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Most of our CDs have been imported from Europe or Asia. They are not all shrink-wrapped, and I am not going to con you by wrapping them here just to make you think they have been sterilized in America. I guarantee that the CDs and the contents are all brand new and in perfect condition. Whenever I can, I use recycled shipping materials. They may not look as pretty on the outside, but they save money and keep the trash dumps a little bit emptier.
Thanks- Cliff, cdRoots

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Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba
I Speak Fula
Malian maestro Bassekou Kouyate is a virtuoso picker and musical visionary whose work blurs the lines between West African and American roots music. Bassekou's instrument, the ngoni, is a 'spike lute' and an ancestor of the banjo, sharing its taut-skinned drum body, percussive attack, and varied picking techniques. Since 2005, Bassekou has led Ngoni Ba, the first-ever group built around not one but four ngonis, all played by members of his family. Bassekou's longtime friend and booster Lucy Duran (a BBC radio host, record producer, and Mande music scholar) produced the band's debut, Segu Blue. These 11 tracks provide a star-studded tour of pan-Malian music, including collaborations with Toumani Diabate, griot vocal legend Kasse Mady Diabate, master of the horse-hair soku fiddle Zoumana Tereta, and guitar phenomenon Vieux Farka Toure. Listen

Rasha
Let Me Be
Rasha reflects on the situation of her people in Sudan - a mixture of homesickness and hope. Due to the civil unrest in her homeland, she moved to Cairo in 1991, and now lives in Spain. The life of the exile is at the center of her work, in 11 songs both political and controversial.

various - Topic records
Three Score and Ten: A Voice to the People
A phenomenal self-tribute to one of the world's great record labels. 7 CD set, 144 cuts recognizing Topic's presence as the oldest independent record label in Great Britain. Packaged in a 10" x 10" hardback book filled with full-color illustrated pages depicting the label's story since its inception in 1939 to present day, with complete recording history, essential recording profiles and artists. VERY highly recommended. Non-US buyers MUST contact me first to arrange for special shipment.

Lucilla Galeazzi, Marco Beasley,L'Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar
La Tarantella: Antidotum Tarantulae
New SACD Edition (2010) - A fascinating, original crossover of folk and classical, with the musicians of the Renaissance ensemble L'Arpeggiata joining the illustrious singers Galeazzi and Beasley, performed on modern and ancient instruments including chitarra battente, lutes, harp, psaltry. With Alfio Antico, Eero Palviainen, Marcello Vitale and many other fine musicians. (Includes one additional track no on the original release)

Le Trio Joubran
À L'ombre des Mots (CD and DVD)
In The Shadow Of The Words features the CD and DVD recordings of Le Trio Joubran's September 19, 2008 concert at the Cultural Palace in Ramallah, Palestine, on the memorial day of Mahmoud Darwich, forty days after his death. The trio comments: "Mahmoud Darwich was as sensitive to the notes of our ouds as our ears and hearts to his poetry. We accompanied him in more than thirty shows in Europe and the Arab world. The last one was in France, in Arles, this beautiful city where we decided to begin a common work and where our music would accompany the variations of his voice, in strength and weakness, certainty and doubt, life and death...When he passed away, we decided to realize this project and the accompanying became a tribute…The first was in Ramallah, where his voice reached us, strong, dominant, and flew over our tears and the suffering of Palestine... and who better than Darwich can honour Darwich himself, absent and yet so present." Listen

VA
Panama! 3 - Calypso Panameño, Guajira Jazz and Cumbia Típica on the Isthmus 1960–75
"Volume Three is the best volume so far." says Charlie Gillet. Co-editors Roberto Gyemant and Miles Cleret are joined by Will "Quantic" Holland showcase more of the unique tropical music created in Panama in the fertile decades of the 1960s and 1970s. Panama is the thin, tropical bridge that connects North and South America, and is home to three million culturally-diverse people; its music is a soulful blend of Latin American, Caribbean, European and indigenous forms. From bilingual calypsos to guajira jazz, from tropical guarachas to cumbia tamboreras, Panamanian musicians fearlessly combined and brilliantly executed styles that reflected their multicultural environment during a turbulent time in the young country's history. This collection presents more of the golden age of Panamanian music and the music of the combos nacionales on rare recordings that have never been released outside the isthmus until now.

Ariondessa
Compagne grame
With former members of noted Italian ensembles (Tre Martelli, La Ciapa Rusa, Ombra Gaja), the band is bound to be in demand. This 2009 release offers up the mix of style and musicianship one would expect from such a pedigree. This chapter in the discography of the Piedmontese folk band comprises a unique calling card card of their region, with a new and original repertoire and personal, refined arrangements.Listen

Rosenberg, Deslignes, Descamps, Gomar
Out of Time and Country
A collaboration between musicians from France and Sweden looking to find common ground in their repsective folk and medieval music traditions. Susanne Rosenberg: vocals; Christophe Deslignes: organetto; Jean-Lou Descamps: medieval fiddle, tambura; Thierry Gomar: percussion - Listen

Tendachent
Ori pari
Tendachent is a piedmontese band born in the Spring 1997 as a natural evolution of one of the main folk-revival bands from Northern Italy, La Ciapa Rusa. The original band boasted a twenty-year career, 7 records and several concerts all over the world. Apart from Maurizio Martinotti, who founded and leaded La Ciapa Rusa, two more members from the same group joined Tendachënt. Three young and skilled musicians complete the new band. Part of Tendachënt's repertoire consists of modern versions and interpretations of La Ciapa Rusa's tracks.

Marta Sebestyen
I Can See The Gates Of Heaven…
Well known for her important work with Muszikás, Hungarian singer Márta Sebestyén sings songs personally chosen from the extensive Hungarian folk and religious repertoire - songs that have close personal resonance for her and that reflect the proud cultural heritage of the Carpathians. The musicians accompanying her are two of Hungary's finest - Balazs Dongo Sokolay on bagpipes, flutes, saxophone and tarogato and Matyas Bolya on lute and zither. In the informative sleeve notes, Sebestyén introduces the album and the background to each song, and leading Hungarian folklorist Ferenc Szabó provides further detail. Listen

QQQ
Unpacking The Trailer
QQQ unspools folk music from a place where bluegrass, Norwegian wedding marches, progressive rock, and post-minimalism have merged into a funky, engaging hybrid. Dan Trueman plays the Hardanger fiddle, Monica Mugan is on classical guitar, Beth Meyers on viola and Jason Treuting does the drums and percussion.It is a wild and decidedly non-traditional mix, yet the music still sounds ancient and rooted.

Talèh
Ratapuntu
Ratapuntu is a term used in Sicilian to indicate the seam made with the sewing machine to obtain a finished edge. A metaphor of the artistic texture of this album: just like the accurate and delicate making of a tailored piece, Talèh honours the experience with this boisterous ensemble from Ragusa, who have represented the popular tradition of their land for over ten years. Listen

VA
Ghana Soundz: Afro-Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70's Ghana
14 rare and unreleased tracks from Sweet Talks, African brothers, Black Star Sound, Ebo Taylor, and many others. Ghana Soundz is a painstakingly assembled collection of Afro-beat and Afro Funk, most of which has never been released outside of Africa and some of which is unreleased anywhere. This package will also appeal to collectors as it includes a full 16 page booklet highlighting the history of the Ghana recording industry and reproductions of original LP sleeves

Didier Laloy
S-Tres / Versione originale
The Belgian accordionist creates a highly original series of compositions and performs them with a sometimes subtle, sometimes manic sense of timing and space. It veers from folk to avant garde at the drop of a reed, and the ensemble backing him on this endeavor is flawless, adding sharp percussion, guitar, tuba and piano.

Dazibao
Alma
This Belgian quartet of accordions, guitar, ud and percussion offer some very fresh ideas, using local and global roots to produce original new music unchained to any genre. Highly Recommended! fRoots says: '...The three elements that make up Dazibao seem to have equally important contributions to make. Firstly there is the lead provided by the diatonic accordeons of Sophie Cavez and Jonathan De Neck. The way these two interplay and interact would make an interesting album in itself, but here they are superbly underpinned by Middle Eastern percussion from Jo Zanders and the assistance of Karim Baggili who alternates North African ud and flamenco guitar. Working within these margins they come up with some very inventive compositions and arrangements...'

These titles just in or coming soon (Please note: not all titles have additional information yet.)

Jamu (allow one week for shipment) - Massimo Ferrante - 18.99
On his second 'solo' recording, Ferrante explores again the Sicilian, Calabrian, Apulian and Campanian folk song-book, re-inventing it from a modern viewpoint, recontructing but never changing its heart. His guides are always the roots of the folk music and poetry of the region: Rosa Balistrieri, Otello Profazio, Ignazio Buttitta. On Jamu he is joined by a small, tight band of accordion, bass, guitars, tamburi and clarinet.

W Jan D’L’Eiretto (allow one week for shipment) - Lou Dalfin - 17.99
Originally released in 1992 Listen

Gibous, Bagase e Bandi (allow one week for shipment) - Lou Dalfin - 17.99
Originally released in 1995 Listen

Radio Occitania Libra - Lou Dalfin and Sustraia (allow one week for shipment) - 17.99
Live concert recording originally released in 1997 Listen

Ceremony - Omar Sosa and NDR Bigband - 17.99
A major new work by pianist-composer Omar Sosa, a big-band collaboration with composer-arranger-cellist Jaques Morelenbaum, Hamburg's 18-piece NDR Bigband, and the Omar Sosa Quartet, featuring Julio Barreto (drums), Childo Tomas (electric bass), and Marcos Ilukán (Afro-Cuban percussion) with Sosa on piano and marimba. Morelenbaum's amazing arrangements of selections from Sosa's repetoire give them new meaning. It also acknowledges the majesty of the legendary Afro-Cuban big bands of Frank "Machito" Grillo, Chico O'Farrill and Dizzy Gillespie, while extending those revered traditions in a contemporary salute to the expansive universe of global jazz. Highly Recommended!

Herencia - Harold Lopez-Nussa Trio - 17.99
A remarkable young jazz trio led by a rising pianist with roots in Cuba and France. 24-year-old Harold López-Nussa was born into a Cuban musical dynasty - the nephew of famous pianist Ernan López-Nussa and the son of drummer Ruy López-Nussa. He is known for his piano work as part of Omara Portuondo's band, and the lead female singer of the Buena Vista Social Club makes a guest appearance on this recording. López-Nussa fronts a trio comprised of bassist Felipe Cabrera (a member of Gonzalo Rubalcaba's band) and a marvelous drummer, his younger brother Ruy Adrian López-Nussa. This gets my highest recommendation for anyone into jazz or Latin music of any kind.

Fotheringay 2 - Fotheringay - 16.99
The 2nd release for UK folk-rock legends Fotheringay, including all members Sandy Denny, Pat Donaldson, Trevor Lucas, Gerry Conway, and Jerry Donahue. These are the original recordings from 1970. Fotheringay lasted less than a year, and released just one album. Now, the that debut album are joined by the eleven that would have constituted the follow-up. They broke up during the recording sessions for their second album but all the tapes survived. Thirty-eight years later, the surviving members have mixed all the material to finally complete the album.

African Woodoo - Manu Dibango - 17.99
Unearthing the world music vaults, these tracks were recorded between 1971 and 1975 by Manu Dibango for cinema, television or advertising. They have never been released on disc. The official information is missing but Dibango recalls that his Parisian band then comprised Jacques Bolognesi, Ivan Julien, François Jeanneau and Slim Pezin. On the sides cut in New York, you will find prestigious guests like Buster Williams and Cedar Walton and Tony Williams.

I never played too many posh dances - Scan Tester - 19.99
2 CD set, 55 track release from this traditional concertina player from the 1960s and early '70s. Classic material, essential listening and highly recommended

Vital - Fernando Otero - 16.99
Argentine pianist, composer and bandleader Fernando Otero’s new album for World Village, Vital, is a meditative yet emotionally refractive set of eleven modern chamber music pieces, redolent of new-style tango, twentieth century atonality, sharp-edged downtown jazz, and other sounds Otero picked up at home and on his travels. The opening duet for piano and violin, "Nocturno," is a limping waltz that appears to depict an insomniac’s midnight musings; it leads seamlessly into two succeeding yet unrelated movements. "Siderata," scored for six players including a bandonéon, Argentina’s emblematic squeezebox, is an exercise in stillness, like the uneasy peace that so often precedes a difficult decision. "La Abundancia," another duet, is roundly, ripely melodic; but the wryly titled "Reforma Mental" is scored for eight players and from its opening keyboard arpeggios, depicts a dialogue between voices in conflict, with scampering piano runs periodically overwhelmed by groaning, overbearing horns. Between them, the violin and bandonéon achieve a small universe of sonic color on "Noche Illuminata," while "Fin de Revision" contradicts its title by continuing to mutate and evolve until the final, wheezing exhalation. Listen

I Speak Fula - Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba - 14.99
Malian maestro Bassekou Kouyate is a virtuoso picker and musical visionary whose work blurs the lines between West African and American roots music. Bassekou's instrument, the ngoni, is a 'spike lute' and an ancestor of the banjo, sharing its taut-skinned drum body, percussive attack, and varied picking techniques. Since 2005, Bassekou has led Ngoni Ba, the first-ever group built around not one but four ngonis, all played by members of his family. Bassekou's longtime friend and booster Lucy Duran (a BBC radio host, record producer, and Mande music scholar) produced the band's debut, Segu Blue. These 11 tracks provide a star-studded tour of pan-Malian music, including collaborations with Toumani Diabate, griot vocal legend Kasse Mady Diabate, master of the horse-hair soku fiddle Zoumana Tereta, and guitar phenomenon Vieux Farka Toure. Listen

Segu Blue (allow one week for shipment) - Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba - 15.99
The first solo album from the Malian ngoni player (orignally released in 2007). Ngoni is the Bambara name for an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa that is plucked with the thumb, much like a 5-stringed banjo.Ngoni Ba is Mali's first ngoni quartet and features artists Kassemady Diabate, Lobi Traore, Lassana Diabate and singer Zoumana Tereta.

Ghana Soundz: Afro-Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70's Ghana - VA - 16.99
14 rare and unreleased tracks from Sweet Talks, African brothers, Black Star Sound, Ebo Taylor, and many others. Ghana Soundz is a painstakingly assembled collection of Afro-beat and Afro Funk, most of which has never been released outside of Africa and some of which is unreleased anywhere. This package will also appeal to collectors as it includes a full 16 page booklet highlighting the history of the Ghana recording industry and reproductions of original LP sleeves

Panama! Latin, Calypso and Funk on the Isthmus 1965-75 - VA - 16.99
Panama played host to many musicians from across the Caribbean to South America, laying down some of the best Latin, funk and calypso ever recorded. The Exciters, Victor Boa and Lord Cobra are heard once again. Panama occupies a unique place both geographically and culturally within Central America and the Caribbean. The CD presents a broad range of styles that run parallel to the development of soul and funk music in the US and the nascent salsa sound emerging from Miami, Cali and Baranquilla. The album covers heavy Latin descargas, raw calypsos, deep funk sounds and Caribbean soul, all unavailable since they were first issued in tiny numbers thirty years ago. All tracks have been carefully licensed and re-mastered and sound as vibrant and relevant today as the day they were released. CD l comes packed with in-depth liner notes, original cover scans and contemporary photos.

Panama! 3 - Calypso Panameño, Guajira Jazz and Cumbia Típica on the Isthmus 1960–75 - VA - 16.99
"Volume Three is the best volume so far." says Charlie Gillet. Co-editors Roberto Gyemant and Miles Cleret are joined by Will "Quantic" Holland showcase more of the unique tropical music created in Panama in the fertile decades of the 1960s and 1970s. Panama is the thin, tropical bridge that connects North and South America, and is home to three million culturally-diverse people; its music is a soulful blend of Latin American, Caribbean, European and indigenous forms. From bilingual calypsos to guajira jazz, from tropical guarachas to cumbia tamboreras, Panamanian musicians fearlessly combined and brilliantly executed styles that reflected their multicultural environment during a turbulent time in the young country's history. This collection presents more of the golden age of Panamanian music and the music of the combos nacionales on rare recordings that have never been released outside the isthmus until now.

I Can See The Gates Of Heaven… - Marta Sebestyen - 17.99
Well known for her important work with Muszikás, Hungarian singer Márta Sebestyén sings songs personally chosen from the extensive Hungarian folk and religious repertoire - songs that have close personal resonance for her and that reflect the proud cultural heritage of the Carpathians. The musicians accompanying her are two of Hungary’s finest - Balazs Dongo Sokolay on bagpipes, flutes, saxophone and tarogato and Matyas Bolya on lute and zither. In the informative sleeve notes, Sebestyén introduces the album and the background to each song, and leading Hungarian folklorist Ferenc Szabó provides further detail. Listen

À L'ombre des Mots (CD and DVD) - Le Trio Joubran - 19.99
In The Shadow Of The Words features the CD and DVD recordings of Le Trio Joubran's September 19, 2008 concert at the Cultural Palace in Ramallah, Palestine, on the memorial day of Mahmoud Darwich, forty days after his death. The trio comments: “Mahmoud Darwich was as sensitive to the notes of our ouds as our ears and hearts to his poetry. We accompanied him in more than thirty shows in Europe and the Arab world. The last one was in France, in Arles, this beautiful city where we decided to begin a common work and where our music would accompany the variations of his voice, in strength and weakness, certainty and doubt, life and death...When he passed away, we decided to realize this project and the accompanying became a tribute…The first was in Ramallah, where his voice reached us, strong, dominant, and flew over our tears and the suffering of Palestine... and who better than Darwich can honour Darwich himself, absent and yet so present.” Listen

Sweet Sweet Jamaica - Gilzene & The Blue Light Mento Band - 17.99
Debut from a group from remote areas of Jamaica has a sound that retains the unpolished quality of mento at its most genuine In the best mento tradition, the fifteen songs cover a range of topics, featuring folk favourites, suggestive ditties and songs examining the finer points of human relationships. Audiences may already be familiar with songs such as ‘Wings Of A Dove,’ once adapted in ska by Bob Marley, ‘Brown Girl In The Ring,’ a children’s ring game song adapted in disco by Boney M, ‘Dream Of Me,’ a big hit for Mac and Katie Kissoon in the mid-1970s, and the oft-versioned ‘Sly Mongoose,’ which references radical religious leader Alexander Bedward. Similarly, the group tackles mento classics such as the suggestive ‘Hold Him Joe,’ ‘Goosey’ (aka ‘Gungu Walk’) and ‘Water Your Garden’ with considerable aplomb, and there are also fine renditions of the ring game songs ‘Hill And Gully Rider’ and ‘Emmanuel Road,’ joined as a mini medley, as well as the heartbroken ‘Come Back Liza.’ ‘Jammin Tonight,’ which exhorts the listeners to join in the mento party, adapts a traditional number known as ‘You Safe,’ while in contrast, ‘10,000 Years’ adapts a bible hymn within the language and symbolism of the Rastafari faith. The originals are equally captivating: the ballad ‘Crying’ relates a riverside tale of seeking to give comfort in times of hardship and distress, while ‘Honey And Honeycomb’ has Lanford pledging eternal devotion to his sweetheart; ‘Sweet Sweet Jamaica’ naturally expresses the enduring appeal of the island for visitors. Perhaps most notable of all, the band’s adaptation of Toots and the Maytals’ much loved ‘Sweet And Dandy’ recasts the reggae hit as a mento country stomp, with none other than Toots himself contributing the vibrant harmonica. Listen

A Night in Berlin - BalkanBeats - 18.99
Robert Soko has been throwing parties in Berlin since 1993. He was the first to coin the term BalkanBeats to try and define his mix of music from the Balkans. BalkanBeats are Serbian Gypsy brass and folk melodies reinterpreted, given electronic beats and blended with western styles such as ska and rock. In the recent past the phenomenon has caught on in other cities around the world where Balkan immigrants live. BalkanBeats parties rave all the way from Frankfurt and Vienna to New York and Melbourne. Robert grew up in Zenica, central Bosnia, listening to western music: rock and roll, punk and ska. In 1990 he left Bosnia for Berlin. He took a job as a taxi driver and started hanging out at the Arcanoa, a punk bar in Berlin's immigrant quarter Kreuzberg with his ex-pat friends. The Arcanoa became their second home. Soko put on his first parties there, playing his Yugo music for fifty German marks and beer for free. He celebrated socialist holidays: Tito's birthday, Day of Women. May First. The parties were a mix of irony and nostalgia and Soko was surprised to see how many people came, as nostalgia for Yugoslav socialism was not the 'in thing' in those days of growing Balkan nationalism. And yet the parties grew. Then something happened. After years of listening and playing western-derived rock, punk and ska, Soko found himself returning to his ethnic Balkan music roots, the roots he had rejected as a youth in Bosnia. This was largely due to two figures, Goran Bregovic and Emir Kusturica. Bregovic who revamped Balkan Gypsy melodies, making Balkan music palatable for a western audience, and Kusturica, for whose Gypsy inspired films Bregovic did the soundtracks. And Soko played new/old Balkan music. And people loved it. Women grooved to it. Guys pogoed to it. It was a sensation. The press took notice. From the Arcanoa, Soko moved onwards and upwards, first to the Mudd Club, then to the Lido, all the while spreading the party fever to other cities around Europe, to New York, L.A., South Africa and Brazil. The enhanced CD features a Slideshow, which takes the viewer through a BalkanBeats night in Berlin with music by Fanfare Ciocarlia. Listen tp Markovic Orchestar | Listen to dunklebunt

Nha Sentimento - Cesaria Evora - 17.99
Cesaria ventures further afield than ever before, twisting Arabic musical traditions into bluesy, sinuous compositions from some of Cape Verde’s best songwriters.

Paspanga - Burkina Electric - 18.99
Paspanga is the debut album from Burkina Electric, a group of musicians from Africa and Europe led by composer Lukas Ligeti, son of famed Hungarian composer. Their music draws from the tradition and rhythms of Burkina Faso while incorporating contemporary electronic elements. Ligeti explains Burkina Electric's formation by saying, "In the mid-90s, [we made] our first attempts at creating what could be called African electronica. On our travels to Burkina Faso we met the singer Maï Lingani and guitarist Wende Blass. Soon, we invited two dancers to help us draw audiences into our unusual rhythms and celebrate the continent's unseverable connection between music and dance."

Devla - Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar - 18.99
Clad in a suave white suit, it's not impossible to imagine why urban legends credit gypsy trumpet king Boban Markovic with getting his homeland out of a recent jam: Markovic's spit-fire precision is rumored to have so seduced Bill Clinton that the saxophone playing president called off the further NATO bombing of Serbia. True or not, one thing is clear: Markovic and his son and prized protégé Marko are the bomb in Balkan brass dance music, harnessing the absolute flexibility of Miles Davis and the cool funk of Herb Alpert in the ultimate expression of their Southern Serbian Rroma roots. Their latest album as the Boban and Marko Markovic Orkestar, Devla: Blown Away to Dancefloor Heaven, flies effortlessly between echoes of the Ottoman Empire and down-and-dirty grooves that would make P-Funk's jaws drop. Listen 1 | Listen 2

Var det du – var det deg? - Kelpie - 17.99
Kerstin Blodig (vocals, acoustic guitar, bouzouki, bodhrán) and Ian Melrose (guitar, low whistles, seljefløyte, vocals, bouzouki, percussion, programming) combine Celtic and Scandinavian roots in a modern context. They are joined by a few other musicians on hardangar fiddle, percussion and bass on various tracks.

Art Vocal and Instrumental Art of the 19th Century - Aicha Redouane and Ensemble Al-Adwar - 16.99
Aïcha Redouane and the Ensemble Al-Adwar rediscover the art of wasla (a musical suite performed by a chamber orchestra - qanun zither, oud lute, kaman violin and riqq percussion), which reached its apogee in Cairo in the 19th century. It is a repertoire and a vocal technique that once seemed completely lost. Redouane, born in Morocco and raised in France, is a leading exponent of Arabic and Arabo-Andalusian music. Aïcha medorg1

Mille e una notte fà - Eugenio Bennato - 17.99
Musicians include Mimmo Epifani, Alfio Antico, Solis String Quartet and many many more.

Jewish Cabaret in Exile - Philip V. Bohlman and New Budapest Orpheum Society - 19.99
Music By Kästner, Nick, Milner, Gebirtig, Eisler, Ellstein, Kreisler, Leopoldi, Katscher, Spoliansky, Schiffer, Ullmann, Tucholsky, Holländer. Includes extensive extensive essay, annotations, and bibliography. Performers: Stewart Miller, bass; Ilya Levinson, piano; Iordanka Kissiova, violin; Hank Tausend, drums; New Budapest Orpheum Society; Julia Bentley, mezzo-soprano; Stewart Figa, baritone

Panama! 2 - Latin Sounds, Cumbia Tropical and Calypso Funk on the Isthmus 1967–77 - VA - 16.99
The Panama Canal was built by a huge workforce from all over the Caribbean and South America, each nationality bringing a taste of their culture and music to make up the hugely diverse nation that exists today. After soaking up the varied influences of Panama's diverse population, the dancefloors and bars spat out a mix that took in the raw vallenato of neighboring Colombia, the soul and funk of America, the calypso of Trinidad and the son and rumba of Cuba, all combined and re-styled in a uniquely Panamanian fashion. Writer and compiler Roberto Ernesto Gyemant travelled throughout the country in search of elusive records and reclusive musicians, tracking down hopeful tips and half-remembered names and addresses. Two years of digging through dusty warehouses and old radio stations in search of crackly records and dusty photos led to an exhaustive look at the musical culture of this fascinating country. Includes a full-color, 24-page booklet with nuggets of vital information, untold stories behind the music,

Opa Hey! - Kottarashky - 18.99
Kottarashky is a 21st century digital master musician with his hands sunk deep in the past - vintage Balkan field recordings, classic jazz and blues, psychedelic sounds, club beats and extraordinary, archetypal Gypsy voices, guttural shouts and lyrical laments are all molded and thrown into new shapes. The songs of his debut album “Opa Hey!” sound like tales told by a people who have all the time in the world: time to contemplate, enjoy, engage and dream; to take pleasure in unexpected twists and turns; to be inspired by the details and vividness of marginal existence. Kottarashky is an architect by vocation, which perhaps explains the palpable sense of place in his music. Summer trips to small villages and the marginal regions of Bulgaria were key source of inspiration for the album, and his music samples a broad palette of sources and influences - enigmatic field recordings by artists unknown alongside Boris Kovac, Les Yeux Noir, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Jony Iliev and compelling Hungarian singer Mitsou. The resulting digital pick-and-mix hits you like a panoramic puzzle of sounds collected and put together from a night's walk through the streets of Sofia. It is an ethno-music born of a city lacking cultural identity that is torn between contemporary European globalism, Balkan provincialism and a living if largely forgotten folk tradition. It's a music inspired by that environment but also in reaction to it, a journey down roads less travelled, through the Bulgarian backwoods and back via the laptop to the 21st century. Listen!

Sonates orientales - Wassim Soubra - 19.99
Sonates orientales is an album of instrumental music performed by Lebanese pianist and composer Wassim Soubra. Is it classical music? Jazz? World music? No matter what, it deserves further investigation, for Soubra writes using the grammar of classical music (harmonies, counterpoint) combined with the sounds of his childhood, and the result is a western composition that tells an eastern, Lebanese story.

The Kings of Benin: Urban Groove 1972-80 - T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - coming soon
Originally released 2005, reissued 2009. From the Republic of Benin, West Africa, T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo is one of Africa's least-known big-bands outside of their home country. Here is a collection that reflects their many poly-rhythmic moods. A mixture of hard Afro-Funk, driving Afrobeat, deep Afro-Latin and Cuban grooves all with a unique flavor that ruled the dance-floors of 70's urban Benin. Contained here are never before heard tracks re-mastered and available for the first time outside of Africa since being originally issued on small vinyl presses that have long become extinct.

Lila - Sidh - 17.99
Sidh presents a hybrid between the traditional sounds of the Gnawa and the rhythms and melodies of the Mediterranean. Young Italian-based Algerian musician Sidh (vocals, guembri, bendir, qraqueb) is joined by Riccardo Manzi (guitar and bouzouki), Renato Vecchio (saxophones, flute, duduk), Zaki Bedaida (acoustic guitar and vocals), Youcef Grim (percussion) and a vocal trio.

Departe De Casa - Formatia Valea Mare - coming soon- temp out of stock-16.99
This group of Roma (Gypsy) musicians in France (flugelhorn, trumpet, e flat clarinet, b flat clarinet, baritone horn, tuba) have recorded a stunning set of pieces in an old Church in Orleans. High energy, great music and brilliantly recorded sound. Listen

Sorrow of the River - Guo YaZhi - 16.99
Traditional and contemporary Chinese music performed on suona and other Chinese instruments. The suona (a traditional Chinese 'oboe' with roots in Central Asia) has a sound that is shrill, powerful and very loud. In northern China it is prominently played in festivals, military affairs and wedding processions.Here Guo YaZhi not only plays suona, but other reed instruments in ensemble with Chinese musicians including his wife He Tao on erhu, the two stringed Chinese violin. Listen

Small Town Story - Zhang Ling Ling - 16.99
Popular, traditional and contemporary Chinese music performed on gu zheng (zither) with other musicians in supporting roles. This debut recording focuses on 'gu zheng' performance. The gu zheng, a plucked instrument with movable bridges that are used to tune anywhere from 15 to 25 strings, is considered the “parent instrument” of the Japanese koto, Mongolian yatga, Korean gayageum, and Vietnamese ?àn tranh. The modern gu zheng usually has 21 strings. Listen

Compagne grame - Ariondessa - 17.99
With former members of noted Italian ensembles (Tre Martelli, La Ciapa Rusa, Ombra Gaja), the band is bound to be in demand. This 2009 release offers up the mix of style and musicianship one would expect from such a pedigree. This chapter in the discography of the Piedmontese folk band comprises a unique calling card card of their region, with a new and original repertoire and personal, refined arrangements.Listen

Ratapuntu - Talèh - 17.99
Ratapuntu is a term used in Sicilian to indicate the seam made with the sewing machine to obtain a finished edge. A metaphor of the artistic texture of this album: just like the accurate and delicate making of a tailored piece, Talèh honours the experience with this boisterous ensemble from Ragusa, who have represented the popular tradition of their land for over ten years. Listen

Napoletana - Enzo Avitabile - 17.99
On this 2009 recording, Avitabile reconnects with simplicity to the sources of sounds; work-songs and villanelle, songs that are unedited, unfiltered, etched in the cement of the city, with eyes fixed on the past and a heart that breathes in the scent of the future. Avitabile always creates new music born from an old art, full of feeling and always innovative. Listen

La bella è entrata in ballo - Suonabanda - 17.99
This CD marks the return on the musical scene of one an historic bands, deeply involved in the Italian folk-revival in the 70s. They have brought back old songs that are part of Italian Apennines’ musical tradition as well as new pieces. At heart of the project are songs in celebration of the month of May. Listen

Alba auba aurora aurore - Veziana - 17.99
Veziana, which means 'joyful' in medieval Occitan, is a French-Pyrenean group whose music is a crossroad of styles. From the Middle Ages to modern times, and on either side of the Pirénéus, a deep rich vein of sonorities, musical practices and emotions have undergone a process of assimilation and exchange. Veziana is also a sound in itself, characterized by ensembles of voices, viola da gamba, qanoun, harp, hurdy-gurdies, bag-pipes and percussion. Listen

Tutto per amore - Andrea Capezzuoli e Compagnia - 17.99
Here he comes again, exactly a year after the publication of “Suonato coi piedi.” Their 2009 disc was designed to accompany dancing sessions but also dedicated to those who would rather wander with a musical ensemble that crosses the seas, docking at many ports, some very close and familiar, other remote and enchanting. Capezzuoli and his company of Italian musicians explore France, French Canada, England, Italy, the Mediterranean and more with voices, melodeon, organetto, saxophones and guitar. Listen

Orchestra di Porta Palazzo - Orchestra di Porta Palazzo - 17.99
An album that visits music from all over the world from the unique urban viewpoint of Turino, a paradigm of a multicultural society that finds no other equivalent in Italy. Fourteen musicians, from Tunisia, Algeria, China, Cuba, Senegal, Nigeria, United States, Mauritius Islands and Italy give life to a work that is variegated and kaleidoscopic and that has the energy of a live concert and the elegance of a studio production. Listen

Sahrauis: Music of Western Sahara - various - 43.99
3 CD box set with a substantial illustrated and illuminating book covers a vast range of the music from the Saharawi, a nomadic tribe in the western Sahara that is working towards independence from Morocco, currently and primarily living in Algerian camps.

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