Spell Songs in Sheffield

Spell Songs is a British folk collective featuring Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter and Jim Molyneux. Created in response to Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’s book The Lost Words, the group sets writing about the natural world to music across The Lost Words: Spell Songs and Spell Songs II: Let the Light In; “The Lost Words Blessing” is among its best-known pieces. The musicians first performed the commissioned project at Folk by the Oak in 2018. Concert tours followed the first collection, and the later Spell Songs II: Let the Light In tour brought the ensemble’s voices, kora, harp, cello and other acoustic instruments to Symphony Hall in Birmingham and Sheffield City Hall.