Yggdrasil are a Faroese project led by multi-instrumentalist Kristian Blak (whom I had the pleasure, many years ago, of meeting in Varna, Bulgaria) and a host of local musicians along with singer Vera Kondratieva from Siberia. You would expect to hear a melding of Scandinavian and traditional Siberian music on Continue Reading
Folk
Various Artists – Let’s Stamp: 1950s Folk Dance Recordings from Bulgarian and Yugoslavian 78rpm Discs
The ever-reliable Canary Records out of Baltimore, Maryland, have released a compilation of Balkan 78 rpm shellacs with a lot of the artists being unidentified, but whose music is most assuredly from my home away from home.
Wickerbird – The Sea Weaver
Though our friends at Lost Tribe Sound have chosen to release this album on November 22, 7 weeks away from today’s date, I thought it wise to hip you, my friends and readers, on an album you’ll surely find to be a treasure. From the label’s press release: Lost Tribe Continue Reading
Los Camperos de Valles – El ave de mi soñar: Mexican Sones Huastecos
Los Camperos de Valles are Huastecan musicians and are considered to be national treasures in their native Mexico. This album, released by Smithsonian-Folkways, serves as a great introduction to the sound of son huasteco.
noemienours – The Dry Path
It’s hard for me to make out the influences of this album, but I can say with certainty that listening to this rather weird album was a pleasure. From noemienours’ Bandcamp site: ““The Dry Path”, noemienours’ 5th LP, developed around a Gobi Bear narrative of barren edge conditions as an Continue Reading
Ialoni – 50 Georgian Song (50 ქართული სიმღერა)
Ialoni are a female traditional music ensemble hailing from Georgia, and they offer on this album, as the title implies, 50 tracks of absolutely stunning renditions of folk material. A keeper.
Galaverna – Wagdans
I would have expected an album like this to come from England, the Netherlands or even somewhere in the Scandinavian realm, but to think that such a wonderfully played (and sung – in English!) album comes from Verona, Italy, of all places, shows that Galaverna are true students of such Continue Reading
Various Artists – Shirley Inspired…
There is, apparently, a documentary film coming out on the life of Shirley Collins, the grand dame of British folk music who worked with such artists as disparate as Davey Graham and Current 93. This compilation is tied to the film, and features artists like Lee Ranaldo, Alasdair Roberts and Continue Reading
Sak Sok Ensemble of Fershampenuaz Village – Nagaybak Songs From Chelyabinsk Region, Russia
A fascinating release from our friends at Antonovka Records. From their Bandcamp website: “Nagaybaks are an ethnic group that descends from the Christian Tatars and shares the same self-name with them — “Kreshenner”, which means “Baptized Ones”. There are about 10 thousand Nagaybaks in total, they live primarily in the Continue Reading
Allegra Krieger – Precious Thing
It’s very rare for me to review a folk album that doesn’t involve an element of rock in it, but this is something special. Allegra Krieger is a singer-songwriter based out of New York, and the songs on her album especially Precious Thing, are some of the most gentle ballads Continue Reading