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Cerys takes listeners on a global journey of discovery with music of all genres and eras.

Cerys Matthews celebrates music of all genres and eras, taking listeners on a global journey of discovery from the recordings of early pioneers to latter-day luminaries.

BBC Music on the World Service with Cerys Matthews: Cerys Matthews with Shirley Collins

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Shirley Collins

12/11/2016 GMT

Cerys Matthews with Shirley Collins

BBC World Service - BBC Music on the World Service with Cerys Matthews, Cerys Matthews with Shirley Collins

British folk singer Shirley Collins on her new album and a remarkable career

British folk singer Shirley Collins was a significant contributor to the English Folk revival of the '60s and '70s. She talks to Cerys Matthews about her remarkable career.

Described by fellow UK musician Billy Bragg as one of the country’s greatest cultural treasures, she visited America’s Southern states in 1959, with American protest singer Alan Lomax, to collect songs by musicians in religious communities, serving prison sentences and on chain gangs.

Some of the recordings from this were later re-enacted in the acclaimed Coen brothers’ film Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.
Her seminal recording is considered by many to be Anthems in Eden, released in 1969. The pioneering album was seen by critics as a forerunner to the electric-folk movement popularised by Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.

Still as enthusiastic about music as she was during her childhood by the southern English coast, Shirley recently released her first album in over 30 years, and she joins Cerys to talk through her remarkable career.

(Photo: Shirley Collins. Credit: Eva Vermandel)

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