Ewan Maccoll wrote this song in 1977 about his mother, Besty Hendry Miller. Betsy worked as a cleaner in offices to support her family. Arranged by Lydia Samuels.

Lyrics:

She walks in the cold dark hour before the morning
The hour when wounded night begins to bleed
Stands at the back of the patient queue
The silent almost sweeping queue
Seein' no-one and not being seen

Working shoes are wrapped in working apron
Rolled in an oilcloth bag across her knees
The swaying tremor soaks the morning
Blue grey steely day is dawning
Draining the last few dregs of sleep away

Over the bridge and the writhing foul black water
Down through empty corridors of stone
Each of the blind glass walls she passes
Shows her twin in sudden flashes
Which is the mirror image, which is real?

Glistening sheen of new-washed floors is fading
There where office clocks are marking time
Night's black tide has ebbed away
By cliffs of glass awash with day
She hurries from her labours still unseen

He who lies besides her does not see her
Nor does the child who once lay at her breast
The shroud of self-denial covers
Eager girl and tender lover
Only the faded servant now is left

How could it be that no-one saw her drowning
How did we come to be so unaware
At what point did she cease to be her
When did we cease to look and see her
How is it no-one knew she was there

Nobody Knew She Was There (live at the Old Church)

This is an arrangement of a Hebridean waulking song (arranged by Lydia Samuels from an English translation). Waulking songs are work songs from the highlands and Hebrides. Women rhythmically beat tweed/cloth soaked in piss (traditionally) against a table whilst singing these call and response songs in Gaelic. The process shrinks the fabric to make it more durable and water-resistant. Sang in a call and response style the songs are often improvised.

He Mandu (live at the Old Church)

Original composition by Heloise Tunstall-Behrens, words from a poem by Wang Wei.

Deer Park Canon (live at the Old Church)

Panda Chant is a section from The Games: a science fiction opera by Meredith Monk and Ping Chong, which was originally created for the Schaubühne Ensemble of West Berlin. Monk composed the music and also collaborated with Ping Chon on the scenario, choreography, and direction. Coming at the middle of the opera, "Panda Chant" is an energetic ritual performed by the whole community as preparation for the third game, Memory

Panda Chant II (live at the Old Church)

Traditional English/Scottish song arranged by Lydia Samuels. 

A mother kills her babies in the woods. Full of ancient images familiar to us all - blood that won’t stop flowing from a knife, spirits dressed in white... this is an old tale of unwanted pregnancy, madness and murder. Echoing the Mexican folkloric figure “La Llorona” we meet the archetype of a mother driven to kill and face the eternal pain that follows.

Greenwood Side (live at the Old Church)

The traditional hebridean song "An Cadal Trom" (translates as "a deep sleep") is sung from the point of view of a part-seal part-human Sellkie, singing mournfully from the to their human love who walks on the shore.

An Cadal Trom (live at the Old Church)

Nobody Knew She Was There (EP)

Hey Mandu (EP)

Green Wood Side (EP)

Halilem - Lydia Samuels

Soy Mi Propia Casa - rehearsal

‘Hawthorn' is a celebration of the blossoming of the tree in the month of May. Associated traditionally with fertility, newly weds and spring, the tree also signifies the opening of the heart.

Hawthorn - rehearsal

Howl are a collective of singers from a variety of different disciplines and backgrounds, from folk to opera. Their repertoire spans Venezuelan contrapuntal music, choral works by Caroline Shaw and Meredith Monk, their own re-workings of trad songs from the British isles and new original compositions. Howl are Heloise Tunstall-Behrens, Rose Stachniewska, Rosa Slade, Kate Huggett, Elly Condron, Helen Potter, Natty Pela and Lydia Samuels.

Howl

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