Abolition Song

'A six-musician ensemble from the project Abolition Song and its Legacies (ASaiL) will bring to life rarely heard British anti-slavery art songs from 1787 - c1830, interwoven with readings from eighteenth-century Black writers.

Abolition Song is a distinctive and consequential body of British music. Abolitionists used art song to rally support within polite society for outlawing the slave trade. Abolition songs and associated instrumental pieces were written by mainly British composers who engaged directly with Abolitionist networks and debates.

Shaped by abolitionist networks in which women were vital as composers, writers, organisers, cultural leaders and consumers, this repertoire reflects the prominence of women within the movement. Their prominence echoes the vital but often overlooked contribution of women in the establishment of the Foundling Hospital, some 50 years earlier. Yet Abolition Song rapidly disappeared from public performance following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. It remains almost entirely unrecorded, leaving a significant gap in Britain’s musical and political history. 

The ASaiL Collective are now recovering this repertoire through archival research, working mainly from scores held at the British Library. ASaiL has been funded by the AHRC, in partnership with Guildhall School of Music & Drama. 

The concert will be followed by a moderated discussion with the musicians and audience which will allow this music, and the thoughts and feelings to which it gives rise, to be explored and discussed.'