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Robert Macfarlane and Nick Hayes collaborate on a modern Broadside Ballad protesting the slow death of rivers in the UK and around the world – singing for their revival.
Many of you who read KLOF Mag will be familiar with Robert Macfarlane’s writings through his books, such as The Old Ways, Landmarks, and Underland or through musical connections, including Spell Songs, which was a musical response to the creatures, art and language of The Lost Words by Robert and Jackie Morris.
What some of you may not realise is that six years ago, Robert, in collaboration with Illustrator, graphic novelist, political cartoonist, and author of The Book of Trespass Nick Hayes, worked together on a free broadside ballad. Many of you who enjoy traditional folk music will be well aware of what a broadside ballad is; in Robert’s own words, “Historically, “Broadside ballads” were single-side printed sheets designed for announcing or protesting. For centuries, the arts of woodcut, typography & poetry thrived symbiotically on broadsides: image, letter & verse.”
His first free broadside was ‘Heartwood’, described as a protective charm. It appeared on endangered street trees in Sheffield. Robert recently recalled how ‘Heartwood’ ended up being fly-posted all over Sheffield. It is used in tree and forest protection across the world, from Canada to Hyderabad. It has also been translated into Chinese, Dutch, and Telugu.
It also became a song; it opened the 2019 Spell Songs album with Karine Polwart taking the vocal lead. Here is the Spell Song cast performing the song live at Hintze Hall at the Natural History Museum during a live-streamed concert that raised over £105,000 for the museum’s Urban Nature Project.
Talking again this week about the modern significance of the Broadside Ballad, Robert shared how legibility and memorability are key to the Broadside tradition. In his latest collaboration with Nick Hayes, they have preserved those qualities once again. Hopefully, this song will travel as far and wide as Heartwood did to make people aware of the fragile state our river ecosystems are in and the need to protect them. Robert’s next book, Is A River Alive?, explores this in-depth and is due to be published by Penguin on May 1st, 2025:
At its heart is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Is a River Alive? takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.
At once, Macfarlane’s most personal and most political book to date, Is a River Alive? will open hearts, spark debates and lead us to the revelation that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has.
Nick Hayes’ latest book is Wild Service – Why Nature Needs You (Bloomsbury – 25 April 2024) – a visionary concept crafted by the pioneers of the Right to Roam campaign, which argues that humanity’s loss and nature’s need are two sides of the same story. Blending science, nature writing and indigenous philosophy, this groundbreaking book calls for mass reconnection to the land and a commitment to its restoration.
Riversong Broadside Ballad
Download Riversong here as a PDF and spread the word.
Robert shared this on the Riversong broadside ballad:
Hello: this is ‘Riversong’, a “broadside ballad” which protests the slow death of rivers in the UK & around the world––& sings for their revival.
‘Riversong’ is free to print, share, set & sing, speak aloud on a riverbank, post on walls or windows, adapt, translate, perform, turn into a placard on a protest, colour in, share with schools, friends, community choirs, campaign groups…ANYTHING you want. No permission is needed for any use; the only condition is that you use it for the good of rivers & people.
The art is by Nick Hayes & the words are by me. But there’s no need ever to credit either of us. This is a choral work made from & by many voices. Nick’s border art is a single, sinuous flow of river-beings, human & more-than-human: Dipper, Otter, Swimmer, Stonefly, Cormorant, Elf Cups, Eel…
The words running around the frame are imagined as River’s “undersong”, to be murmured below the main lyrics. Substitute the names of your own rivers & river creatures there to make a new, localised undersong anywhere in the world.
We’d love to see ‘Riversong’ move with similar wild energy in the world. Please share it on by tagging people here who might like to see it, or emailing it or just…sending it to folk. I’ll be speaking it aloud from the stage in Parliament Square at the huge @marchforwater in London on 3/11. Join us! Bring a ‘Riversong’ placard!
Our fate flows with that of rivers, and always has.
Follow Nick Hayes: https://www.instagram.com/nickhayesillustration/
Follow Robert Macfarlane: https://linktr.ee/robmacfarlane
