Folk Tales of Song and Dance

Pete Castle gathers traditional tales in which music and dance shape events, drawing largely on stories from across the UK with a few from further afield. The collection moves between English, Welsh, Cornish, Scottish and Irish traditions, bringing together musicians, singers, dancers and listeners whose encounters with music can lead to romance, rivalry, danger or transformation.

Among the stories are accounts of mermaids drawn by human voices, magical harps, phantom pipers, fiddlers associated with the Devil and dances that continue beyond ordinary limits. Ballads and prose tales appear side by side, alongside stories of minstrels, bards and travelling performers. Castle varies his approach, sometimes presenting tales plainly and elsewhere adding brief commentary or broader reflections on their themes.