Well Hall (1679)/ Jamaica (1670)/ Barbarini's Tambourine (1747)
Both DC and Baltimore have weekly English Country Dances with live music where the old dances are revived and new dances and new music in the tradition are created. Paul plays often for the gatherings. Much of the ECD music comes from Playford’s "The English Dancing Master." It is similar to what was used by the Dancing Masters who were popular on the continent from the same time period of the Flemish and French music manuscripts Paul has spent many a summer transcribing.
Well Hall, Eltham, was once a magnificent mansion outside London dating from Tudor times.
Jamaica started its life as "Jameko" in Playford's 4th edition (1670) and after it was introduced in France became known on the continent as La Bonne Amitié (Feuillet).
A 'tambourin' is a type of dance that originated in the South of France and was accompanied by a hand drum. Italian ballet dancer Barbara Campanini, aka "la Barbarina", became famous in London (and many other European capitals) for her prodigious agility, her tambourine dance and her stormy affairs with noblemen, including King Frederick the Great of Prussia. She ended her career as a German countess, which was quite unusual for the daughter of a cobbler, who --according to Voltaire-- had "a man's legs." As recently as 1983 the Berlin post office made a stamp with her picture.