A CD of music has just been released to coincide with the forthcoming exhibition On Their Own: Britain’s Child Migrants at the V&A Museum of Childhood in London, curated by Professor Gordon Lynch from the Department of Religious Studies.
The CD is a collection of folk songs entitled The Ballads of Child Migration: Songs for Britain’s Child Migrants, and visitors to the museum will be able to listen to tracks at certain points in the exhibition. Gordon conceived the original idea for the CD, working with the folk producer, John Leonard, to identify songs that expressed different aspects of former child migrants’ experiences. The project involved leading folk musicians, including John McCusker , Boo Hewerdine, Jez Lowe, John Doyle, the trio Coope, Bowes and Simpson, and contributions from Chris While and Julie Matthews and Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow. Gordon provided them with source material, including his own forthcoming book, that formed the basis for most of the tracks on the album.
The CD has been reviewed by Folk Radio UK, the leading Folk and Roots music website and radio station, as well as The Guardian newspaper. The exhibition On Their Own: Britain’s Child Migrants opens on October 24
To read the Folk Radio UK review, please see the page here:
http://www.folkradio.co.uk/2015/10/the-ballads-of-child-migration-songs-for-britains-child-migrants/
To read The Guardian review, please see the page here:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/oct/08/various-artists-the-ballads-of-child-migration-review-v-and-a