The Sorrow Songs was recorded in Cornwall and is a work of what Angeline calls ‘re-storying’: “The traditional songs of the UK are rich with storytelling, and you can find songs with examples of almost any kind of situation or person you can think of. But whilst people of the African diaspora have been present in these islands since at least Roman times, their histories are little known – and these histories don’t tend to appear in the folk songs of these islands.”
Angeline began what became a year of research into this neglected area of Black British history. The Sorrow Songs is the result.
She says: “What I would really love is for people to want to sing these songs. I wrote each song with a chorus or refrain that I hope will be singable, so that people might want to sing them in folk clubs, and in doing so these stories will continue to be re-told in song.”
“Unequivocally one of the finest, and most important folk albums of this, or indeed, any year, beautifully crafted, performed and packaged, ‘The Sorrow Songs’ turns a long overdue spotlight on the country’s forgotten stories and forgotten people, reclaiming their part in the UK folk tradition and history, and touching the deepest fibre of those who hear them.”
– Folking.com
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