Black Folk in English Folk

Abstract In 2009 the British National Party caused outrage by placing English folk songs on its website. The result within the folk scene was the Folk Against Fascism movement and a critical discussion over the racial import of the idea of “folk music” in England. This article, accompanied by an online playlist, examines how folk music here is shaped by narrow associations with whiteness and nationalism and how this is being opened with contemporary debates about Englishness, racism, and music. This article argues that there are many examples of Black folk in English folk, including such singers as Doris Henderson and Nadia Catouse and the innovative guitarist Davey Graham. An attention to these overlooked contributions to English music attempts to recover the postcolonial history of English folk music and how performers of color shaped the folk tradition here often while exceeding narrow local and national references. Through interviews with contemporary artists of color Angeline Morrison and Hak Baker, the article explores how these artists are trying to open an alternative sense of the English folk tradition that includes Black folk. This also involves a refiguration of how the nature of Englishness, tradition, and culture can be conceived beyond ethnic absolutism and national authenticity.