Sam Lee was born in London, while his father comes from an artistic Polish family. He has demonstrated his wide range of talents in a number of fields, from visual art to burlesque dancing, before settling on British folk songs. He collects them, sings them and teaches them - in a university college, on radio and television shows and, last but not least, in the club he himself founded, the Nest Collective. He underwent a significant musical education in spending four years with the travelling band of the legendary Scottish singer Stanley Robertson. It was at that time that it became clear to him that you need to learn not from books, but from the original informants; from wandering gypsies and Irish singers. These experiences became the deep, timeless inspiration for his first album in 2012, Ground of its Own. This Mercury Prize-nominated album became one of the greatest international sensations of recent years, becoming the first English record to reach the playlists of world music radio stations across Europe. Intimate and unsettling, harking back to older times yet simultaneously ground-breaking.
With his 2015 The Fade in Time album, Lee brought a new masterpiece to the table. His distinctive and special instrumentation - which splendidly fits in cellos, trumpets, violins, kotos and tablas - further pushed the borders of folk music. His musical universe is in some ways as close to psychedelic folk, contemporary music and jazz as old-fashioned English songs, but, whichever way you look at it, a magical experience is guaranteed.


Presented by: Müpa Budapest