News
Following an Irish immigrant carpenter from coastal Queens to the Catskills and beyond,The Builder is an American existential portrait that explores the gulf between the idea of a thing and the thing itself. Having set off to the New York countryside to construct a reproduction of the earliest of American cape houses, the protagonist (Colm O’Leary) finds himself overcome by an inexplicable fatigue.
Sharon Van Etten will be putting out her second record, a seven-song collection called epic, on October 5th through Ba Da Bing. The track below is the last song off that. If you’ve seen her live recently (like at the Chris Knox Benefit), you may have caught it. In April, the song was covered at the Music Now Fest in Cincinnati by Bon Iver and members of the National.
In 2008, the Aga Khan Music Inititative and the San Fracisco-based Kronos Quartet inaugurated a pioneering musical collaboration that brought the quartet together with leading musicians from Azerbaijan and Afghanistan to create music rooted Central Asian traditions. Over a period of nine months, Kronos met with renowned Azerbajani vocalist Alim Qasimov and his ensemble, and with Afghan rubab virtuoso Homayin Sakhi, to compose, arrange, perform, and record a body of …
Raised in a large, musical farm family in Rappahannock County, Virginia, John Jackson (1924–2002) was the most important black Appalachian musician to come to broad public attention during the mid-1960s. Smithsonian Folkways is proud to present Rappahannock Blues, a new collection of previously unreleased live recordings by John Jackson mostly made at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
UNITE: A Gathering of Strangers is the latest ambitious world fusion project from Hamid Man Tu and Tim Whelan of Transglobal Underground. UNITE stands for URBAN NATIVE INTEGRATED TRADITIONS OF EUROPE. Taking stock of their group of collaborators and co-conspirators across Europe, they were looking to create something that reflected both that network and the growth of the contacts and movements that have taken place over the time that Trans-Global …
Seasick Steve heads a posse of top acts for the third annual Southern Fried Festival of American Roots Music in Perth, Scotland. The festival takes place in Perth Concert Hall, Perth Theatre and a variety of other venues nearby. All the roots music bases from blues and country to rock ‘n’ roll, gospel, soul and R&B will be covered in this packed weekend of song, dance, food, workshops, kid’s events …
Paul Curreri is renowned for his inspired songs, bright voice, and talented finger-style playing as well as his wife, Devon Sproule. He has also been described as “A ruffled gypsy gutter cowboy, a true life adventurer…”. He has been touring in the UK promoting his latest CD, California. In some ways the album came about due to a vocal-cord injury which forced him off the road, which he had been …
If you’re at a loose end this weekend or fancy a great festival why not head upto the Lake District for the Imploding Acoustic Inevitable Festival! The festival takes place in Fell Foot Woods, home of Pancosmic Pyromanticism! IAI is an intimate 2 day festival and offers the finest underground urban folk and poetry that the UK has to offer. You will see many Frukie artists in the line-up! Looks …
This festival line-up just keeps getting better, just when I think they’ve topped it they add another top band that we love! Indie giants Modest Mouse, gothic-Americana act Iron & Wine, conquering London guitar trio The White Lies and the single most exciting irish act of the last few years, Villagers, have all been added to this year’s 12th Open House Festival in Belfast, 7th – 12th September!
Brampton Live 2010, the biggest folk roots festival in the north of England, has been cancelled. The 16th Brampton festival was due to take place near Carlisle between July 16-18 with a bumper line-up of artists from the UK, America and Canada. But founders Ken and Sue Bradburn and their fellow directors of Brampton Live Ltd, Mick North and Steve Henderson have issued the following statement:
In August Moishe’s Bagel release their long-awaited third album ‘Uncle Roland’s Flying Machine’, produced by David Keay and with specially commissioned artwork by renowned cartoonist Glen Baxter. Thrillingly original cutting-edge klezmer and folk music from some of Scotland’s finest musicians. An intoxicating, life-affirming mix of Eastern European dance music, Middle Eastern rhythms and virtuoso performances.
From The people who brought you ‘Tapestry Goes West’ Wild West and Medieval Festivals from 2003 through to 2008 in Cornwall and Wales respectively comes a one day event in the walled garden at Shenley Park in the Hertfordshire countryside. Half an hour north of London, 1 mile from Radlett Station with trains from Kings Cross Station leaving every half hour. Formerly Shenley Mental Institution the Victorian walled garden was …