December is a month of many holiday festivities. For twenty-two years one tradition in the New England area has been the performance of Nowell Sing We Clear. It is performed by John Roberts and Tony Barrand, experts of English traditional folk songs, and Fred Breunig and Andy Davis, well known in New England as dance callers and musicians.

Nowell Sing We Clear celebrates Christmas as it was known for centuries in Britain and North America. The songs come from an age when the mid-winter season was a time for joyous celebration and vigorous expression of older, perhaps pagan, religious ideas. Many of these ancient customs are the basis of today's holiday traditions, such as carol singing from door-to- door and the adorning of houses and churches with garlands of evergreen.

The first part of the program, "Leaping and Dancing," celebrates the birth of Christ as told in the vigorous carols and songs found in the folk traditions of Britain and North America. "To Drive the Cold Winter Away," the second half, offers carols heard in the twelve magic days following the winter solstice. A mummers play from Kentucky is also performed. The play is typical of folk dramas symbolizing and portraying the death of the land at mid-winter and its subsequent rebirth in the spring.

The pageant is stamped with the energetic dance band sound of fiddle, button accordian, electric piano, and concertina and includes traditional step dancing. Intelligent narration by Tony Barrand and audience participation have always been an important part of the program.

Four volumes of Nowell Sing We Clear can be heard on four cassettes or two compact discs. One disc is a compilation of the first three volumes which were originally on record. The most recent recording Hail, Smiling Morn is available on cassette and compact disk format. All recordings are available from Golden Hind Records.

This entertaining and informative concert is a perfect way to start the holiday season. It should not be missed!

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