Moorfields from Enclosure (2019) by The Askew Sisters
We’ve always been quite interested in Bedlam songs as we grew up a few minutes from the Imperial War Museum, which housed the Royal Bethlem Hospital from 1815 – 1930 after it moved from Moorfields. Much like the woman in Georgie, the speaker in this song also falls victim to societal disapproval of love crossing class boundaries, but her fate is to be imprisoned in an asylum. Our version is based on a song collected from Robert White by Henry and Robert Hammond in December 1906. White was living at Dorchester Union Workhouse at the time, and we wonder whether he saw any parallels to his own captivity in this song. We were entranced by the beautiful lyrical tune of his version, but the words were incomplete and jumbled up with a few lines from other songs. It is often tempting to completely clean up a song when this happens, but whilst building a text from a few similar versions, we’ve left in a few of these floating lines at the end, as they add a whole new dimension to reflect upon the incarceration of both the story and the singer.
Emily and Hazel Askew have become known as two of the foremost performers and interpreters of traditional music from England.
Their live performances brim with the depth and connection not only of two sisters, but also of two musicians who have been immersed in folk music all their lives.