Angeline Morrison - The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience

  by Nicky Crewe

published: 7 / 1 / 2023

---

Angeline Morrison is a folk singer and songwriter based in Cornwall. Searching the folk tradition for stories of the black experience in Britain, she became aware of the hidden histories that some of us are becoming increasingly aware of and alert to. I’ve worked in archives and heritage settings and I recognise some of the process and paths she has had to follow. Working with musicians who like her have a rich and mixed heritage, she decided to create song stories to retell some of the lived experiences of the individuals who have inspired her. She gives a powerful and eloquent voice to those who aren’t able to share their stories with us. Angeline Morrison has written these songs to be shared, sung and remembered in a folk idiom. They have refrains and choruses and the potential to become traditional in their turn. This results in songs that have a deceptive familiarity until you listen to the lyrics and read the sleeve notes for each composition. Produced by Eliza Carthy, this research and songwriting project has been supported by Arts Council England, The English Folk Dance and Song Society and FEAST Cornwall. W E B Du Bois’ book of 1903, ‘The Souls Of Black Folk’, an early classic African American publication, first used the phrase ‘The Sorrow Songs’. A word of warning. There is also a content alert. There are five spoken word interludes between the songs, including one as the opening track. These are difficult to listen to, because of the negative racist views they express. Taking inspiration from Ewan MacColl’s ‘Radio Ballads’, these are based on oral history interviews and reflect attitudes common at the time they were recorded. You are advised to skip them if you think they may trigger a reaction, but at the same time I feel it’s an important reminder of realities. It takes courage to research some of these stories and great compassion to write so beautifully about them. The songs are both heartbreaking and heartfelt, evocative and emotional. Some of the stories are harrowing. There is the story of the Gibbons twins’ isolated lives in ‘The Flames They Do Grow High’, and who were sent to Broadmoor in the 1980s. The Liverpool Race Riots in 1919 and the associated fear and terror, including the murder of Charles Wotten are described in ‘Hide Yourself’. ‘The Beautiful Spotted Black Boy’ is about an African child with vitiligo who became an early nineteenth century sideshow attraction. ‘Unknown African Boy’ is a mother’s lament for her lost child, stolen into slavery and shipwrecked and drowned off the Isles of Scilly. Black servants share their stories in ‘Black John’ and an 18th century gardener in ‘The Hand Of Fanny Johnson’. Mary Seacole and her now recognised legacy to nursing is celebrated in ‘Cinnamon Water’. There’s a reminder of Mrs Rochester, the mad wife in the attic in Jane Eyre’, in the true story ‘Mad Haired Moll O’Bedlam’. ‘Go Home’ speaks to all who are not made welcome. The collection ends with ‘Slave No More’, words taken from the inscription of a grave of master and slave in Cornwall, and featuring Martin Carthy. These are harrowingly powerful stories, beautifully expressed in music. Angeline Morrison has done what she set out to do by creating memorable songs which enrich our understanding of the past and celebrate the life experiences of individuals caught up in that history, bringing the ancestors from the shadows into the light.

Track Listing:-

1 Interlude - Some Terrible Habits
2 Unknown African Boy (d.1830)
3 Black John
4 Interlude - These Little Ones
5 The Beautiful Spotted Black Boy
6 Mad-Haired Moll O'Bedlam
7 Interlude - Nobody Round Here Likes It
8 The Hand Of Fanny Johnson
9 Cinnamon Water
10 Hide Yourself
11 Cruel Mother Country
12 Interlude - In The Village
13 The Flames They Do Grow High
14 Interlude - Need Not Apply
15 Go Home
16 Slave No More

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/angelinemorrisonmusic/
https://twitter.com/angelcakepie
https://angelinemorrisonmusic.bandcamp.com/

Play in YouTube:-

Have a Listen:-

Post A Comment

---

Comment

Name

your name

Location

ie London, UK

Submit

Check box to submit

Adam Coxon
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson

Dixie Ernill
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart

Malcolm Carter
Marie Hazelwood
Mark Rowland
Nick Dent-Robinson
Nicky Crewe
Nige Nudds
Philamonjaro
Richard Lewis
Shirley Procter
Spencer Robertshaw
Steev Burgess
Steve Kinrade

Steve Miles
Tommy Gunnarsson
Zena Grieg