Seckou Keita Music

Musical companion to the captivating nature book with Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Kris Drever, Seckou Keita, Rachel Newton, Kerry Andrew, Beth Porter and Jim Molyneux Eight musicians come together to breathe music into the pages of a unique and astonishing book. The Lost Words is the work of acclaimed nature-writer Rob MacFarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris, designed to celebrate the endangered language of the natural world. Taking the book as inspiration, an extraordinary musical collective gathers, including Scottish singer-songwriters Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart, the Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita and composer Kerry Andrew as well as some of the finest instrumentalists and writers on the British folk scene. The new songs that take flight from MacFarlane’s gently hypnotic poetry – or ‘spells’ – are performed in front of the backdrop of Morris’ exquisite animated illustrations. The first chance to hear a major new musical project here in the midst of a landscape abundant with the animal and plant species it celebrates. ‘Why do names matter? It matters because we are losing nature as well as the names for nature in this country. We’ve got more than 50% of species in decline. And names, good names, well used can help us see and they help us care. We find it hard to love what we cannot give a name to. And what we do not love we will not save.’ Robert Macfarlane