Paper short abstract:

<strong>Thu 15th Apr, 09:30</strong> A portrait of Bob Lewis, a 73-year old former agricultural engineer, and singer of traditional songs.

Paper long abstract:

This film depicts Bob Lewis, a 73-year old former agricultural engineer, and singer of traditional songs, primarily by means of interviews.

Such a "talking heads" approach, though it diverges from the observational aesthetic current in ethnographic films, allows the subject's voice (in every sense) to take centre stage, and express the meaning of song in general, and two particular songs in particular ('The Cobbler' and 'The Wonderful Crocodile') have had and continue to have for him. There are parallels here with the relative (and mistaken?) values assigned to participant observation and interviewing in fieldwork more widely.

I would also be glad to expand on the tensions and rewards involved in showing this film as part of two larger events (one academic, the other a gig) at which the subject of the film was very much present.