Anto Morra
Album: Patriotism Is Not Enough
Label: AMMA
Tracks: 5
Website: http://www.antomorra.com

Over the last 12 months, perhaps unsurprisingly, there has been a veritable plethora of projects commemorating the outbreak of the Great War, all of them very good but, until now, none of them have taken the life and death of one individual for their inspiration.

Anto Morra hails originally from London but is now located in Norwich and his latest release sees him taking a step back from his London Irish Folk Punk Roots. The subject of Anto's latest EP, Patriotism Is Not Enough, is fellow Norfolk resident Edith Cavell.

For those who are not familiar with her, Edith Cavell was the eldest child of the vicar of Swardeston, a small village on the outskirts of Norwich and she led a full and varied life prior to her execution by the German military in October 1915

To tell the story of a life in five songs and a running time of about fifteen minutes is no mean feat but, in Patriotism Is Not Enough, Anto Morra manages to do exactly that admirably. The opening song, Edith Louisa Cavell, sets the scene, painting a picture of an idyllic childhood in rural Norfolk with the young Edith and her siblings skating on the pond in winter and playing tennis on her father's vicarage lawn in the summer. We are also given an insight into the values instilled into the young Edith that would shape her later life.

The second song, Something For The People, sees an older Edith going off to London to continue her education before moving around Europe, working as a Governess whilst feeding her thirst for knowledge, before coming home to tend her ailing father and finding her calling as a nurse at his bedside.

The final three tracks, Needed More Than Ever, Patriotism Is Not Enough and No Fear Or Shirking take us through from the outbreak of war, Edith's time in Belgium tending to the wounded from both sides and her efforts helping allied soldiers back to friendly territory through to her trial for treason and her execution by the German military.

Recorded in Swardeston church in early August 2015, on the centenary of the fateful knock on the door that heralded Edith's incarceration, all the tracks follow the same format. Each song is sung A Capella by Anto with an instrumental ending composed and performed by Percy Paradise on either concertina or Harmonica, each song works well on its own but equally they come together to tell a fascinating tale and there is something in the production values that gives a real sense of the faith, morals and work ethic that drove Edith throughout her life

This EP is a compelling listen that gives us a real insight into what made this Great War heroine tick and what compelled her to do what she did. In Patriotism Is Not Enough, Anto Morra has produced a fitting tribute to Edith Cavell that would sit well in any collection, in fact the opening song fitted comfortably into the Radio 4 Sunday morning worship programme that was broadcast from Norwich cathedral a couple of weeks ago.

David Chamberlain