Rough Music: Folk Customs, Transgression and Alternative Britain

by Liz Williams

Rough Music explores transgression and shame in British folklore and customs. It takes in a wide array of examples including Bonfire Night, Wassail, Morris dancing, Mari Lwyd and Twelfth Night, along with events like the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, and street football. Liz Williams explores the roots and roles of violence, mockery, protest and public shaming. She also addresses alternative culture and modern protests, such as the Battle of the Beanfield and the Stonehenge Free Festival. The interaction between racism and traditions involving blackface, alongside the emergence of all-female Morris sides, is also examined. Finally, it looks at folklore’s evolution in the digital age, highlighting new developments such as ghost bikes. This engaging book offers an entertaining yet rigorous look at British folklore and culture.

Genres: Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

Published May 23, 2025

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Liz Williams is a British science fiction writer. Her first novel, The Ghost Sister was published in 2001. Both this novel and her next, Empire of Bones (2002) were nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award.[1] She is also the author of the Inspector Chen series.

She is the daughter of a stage magician and a Gothic novelist. She holds a PhD in Philosophy of Science from Cambridge. She has had short stories published in Asimov's, Interzone, The Third Alternative and Visionary Tongue. From the mid-nineties until 2000, she lived and worked in Kazakhstan.[2] Her experiences there are reflected in her 2003 novel Nine Layers of Sky. Her novels have been published in the US and the UK, while her third novel The Poison Master (2003) has been translated into Dutch.

Series:
* Detective Inspector Chen
* Darkland

Reviews

[Ben Jeapes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never thought of folk customs as being transgressive, but now you mention it ... Liz Williams has collected fascinating details of a whole lot of them, historical or not so historical, mildly harmless to offensive or dangerous, and yes, there is a lot of transgression there. It may just be a casual attitude to health and safety, it may be active aggression, or it may be the last resort of the powerless. She gives equal weight to customs whose origins are lost in the mists of time, and more modern examples like the Stonehenge festival. Sacred cows are studied analytically and precious myths may be punctured, but she does it with respect and honour for the intention behind it. Cudos, for instance, to those Morris sides who never meant anything offensive by blackface, but also recognise that the custom is not acceptable in the present day, so simply switch to blueface or greenface. If I have one suggestion to make for future editions, I would ask for a pronunciation guide to non-intuitive spellings. Disclaimer: I know the author and I am quoted in one chapter of the book.

[Nicki Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rough Music was an interesting and entertaining read. Some of the customs and their history I was familiar with, but others were new to me. The interviews with current practitioners of the different activities were a nice addition and added a more personal feel to what might otherwise have seemed an academic text. The book offered a nice balance overall between historical overview and commentary on current practice and the changes that have taken place over the years. Definitely worth a read for those interested in British folk customs. I am giving it four stars.

I received this book as a free eBook ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.