Sometimes the 'cat is very helpful, sometimes over-picky.

I cannot help them source Yoruban folksongs. They will do that. All part of the plan, Fred - but that too is almost stereotyping if taken too far. They want to have some fun, not be a cultural mission. IMHO one needs a nod to "roots" if that is still an acceptable way to put it but there is no point in setting out to make yourself inaccessible.

Yes, DtG, what you say is on my horizon. Swanee and minstrelsy is definitely OFF the menu. I found an interesting site about American slave secular song - and thought - ooooh! Then I looked at the cited songs on that site and the verbal rendition was horrifyingly Uncle Tom and Topsy. Silvo was a cracking singer indeed - but many today look back at his self-guying as Uncle Tom.

Will, they will be going as punters, not as booked stage artists. My friend has been to a number of places folkie specifically with me (where, TBH, I don't think she was really "stared at", but she was the only non-Caucasian there) and part of her selling pitch to her friend was "Let's go and we can both be stared at as the only people like us".   No, she has not got a chip on her shoulder but she will pull my leg as being the only Caucasian at places she takes me to. And Caucasian is the word she and her friends use.

Pan-Afrikanism in case you are not aware includes specifically African cultural and social issues, but also adopts the view that persons of colour from the Caribbean and African-Americans must logically acknowledge that their heritage is African. Let's not go onto religious issues, we'll be here for hours and I've found it most educative (not least in that my friend is an adherent to a belief system that is definitely NOT Islam or Xtianity, but IS African and is NOT syncretic). At its fringes it includes the matters by which Pan-Afrikans (in the above sense) are disadvantaged outside Africa which fits very well with European left-wing politics. I therefore dispute that "In the Ghetto" or "The Lion" are inappropriate, but the young women will decide for themselves.   

Leenia - you may have a point there. So some Val Doonican without an Irish accent might work, or some music-hall Scottish without a Scottish accent might work.   Maybe female politics...

I don't think "My husband's got no courage in him" is apt. My last girlfriend used to do "An old man came courting me" so that would look like a specific rebuff. How about "the Eddystone Light"?

Polyphony is a good idea. I used to like Coope Boyes and Simpson but can't think of any wholly obvious songs. I am not at all sure about the Unthanks (although my band used their version of "Patience Kershaw" as a jumping-off point).   What maybe from the Young Tradition or Eden Hill, or the Watersons or Waterson-Carthy - or indeed the Coppers?

Right, off to look at that Silvo clip now.

Keep them clips a-coming!