Electric Eden, a concert by the Samphire Ensemble performed at Town Church, Guernsey.
Electric Eden traces the English vision of a pastoral paradise while reflecting the tensions between nature, tradition and modernity that emerged in the early twentieth century. Composers including Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams became fascinated by English folk song. At a time of rapid social and technological change, these melodies offered a connection with an older culture. But the arrival of recording technology changed things too. Songs that had travelled largely through memory and from voice to voice could suddenly be captured.
For this concert I arranged the traditional song The Four Loom Weaver for strings. Ewan MacColl‘s family kindly gave me permission to use a recording of his haunting 1951 rendition of the song in this one off performance.
