Art donated by Cille Vengberg
I first came across Sam during a leadership training I did with Emergence Magazine. I was captivated by his work and story. It is with great honor that I got to sit down and talk with him.
We explore his work of collecting songs and time with traveller communities, and the honoring of elders. It became a deep look at bridging what was known once into the current. I had to go for a long walk after this conversation to just be in some of the magic of his words… and humor. He is an artist that can’t help but pull you in, to listen, learn and be.
About singing in the dark times and places.
In this episode we talk about
Singing with Nightingales.
The importance of old traditions.
Last of the Scottish Travellers.
The urgency of preserving culture.
Discovering elders from different communities.
Unusual encounters and creativity.
““I saw something that will never be seen again.””
Sam Lee is a highly inventive and original singer, folk song interpreter, passionate conservationist, song collector and successful creator of live events. Alongside his organisation, The Nest Collective, Sam has shaken up the music scene breaking boundaries between folk and contemporary music and the assumed places and ways folksong is appreciated.
Sam’s helped develop its ecosystem inviting in a new listenership interrogating what the messages in these old songs hold for us today. Sam released his debut novel ‘The Nightingale, notes on a songbird‘ telling the epic tale of this highly endangered bird and their place in culture folklore, folksong, music and literature throughout the millennia.
