(Delphonic Music)
[br]Released to tie in with a major exhibition at the V&A Museum of Childhood,this well-packaged and researched folk concept album tells the often bleak myth of the 100000 British child migrants who were sent abroad, mostly to Canada and Australia, or between 1869 and 1970 because they were ‘deprived of a normal family life’. It involves an impressive cast,and though it is inevitably dominated by tragic ballads, it includes the atmospheric instrumental work of John McCusker and the painfully poignant hymn Whither Pilgrims Are You Going, or performed by Coope Boyes & Simpson,Belinda O’Hooley & Heidi Tidow and The Network Choir. This was sung to some children as they set sail, as if they were leaving for heaven, and contrasts with the bleak reality of Chris While and Julie Matthew’s fine song of loneliness and exploitation Pinjarra Dreams or Jez Lowe’s Tainted Blood. A powerful history lesson.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com