Zingaro Blue Music Videos

Zingaro Blue - the Music Videos

Norfolk Steampunk were invited by Lesley and Mario Price, to be involved in one of their music videos, for which they wanted to have a steampunk vibe. We gladly accepted the challenge and the result was a video called Humbug Billy and the Tamlin Reel. Since then, there have been further videos that we have been involved with, not all steampunk, but always period costumes required. This is great fun and an excuse to create more costumes for our already bulging steampunk wardrobes. We know there will be more videos to come. Sadly, Zingaro Blue have retired from live performances, but Lesley and Mario are still writing new songs about local heroes and legends and creating videos to go with them, all of which are posted on YouTube. Below are the videos that Norfolk Steampunk have been involved with.

The Ballad of Amy Dudley

Over the course of the Tudor period, there were multiple scandals that rocked society, however none quite shook the Tudor court like the death of Amy Dudley in the latter period of 1560. Due to apprehensive circumstances of her death, she would be remembered for centuries for her suspicious and tragic demise. In the beginning, the relationship between Amy Robsart and Robert

Dudley was harmonious. The two married in 1550, and it was even suggested that the marriage was a love match, or as William Cecil described it, a 'carnal marriage.' However, their time together was soon cut short after the Jane Grey scandal that Robert's family was directly involved in. Their marriage was overlooked by royal duties as well as spells of imprisonment, but Robert soon bounced back into favour upon the accession of Elizabeth I. However, his wife did not join him at the new court. It may be because of a preference of the countryside, or financial difficulties - but it may also be due to the increasing favour her husband enjoyed from the Queen. This growing affection did not come without gossip - that Amy had been left behind in the countryside, with Elizabeth's chief advisor William Cecil telling the Spanish ambassador that 'Robert and Elizabeth planned doing away with her so they could marry.' Even though, until this point, the rumours of the Queen and Robert were mere gossip, that was soon to change. On the 8th September, Lady Dudley sent all her servants away from her residence at Cumnor Place, to a carnival. Cumnor Place belonged to Anthony Forster a good friend of Roberts. Little did the servants know, it would be the last time they saw their mistress. Lady Dudley was soon found at the bottom of a flight of stairs, leading from her room, with a broken neck. One of her servants travelled immediately to inform Robert of his wife's death. Robert, in response, immediately sent a messenger to arrange a thorough investigation, writing: 'As I have ever loved you, do not dissemble with me, send me your conceit and your opinion of the matter, whether it happened by evil chance or villainy.' The death deeply distressed Elizabeth. She soon sent Robert away until a verdict was given to avoid anymore scandal around him. It was said that she was 'pale, listless and irritable' and felt 'undeniable guilt.'

Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5SaVexV9do

1st Feburary 2024

Jack O'Lantern

The story of how our Halloween Lantern comes about.
Performed by Zingaro Blue.
Song written by Mario & Lesley Price

Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ov2sseQN9M

9th September 2023

The Fortune Teller's Song

Performed by Zingaro Blue - Written by Mario & Lesley Price

Based on a true story. This is the tale of a rich old lady. A hypochondriac and very superstitious. She was convinced she would die soon. At the age of 82, she went to a fortune teller who told her that she had 12 months to live. She gave away her fortune but the old lady actually lived for another 25 years. Most of her remaining years, were spent in poverty. She went on to outlive all of her relatives and re-inherited her own fortune.

Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi1aepWyWhs

27th July 2023

Elsie's Song

A beautiful song inspired by the Cottingley Fairies photographs of 1917. Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths aged 9, fooled everyone with their childhood photos of themselves with ''real" fairies in the forest. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes, unwittingly gave credence to one of the greatest hoaxes of the 20th Century when he published the now world-famous Cottingley Fairies photos. Thank you to Kerry Groves for suggesting this idea for a new song.

Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jrSP93_S0k

20th April 2023

Cottingley Fairies

Here's the story that inspired Elsie's Song

One of the original hoax photographs, that fooled Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Theosophical Society and even experts at Kodak.

Frances Griffiths, aged 9, was repeatedly in trouble with her parents for getting home late. Her excuse was that she had been with the fairies in the forest. The adults of course didn't believe her. So after repeated punishments, Elsie and Frances went out with a camera to get proof that they existed. The photographs they produced gained wide publicity and were given credence by eminent people like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, photographic experts at Kodak and spiritualist societies. Believed to be genuine, they gave rise to many lectures and books on the subject. For this reason, the girls were forced to continue their deception into adulthood. It wasn't until 1983, that they admitted that the photos had been faked.

Humbug Billy and the Tamlin Reel

The first video that Norfolk Steampunk was invited to be apart of was 'Humbug Billy by Zingaro Blue. Lesley Price approached us, having seen and admired the steampunk genre and decided that she wanted a steampunk vibe to their next video. Humbug Billy is a true story about a confectioner of a Bradford sweet shop who, unknowingly, manufactured humbugs using a compound of arsenic. Gypsum was often used as a cheaper alternative to sugar, but due a mix up at the pharmacy, arsenic was supplied instead of gypsum. A number of people died or fell ill as a result of the error. After a court enquiry, labelling in pharmaceutical establishments became compulsory. The people involved in the unfortunate mishap were acquitted.

Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E6a7v60kXE

The Mistletoe Bride

Mistletoe Bride is a sad tale about a newly married bride at her wedding reception party. Tired of dancing, she said lets play hide and seek. She hid in an old chest. So good was her hiding place, that nobody was able to find her. Unfortunately, the chest locked and she couldn't escape and she died, probably of suffocation. She was found many years later by her widower husband. This video doesn't have a steampunk theme, but there is strong medieval theme to the costumes which were created or assembled by members of Norfolk Steampunk. The video was shot at Somerleyton Hall with kind permission from Lord and Lady Somerleyton.

Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79WIFORQ8I8

Clueless

Filmed at Lavenham Little Hall, this steampunk themed video is a tribute to the game of Cluedo. Each of the characters get to murder a victim with a weapon in one of the rooms on our modified cluedo board.

Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52DRGZussMA

Billy Bluelight

Not a steampunk vibe to this video, but it is a period piece that we were invited to be a part of. The song, written by Lesley and Mario Price of Zingaro Blue, is about a Norfolk man who, from a megre upbringing, became a well liked and established long distance runner in Norwich. He used to bet with local wherries and boating of the era on the Norfolk Broads, that he could get to Carrow Bridge before they did. Such is his fame as a local character, that a statue of him was erected in his honour at a public house near Rockland St Mary.

Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC0qsAMiiVE

For more information on Zingaro Blue, visit their website at: https://www.zingaroblue.co.uk/

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