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Echo Mocks the Corncrake

from Songs of Separation by Songs of Separation

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Karine writes: Just minutes after arriving on Eigg, I read a public information board at the pier, which mentioned that corncrakes still live on the Isle. These shy migrant birds, who arrive in western Scotland and Ireland in summer and leave for Africa in winter, were once plentiful across the British Isles. They're an elusive Red Listed conservation species now, due to the devastating impact of moving mechanisation upon their nesting grounds. I first heard this song sung in Girvan by an Ayrshire singer called May Mayberry. On the surface, it's a bonnie wee pastoral love song. But to me there's great added poignancy to it now, because the corncrake, once a familiar and welcome symbol of changing seasons, has been absent from many areas for a lifetime, pushed like other species to the environmental margins. The song's celebration of "rural joy...free for a'" also has a chilly ring to it, when so many of us have poor access to and understanding of the wider natural environment we inhabit. I think this disconnect between human beings and the living world is one of the great faultlines of our era.

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from Songs of Separation, released January 29, 2016
Traditional music and lyrics arranged by Hazel Askew, Jenn Butterworth, Eliza Carthy, Hannah James, Jenny Hill, Mary Macmaster, Karine Polwart, Hannah Read, Rowan Rheingans, Kate Young

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Songs of Separation Scotland, UK

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