“The Cuckoo” is a traditional English folk song, also sung in the United States, Canada, Scotland and Ireland. The song is known by many names, including “The Coo-Coo”, “The Coo-Coo Bird”, “The Cuckoo Bird”, “The Cuckoo Is a Pretty Bird”, “The Evening Meeting”, “The Unconstant Lover”, “Bunclody” and “Going to Georgia”. In the United States, the song is sometimes syncretized with the other traditional folk song “Jack of Diamonds”. Lyrics usually include the line (or a slight variation): “The cuckoo is a pretty bird, she sings as she flies; she brings us glad tidings, and she tells us no lies.”
This track is from singer/guitarist John Renbourn’s brilliant “Faro Annie” album, which often takes a folk-rock approach on American folk songs.
As a teenager, Zakia Sewell became entranced by English folk music, initially through Pentangle’s haunting rendition of the traditional song, The Cuckoo.
But with this enchantment came a tension – a question – of whether such a song could really belong to her. Being of Caribbean and British descent, Zakia is sensitive to the darker histories that connect these two places and yet is drawn to a vision of Albion – an ancient, mythical land evoked in so many folk songs, symbols and stories.
Spiralling out from the personal to the national, from the present into the past – both real and imagined – Zakia grapples with the complexities of British national identity with the intent of resolving her own inner conflict and finding hopeful visions for the future.
With artist Ben Edge, musician Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and his mum Mignon, warden of Kilpeck Church, Hesketh Millais, members of Boss Morris – a feminist Morris Side – and Zakia’s dad, Caspar.
