People listen to a wide variety of music in the UK, including classical, pop, jazz, traditional folk, and opera as well as Latin, African, and Asian. There are also a number of dance companies - ranging from ballet to modern.
Every generation has a favourite popular music group: in
the 1960s it was probably "The Beatles", a group of young men from Liverpool who
became internationally famous for songs which include Yellow Submarine. Recently,
an all-girl band called "The Spice Girls" has achieved similar international
fame with hits like Spice Up Your Life. Classical music is also popular, and Sir
Michael Tippett and Peter Maxwell Davies are influential modern composers.
There are a number of traditional folk songs, including Auld Lang Syne, which is sung on New Year’s Eve. The song was written by Scotsman Robert Burns whose birthday (25 January) is celebrated as "Burns Night" by Scots all around the world.
Scotland's national instrument is the bagpipe, or in Gaelic piob-mhor (the great pipe). It originally came from the Middle East and is mentioned in the Bible. There are a more than 30 different kinds of bagpipes, but the most commonly known version in the UK is the Scottish Highland Bagpipe. When they arrived in Scotland, bagpipes quickly became a part of Scottish life. Today pipers still play at social occasions, including weddings, and modern rockbands such as "Runrig" use bagpipes in their music.
michael tippett
Sir Michael Tippett is one of the most influential 20th century composers in the UK. He was born in London in 1905 and studied music at the Royal College of Music before beginning his career as a composer. He was knighted in 1966.
Tippett’s work includes opera, choral, orchestral, chamber and piano music, jazz, spirituals, and imaginative new sounds like the wind machine that ends his "Fourth Symphony".
In 1943 Tippett was imprisoned as a conscientious objector in Wormwood Scrubs in London. While he was there he took over the prison orchestra. Tippett’s work has always been topical and his music addresses social issues. His most famous work "A Child of our Time" was written during the Second World War and grew out of his outrage of the plight of Jewish refugees. Tippett composed a love scene between two men for his third opera "The Knot Garden". His fourth opera, "The Ice Break", featured a race riot and a psychedelic sequence. Tippett also worked to bring music to disadvantaged and unemployed people.
In 1983 Queen Elizabeth II made Tippett a member of the Order of Merit, a very exclusive order of 24 of the country’s most honoured citizens. He died aged 93 at his home in London in January 1998.
Top photo for Oxfam GB by Crispin Hughes; middle photo for Oxfam GB by Crispin Zeeman; photo of Michael Tippet by Nicky Johnston, gratefully acknowledged
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