Pod Save the UK Can Britain’s myth and magic challenge the far right? w/ Zakia Sewell
Mar 21, 2026
Zakia Sewell, writer, DJ and broadcaster who explores British folklore and identity, shares her search for an inclusive sense of Britishness. She talks about rediscovering folk customs, how seasonal rites and songs offer alternative national stories, the politics around traditions like Morris dancing, and how artists can reshape what it means to belong in Britain.
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Pentangle Gig Sparked A Folk Awakening
- Zakia Sewell's entry into folk culture began when her dad took her at 15 to see Pentangle at the Royal Festival Hall, and the music felt ancient and transportive.
- That gig led her from jazz-influenced folk to pagan tales, seasonal customs and an alternative Britain she felt she could belong to.
Folk Songs Reveal Radical Hidden Histories
- Folk traditions often record voices of the marginalized: working classes, women and colonial subjects excluded from formal institutions.
- Songs like The Rufford Park Poachers reveal rural protest histories (poaching, enclosures, Luddites) omitted from school narratives.
Blackface In Morris Dancing Triggered A Crisis
- Zakia faced a crisis discovering blackface in some Morris dancing traditions and explored explanations like disguise versus minstrel influence.
- The Morris Federation banned blackface in 2020, though a minority resisted and the row was seized by right-wing press.
