Estren from Estren by TEYR

We learned Estren from Hilary in 2018 while in Cornwall together with Sid. The earworm melody and its unifying story of human movement got stuck under our skin and eventually became the seed of this album.

The earliest known instance of this song came from Mary Treese of Menheniot in East Cornwall in 1891. Her version told the story of emigrating Cornish folk or ‘Cousin Jacks’. It is still sung in the Southwest, often with the melody Hilary taught us. The opening melody, however, is inspired by a recording of Priscilla Cooper from Stafford Common in Devon, one of the many Romani to have carried this song. Our reworking weaves these threads with new ones, from Cornish migration to transatlantic slavery, from travelling folk to the refugee crisis. Human movement is universal and we embrace the stranger in ourselves and in others.

We would like to thank Sid and Hilary immensely for their help in bringing this Estren to life.

Tracklist

3.	Estren	4:27

Lyrics

I’m a stranger in this country, since westward I came,
There’s no one here that knows me, nor can tell my name.
I’m a stranger in this country, and I’ll tarry here a while,
And then I’ll travel homewards, over many’s a long mile.

Some said that I was lawless, and some called me wild,
Some said that I was lawless, and many hearts beguiled.
There’s but one true image I will carry over the sea,
And I'll trust in this image ’til this land returns to me.

Oh the moon shall set in darkness, and the stars shall give no light;
If ever I prove deceitful to my own hearts’ delight.
In the middle of the ocean there shall spring a myrtle tree,
If we ever break the shackles and rise from the sea.

Are we strangers in this country that we once called home?
Where we can live and share once more the right to roam.
Keep an eye to the horizon, and keep the fight within,
Keep your eye to the vision as the wind rushes in.

Estren of-vy y'n pow-ma, | I’m a stranger in this country,
Ny'm aswon den vyth yn-ta | There’s no one here that knows me

Our ship is well rigged, she’s ready to sail;
May the heavens protect her with a sweet pleasant gail,
And it’s when we have landed we’ll dance and we shall sing,
In a plentiful country set the valleys to ring.

Credits

from Estren, track released March 5, 2021
Guests: Hilary Coleman (vocals & clarinet), Ruth Corey (vocals), Sid Goldsmith (vocals & concertina)

License