion the very songs they were singing. The highlights were unquestionably The Copper Family's warm, harmonic performances.

Never have I been to a musical event where the entire audience is singing every single song with the same command as the people onstage.
The acoustics are exceptional in that main hall anyway, so the combined effect made you feel as if the songs must have been reaching the entire borough of Camden!

Onstage, his son John Copper said of the event, "Bob would have loved to have been here today but I suppose if he hadn't died then none of it would've happened."


(More info on Bob Copper and his family amid the Links section)