Anne Briggs

小简介
Anne Briggs在英国传统民谣领域无疑是最具影响力的女歌手，这位与Sandy Denny, Linda Thompson,Maddy Prior, June Tabor同样受全世界瞩目的民谣歌手，拥有纯净朴素的音色，没有一丝刻意的感觉，最与众不同的就是她的清唱，几乎没有任何乐器伴奏，最多由钢琴，吉他轻点几下。在Topic出的那张精选里，Anne Briggs保留了大部分苏格兰，爱尔兰，英格兰传统民谣的形式，未加任何修饰的演唱沁人心脾，她以平易近人的方式徐徐向人讲述着故事。她的影响力不仅体现在其同时代的歌手如Burt Jansch, Shirley Collins, Laura Nyro身上，也影响了如今各个领域里的大牌歌星，包括Kate Bush,Cocteau Twins以及Sinead O'Conner。出生诺丁汉的Anne在少女时代就迷上了民谣，后被英国民谣歌手Ewan MacColl发掘，由此结识了MacColl的朋友Bert Lloyd，一位英国民谣复兴运动的建树者。在Anne成长道路上Bert Lloyd对她的影响可谓非常大，为了使她成为明日巨星，Lloyd在她身上化足了一番功夫，然而Lloyd的训练虽然的确给Anne带来了盛誉，她的成功及其影响力波及之处几乎成为60年代后英国民谣复兴的中坚力量，但是因为某种原因，大概是由于不喜欢她录制后的声音，讨厌这种灌录模式，年仅27岁 Anne Briggs就退出了歌坛，尽管后来的许多民谣乐队歌手们都开始以Anne的方式演唱民谣，但她仍然拒绝录音
by John DouganIn the annals of pop and folk music, there are few sagas stranger than that of Anne Briggs. An awesomely talented singer of traditional English folk music, possessing of as pure and breathtakingly beautiful a voice as one could hope to have, she was the single most important influence on a group of female British folksingers that includes Sandy Denny, Maddy Prior, June Tabor, and Linda Thompson. Even Norma Waterson, herself a hugely important figure in the British folk revival of the mid-60s, admits to being influenced by Briggs singing, and notes that Anne Briggs singlehandedly changed the way that English women folksingers sang. What makes this story so odd is that Briggs entire recorded output consists of about 30 songs. She stopped singing at the age of 27, supposedly because she hated the sound of her recorded voice. As folk music became electrified and increasingly popular, and bands such as Fairport Convention and Pentangle were reinventing the British folk tradition, and more and more women (Sandy Denny, et al.) were singing in a style started by Briggs, her legend flourished, yet she refused to sing.Briggs was born in Nottinghamshire in 1944 and began singing folk music while still in her teens. Within a couple of years she was a regular at local folk clubs, getting her big break as a result of the Centre 42 tour of 1962. The Centre 42 tour was an attempt by musicians and other artists (backed and supported by trade unions) to deliver politically leftist cultural activities to areas outside of London. Part of Centre 42s appeal was that in each city, local talent would audition for a slot as a support act. It was here that Briggs got her shot and was discovered by British folk legend Ewan MacColl. She was so good that MacColl convinced her to leave school and join the rest of the tour. While touring with Centre 42, Briggs began working with MacColls friend and co-architect of the British folk music revival, Bert Lloyd. Briggs considers him the most important influence on her work, and her debut EP, The Hazards of Love, had Lloyds fingerprints all over it. But he was not a mere Svengali trying to take advantage of a teenage folksinger; he wanted to give her the direction (as well as the songs) she needed to become a huge talent. Lloyd was smart enough to realize that this was an extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime type of singer, and he treated her with kid gloves, getting her to relax (Briggs was notorious for her nervousness) and helping her record some wonderful music. But Briggs had a problem with recording her singing — she hated doing it and hated the way she sounded, so much so that she retired from music, three years shy of 30, already touted as the greatest legend in English folk music. Briggs still lives semi-reclusively in England and is still not recording or singing in public, but her influence remains powerful. As guitarist Martin Carthy so aptly put it: She didnt mess about. There were no histrionics. There was no posing. There was no self-conscious style. She sang fluidly, easily, with tremendous passion.