Bird of the Blizzard, from Spell Songs II: Let The Light In

‘Bird of the Blizzard’ from Spell Songs II: Let The Light In Released December 2021 Featuring Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter, Jim Molyneux. Inspired by the creatures, art and language in the acclaimed The Lost Words and The Lost Spells books by renowned author Robert Macfarlane and award-winning artist Jackie Morris. the winters are ending, the waters are rising, In keeping with the cross-artform nature of Spell Songs, Julie Fowlis bought a poem to the residency that Robert Macfarlane had previously invited her to set to music. Working collaboratively with her fellow Spell Singers gave Julie the opportunity to ‘find’ the song in the poetry. The result is a haunting song in praise of the rare and beautiful bird, the snow bunting. “The experience of recording this live with all the other musicians at Real World Studios will remain with me forever. The pure emotion in the vocals from all the other singers, Beth’s stunning cello lines and Kris and Jim’s intuitive musical shaping: it was profoundly moving.” - Julie Fowlis Bird of the Blizzard: Bird of the blizzard, Will you go snow-hunting with me? Seek out the splinters of winter, The last of the Ice Age? Making a map of your moving, Bird of the North; From glacier to tundra In snowstorm and thunder A map made of wonder That tracks what’s fading. Cold has a memory And its colour is blue that memory’s keeper Is you, Bird of the North The blue of snow’s shadow, Of dusk on the plateau the winters are ending, the waters are rising, (a blue that has drenched me to my bones) Seckou - Mandinka: Sandiano seletaa Djiwo seletaa iyo Soumouha dung-taa Sandiano dung-ta Sandiano Sandiano dung taa Sumuha Banta Sumuha dungta Sumuhaa Sandiano Bird of the blizzard, Will you go snow-hunting with me? Seek out the splinters of winter, A turn of the last page, Bright bird of the Ice Age. Bird of the blizzard, Will you go snow-hunting with me? (the waters are rising) To learn more about Spell Songs go to www.thelostwords.org/spell-songs Order now Spell Songs II: Let The Light In now from: All Retail US and ROW: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii All Retail UK/EU: https://ffm.to/spellsongsii-eu Spotify: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/spotify iTunes: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/itunes Apple: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/apple Deezer: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/deezer Amazon: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/amazon Pandora: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/pandora