Parents are rarely portrayed as sympathetic figures in folk song – jealous, possessive, and even psychotic elders do abound. And that is why the modern folk and storytelling trio Harp & a Monkey have decided to try and redress the balance with their latest song (Skylarks).
Skylarks (released on July 10, 2023) is a tender and poignant ode that seeks to convey the sense of pure joy, exhilaration and protectiveness felt by a loving parent – in this case, based around the narrative of a father taking his two children on a walk over the West Pennine Moors.
The latest song released as part of a new project (The Extraordinary Ordinary) that revisits the popular everyday themes and emotions of old songs and reworks them for modern audiences, Skylarks is a self-penned tune that draws on traditional melodies.
Harp & a Monkey frontman Martin Purdy said: “We have worked on a lot of commissions in recent years that have been tied to quite specific themes, from the First World War to the Victorians, so we are really enjoying the greater freedom presented by this new project.
“We have tried to focus on the most basic and common of human experiences, and on Skylarks we wanted to look at parenting – something that crops up quite often in traditional song, but often in a tragic and negative light. The aim was to come at it from a more positive angle and tell a tale of the overwhelming and timeless strength of parental love.”
Skylarks is also our Song of the Day.
Loss, compassion, anger, creativity, joy and contentment are among the themes to be addressed in future releases linked to The Extraordinary Ordinary project, which will also be at the heart of the outfit’s live dates from the autumn.
In the meantime, you can catch Harp & a Monkey at a series of special shows and festivals in the coming months, including a one-off performance of their ‘War Stories’ show for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, on Thursday, July 6, and rare performances at Trowbridge Folk Festival in Wiltshire on July 27 and Sidmouth Folk Festival, Devon, on August 7.
More here: http://www.harpandamonkey.com/