Host: Sam Lee
Guest musician: Zara McFarlane
Zara McFarlane is a multi-award-winning vocalist and songwriter from London, UK. She studied Musical Theatre at the prestigious BRIT School of Performing Arts, has a degree in Popular Music Performance and a Masters degree in Jazz Studies from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has recently been awarded a Fellowship from the GSMD.
The Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) is a small, brown, unremarkable-looking bird, but they possess one of nature’s finest singing voices. The English population winters in Sub-Saharan Africa in the western countries like Sierra Leon and Senegal, returning to the very same thicket they were born in arriving in early to mid-April. They spend April to the end of May mating and nesting where we can encounter the extraordinary display of the males’ courtship song, famous for his all-night broadcast.
Sam is a folksinger, song collector, activist, nature conservationist, guide, and presenter. With three critically acclaimed albums - his debut receiving a Mercury Music Prize nomination - he works holistically in challenging the sound and purpose of our indigenous music in the 21st Century.