KLOF Staff

Niger is a West African country located south of Algeria and north of Nigeria. For thousands of years, the region has been a crossroads between the Arabs of North Africa and the sub-Saharan cultures, so it is not surprising that Niger has a very rich cultural heritage. The Tuareg and the Wodaabe people are just two of eleven ethnic groups who live there.

This Oliver Peel session with Arborea, who are Buck Curran and his wife Shanti was recorded recently in Paris. We have been playing Arborea on Folk Radio Uk for what feels like many years. I am still as moved by their beautiful music today as I was when I first heard them.

Following on from his previous solo outing Baby, Wolves Abound, Owl Service guitarist Jason Steel continues to fingerpick his way through classic bluegrass and Americana on this massively enjoyable new full-length.

To the opening strains of Sheema Mukerjhee’s sitar joined by Mr Carthy’s trademark guitar the Imagined Village cross fertilisation of different cultures continues apace with a clever re-interpretation of the ballad “My Son John” utilising a more chilling, modern ‘take’ on the song’s powerful anti-war

Balmorhea’s previous album All is Wild, All is Silent explored the freedom and isolation of settlers learning to live on an untamed frontier. It was an intensely physical album, dealing with the struggles of man on earth. By contrast, their new album Constellations shifts our focus to the cosmos and beyond, meditating solemnly on the mystical and metaphysical.