Sam Lee (born 6 July 1980) is a British folk singer and traditional music specialist. His debut album, ''Ground of its Own'' was shortlisted for the
2012 Mercury Music Award. Lee performs as part of an ensemble, Sam Lee and Friends.
Lee became known as a traditional music specialist dedicated to collecting, restoring and sharing ancient music from Britain and Ireland; in particular from the Romany Gypsy and Irish traveller communities. Lee has spent much time collecting songs from these communities. Lee’s debut album has been described as "the result of six years of complete immersion in traditional British folk music." His music involves re-working and instrumental arrangements of songs from the tradition. Lee is the creator and manager of the folk-music promotional network, The Nest Collective, which hosts various folk music events in London and beyond. Lee regularly works with the
English Folk Dance and Song Society
The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS, or pronounced 'EFF-diss') is an organisation that promotes English folk music and folk dance. EFDSS was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dan ...
to archive and curate traditional music as well as educate through writings and classes.
Personal life
Lee grew up in North West London and later studied art at
Chelsea College of Art. Both of Lee's parents are Jewish. In 2008 Lee met
Stanley Robertson, nephew of
Jeannie Robertson
Jeannie Robertson (1908 – 13 March 1975) was a Scottish folk singer.
Her most celebrated song is " I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day", otherwise known as "Jock Stewart", which was covered by Archie Fisher, The Dubliners, The McCalmans, ...
,
Scottish Traveller
Scottish Travellers, or the people in Scotland loosely termed Romani persons or travellers, consist of a number of diverse, unrelated communities that speak a variety of different languages and dialects that pertain to distinct customs, historie ...
and ballad singer. Robertson took Lee on as a student and apprentice, teaching him many of his songs before his death in 2009.
Lee reached a broader audience with his performance of "The Tan Yard Side" to the accompaniment of nightingale song in a
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...
broadcast on 19 May 2014, marking the 90th anniversary of the first broadcast of ''Singing with the Nightingales'' by cellist
Beatrice Harrison on 19 May 1924, which was the first-ever BBC live wildlife outside broadcast (i.e. not from a radio studio), becoming a regular annual BBC radio event until interrupted by
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. Lee's radio work continued in 2019 when two programmes called "The Song Hunters" were broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Continuing his interest in birds, Lee helped produce "
Let Nature Sing", a collection of bird song for the
RSPB
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throu ...
which reached number 18 in the UK singles chart.
Before becoming a folk singer, Lee was a wilderness survival expert, and once travelled as a student of
Ray Mears
Raymond Paul Mears (born 7 February 1964) is a British woodsman, instructor, businessman, author and TV presenter. His TV appearances cover bushcraft and survival techniques. He is best known for the TV series ''Ray Mears' Bushcraft'', '' Ray ...
. On his change of career Lee notes "What is wilderness in this country, where there is no real unspoilt land? I see wilderness in Britain as stinging nettles submerging a disused rubbish tip. Or a Gypsy camp, washing hanging between the caravans. Gypsies and nettles fit into any landscape, and Gypsy folk song is made-up cultural nettles."
Lee lives and works in
Dalston
Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas incl ...
, London, but spends a lot of his time promoting and managing folk music events and collecting songs around the UK.
Band
The instrumentation of Lee's music follows a "roots and wings" concept of how traditional music needs to thrive to survive. The instrumental mix is a modern fusion and re-working of traditional sounds. The band consists of Lee's vocals and
Shruti box work, accompanied by the
Jew's harp
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
combined with
klezmeresque cello,
tabla
A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...
, Japanese
koto
Koto may refer to:
* Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group
* Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument
* Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana
* Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women
* ...
, ukulele, violins and percussion.
Personnel
* Sam Lee – vocals,
Jew's harp
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
,
shruti box
* Francesca Terberg – cello
* Jonah Brody – Japanese
koto
Koto may refer to:
* Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group
* Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument
* Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana
* Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women
* ...
, ukulele
* Steve Chadwick – trumpet, cornet
* Camilo Tirado – tabla, percussion, cantele
* Flora Curzon – violin
Awards and commendation
In 2010, Lee's folk club-night, The Magpies Nest, won Best Folk Club in the 2010
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British ra ...
. Lee was nominated in the 2013 BBC Folk Awards for folk singer of the year, best album for ''Ground of its Own'' and best traditional track for "Wild Wood Amber".
In 2011, the Arts Foundation Award honoured folk music amongst the art forms for the first time, with Lee going on to win.
Sam Lee and Friends were sent by the British Arts Council to visit Sudan to perform at the Khartoum International Music Festival, which was being staged for the first time in 13 years. As well as performing a set of his own material, Lee also worked on a collaborative performance with two Sudanese musicians, Omer Ihsas and Dr. Alfateh Hussain.
In 2012, Lee's debut album, ''Ground of its Own'' received a
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...
Album of the Year nomination.
The album also won the Album of the Year award in the 2012
fRoots
''fRoots'' (pronounced "eff-Roots", originally ''Folk Roots'') was a specialist music magazine published in the UK between 1979 and 2019. It specialised in folk and world music, and featured regular compilation downloadable albums, with occa ...
Critics Poll.
In 2016, the album ''
The Fade in Time'' won the Songlines Music Award in the category Europe.
Discography
*''Ground of its Own'' (2012)
*''More For to Rise'' (EP, 2014)
*''
The Fade in Time'' (2015)
*''Old Wow'' (2020)
References
External links
*
The Nest Collective
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Sam
1980 births
Living people
English folk singers
English folk-song collectors
English male singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century British male singers
People from Dalston