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I carry the entire Taranta Ethnica series of traditional music of Italy. This collection of field recordings from all over Italy is recognized for its superb insight and quality.

 


La Tarantella: Antidotum Tarantulae - Lucilla Galeazzi, Marco Beasley,L'Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar - 18.99
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. (This SACD edition includes one additional track not on the original release)


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

Pòble Mon Pòble - La Talvera - 17.99
2003 release by the noteable Occitania roots ensemble received the 'Choc de la musique' award from Bravo Trad Magazine

Thaspos - Riccardo Tesi and Banditaliana - 18.99
Melodeon master Tesi does it again, with a brilliant set of tunes and songs that span the globe for inspiration and then land squarely in Italy for execution. A band of melodeon, guitars saxophones and percussion is ably augmented by guests on bass, strings, reeds, vocals and percussion. Highlights include a tribute to Malagasy valiha player Justin Vali, and a phenomenally moody and beautiful 'Penombre' (That by the way had its debut as a solo piece on last year's Free Reed Festival on RootsWorld!) Order now because these will probably run out fairly quickly.

Acqua, foco e vento - Riccardo Tesi - 18.99
This is the newest recording by the Italian melodeon master, and is sure to be a minor hit in the little world of world music.

Serenata Luntana - Napoli MandolinOrchestra - 18.99
Led by master musicians/composers Antonello Paliotti, Mauro Squillante and Leonardo Massa, this large string and percussion orchestra from Naples will absolutely surprise you with their strong and passionate mix of old and new, played out on a large stage with a lot dynamics and energy.

Jamu - 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 - Lou Dalfin - 17.99
Originally released in 1992 Listen

Gibous, Bagase e Bandi - Lou Dalfin - 17.99
Originally released in 1995 Listen

Radio Occitania Libra - Lou Dalfin and Sustraia - 17.99
Live concert recording originally released in 1997 Listen

Taranteria - Mario Salvi - 17.99
The great Italian organetto (diatonic accordion ) player's 2004 release of traditional and orginal tunes and songs features a wonderful backing ensemble including Luciano Orologi (clarinett and sax), Giuseppe De Trizio (guitar and mandoin), Fabrizio Piepoli (voice, tamburi, electric bass) and guest appearances by Gisella Di Palermo, Antonio Esperti, Raffaele Inserra, Giandomenico Caramia, Carlo De Pascali, Adolfo La Volpe, Giampiero Mazzone.

ballatti tutti quanti ballati forte - Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - 18.99
One of the first group to present traditional music from Puglia (Southern Italy), thirteen songs from the traditional repertoire. The texts tell story of the tarantism and other trance phenomenon of the area as well as of other activities related to the local daily life

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

Diario di Bordo - La Ciapa Rusa - 16.99
One of Italy's most influential bands is back on CD in a performance of songs that spans their 20 year career, recorded in their official farewell concert recorded live in Casale Monferrato, July 12th 2003. Essential listening.

Ori pari - Tendachent - 17.99
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.

Fiore de tutti i fiori - Musicanti del Piccolo Borgo - 17.99
A reissue of the most important tunes from the successful album Fiore de tutti i fiori, which was published in 2000 by Teatro del Sole (now out of print). The CD contains some of the finest melodies from the tradition of the Italian regions of Lazio and Molise, in excellently arranged versions performed by Musicanti. A must have recording!

So sol d'amarti alla follia - Paola Lombardo-Donata Pinti-Betti Zambruno - 17.99
These three protagonists of the folk music scene are perhaps the three voices that best represent female singing in Piedmont. Their different experiences did not prevent them from finding cohesion and consistency both in the themes they chose and their way of performing. Together they blend the tradition of popular songs with evocative, original arrangements.

La vulp la va 'n tla vigna (ES5315 - I Musetta - 17.99
This CD is a celebration of traditional sounds from Italy's so called 4 Provinces. For more than 20 years Musetta is the first name we can associate to the particular music of this region. Led by the piffero and the musa, their music is always a learning experience for many folk musicians.

La cadrega fioria (ES5309 - Le Vija - 14.99
Some of the best musicians of Piedmontese traditional music play together in Le Vijandagrave;: it was the Regional Administration of Piedmont who commissioned the creation of this band from Turin's FolkClub and EthnoSuoni. The group joins experienced musicians and young, clever ones. The repertoire gives an example of the various kinds, styles, cultures and languages of a Region rich in musical traditions. Basically acoustic, Le Vijandagrave;'s sound includes modern interpretation of the traditional repertoire, both for the refined use of instruments and the sophisticated arrangements.

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.

Il Ballo Della Lepre - Riccardo Tesi - 17.99
One of Tesi's earlier works, more folk-traditional than recent recordings, but in some opinions around here, still one of is best

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

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

Music Of The Apennins - Stefano Valla, Dani Scurati - 16.99
Piffero, accordion and vocals, nothing more. This disc features songs and melodies for listening and dancing. Stéfano Valla and Daniele Scurati present the traditional repertoire for these two instruments.

Rosa Resolza - Andrea Parodi And Elena Ledda - 19.99
One of Parodi's final recordings, made just before his death in 2007, featuring Rita Marcotulli, Mauro Palmas, Belentes, Giancluca Corona, Francesco Sotgiu, Andrea Ruggeri, Silvano Lobina, Gigi Marras. Listen to some tracks here

Migrare - La Moresca Antica - 12.99
Here's a new chapter in the research into traditional maritime music: following 'Marinaresca' and 'Li Turchi alla marina,' the leaders Umberto Mosca and Angelo Maffezzoli along with their artistic crew give us a fully ripened work with the themes of men and music and migration by sea. Special guests include Lucilla Galeazzi and Jack Coutts.

Suonato coi piedi! - Andrea Capezzuoli e Compagnia - 14.99
Virtually unknown in Italy, the traditional music of Quebec is a kind of mélange of Scot-Irish music with French songs. Alongside the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and piano, its typical instruments are the melodeon, the oldest kind of accordion, which is still found in Quebec and Louisiana, and... the musicians' feet, which make for a powerful rhythmic background in wild dances. Andrea Capezzuoli, who has always been very fond of this music, has collected a handful of classics of this genre and made a fizzy but at the same time accurate CD despite what its title would suggest (an old Italian refrain says that you do bad if you do using your feet).

Trasudando - A3 - 14.99
This work has roots deep in the tradition, in the culture where women and men, elders and children, briganti and cumpari have all told their stories. This band from the Province of Bari, with their maiden discographic voyage, sails along the infamous A3, the motorway connecting Salerno and Reggio Calabria, one of the most conspicuous symbols of a cultural and territorial panorama that clashes with the pride and the desire for redemption of southern Italy.

Enfants terribles - E.Y.F.O. - 8.99
The European Youth Folk Orchestra are the 'Enfants terribles'. This is a live recording of the first European youth orchestra of traditional music.

Rev - Meikenut - 10.99
A great new band that mixes tradition and innovation. The record presents Piedmontese traditional melodies in new arrangements

Marannui - Epifani Barbers - 13.99
Mimmo Epifani and his ensemble of singers and musicians pay tribute to the soul of the taranta and the region of Salento of Italy.

Maschi Femmine And Cantanti - Corou De Berra - 16.99
The traditional vocal ensemble from France tackles more modern material by Italian poet/composer Fabrizio de André, although still delivered in a roots style. fRoots says: 'Courou de Berra sing with great precision and their dense harmonies approach a cappella, with the largely string-based accompaniment being little more than decoration. The vocals dominate the recording and are relieved only by the shortest of instrumental passages, which at times can be overpowering, but their voices make a glorious sound.'

Rumi - Lu (Luisa Cottifogli) - 11.99
Italian singer and composer Cottifogli returns in 2006 with a new solo project that expands on the explorations started in her superb (and sadly, out of print) Aio nene. Innovative arrnagements that delve into the 21st century via ancient roots are executed by a fine ensemble of piano, percussion, chitarra battente, guitars, flutes, electronics, reeds and strings, all focused on one of Italy's finest young voices. A heavier emphasis on samples and electronics is balanced by chorale vocals, classical strings and a total awareness of the roots of the music, be they sacred or profance. This is a unique and challenging recording that offers new rewards with each listen.

Stagioni - Lucilla Galeazzi - 11.99
A compilation of songs by Umbrian singer Lucilla Galeazzi with Massimo Nardi, guitar; Massimo Carrano, percussion; Antonio Ramous, cello/Salvatore Zambataro, accordion. Most of these songs are on her Lunario and Cuore di Terre CDs already available at cdRoots, but for newcomers to this wonderful Italian singer's work, this is a great collection of 18 acoustic gems.

Istanpitta: Danses florentines du Trecento - Henri Agnel - 18.99
Although the estampies are formally based on the scheme of verse and refrains, they allow for a certain degree of freedom. During the fourteenth century, music was mobile, composed then reinvented: improvisation, ornamentation and the art of preluding were the keynote. Henri Agnel directs the ensemble, and plays cistre, ceterina, oud; joined by Mickael Nick, quinton; Henri Tournier, flûte traversière (bansouri); Djamchid Chemirani, zarb; Idriss Agnel, oud

Alla Napoletana, Villanesche & mascherate - Suonare e cantare, Jean Gaillard - 18.99
Inspired by the work of Gian Domenico del Giovane da Nola (1510-1592), organist and later master of the church of the Annunciation in Naples. In addition to a number of madrigals and motets, he left a rich collection of Canzoni Villanesche (1545). These Canzoni Villanesche (or Napolitane) were songs on popular themes, originally written for three voices in the Neapolitan dialect. The texts are characterised by their burlesque or erotic inspiration, usually containing metaphors, popular proverbs, malicious or saucy puns, distorted words and various types of comical or meaningless onomatopoeia. The programme is enriched by a selection of varied instrumental pieces, featuring not only instruments that were fashionable during the Renaissance (recorders, post horns, reed instruments, violas, luths, guitars, percussions and bagpipes), but also typical Neapolitan instruments as colascioni, tammorri, tromba degli zingari and more.

Marlevar - Marlevar - 12.99
The voice of Luisa Cottifogli in the front line was enough for me to fall in love with this recording. This excellent acoustic ensemble displays a world of musical interests from Italy and France (Provence) and creates their own unique sound with these pieces.

Sicily - Folk Music - Various Artists - Various Artists - 16.99
Work songs songs tied to circumstances of everyday life and songs set to the calendar of ritual feasts are featured. Most are accompanied by small ensembles of guitar, mandolin, accordion, guimbarde, tambourine, bagpipe or reed flute.

Amanca Luna - Asteriskos - 14.99
Giancarlo Parisi, one of the best known Italian players of the zampogna (bagpipes), friscalettu and other wind instruments of Sicily, returns with a new band. The Sicilian roots and acoustic sensibility are merged with contemporary arrangements, heeding history but always looking forward.

Canto d'amore: voci, suoni, ritmi della Grecia Salentina - various - temp out of stock-18.99
Love songs: voices, sounds and rhythms of Grecia Salentina' sung in the griko dialect of Salento, Italy recorded between 1975 and 1985

I Passiuna tu Christu' - various - 17.99
Canto di questua pasquale della Grecia Salentina' (The Passion of Christ: Easter Songs of the Greek-Speaking Region of Salento) offers a long musical play (bruscello) about the passion of Christ, performed more or less as it would be on the streets of Salento, in the griko tradition of the region. The 76 page booklet includes commentary in Italian and English; lyrics in dialect, Italian and English; and musical transcription. 23 minutes.

Rosa de papel - Marisa Sannia - 18.99
Marisa Sannia wrote: "We don't have to read poetry with our eyes , we have to read it with the voice. The eyes help us to decipher it, the ears help us to discover the rhythm of it, but it's with the voice that we can recreate it". The Sardinian singer probed the deep sea of Federico Garcia Lorca's poetry, choosing and collecting words and compositions of the great Andalusian poet. The lyrics of each song (except for "pequeño vals vienes" by Leonard Cohen and "La cancion de la mariposa" by Amancio Prada) were all set into music by the artist and performed in acoustic settings for piano and guitar

Materiali Tradizionali - BEV - Bonifica Emiliana Veneta - 18.99
2006 release by the Emilian-Venetian ensemble is a veritible ancient 'wall of sound' for hurdy gurdies, bagpipes, voices, reeds, horns, accordion and more.

Mater Sabina - Raffaello Simeoni - 18.99
Singer from Lazio, Raffaello Simeoni on vocals, dizi, saz, hurdy-gurdy, melodeon, F recorder, cuatro, samples, sinth, tarota, binju and organetto with Gabriella Aiello on vocals. The artist writes 'This is the story of Mater Sabina, from the tradition of my native region, the crossroads of myriad pathways, set in the very heart of Italy. Here pipers and fifers, migratory sheperds, impromptu rhymers, wandering songsters have tread this land, dragging their strains with the voices and tunes of our women, with the breath of Saint Francis. I follow their footsteps ... and carry on.' Guests include Hevia, Arnaldo Vacca and Isola Quartet.

Sponda Sud - Eugenio Bennato - 19.99

La Terra Che Mi Porta - Pivari Trio and Compagnia del Maggio di Frassinoro - 14.99
Canti sacri popolari di tradizione emiliana - Sacred songs both traditional and 'popular' (ie, folk tunes apart from the formal church liturgy) from Emiliano, Italy, performed by the instrumental group Pivari Trio and vocalists from Compagnia del Maggio di Frassinoro.

A Fil de Ciel - A Fil de Ciel - 14.99
The pure air of the Occitanian valleys pervades the music of this new Piedmontese band. Their debut album blends traditional and modern sounds, making a new contribution to the native music from this strip of Europe tucked between Italy and France. Special guest Riccardo Tesi adds his two-row melodeon.

Rosso Rubino - Enrico Negro - 14.99
A sound classical training and long-standing activity in folk music are the basic elements of this refined Piedmontese guitar player. Compagnons Roulants, Tendachënt, Dòna Bèla are just some of the musical projects where the sound of his guitar isevident. For his solo debut, Negro gathered round him several friends, all of them well-known folk musicians, to bring his vision into reality.

Epata - la musica delle stagioni - Tandarandan - 14.99
These musicians are devoted to ethno-musical research and interpretation, with the goal of revitalizing the traditional repertoire of the area between the Lunigiana (northern Tuscany) and southern Liguria. Music is played with hurdy-gurdy, baghet (kind of bagpipe typical of the valleys of Bergamo), flutes, and various string instruments.

A sud dell'anima - Carlo Salemi - 14.99
Salemi's 2002 recording, Hybla, was centered on his virtuosity on friscalettu. 2005 is time for a more complete work, emphasizing the versatility of this great Sicilian artist. Here Salemi proves himself not only to be a gifted musician but also a fine composer, singer and refined arranger.

38° parallelo instabili terre - Terrae - 14.99
With its focus fixed to the south of the 38th parallel as it crosses Italy, the debut recording by Terrae compagnia di musiche popolari rejoins the threads of an ancient cohabitation, exploring its own memory and placing it alongside adjacent cultures and musical traditions. The result is traditional yet innovative music, where popular melodies from Sicily, Andalusia and the Maghreb resound within modern environments, bending classical instruments to popular expressive needs, decomposing familiar musical worlds and recomposing them in a personal manner.

Via medina - Viamedina - 14.99
Via Medina is a street near the port in Naples, a borderline between the city and the sea, a meeting-point of different cultures and people. Once, in the nearby alleys, there were a few nightclubs where tangos and tarantellas, blues and tammurriate, jazz and popular Neapolitan songs were played and mixed together. Now that the clubs are gone, the Via Medina gets new life in this musical project. Starting from the dialect, melodies and instruments of the Neapolitan tradition, Viamedina takes various roads to give new perspectives to an already rich heritage of ancient memories.

In Cerca di Grane - Ariondassa - 14.99
Traditional music and songs of the Piedmont by an ensemble whose musicians have played with some of the most important bands of the region (Tre Martelli, Ombra Gaja, La Kinkerne, La Ciapa Rusa)

noi siam nati chissa quando chissa dove - Pinti, Zambruno, Cardinali, Biollati, Malafatto - 14.99
Noi siam nati chissà quando chissà dove is music from a film commemorating the 60th aniversary of liberation from the viewpoint of the province of Piacenza. Four great artists join together to make this musical history come to life: the voices of Betti Zambruno, Pier Carlo Cardinali and Donata Pinti, and Silvano Biollati (guitar) and Gianpiero Malafatto (tuba, flute and trombone).

Frontiera - Aes Dana - 14.99
After many years of silence, one of Italy's best known Celtic music interpreters returns with a new recording. Guided by Giuseppe Leopizzi They are now making a dynamic mixture of Celtic and Mediterranean sounds. The band of voices, harp, guitar, cittern, bouzouki, violin, flutes and saxophone is joined by special guests Paddy Keenan (uillean pipes), Mairtan O'Connor on accordion, and other musicians from across the musical spectrum.

Rom Kaffe - Acquaragia Drom - 18.99
The band says: 'We always meet down at the Rom Kaffe. The friends are there, the right aroma, the funny stories and a beautiful juke box. You insert a coin and the best songs start. Those for dancing, those for laughing and crying, those about heartbreak ... Full Descriptionand those to be sung drinking a glass of wine. In this record there are some of these songs. You can listen to them anytime of the day, better if accompanied by the taste of a good coffee.' Elia Ciricillo (vocals, guitar, tambourine); Rita Tumminia (vocals, accordion); Alexandru Gruia (vocals, double bass); Erasmo Treglia (violin); Marcus Colonna (clarinet, bass clarinet).

Cantador - Simone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble - 17.99
as the band itself puts it, this is “fluid and free, rippling between jazz, classical and popular music, between regional and global, between the ancient and modern world. It is a language of jazz improvisation interwoven with popular melodies, spoken with an ease and grace. It is many “languages”, spoken as musical expressions or idioms, which come together in a world where the imagination shapes them into new and old forms that are always intriguing”.

Zucchini Flowers - Mimmo Epifani - 18.99
The Salentine mandolinist's newest take on taranta is global I scope, yet deeply rooted in local traditions. Highly recommended.

Traditions of the Oboe (piffero) - Stefano Valla and Franco Guglielmetti - 16.99
Stefano Valla, piffero and Franco Guglielmetti, accordion

Cante Bergera (ES5319) - Betti Zambruno and Bartavela - 14.99
An extraordinary female string sextet busy rtoire inspired to the Teresa Viarengo's heritage. Upon every string, Betti Zambruno gives an example of her ability in playing the piedmontese vocal repertoire.

Live au Folkclub (ES5321) - Trio Contempo - 14.99
The powerful sensuality of tango mixed to the fascination of a female trio with accordeon, guitar and cello. Recorded at the well known club in Turin, this is the first live album for this young but very skilled ensemble, interpreting the repertoire of Astor Piazzolla.

25 anni Calicanto (2 CDs) - Calicanto - 25.99
Calicanto is one of the most important bands in the northern Italian folk musicscene. This double CD is an anthology of this amazing group, born in Padova 25 years ago. All the tunes in CD 1 were recorded live in 2006 and present favorites form the repetoire as well as songs never before recorded by the ensemble. The tunes in CD 2 are all original versions taken from the 12 CDs published by Calicanto, most of which are no longer in print or readily available. Highly recommended

Organittos - Totore Chessa - 17.99
One of the masters of the Italian melodeon, this is pure folk music played brilliantly, accompanied by voice, launeddas

Trio - Ciuma Salvi Tombesi - 17.99
Phenomenal new recording from three of Italys' best accordionists

Voyage en Sardigne - Enzo Favata - 17.99
the Italian composer and musician is joined by his own Jana Project, accordionist Totore Chessa, the tenores di Bitti and Orosei and marcello Peghin in an adventurous voyage to Sardinia that include deep traditional roots, contemporary new music and jazz influences.

Pria Goaea - Filippo Gambetta - 17.99
The Italian accordionists 2nd recording, with Claudio de Angeli (acoustic guitar) and Riccardo Barbera, plus father Beppe Gambetta on guitar, Canadian violinist Oliver Schroer and nyckelharpist Sandra Wong.

Passione - Banda Ionica - 17.99
Brass band music from Sicily and southern Italy

Matri Mia - Banda Ionica - 17.99
The Italian brass band is remade in this Fellini-like set of music from Sicily, part tradition, part innovative sleep-walk.

Malevento - Canzoniere Della Ritta E Della Manca - 17.99
Contemporary folk music from Campania, a region of South Italy centered around Naples. This is music rooted in tradition, but definately contemporary in execution.

Tracce di Sud - Manigold - 17.99
Starting from the traditional songs of Salento (Puglia - South Italy), and rearranged with verve and ingenuity, the band uses traditional instruments to create music taking inspiration from jazz, Latin, Arabic and Argentine music, creating a unique hybrid that sounds traditional, but if in fact quite global.

Car der Steili - Tre Martelli - 17.99
Songs and dances from the Italian Peidmont

Semper Viv - Tre martelli - 17.99
Culling the best tracks from their previous five (no longer available) albums of the music from the tradition of southern Piedmont. On the scene for some 25 years now, the TRE MARTELLI have patiently reconstructed the folk music heritage of the geographical triangle between Monferrato, Langhe and Alessandrino, gathering together a huge repertoire of drinking songs, ballads, instrumentals and dance music from walzes to polkas.

Maremannu - Elena Ledda - 17.99
Back in stock: One of the prime movers in the reival of Sardinian song, Ledda is above all a passionate and brilliant singer, regardless of the style she chooses. Joined by a superb ensemble of mandola, guitars, percussion and bass, and the appearance of accordionist Riccardo Tesi on many tracks, this recording (her second under her own name) proves that her vision is clear and strong.

Mandolini All'Opera - Napoli Mandolin Orchestra - 17.99
This second project by the ensemble from Naples, Italy presents some musical melodrama, reworking the tradition of the Italian plectrum clubs, which, between XIX and XX century, popularized the opera outside the legitimate theater. Her they take on a fantasia from Bellini, Verdi's Traviata, Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Bizet's Carmen and others, all given a romantic yet visceral reinterpretation that is both antique and refreshing.

O Maria béla Maria - Coro Bajolese - 14.99
This CD continues the thirty-year career of the celebrated choir of Bajo Dora, characterized by experimental hints, aiming at an even deeper knowledge of the oral culture of the people from Canavese (the area surrounding Ivrea, Piedmont). This new work is entirely dedicated to Piedmontese ballads drawn from the Nigra collection, which are performed in the typical suggestive way of this cult folk choir conducted by Amerigo Vigliermo.

Où Vont les Vieilles Lunes - Esprit Follet - 14.99
According to Alpine legends, the name esprit follet was given to spiteful goblins that tied the chains of the cows each other, made milk crudle, and turned everything upside-down in the stables at night time. Rinaldo Doro and Sonia Cestonaro, the protagonists of this new project, are not true goblins but enjoyed themselves in messing around in the world of folk music, with a cheerful and energetic CD: waltzes, polkas, mazurkas and scottisches dating from the start of the 20th century, together with curentas and monferrinas from the Canavese, the area surrounding Ivrea, Piedmont.

Saré l'uss e buté fòra 'l gat! - Domenico Torta e I Musicanti di Riva presso Chieri - 14.99
Following over ten years of activity, here it is at last their maiden-voyage CD: the fruit of one of the most creative Italian folk group astride music and drama well seasoned with humour. Marcette, one-step, fox-trot, waltz, mazurka, polka, brando, curenta, beguine, tango, and popular tunes from the flourishing Italian tradition alternate in a most longed for CD. Leaded by histrionic Domenico "Tasché" Torta, the eight multi-instrument Musicanti are able to studio reproduce the same cheerful but keen atmosphere of their live performances.

Scuzà-ou aquì - Trigomigo - 14.99
In Varaita Valley, Southern Piedmont, many songs end with ‘scuzà-ou aquì! (excuse me!) to thank the audience for its patience. Trigomigo would also like to thank the audience for the patience awaiting for this recording. Their extensive long research, transcriptions, corrections and careful comparisons, has produced versions of traditional lyrics extremely respectful of the sources, re-dressed in the band’s personal re-arrangements. Patrick Vaillant is their special guest on a few of the tracks.

Far coasts... and lost tracks - Aes Dana - 14.99
In June 2007 a sudden and unforgiving illness took the life of Giuseppe Leopizzi, musician, composer, fine arranger as well as founder of Aes Dana in the 1980s. On the first anniversary of his death FolkClub decided to fulfill one of Giuseppe’s dreams: to reprint in digital form the first Aes Dana recording, published in 1987. The track-list is represented here in its original format, but with the addition of three unpublished tracks.

La crava mangia ij more - Ensemble Sinigaglia - 14.99
Enrico Negro, Mario Cosco, and Ignazio Viola are three skilled guitarists from Turin, already known by classical-music enthusiasts as Trio Vivaldi. But since music has no strict borders, it was not difficult for themn to trespas into the folk repertoire. Their guitars’ melodies intertwine with Paola Lombardo’s perfect voice to pay tribute to Leone Sinigaglia, the great father of the traditional Piedmontese patrimony of songs.

Je n'irai plus aux champs - Picotage - 14.99
Following their collection dedicated to Christmas carols, the band is engaged again on the repertoire of Central France. This production is clearly focussed on traditional sounds, but Picotage worked to carefully mix them up with a progressive flair, defining their own music as 'musique d’Hammond' rather than musique du monde.

Terra Celeste - Giancarlo Parisi and Katia Pesti - 12.99
Another new project by Giancarlo Parisi, one of the most important Sicilian musicians in the last 20 years. Here he plays Sicilian bagpipes and soprano sax, in cooperation with the piano of another Sicilian, Ms Pesti. Deeply rooted but adamantly modern music.

Passa ripassa - Trio Pivari - 14.99
This is the debut recording of a band devoted to the roots of Apennine popular music. This trio is composed of musicians who have been researching and performing the traditional music of the region around Modena for a long time, and now they are ready to share it with the world.

Mo' siente - Sancto Ianne - 14.99
This hard hitting ensemble from Benevento, near Naples, was a house favorite with their 2002 release Scapula. This 2005 release features special guest vocalist Faisal Taher, joining the ensemble of Gianni Principe (voice and castagnette), Alfonso Coviello (tammorre, tamburello, darbouka, percussion), Ciro Schettino (chitarra battente, mandoloncello, fiati etnici), Antonio Pasquariello (guitars), Sergio Napolitano (fisarmonica [accordion], percussion), Raffaele Tiseo (violin, bouzouki) and Massimo Amoriello (electric bass).

Miniatures - Mireille Ben Ensemble - 14.99
The Italy-based French singer returns with another trans-Alpine musical exploration, joined by Italian guitarist Oliviero Biella and an ensemble of cornmuse (bagpipes), clarinet, violin, drums, acoustic and electric bass and musical saw. Beautiful in its simplicity of performance, with traditional songs both familiar and obscure.

La notte di Natale (ES5303 - Ensemble del Doppio Bordone - 14.99
With its blend of ancient instruments from peasant culture (bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, flutes) and of cultured origin (fiddle, cello and harmonium), during last ten years this band performed all over Europe, obtaining a vast positive response both from audience and critics. In December 1995, the Ensemble represented Italy in the program Comete, co-produced by various national broadcasting companies of EU, Eastern Europe and North-American countries. Its repertoire varies from alms-collecting chants, dances played during harvest time, carnival music and Christmas carols, songs sung in May and melodies of Passion.

La Furlancia - La Furlancia - 14.99
La Furlancia is a rather new group but its three musicians have a long experience in playing traditional music. They base their repertoire on traditional dances and songs from Liguria, but they also draw some inspiration from the music of Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto or Emilia Romagna, all regions which share a common musical language. In the past, traditional songs and dances were strongly related to their meaning in a society which had a different organization; that is why the band decided to change something when they built up and arranged the music, in order to approach the musical tastes of today's listeners.

Incantatrice (ES5313) - La Rionda - 14.99
This ensemble is the best known and full of history in Liguria traditional music revival. A large band with great voices (Laura Parodi and Max Manfredi) and appreciated musicians. The arrangements are the result of a particular work lasted more than 4 yearsand they are really able to let you taste Liguria and its sea traditions. Bravos! of Trad Mag during summer 2001.

Scapula - Sancto Ianne - 14.99
Originating in the South of Italy, the band is Gianfranco Parente (guitar, accordion and vocals), Ciro Maria Schettino (guitar, violin, flute and mandoloncelle, vocals), Alfonso Coviello (tammorre [large Italian tambourine], tamburella, timpano and other percussion), and Gianni Principe (lead vocals and castenets).

Road To Damascus - Municipale Balcanica - 17.99
This group from Puglia offers a rich and ingenious synthesis of Eastern Europe sounds and Mediterranean flavors, expressed with inventiveness and energy and full of instrumental precision, always arranged with an attentive eye to jazz and improvisation.

Mozart....al chiaro di luna - Nando Citarella - 16.99
Mozart's Don Giovanniis re-explored in traditional folk music and popular theatre with serenades, pazzarielli, tammorre, moaning songs, tarantelle, pizziche and lazzi. The CD contains a video track. Listen 1 | Listen 2

Quando Il Merlo Canta - Tuscae Gentes - 17.99
Songs and sounds on the seasonal migrations in Tuscany across the Apennines, the Corsican and Maremma areas. Listen

Viva Faliero! - Tuscae Gentes - 17.99
Songs, sounds, stories around Val di Bisenzio and Tuscany, an homage to Val di Bisenzio and its poets, leading us in unexplored territories of folk songs.

Passi Verso Nord - Jessica Lombardi and Silvio Trotta - 17.99
Together they have a formidable reputation as members of Fiamma Fumana, Musicanti del Piccolo Borgo and other ensembles that have forged interesting paths in new Italian roots. This is an acoustic project from 2002 by the duo. Listen

Un Mondo Fra Le Mani - Claudia Bombardella Ensemble - 17.99
Clarinetist, saxophonist, accordionist, composer, singer, bandleader - Bombardella's 2008 recording is supported by an excellent ensemble of violin, viola, mandolin, guitars, bass, percussion and voices. Listen 1 / Listen 2

In Dote - Jessica Lombardi - 17.99
The new folk revival in Italy has been changing. It has passed both through an imitation level (that often made a caricature ) and a new elaboration one (which sometimes has meant a real manipulation of the original tunes). However, artists are still discussing how to reconcile the respect for the tradition, with the need to preserve its continuity through the modern languages of communication. Lombardi's work represents a good answer, approaching these ancient songs with agressive new ideas, demanding that the listener really listen and listen again.

Che Il Mediterraneo Sia - Eugenio Bennato and Taranta Power - 17.99
Let the Mediterranean be' begins with the aim of setting off from our own shores, laden with history and poetry, and exporting our culture and our art all over the world, with no shame, but simply with the conviction that we are promoting a contemporary, vibrant movement. - Eugenio Bennato

Taranta Power - Eugenio Bennato - 17.99
New roots music from Italy by one of taranta's most powerful performers

Carataranta (Incanti e pizzichi della taranta) - Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - 18.99
One of the best known groups from Salento, the Southern part of Puglia, and one of the first to do serious research into the regional music. (This is their 2000 release).

E Manco O Sole... - Marcello Colasurdo - 17.99
 A well-known figure on the Neapolitan music scene, Marcello has worked alongside important musicians and in important musical projects. He was singer with the celebrated group E Zezi of Pomigliano D'Arco, he had a part, for example, in Sanacore (Almamegretta), La Bomba Intelligenteî(Bisca), Vite Perdite and Spiritus Mundi(Daniele Sepe) and he is currently working with La Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare.

Villanelle popolaresche del '500' - Teresa De Sio - 18.99
1978 recording of traditional songs by the Italian singer, directed by Eugenio Bennato

Duende - Gabriele Coen - Atlante Sonoro - 17.99
Everybody got 'duende' these days, it seems. This Italian jazz quartet has it in abundance. Says Coen, 'I try to listen to the music of every country….Africa, India, the arab world, the european classic music….I love traditional music,popular music, and try to discover what other countries musically say...all music genres are linked in their intime essence.' Gabriele Coen: soprano sax, clarinet; Pietro Lussu: piano; Marco Loddo: acoustic bass and Luca Caponi: drums, percussion.

Città Sottili - InChanto - 17.99
The members of InChanto share a common passion for ancient and traditional music, developing a personal repertoire, inspired by their place of origin: Tuscany, a deeply rooted, culture, and also a land receptive to other cultures that have been absorbed and interwoven into the Tuscan sensibility. These songs do not come from formal research or philosophy, but from the desire to offer original music, rooted both in European folk, and in the musical and literary culture of the Italian Renaissance. This 'alchemic sound,' strained through a Mediterranean sensitivity, evokes atmospheres balanced between old and modern, popular and cultured, in which the texts, composed in various languages or inspired by medieval lyrics, are very important.

Tarantulae - Nidi d'Arac - 17.99
Contemporary folk music from Italy.

Ofidèa - Avleddha - 19.99
From an earlier review in RootsWorld: 'Avleddha is a group of young musicians performing their own songs based on the important musical tradition of the Grico community. This is a linguistic minority of people of Greek descent, in Puglia (in the South of Italy), that is indebted to both cultures.The instrumentation of acoustic guitar, bass, percussion and harmonica provides a tight, festive sound.'

Poeti Arabi Di Sicilia - Milagro Acustico - 17.99
Using the writings Sicilian Arab poets from 827-1091 A.D. the ensemble creates a new, pan-mediterranean sound base with voices, horns, flutes, guitar, percussion, and baglama. They bring North Africa and Sicily together, with bits of the rest of the world as an undertone.

Terra Arsa - Radicanto - 18.99
Music that holds the heat of Salento, in southern Italy, and translates that energy into a uniquely personal statement.

Tango alla Romanesque - Old World Tangos Vol.2 - various - 18.99
The second CD in the Old World Tangos series focuses on the 'Romance' countries of Italy, France, and Romania, with a Greek encore.

Napoli mediterranea - Pietra Montecorvino - 16.99
Produced by Eugennio Bennato, this Neopolitan singer offers a rich look at the music of Naples and the Mediteranean. Neither strictly folk nor overtly 'pop,' they skirt a lot of boundaries seeking a new context for the old musical styles.

Facce - Rosapaeda - 17.99
The ten songs in this recording make use of various dialects from Southern Italy (Sicilian, Calabrese, Greek from Salento, Neapolitan, from Lucania) to generate a musical fire in both traditional and original songs by singer Rosapaeda.

In forma di Rosa - Rosapaeda - 17.99
italy italian italia alitalia gypsy bari mediterranean

PresenteRemoto - Riccardo Tesi - 18.99
A full blown ensemble release by the master organetto player from Italy. A great ensemble that includes Stefano Bollani, Elena Ledda, Ginevra Di Marco, Gianmaria Testa, Daniele Sepe, Gavino Murgia, Patrick Vaillant, Gabriele Mirabassi and of course, Tesi's Banditaliana. Highly recommended, like everything Tesi does.

La bella Noeva - Marco Beasley with Guido Morini - 17.99
Italian singer Beasley and accordionist Morini interpret 17th and 18th century 'broadsides,' popular songs of the time that often competed with opera in terms of popularity and success. Accompanied by a small ensemble of violin, viola, théorbe and archiluth (lutes) and Baroque guitar.

la voce del grano - Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare - 16.99
This Italian ensemble writes about their work: 'The voice of the grain is the voice of all the spirits and the forces that once populated nature. The popular culture knew how to distinguish the good spirits from the bad ones, knew how to recognize and to deal nature like as one vital individual. Subsequently man, educated with reason and science, has separated the nature of the anima, throwing to the wind the fairies, the spirits, folletti and gnomi that the once populated their dreams. In the end the 'voice of the grain' is a metaphor that it tells the irrenounceable need of man for poetry and fantasy, evoking images and myth, a new sense of natural things.' Instrumentation includes vocals, guitar, violin, lira pontiaca, cajon, bongos, sonagli, piatti, uans, bass, soprano sax and lots of vocals.

Liberte Creativite Feminite - Sabina Manetti - 18.99
Liberté Creativité Feminité presents a strong vocalist from Tuscany in a solid mix of roots and jazz, accompanied by a straight ahead jazz ensemble of bass, drums, pianos, percussion, with accordion and violin. This is the first I have heard her, and she's a voice to hear.

Kronomakia - Daniele Sepe, Ensemble Micrologus, Und Rote Jazz Fraktion - 18.99
Neopolitan arranger, composer and saxophone player Sepe, joined by two ensembles, takes on the early music of Italy in his usual shocking style, seamlessly joining jazz, classical and early art music into a beautiful whole.

Satyricon Circus - Satyricon Circus - 18.99
A rich new musical production, the work of composer Gabriele Coen (Klezroym), Mario Rivera (Agricantus) and Vito Ranucci, with participation from Barbara Eramo, Gabriel Zagni, Maria Letizia Gorga, Federica Vincenti and Gianni Santucci.

Monkey - Dounia - 18.99
Four musicians from various artistic and cultural backgrounds explore Italian and middle eastern roots with a combination of melodies, harmonies and rythmns from all over the world. Their unique sound is unlike much else out there

Diavule a quatto - E'Zezi - 18.99
Diàvule a quàtto is the 2003 release by this seminal Neoplolitan folk-jazz-political ensemble.

Contagio - Bandadriatica - 17.99
BandAdriatica focuses on the Adriatic Sea bands and Balkan fanfares, music for processions, carnivals and other events. This recording offers a hypothetical voyage around Adriatic sea port from Salento to Dalmatia, from Venice to Durazzo and out to the Greek islands. Marches and tarantellas, slavic dances and Greek night songs are given personal interpretations by this ensemble of brass, accordion, reeds, strings and percussion. Special guests: King Naat Veliov and the Kocani Orkestar

La Pegra A La Mateina La Bela E A La Sira La Bala - La Piva Dal Carner - 17.99
Songs and dances of Emilia, Italy

Se canta que recante: Chants des moments perdus en Massif Central - Bruno Bonhoure; La Camera delle Lacrime - 17.99
This recording explores the traditional music of the Occitan-speaking people of south-central France known as the Massif Central as well as the influence that the emigrants to Paris had on the music of their native region. Bruno Bonhoure gives a bold interpretation of some of those songs. He is joined by the charming voice of the Italian singer Patrizia Bovi. Fresh and alive, their interpretation brings out all the intrinsic beauty and lyricism of these pieces, which have all too often been diminished by false authenticity. / Bruno Bonhoure, voix and direction; Jean-luc Tamby, renaissance lute and mandora; Karim Touré, tambour sur cadre, tambourin, bendir and djembes, derbouka à cymbalettes, tambour of Sri Lanka

All'Improvviso - Christina Pluhar and L'Arpeggiata - 17.99
Working with sources from 17th century chaconnes to new compositions by artists like Lucilla Galeazzi, baroque harpist Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L'Arpeggiata offer an imaginative look at improvisation, joined by actor-singer Marco Beasley, vocalist Lucilla Galleazzi and jazz clarinetist Gianluigi Trovesi in traditional baroque grounds that demolishes conventional notions of 'crossover' music. With Gianluigi Trovesi, Marco Beasley, and Lucilla Galeazzi.

Lampo - Gianmaria Testa - 17.99
Little stories of everyday people and things are the singer's focus on this 2007 reissue of the 1999 recording: lovers in Rome, the moon, chestnut trees, chalk dust left on doorsteps to mark the steps of visitors. The album title alludes to both lightening and the flash of a camera: a luminous instant, short-lived, but leaving an indelible trace in one’s memory. Musicians include Glenn Ferris (trombone); Vincent Segal (cello); Riccardo Tesi (accordion) and Rita Marcotulli (piano), with David Lewis leading the ensemble.

Fellini - L'Uomo dei Sogni - Harmonia Ensemble - 16.99
Music from the films of Fellini performed by one of Italy's most respected new music ensembles

Il giardino di Sofia - Roberto Carlotti - 14.99
With Gabriele Coltri, Vincenzo Caglioti, Stefano Valla e Maurizio Dehò. Musician and composer Antonello Paliotti says: Roberto Carlotti defines himself a "non-professional man of music". This is probably what makes his CD not a product to be sold, not a demo, not a promo. It is neither Northern nor Southern music; it should be given as a present, just like the famous red horn-shaped amulets or talismans; it would be better to donate it just like you donate a bit of commonsense and joyful sounds. In other words, it is not a typical fucking-damned popular-ethnic product of the music recording industry. All the "professional men" who work in this field – with Paliotti in the front row – can learn something from this CD and from Carlotti. Thanks a lot, Roberto.

Sugnari - Ma'aria - 14.99
Ma'arìa are two extraordinary female voices, set to the rhythm of percussion and one guitar. With the poetry of Valeria Cimò, taken from the fragments of real life, they make powerful songs. Ma'arìa means witchcraft... incantesimo. And in their the magical formula they use potent ingredients to make a fascinating and vigorous musical statement.

Adalgisiana - Tandarandan - 14.99
The return of Tandarandan, two years after their marvelous 'Epata, music of the seasons' and focused on music for dancing in an homage to all the old musicians who they have met along the way.

Il Ritorno Alla Fede Del Cantante Di Jazz - Enrico Fink - 17.99
'The Jazz Singer's To Faith' is an exploration into Italian Semitic tradition from a decidely modern viewpoint by one of Italy's premier Jewish musicians. With Amit Arieli,clarinet; Stefano Bartolini,saxophones; Arlo Bigazzi,bass, Percussion, programming; Enrico Fink, voice, flute, programming; Alessandro Francolini, acoustic guitar; Filippo Pedol, double bass; Guglielmo R. Gagliano, programming and featuring Orio Odori and la Banda Improvvisa.

Fugace - Gianluigi Trovesi Ottetto - 16.99
The Italian reed man in an all-Italian octet that celebrates the spirit of early jazz in a thoroughly contemporary context.

In cerca di cibo - Trovesi and Coscia - 16.99
duets for clarinet and accordion. Italy (ECM-2001)

Sevastopol - Dire Gelt - 16.99
Naming themselves after a well-known Yiddish song (Rent Money), this Bologna Italy based kelzmer band has its own unique sound, steeped in the eastern European traditions but with a decidedly personal flair.

Les Italiens - Les Italiens - 16.99
A roots-style big band from Italy. They swing, they rock, they root and roll, and the sound moves from tarentella to mambo to ska with fluidity and humor.

Projeckt Jon - Projeckt Jon - 16.99
A strange one, this. An Italian studio freak pulls together a bunch of traditional Albanian musicisna dn singers and creates something swirling, electronic, dance-hall-trance-dancey weird.

Malmediterraneo - Cantodiscanto - 16.99
The 2003 release by this splendid Italian band offers an even deeper look into the broad spectrum of Mediterranean music that they mine to find gems for their for their powerful and beautiful musical devices.

Medinsud - Cantodiscanto - 16.99
Already a house favorite, the sinous, slinky Mediterranean sound of this Italian ensemble is rich and personal, with great musicians, great singers and great ideas.

Tangerine Café - Luigi Cinque Tarantual Hypertext O'rchestra - 16.99
fRoots says: 'definitely deep Mediterranean, even though it draws elements from further afield... staggeringly well integrated and arranged through all its different layers and levels... Wow!'

les voix des femmes - Giovanni Nuti and Co - 16.99
 A song-cycle focused on the voices of Lucia Lippi, Rossella Ruini and Emanuela Berti and arranged by Riccardo Galardini. Nuti has merged classical, popular, jazz and traditional vocal styles in a set of songs, accompanied by guitar, charango, mandolin, acoustic bass, flutes and violins.

La banda - Circo Diatonico - 17.99
A funambolico, a musical adventure with many references to Italian popular music, the Balkan, Neapolitan song, jazz and the great tradition of the country band, to evoke the special magic of a circus, the poetry of traveling in a caravan, the bravado of the trapeze, the chaos of the juggler, melancholy of the clown, the elegance of the high wire balancer. A sarabanda of voice and percussions surround the organetto of Clara Graziano, leader and composer of the group, making musical atmospheres of illusion, equilibrium and excitement of a day with the circus caravan. Listen to the music of the new circus: organetto, fanfare and jugglers!

Vagabondo - Gruppo Spontaneo Trallalero - 17.99
a celebration of the northern Italian tradition of 'circle singing,' the trallaleri vocal tradions of the region around Genoa, and a recording to celebrate the 20th anniversary of this ensemble. Listen

Fermarono i Cieli - Ambrogio Sparagna - 17.99
In the middle of the 18th century Alfonso Maria de' Liguori and his Redemptorist priests introduced hymns both in the local dialect and in Italian, based on popular songs, to teach the basics of Christianity. Many of the songs were related to Christmas-tide celebrations, as well as lullabies, pastorales for the zampogna (Italian bag-pipes), alms-seeking chants, and others. Sparagna preserves the original spirit of these traditional folk prayers with Peppe Servillo and a female vocal quintet, accompanied by the eclectic instrumentalist Erasmo Treglia and an trio featuring a giant zampogna (bagpipe), along with harmonium, tamburelli, organetto (accordion), ciaramella, ghironda, oboe barocco, violino and more.

Il senso della Vita (The meaning of life) - Folkabbestia - 10.99
In the grand tradition of folk rock and acoustic madness that has swept Italy in the last decade, Folkabbestia certainly are destined to lead rather than follow. This six-piece ensemble rocks, roars, and rollicks their way through a traditional repetoire with little sense of decency or decorum, and the better they are for it! You'll hear tarantella, ska, jazz, rock and hybrids yet invented.

Territoris amables (ES5318 - Urbalia Rurana and Maurizio Martinotti - 10.99
The best band from the Pais Valencian (Spain) and the leader of the well known group La Ciapa Rusa (Piedmont/Italy), involved together in a new project.

Macario, Parole E Musica - Raffaella De Vita and Roberto Cognazzo - 10.99
Macario, Words and Music presents the comic music of Turin-born singer Macario, called 'the comic who fell from the Moon.' These are songs taken from stage revues and films from 1938-1954, performed by vocalist De Vita and pianist Cognazzo, accompanied on some songs by guitarist Silvano Biolatti.

Cercando (ES5310 - Epinfrai - 10.99
Epinfrai is the project of four young musicians working on the repertoire of piffero, a sort of oboe used in the musical tradition of the northern part of Apennines, in the area called of the four counties. Starting from a deep knowledge of the development in the tradition of piffero in the last two centuries, once played with the Musa (a sort of bagpipe), then with the Italian accordion, Epinfrai is trying to give a new life to the tradition with the use of stylistic solutions taken by jazz, language that belongs to the musical training of some members of the band.

Alhambra - Gabriele Coen and Atlante Sonoro - 17.99
Gabriele Coen is one of the founders of Klezroym. This is his second solo album with the Atlante Sonoro project.Featuring Pietro Lussu on piano, Marco Loddo on bass and Luca Caponi on drums, Gabriele Coen (soprano and tenor sax and clarinet) is exploring fascinating places the border lands between the sunny landscapes of Mediterranean music and contemporary jazz. This project also includes Lutte Berg on guitar, playing on two different tracks. The different pages of this Atlante Sonoro are Hebrew music from eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, various European jazz traditions and the arabesques of Alhambra.

Lengua Serpentina - Roberta Alloisio with Orchestra Bailam - 17.99
Italian vocalist Alloisio offers a project that joins an Oriental sound, the tempos of the Balkans, the chant-like singing of Genoa and lyrics taken from both classical and popular literature spanning from the XIII century to now. A rich mixture of different sounds is completed with arrangements of Franco Minelli and the Orchestra Bailam, with additional vocal help from another fine singer of baroque and ancient music, Marco Beasley. Highly recommended.

Siqiliah - terra d'Islam - Milagro Acustico - 17.99
Sicily, land of Islam is the ensemble's deeply researched, intelligent and personal recording, the final part of their trilogy of works dedicated to Sicily's Islamic heritage

Cammenann - SOS - 17.99
They blend Mediterranean sound and Neapolitan lyrics, and as they put it, 'contaminations melt down to create a half-caste and strange rock.' They start the journey in a Naple's neighbourhood, taking inspiration by the' 'Neapolitan Sound' of the 80’s (Pino Daniele, Avitabile, Senese, E’ Zezi and Almamegretta) and add Egyptian, Nigerian, Senegalese and Algerian influences to make a melting pot of styles, races, cultures and traditions.

U squatasce - I Tarantolati di Tricarico - 17.99
Five years after their unique Andamenare this Italian ensemble is back with another recovery of traditional music based on their research of the culture. The 'melos' (a kind of popular, spontaneous chant) is mixed with strong rhythms, traditional melody to create what they call 'a musical exorcism that remembers the ancient Dyonisia,' in a staunchly contemporary mix of ideas.

Attinde - Calic - 17.99
A modern Sardinian band with strong folk roots and local instrumentation, but plenty of adventure. Instruments include bagpipes, ghirondha (hurdy gurdy), accordion, voices, bouzouki, guitar and percussion

Isettande - Tancaruja - 17.99
This is music refreshing, rhythmically interesting and musically well played. This ensemble from Sardinia has found their path by abandoning the electronics in favor of more wood and sinew. It has one truly treacly moment, but otherwise, I think the music speaks strongly for itself.

Mundis Imaginalis - Isola - 17.99
Lots of poetic license in this recording of Sicilian music by Iolanda Vacalebre (vocals), Nicola Rustica (guitar and vocals) and Giovanni Crispino (violin, violoncello and guitar).

Stari Most - Stefano Saletti and Piccola Banda Ikona - 17.99
The latest work by Stefano Saletti (founder and leader of Novalia) and the Piccola Banda Ikona, a newly formed group that brings together members of Nuklearte), Agricantus, Novalia, Nando Citarella Band, Acustimantico, Klezroym and others to explore the culture and language of the mediterranean basin in a most contemporary way.

Ronde Noe - Nidi d'Arac - 17.99

Garage Tango - Gigi - 12.99
An evocation of bellows instruments (accordion, bandoneon, etc) are blended with pop-dance arrangements in an unusual and surprisingly satisfying montage. In this CD, the first 'virtual accordion' (Roland V-accordion) was used; its physical sound modelling technology enables the musicians to express their creativity to sweep unexplored musical genres. Luigi Bruti, who’s responsible for Roland’s musical laboratory, is also the author of this musical instrument.

variable/naturale - BEV - 17.99
The 2001 release from the Italian ensemble aka BonificaEmilianaVeneta

Sonos - Elena Ledda - 17.99
Sardinian vocalist uses folk roots to forge a daring new acoustic music

Mater Heart Folk - Rosapaeda - 17.99
Pugliese vocalist Antonella "Rosapaeda" Di Domenico is back, and as great as ever. From religious nursery rhymes to dub, from funk to Neapolitan-inflected melodies, rhythmic pizzica and more, she is at the peak of her artistic powers. Accompanying her are an excellent group of musicians that includes Eddi Romano on accordion and Domenico Lopez on classical guitar. Highly recommended.

Alguìmia - Franca Masu - 17.99
Modern songs with traditional elements of Alghero, performed by Sardinian singer Franca Masu accompanied by double-bass, accordion, mandolas, percussions, classic guitar, cello, ud and cajon, are some of the instruments that produce the clear and familiar sound of this region.

Arcobaleno - Falafel Project - 12.99
A new ensemble born among the vineyards around Barolo and Barbaresco, led by well-known Piedmontese folk artist Silvio Orlandi. The record mingles traditional music with modern sounds, with trad concepts meeting rock and jazz.

La Fabrica Occitana - Gai Saber - 17.99
2006 release by this now well-seasoned young Occiantian folk rock ensemble of vocals, bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, flutes, melodeons, djembe, derbouka, harp, drums, Provençal flutes, acoustic guitars, bodhran, samples and programming.

The Trallaleri of Genoa - Italian Treasury / Lomax Collection - 16.98
The longshoremen of Genoa perform in the exciting, full-throated, improvised style known as trallalero, a five-voiced male polyphony found only along the coast of Liguria. The parts (from high to low) being: falsetto, tenor, chitarra ("guitar"), baritone, and bass. Alan Lomax considered the trallalero singers '. . . the most perfect choristers in western Europe.'

Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany - Italian Treasury / Lomax Collection - 16.98
Alan Lomax's historic 1954 recordings from the mountains of Emilia-Romagna. Songs of farming, ballads of partisan struggle in World War II, songs of the women rice workers, dance music, age-old new year's songs, and excerpts from unique May rituals redolent of the poetry of the Italian Renaissance, recorded just as industrialization was forever changing the fabric of Northern Italian rural life.

Sicily - Italian Treasury / Lomax Collection - 16.99
The voices and instruments of peasants, fishermen, shepherds, salt and sulfur miners, cart drivers, storytellers, and strolling players bring us murder ballads, dance music, lullabies, and a tale of battling knights: songs of love, work, and devotion connected to the yearly round. Recorded in the field in the 1950s, this historic document restores to us the colorful and dramatic universe of sound of the Sicilian past.

Liguria: Polyphony of Ceriana - Italian Treasury / Lomax Collection - 16.99
Historic 1954 recordings from Alan Lomax's journey to Liguria's western Riviera, featuring performances by the Compagnia Sacco from the village of Ceriana: a unique and splendid vocal polyphony distinct from, and yet as exciting as, the Genoese trallalero. Italian Treasury In 1954, Alan Lomax and Diego Carpitella set out on a yearlong voyage of discovery that resulted in an exhaustive documentation of Italian folk music.

Portella della Ginestra 1947-1997 - Various Artists - 17.99
Published on the the 50th anniversary of one of the most bloody massacres of the Italian Republic, this document gives various viewpoints of the event, by a number of composers and performers including Taberna Mylaensis, Pino Veneziano, Francesco Giunta.

Amore e Odio - Banda Bassotti - 17.99
Heavy ska, roots and rock from an Italian band of guitars, bass, drums and horns - they're political, passionate and loud (think Negu Gorriak, Les Negresses Vertes and The Clash). If you have the 'need for speed,' this is the band for you.

Nòse amor - Laura Conti and Eivador - 12.99
Laura Conti & Eivadòr prsent music of Piedmont, Italy, with Maurizio Verna, a refined guitarist and arranger who gives a very personal touch to the tradional melodies of the region.

Pau i Treva - Fàbregas, Martinotti, Torregrosa, Sette - 12.99
It means 'Peace and Truce.' A thousand years after the famous medieval edict, war has become again a sad reality. Music cannot change the world, but it can surely throw little signals of peace, of social cohesion and this is the hope of this musical project, which gathers together musicians from Piedmont, Occitania, Catalunya and Pais Valencia, each one carrying his own store of personal experiences: Jordi Fabrégas, Maurizio Martinotti, Renat Sette, Toni Torregrossa, Paul James and many more!

63 Strings - 63 Strings, feat. Manomanouche - 10.99
A group of Italian musicians executes a musical raid into French Gypsy Jazz territory, joined by the well known Italian Gypsy ensemble Manomanouche and American harpist Park Stcikney. Nunzio Barbieri (acoustic guitar), Dino Contenti (upright bass) and Luca Enipeo (acoustic guitar) take on the obvious (Django Reinhardt) and some less well known turns as well (Domenico Modugno, Romane).

Da questa parte del mare - Gianmaria Testa - 17.99
The 2006 recording by the Italian troubadour with echoes of Paolo Conte and Leonard Cohen in his vocal delivery and his poetry. Musicians featured on the album include guitarist Bill Frisell, Gabriele Mirabassi on clarinet, Greg Cohen on bass and Paolo Fresu on trumpet. The booklet contains English translations of the lyrics.

Storie di fiume - Simone Guiducci and Gramelot - 17.99
The Italian guitarist once again explores Italian roots in his efforts to redefine Italian jazz, joined by Roberto Dani (drums and percussion), Salvatore Maiore (double bass), Fausto Beccalossi (accordion) and Achille Succi (clarinet).

Non occidentalizzarti - Orchestra Bailam - 17.99
This Genoa-based ensemble is full of surprises, rich in both novelty and tradition. Their passion for the music of the Balkans is enriched by their sense of musical adventure, from kletzmer to rebetiko, Balkan fanfares to Arabic classicism. The group includes Franco Minelli (guitar, 6 and 8-string bouzouki, oud, vocals), Edmondo Romano (soprano and alto sax soprano, clarinet, flutes), Roberto Piga (violin), Laca Montagliani (accordion), Luciano Ventriglia (drums, derbouka, percussion), Riccardo Barbera (double bass)

La storia si canta - Fabrizio Poggi and Turututela - 17.99
Singer, guitarist and harmonica player Poggi is back with new of songs, accompanied by Roberto G. Sacchi on accordion, Marco Rovino on guitar and mandolin, backing vocalist Odette Lucchesi and a great group of guest musicians, , offering an homage to rice pickers, factory workers, migrants, soldiers, the people who built 20th century Italy but whose names are absent from the history books. In reworking standards such as 'Bella ciao' (orignally dedicated to female rice pickers), 'Saluteremo il signor padrone' or 'Mamma mia dammi cento lire,' he helps rediscover the spirit of a time gone and forgotten. It's as romantic as it is determined. Listen

E Prite Tottu Custu - Tenore 'San Gavino' De Oniferi - 17.99
Sardinian polyphonic singing may be more familiar in this decade than in many times before, but it never loses its power to surprise and challenge the ear. They carry on the a tenore tradition, steeped in the music of their homeland, from literary inspired boche to ballu songs and muttos. Listen

Ambrogio Sparagna - Ambrogio Sparagna - 17.99
Another great recording from the Italian organetto (accordion) player, with a fine cast of guests including Francesco De Gregori, Teresa De Sio, Rita Marcotulli, Lucilla Galeazzi, Francesco Di Giacomo

Coppola Rosso - Antonello Paliotti - 16.99
The Red Cap is, as the artist puts it, "an autobiographic record which takes its name fron a theatre play with the same title. The play represent the world to which I have been a witness: the world I inherited from my ancestors, the world of war and poverty as experienced at home - unbelievable as it may seem - of those wanting to live and who found the strenght to laugh without second thoughts. Technically, Coppola Rossa is a study of the song as a musical form. It can be interpreted from at least two viewpoints: at first hearing, that of folk tunes, traditional or not. At a second, more in-depht approach, that of the classical processing of material taken from the popular tradition, or at least from my personal tradition: that of somebody in his forties, who grew up with Schoenberg, The Beatles, Debussy, Canfora, Mingus, Berg, Mina, Rota, Chaplin, Satie, Iviani, Brecht.... And so, Coppola Rossa is a tribute to these monuments, which, although intheir death throes, I still feel alive."

Musica Obliqua - Antonello Paliotti - 16.99
As the artist writes, this is "a record that presents the peaceful (and sometimes less peaceful) coexistence of my musical thoughts about ballet, cinema or simply about dreams." Performed by the Orchestra Collegium Philarmonicum directed by Gennaro Cappabianca.

Sacro Sud - Enzo Avitabile - 12.99
The Neopolitan reed player returns in 2006 with a powerful new recording of sacred songs from sourthern Italy, performed in sparse, all acoustic settings that evoke wonder and passion. The ensemble is stellar and includes Luigi Lai: Launeddas; Maurizio Martinotti: Ghironda; Mario De Rosa: Mandoloncello; Giancarlo Abbatiello: Chitarra Napoletana; Carlo Avitabile: Tamburi and two vocal ensembles: Cantori Del Miserere Di Sessa and Polifonica Alphonsiana. Highly recommended.

Transumanza - Daniele di Bonaventura and Alfredo Laviano - 17.99
 Daniele di Bonaventura, bandoneon and Alfredo Laviano, percussion

Adagio - Antonio Paolo Pizzimenti - 17.99
Unlike his previous recordings, which were both sountracks for film or theater works, this is an original work conceived as a multimedia piece (the CD includes a video 'story'). All the music is composed and performed by Pizzimenti, with the voice of Simona Barbero punctuating some of the tracks. It is all stark, moody and cinematic, as Pizzimenti's work always is.

Il Valzer dei Disertori - Baraban - 17.99
The Italian folk group's 1987 recording, reissued.

Apologia Di Un Canovaccio - Neaskene - 17.99
The debut (2006) by a young band from Ravenna, Italy. Fronted by singer Sara Cicognani. Neaskenè work within and without the tradition, mixing jazz, ethnic music, other national idioms and original writing. Tammorre (traditional drums), fretless electric bass, acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin and other local and global instruments are merged to create a distinctively "pop" sound with a real edge and solid roots.

Ricuordi - Massimo Ferrante - 17.99
The twelve-string guitarist and singer is back with another collection of pieces from southern Italy - songs of protest and social themes, stornelli - folk tales, celebrations and dance tunes accompanied by an outstanding group of musicians: Francesco Migliaccio (accordion), Enrico Del Gaudio (drums), Roberto Giangrande (double bass), Francesco Banchini (clarinet), Rino Saggio (flute and sax), Leonardo Massa (cello).

Diomedee - Livio Guardi and Wilson Montuori - 15.99
Guitar and vocal duo from Florence mixes Tuscan roots with many contemporary guitar styles, accompanied on some tracks by percussion, flute, bass, harmonica, mandolin and bouzouki

Verso la Notte - Fortunato Giordano - 10.99
Musica di Sicilia Vol 1: Cantastorie

Zahir - Bizantina - 17.99
In the 1990s singer Anna Granata (of Elianto and some of Riccardo Tesi's recent projects) formed this Italian 'big band' to play a cross-European-mid-eastern mix.

Aquamare - Franca Masu - 17.99
The wonderful singer from the Sardinian region of Alghero (whose inhabitants speak Catalan) returns with a solid new recording of folk songs in a jazzy, contemporary vein, with a equally solid acoustic ensemble of guitars, mandocello, accordion, reeds, acoustic bass and percussion.

Una banda di pezzenti - Daniele Sepe - 18.99
A full-blown modern jazz recording from the Neapolitan saxophonist and musical revolutionary and his ensemble of musicians and singers. There are the usual Arabic, Mediterranean and Italian roots, the requisite Sepe-reggae, but they are sumblimated on this recording, serving the larger goal of making a sometimes terse, sometimes lush contemporary jazz sound with an edge of social/political commentary.

Crinali - Riccardo Tesi and Claudio Carboni - 17.99
Riccardo Tesi (accordian) and Claudio Carboni (sax) of Banditaliana reach into the traditional music of Bolognese Apennines for ballads, polkas, mazurkas, tangos, traditional dances, work songs, lullabies and more for this recording of la tradizione musicale dell'Appennino bolognese in cerca di mare...

Paesaggi Lontani - Claudia Bombardella Ensemble - 17.99
An eclectic musician, singer and composer Claudia Bombardella plays various instruments (baritone sax, clarinets, tuba, accordion, steel drum). Joined by her ensemble of voices, violin, cello, bass, accordions, giutar and mandolin, they bring ancient folk songs and new compositions to life through their varied backgrounds of classical, folk and jazz. Complex, creative, rich and beautiful, and all recorded live.

La Valle dei Saraceni - Tendachent - 14.99
Tendachënt returns in 2005 to continue their exploration of the mediterranean traditions that have mixed with their Piemonte history. Founded by Maurizio Martinotti's band (also the founder of the seminal Italian ensemble, La Ciapa Rusa), Tendachent is one of the foremost modern folk ensembles in Italy today, and with this recording, the legend grows. If you like folk-rock and roots-folk in all its stripes, this one is recommended.

Li Turchi Viaggiano - Media Aetas / Roberto De Simone - 18.99
The first new work since 1978 by the founder of Compagnia di Canto Popolare, Roberto De Simone. Italian folk, classical and avant garde all converge in this marvelous new work.

Al Temps de Festa an Occitania - Lou Dalfin - 21.99
A DVD of two hours of music from a concert by this agressive and unique Occitanian band, recorded live in in Torino Italy plus 2 short documentaries on the history, poetry, dances, instruments and music of the Occitanian Valleys in Italy. Texts in Italian, English and French introducing the geo-political aspects of the Valley, the band and its discography.

Diario Mali - Ludovico Einaudi and Ballake Sissoko - 18.99
I am, to be honest, not quite sure what to make of this one. Italian classical-crossover pianist Ludovico Einaudi and Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko seem to have found a uniquely odd collaorative place, one that often borders on the George Winston-ian but just as often finds a smooth, incessant blues groove. It never quite explodes, but in its own gentle way it does probe.

La Santa Notte Dell'oriente - Baraban - 17.99
Christmas songs and melodies by the quintet Barabàn from Milan. From Christmas Eve to Epiphany, eleven tracks show vocal or intrumental tunes, rhymes and sounds: from traditional rites of Northern Italy from the Po Valley, songs usually performed in the cowsheds during the watches of the night, pastorelle played in the foggy nights around Milan, pive from the repertoire of travelling musicians, Christmas carols from Venetia and Friuli, begging songs of Romagna, Gregorian airs, songs performed during a traditional theatrical piece called Gelindo, the Stella repertoire from Lombard mountains, sounds and noises of Befania rite. La Santa Notte dell'Oriente is not, however, a pure nostalgic disc. Far from any ethnic revival, the band plies a contempory musical course mixing bagpipes, fiddles and melodeons with a range of Mediterranean and Eastern percussions.

Vai Facile - Abnoba - 17.99
The debut recording by a marvelous group of Italian musicians - Vincent Boniface (clarinet, bagpipes, flutes), Simone Bottasso (melodeons), Paolo Dall'Ara (bagpipes, flutes, tarota), Pietro Numico (piano), Marco 'Mammo' Inaudi (bass guitar) and Giovanni 'Zap' Delfino (percussion) - brings the roots of Italy into a modern roots fusion that remains true to heritage while incorporating the music of France and many modern touches. .

Danza Libera - Elianto - 17.99
From many different places in Italy, Mino Cavallo (guitar), Claudio Carboni (sax), Anna Granata (vocals), Ettore Bonafè (percussion), Amedeo Ronga (bass) and an impressive guest list including Riccardo Tesi, Maurizio Geri, Alfio Antico, Alessandro Danelli and many others, perform Italian music that spans a lot of genre and geography. Listen

Marinaresca - La Moresca Antica - 12.99
Traditional Italian music from the maritime traditions, performed by one of the most respected revivalist bands in Lombardy. This CD was originally released in 2000, and is reissued in 2006.

Ël giardin dl'amor - Quartetto Tamborini - 12.99
This Italian folk-string quartet is back with their 2006 recording. Already appreciated for their interpretation of music that spans classical and folk traditions, the ensemble dedicates this latest disc to some Piedmontese composers of the XIX and XX Centuries.

La Finestra Dell'Ultimo Piano - Paroplapi - 17.99
Canzoni Popolari Dell'Arco Alpino

La Corsa - Radicanto - 17.99
Now truly a rock band with a Salentine heart, Radicanto's 2005 excursion explores the sound and fury of sourthern Italy with an ear to the global pop music scene.

Da lontano - Eugenio Bennato - 16.99
Taranta power returns on this 2005 release by one of Italy's best-known roots innovators. The band is, as always, stellar: Bennato on vocals, mandola and classical guitar with Erasmo Petringa, cello, lute, mandolincello and guitar; M'barka Bentaleb, vocals and percussions; Zaina Chabane, vocals; Roberto Menonna, guitare battente and vocals.

Canzoni in forma di fiore - Piccola Bottega Baltazar - 16.99
The 2004 recording by this sophisticated ensemble from Padua, Italy features Marco Toffannin on accordion, Giorgio Gobbo on guitar and vocals, Sergio Marchesini on painao and accordion, Antonio De Zanche, aka 'the Mayor' on double bass player and Massimo Aiello on drums and percussion, with some interesting guest coloration like duduk, saxophone and such. The songs are all original this time around, but they maintain a dream-like quality of time passing and the mellowness of a proper aging.

Poco Tempo,Troppa fame - Piccola Bottega Baltazar - 16.99
Subtitled 'Omaggio a Fabrizio de André,' this is the first recording by the band from Veneto, Italy. It's a svelte production of songs by the songwriter de André that quotes French chanson, Italian folk, bits of jazz and even a touch of tango, played out by a small ensemble of voice, two accordions, guitar, bass and percussion, with a little trombone and violin added for color.

Vorrei Ballare - Ambrogio Sparagna and La Bosio Big Band - 17.99
The Italian accordionist explores 'Tarantelle e serenate dagli Appennini' in his own compositions and traditional songs and ballads, joined by a BIG banda organetti (melodeons - I count about 15-20?) with percussion, harp, voices, bass, ciramella and chitarra battente. It's quite a sound!

La Chanson Napolitaine - Roberto Murolo - 33.99
A 2 CD set presents a wide range of Neapolitan popular music, all sung by the great Roberto Murolo. Murolo, who died in 2003 at the age of 91, was responsible for bringing the sounds of Italy to the world through such songs as "O Sole Mio" and "Cu'umme." More importantly, he is credited with influencing many Italian musicians with his brand of Neapolitan song based on traditional Italian folk roots. This 35 song set covers examples from his whole recording career. Includes French and English notes on the life of the artist.

Lesamore - La Banda Improvvisa w/ Sepe and Kokko - 17.99
The remarkable Italian 'municipal orchestra' in a concert that is nothing like you have heard on your town square. Powerful performances by excellent musicians, and joined by two legendary guests, saxophonist is joined by Daniele Sepe and singer Auli Kokko. It's challenging, romantic, funny and great fun.

Pratomagno Social Club - La Banda Improvvisa - 17.99
It may look like it on first glance, but is is not your mother's municipal band. Giampiero Bigazzi's La Banda Improvvissa is a notorious big band with a bad attitude, taking the music of Italy's community orchestra to a new leverl with daring adventure. This time around they have invited violinist Blaine L. Reininger and zingane masters Kocani Orkestar along for the ride and the results of this live concert are surprising and completely original.

Italian Treasury: Lombardia - Lomax Collection - 16.99
Lomax and Diego Carpitella's 1954 recordings from Lombardy cover a lot of territory, folk styles and traditions - from wedding and carnival songs to Italian chorals of Child ballads, the calls of songbird hunters, and a panpipe orchestra playing marches, waltzes, and Verdi.

Mirto - Simona Barbera - 16.99
A powerful and inspired Italian singer, born in Genoa and residing in Sicily, Barbera offers a daring reinvention of 'an imaginary Sicily' that is rich in tradition but far from traditional. Performed a capella or accompanied primarily by percussion or piano, these songs lit, roar and shreik across the imagined landscape, reinventing old themes as contemporary art.

Isole senza mar - Calicanto - 19.99
Dedicated to the rediscovery of the culture of the Euganean Hills southeast of Venice, this musical documentary is the result of research and interviews with older people of the region and the result is this wonderful CD and the 80 page hard-cover book that it is presented in. The themes may be ancient, but they don't hesitate to present original themes with the collaboration of prestigous international guests such as J.M.Carlotti and D.Paris, as well as the previous generation of musicians who gave them this music. With references to the troubadours of the Corte Estense, to Beatrice d’Este, to Petrarca, Shelley, the Gregorian chant, the rituals like the 'batermarso' and echoes of bands, chorales, dances, lullabies, and poetic images that contribute to this spendid work of musical art. Highly Recommended.

Tarantelle e Canti Tradizionali delle Puglie - Malicanti - 17.99
Tarantella and traditional songs from Puglia - the ensemble Malicanti play folks songs from southern Italy, elemental songs passed from the previous generation to this one, holding on to the deep roots of the ancient songs.

Tra Cel e Tèra - Tre Martelli - 17.99
Canti e danze tradizionali del Piemonte - traditional music and songs from Piedmont, Italy presented by one of the region's most important contemporary folk groups, with a host of special guests to add to the marvel including Laura Conti, Rod Stradling, Beppe Greppi,Betti Zambruno and Maurizio Martinotti.

Cuore di Terre - Lucilla Galeazzi - 17.99
Singer Galeazzi hails from Umbria in Italy, and comes to this recording with a deep traditional sense of the music. Probably best known in the US for her performances with Philippe Eidel's 'Mammas' project, she is also a veteren of classical, folk and new music. This 1997 recording was reissued in the wake of her new-found popularity, but it stands on its own. Accompanied by Massimo Nardi's guitar, percussion from Nicola Raffone, and Carlo Mariani on launeddas, a reed instrument with a drone much like a bagpipe. Guests supply a minimum of flute, clarinet or bass.

i nuvoli: jazz manouche - Jacopo Martini - 17.99
Italian guitarist Jacopo Martini is joined by Nico Gori on clarinet and accmpanied by a small ensemble of violin, accordeon (the amazing Antonello Salis), vibes, guitars and bass.

Canti delle Donne Sarde - Actores Alidos - 17.99
Songs of Sardinian women is a project dedicated to female polyphony. Songs of love and sacred songs, lullabies and popular dances, funeral laments and serenades. A polyphonic quintet of 5 female vocalsist/percussionists (Alessandra Leo, Roberto Locci, Valeria Parisi, Manuela Sanna and led by the deep voice of Valeria Pilia) and accompanied by Orlando Mascia, an expert of traditional Sardinian music and a specialist player of traditional musical instruments such as the launeddas, sulitu (flute), trunfa (jew’s harp) and organetto (accordion). Includes an introduction by Giovanna Marini.

La Belle Vie - Giorgio Conte - 18.99
Giorgio Conte, vocals, guitar

Vurria sapiri... - Sara Cappello - 9.99

Ciroma - Ciroma - 9.99
An ensemble from calabria, Italy, who describe ther work as 'a deep symbiosis between text and music.' Mixing pop idioms with sourthern Italian folk roots comes effortlessly and without pretense to this seven member ensemble.

Yun Mu - Marco Cappelli - 16.99
Italian guitarist tackles a wide variety of works for solo guitar: John Zorn's Book of Heads, Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint, plus compositions by Claudio Lugo, Junghae Lee and Giorgio Tedde.

Lune - Riccardo Tesi and Banditaliana - 17.99
2005 release by the master acordionist from Italy and his fine ensemble of Maurizio Geri (guitar and voice), Claudio Carboni (sax) and Ettore Bonafè (percussion). Nothing less than brilliant, as expected!

U'Ciucciu: Voci e Suoni dal Sud Italia - Massimo Ferrante - 17.99
The 'voices and sounds of southern Italy' performed by a wonderful ensemble of some of Calbria's finest folk artists

Dancin' Roots - Simone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble - 17.99
Joined by acclaimed jazz clarinetist Don Byron, guitarist Guiducci and his ensemble of accordion, percussion, horns, reeds and bass experiment with jazz and roots.

Chorale - Simone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble - 17.99
The Italian guitarist and his ensemble of accordion, percussion, horns, reeds and bass experiment with jazz and roots, joined by a small bevy of guest artists.

Il canto di Israele / The song of Israel - Riccardo Joshua Moretti - 17.99
Performed by the Midrash Music Ensemble. Italian composer Moretti explores Jewish and klezmer music from a deep and unusual perspective, looking to classical roots for inspiration, but also at home in the worlds of Rota and Morricone. An unexpected revelation.

Descalso - Archedora - 17.99
Rachele Colombo (voice, guitar, percussion and keyboards), and Corrado Corradi (bandoneon, English concertina, percussion and voice) return for their second duo recording, joined by a small ensemble of flute, reeds, bass strings and voices, a string quartet and other guests for a new exploration of the music and life of Venice and the Veneto region of Italy. This is dense, classy music, with lush arrangements (think classic Brazilian), very contemporary and yet very old sounding.

L'uscita dei gladiatori - Daniele Sepe - 17.99
1997 recording by one of Italy's most aggressively innovative roots musicians.

Espirit de Frontiera - Gai Saber - 17.99
Second recording by Italian roots-rock ensemble. They are dedicated to reviving the folk music of 'Occitania' but do it with a wild energy. Accordions, reeds, hurdy gurdy and bagpipes add vibrant color to the basic rock line-up. Gai Saber is an eight piece band devoted to preserving the culture of the Occitania region along the Mediterranean. The realm of Occitania goes beyond borders, embracing Southern France, the Aran Valley in Spain, and the Cuneo and Turin Provinces in Italy... Troubadour songs meet inventive dance beats that combine traditional percussion (bodhrans, galoubet, tambourin) with electronic samples. The aim here is to ensure the popularity of Occitanic, and Gai Saber want you to move your ass. Esprit de Frontiera is a compelling statement of cultural survival and border crossing that meets modern technology on its own terms. - Lee Blackstone, RootsWorld

Troubar R'Oc - Gai Saber - 15.99
First album by this Italian roots band has an airier feel on some tracks, but still rocks hard through muc of the recording. Bagpipes, accordions, flutes and percussion fill in the basic drums/bass/guitars rock lineup in 17 complex arrangements. Occitan music from Italy, by a band who experiments, explores and shatters the roots.

Voces de Sardinia Vol 1 - Concordu De Orosei - 17.99

I Storie ò Cafè di lu Furestiero - Milagro Acustico - 18.99
Adventurous, sumptuous Mediterranean music from Sicily

La Famiglia - Balli di Sardegna - Mondo Vercellino - 19.99
Wonderful recordings by an old master of the Sardinian songs and dances for the organetto (diatonic accordion), long considered a pioneer and innovator of this unique folk music.

Marea cu sarea - Piccola Banda Ikona - 18.99
Here is a fascinating journey between the sounds and cultures of the Mediterranean sea in the research for a musical and lyrical language that unites its various populations. They write: "Once upon a time there was a tongue shared by the peoples of the Mediterranean. This was Sabir, a lingua franca which sailors, pirates, fishermen, merchants, ship-owners used in the ports to communicate with each other. From Genoa to Tangiers, from Salonika to Istanbul, from Marseilles to Algiers, from Valencia to Palermo, until the early decades of the twentieth century this kind of sea-faring 'Esperanto' developed little by little availing of terms from Spanish, Italian, French and Arabic. We like this language. We like to mix sounds and words. We play Sabir.We sing Sabir."

Nia maro - Daniele Sepe - 18.99
I know I say it almost every time he does a recording, but there really is no one like Sepe in the musical world, a composer and musician with a unique vision of his world, both musical and social, and an artist both global and local simultaneously. This recording is one of his more adventuous, and yet it is remarkably also one of his more 'rooted' although those roots spread all across the Mediteranean basin.

The New Village - Enzo Favata Tentetto (featuring Tenores di Bitti) - 18.99
Sardinian musician and composer Favata has been roiling the roots-jazz of Italy for decades now, recording Cds and playing more than 2,000 concertsaround the world. He fuses tradition with a contemporary sense, forging a new music form folk, jazz and avant garde elements that are strictly original. He has studied classical and jazz saxophone, plays the soprano, sopranino and tenor sax, and the bass clarinet, as well as other ethnic wind instruments from Sardinia and elsewhere. Adding Latin, African and middle eastern influences, he has come up with a creative and original new sound that pays homage to the jazz greats while being beholden to no one. This recording features the incredible Tenores di Bitti, who offer not only their voices, but the inspiration of their melodies that are infused into the very core of Favata's new compositions.

Suite per bandoneon e orchestra - Daniele Bonaventura - 19.99
The bandoneon master performs two new major compositions, a suite for bandoneon and orchestra, and Piccolo Requiem for Solo Bandoneon.

Il giardino delle delizie - Vito Ranucci and Napoli Est - 17.99
Neopolitan arranger, composer and saxophone player Ranucci is joined by the large ensemble Napoli Est for his 2007 work.

Fuori dal Paradiso - Piero Brega - 17.99
One of the most beautiful voices of Italian popular music, winner of the Ciampi Award in 2005 with his debut record "Come Li Viandanti", is back with his second work, "Fuori dal paradiso", a record of original songs written by Brega and Martire, arranged by Mark Hamlyn and produced in collaboration with the Gianni Bosio Club. The record, twelve tracks, expresses the origins and the relevance of Brega's music, who, since his beginnings in the '70's with the Canzoniere del Lazio, has always loved the contamination of the tradition with the driving force of the rhythmic instruments. Also in "Fuori dal paradiso" music and words flow in a series of tales and colours, moving from waltzes to ethnic suggestions. Brega is in love with Rome and with its dialect, and gives us a well-balanced record in which personal stories mix easily with fantastic tales.

Uccelli - Teatro Settimo - 17.99
The soundtrack of the theatre version of Aristophanes' "The Birds" presented at the Spoleto Festival in June 1996 as performed by Banda Osiris, Aringa & Verdurini, Paolo Pizzimenti, Anna Coppola and many other singers and musicians from the Italian music world.

Cromozome: Musique Traditionnelle des Alpes Occidentales - Trouveur Valdotèn - 17.99
Following its path of deep ethno-musicological research in the Western Alps, the ensemble tries to give a live, contemporary dimension to the cultural expression of the region and a defense of the special nature of Valle d'Aosta, a Francophone region in the Italian state.

Baqshish - Francesco Banchini - 17.99
Banchini's previous works have taken him from the study of classical and Medieval music to music therapy to southern Italian folk music to the traditions of Balkans and the Mediterranean. This is a CD bursting with colour and flavour, where original compositions blend with traditional Mediterranean songs and melodies. As well as various types of clarinet he plays nay, flute, chalumeaux, piano, while his own voice broadens the sound further. Accompanying him on the record are a group of fine musicians including Davide Della Monica (guitar), Cristiano Della Monica (percussion), Francesco Migliaccio (accordion) and Manuela Salinaro (darabouka, cajon, frame drums).

Barbari - Chichimeca - 16.99
A young acoustic band from Sardinia has a lot of attitude and a lot more talent. They are using modern instruments (guitar, accordion, bass, drums, percussion and voices) in a strong display of new Italian roots.

Montgolfieres - Gianmaria Testa - 17.99
This reissue of Montgolfières by Italian singer Gianmaria Testa returns a worldwide favorite to the active catalog. In 1993, Testa won first prize at the 1993 Recanati Festival for young songwriters. A record company offered to produce an album, on the condition that he 'step up his rhythm a little.' Testa refused, promptly went back to his job as train station master. In 1995, Testa was finally allowed to do it his way, and his debut CD, Montgolfières, was released. The album's mix of jazz, bossa, tango and habanera was an instant hit and Testa has been hailed as the Italian Leonard Cohen.

Caminos de pache - Tenores di Bitti - 17.99
The 2004 release by one of the best-known of the polyphonic a tenore ensembles typical of the rural areas of central Sardinia.

L'Oste del Diau - Lou Dalfin - 17.99
Led by hurdy-gurdy maestro Sergio Berardo, the band Lou Dalfin havbe been championing Occitan music, giving it a contemporary facelift and lifting it out of the provincial ghetto to reach a wider, more culturally varied public. The ensemble and its guests present a somtimes large sound, with voices, flutes, jew's harp, bagpipe, guitar, drums, percussion, accordeon, melodeon, bass, trumpet, mandolin, whistles, a choir, harp and tuba.

Argia - Alberto Balia and Enrico Frongia - 17.99
A classic of the Italian new-folk-wave is back on CD. Sardinian melodies and rhythms are brought to new light in this 1985 recording by guitarists/singer Balia and Frongia, joined by Riccardo Tesi on melodeon and singer Andrea Biosa.

Salvamm'o Munno - Enzo Avitabile i Bottari - 16.99
fRoots calls it 'A buzzing hive of roots creativity.' Steeped in Italian tradition and featuring the voices of the Brotherhood of the SS Crucifix as well as the ancient instruments of Italy, with a bevvy of guests including Khaled, Amina, Hugh Masekela, Baba Sissoko, Bakhit Mizmar Brass Band and Manu Dibango.

Italian Treasury: Piemonte and Valle D'Aosta, - Lomax Recordings - temp out of stock-16.99
Songs of love and war, marriage and jail, emigration and alms seeking, ballads and sung debates, dances performed by accordions, tambourine, and brass band: this CD includes a generous selection of historic and sometimes astonishing original field recordings from Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta in northeastern Italy, recorded in 1954.

Accade - Oliviero Biella - 12.99
After working with ensembles like Magam, Bandalpina, and Compagnia Strumentale Tre Violini, this guitarist from Lombardy, Italy has finally created his first starring role recording, with new song writing and accompanied by guests like Gabriele Coltri and Alfredo Savoldelli. Art music meets folk roots in an elegent ensemble's interpretation of these unusual songs. Fans of Gabriel Yacoub will find kinship in spirit.

La belle epoque della Banda Bonnot (2 CDs) - Giangilberto Monti - 12.99
Twenty songs by Boris Vian, most of them unpublished, adapted in Italian and performed by this renowned Milanese song-writer and singer. The aim is to re-propose the story of the French anarchical outlaw Jules Bonnot. and this double CD follows the steps of the radio play written by Monti himself, produced by the Swiss Italian Radio. It was the winner of the Prix Suisse 2004 from Swiss national radio, in the fiction section.

Asino siculo - Asteriskos - 12.99
The next chapter in the adventure started in 2002, by three great Sicilian musicians. Giancarlo Parisi, Massimo Laguardia and Tanino Lazzaro prove they have plenty of stories to tell, and offer this mature, refined album filled with excellent songwriting alongside some traditional tunes, all interpreted with great skill and musicianship, played out on zampogna a paro cromatica (bagpipe), flute, tammorra, percussion, fisarmonica (accordion) and voices.

Tilion - Stefano Valla, Attilio Rocca, Ettore Losini - 12.99
An uncommon birthday present for a very uncommon person: Attilio Rocca is known as 'Tilion,' one of the fathers and keepers of the folk tradition in the area of the Four Provinces. Young at the age of 70, Tilion has his etrenal friends gather around to celebrate his life with a glass of Gutturnio, a salami of Varzi and plenty of good music to accompany his accordion.

Arzan - La Lionetta - 14.99
La Lionetta, a band that mirrors the multiethnic nature of their home in Turin, returns after many years with another roaring, rousing mixture of Italian folk (on accordion, bagpipes, bouzouki and more) and trans-European brass band music.

Li Turchi alla Marina - la Moresca antica - 14.99
antiche musiche italiane della tradizione marinara 2: the second collection of songs from the shores of Italy by this noted ancient music ensemble.

Jan Senso Terro (ES5304 - Compagnons Roulants - temp out of stock-15.99
The group aims at the research and diffusion through a modern reinterpretation, of the kinds of music belonging to peasant and mountain culture of Piedmont, with particular attention to Occitania territory extending both in southern France and Piedmont. The repertoire includes songs and dances played with traditional instruments such as violin, percussion, hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes. Elegant minimalist arrangements and an extraordinary solo female voice make Compagnons Roulants an extremely innovative and fascinating proposal.

La Rosa e la Ramella (ES5322) - Din Delon - 14.99
The debut of one this interesting ensemble from Lombardy, led by a well-known champion of this music, Andrea Capezzuoli. The evident passion for tradition is the driving force in this ensemble of voices, organetto (accordion), musette, clarinet, bagpipes and ghironda (hurdy-gurdy).

Dona Bela (ES5312 - Dona Bela - 12.99
Renat Sette, the voice of Provence, with an acoustic band of four Italian musicians, comparing the repertoires of Piedmont and Provence. Last June this CD received the Bravos! from the french Folk magazine Trad Mag. Many concerts in Italy and France show there is a wide interest on this work, whose musicians are probably the main characters in folk music of their Regions.

Horse (ES5314 - Paul James Mark Hawkins - 14.99
The leader of Blowzabella in his first solo record. This worderful bagpiper is always a leader, and this venture into modern sounds opens new horizons in folk music. With Sheila Chandra, Carlos Beceiro and many other friends...

Rosa rabbia e sangue - Myriam Lattanzio - 14.99
This young Neopolitan singer presents her first complete recording, together with seven musicians (on guitar, bouzuki, bass guitar, accordion, percussion, sax and cello) in a presentation of traditional and original songs

A l'Arbat del Sol (ES5316) - Laura Conti and Ombra Gaja - 14.99
One of the most interesting among the emerging folk music bands from Piedmont, with Laura Conti's wornderful voice. It's a long time that her voice is always on stage with Paolo Conte, Giorgio Gaslini and other famous italian artists. Together with Ombra Gaja she choses to investigate the piedmontese traditional music repertoire, and the result is here for your ears!

Ottoni and settimini (ES5306 - La Lionetta - 14.99
La Lionetta has long been one of the most popular and appreciated among the Italian folk -revival bands, as well as the less orthodox. Their first album, Danze e ballate dell'area celtica italiana published in 1978, was warmly welcome both by critics and public. A couple of years after their second work Il gioco del diavolo, the band reduced its activity until it stopped. La Lionetta was formed again in 1995 starting anew their repertoire which is characterized on one hand by autonomous composition of music and texts and on the other hand by strengthen and unconventional attitude towards tracks.

Noel nouveau est venu (ES5311 - Le Picotage - 14.99
Christmas songs and tunes from the Centre of France, played on hurdy gurdy, bagpipes, keyboards, plus a fantastic female voice. The Christmas Carols were chosen among the dozen of popular songs that are particulary abundant in the Centre of France: some of these songs are still sung in certain churches in the Limousin region. The legendary complex to which the lyrics make reference are taken mainly from the Apocryphal Evangiles.

Al lung de la riviera - Betti Zambruno and Tendachent - 14.99
A collaboration between Betti Zambruno and the band that in 1997 inherited the mantle (and some of the musicians) of La Ciapa Rusa, the well-known group Zambruno sang with in the '80s. Zambruno and ensemble play the repertoire of Leone Sinigaglia, one of the fathers of traditional Piedmontese music.

Hybla (ES5320) - Carmelo Salemi - 14.99
The Mediterranean music comes to its highest level in this debut album for a virtuous player of friscaletto, a particular kind of flute typical of the sicilian tradition. Guitars and many percussions provide the arrangements of this hot CD, giving more than an eye to the Arabian sound. Listen!

Quartettino Giocoso (ES5307 - Quartetto Tamborini - 14.99
This work collects compositions by the so-called minor authors of the cultivated music of the Eighteenth century in Piedmont. Indeed, these composers played roles which were not minor in the Piedmontese music panorama, their compositions being played in the major theatres and concert halls all over Northern Italy. Drawing from this repertoire, the band re-proposes in a very original way the compositions transcribed for the most classic among the classic kinds of ensemble: the string quartet. Quartetto Tamborini is born from an idea by Bruno Raiteri, violinist of La Ciapa Rusa.

La Montagna Fredda - Antonello Paliotti - 17.99
Neapolitan guitarist Antonello Paliotti delves into the voice on this 2004 release, featuring some incredible Italian singers; Gianni Lamagna, Brunella Selo, Luciano Catapano, Lello Giulivo, Antonio Esposito, accompanied by his small acoustic ensemble of chitarra and chitarra battente, mandolins, mandola, violin and viola, Jew's harp, and percussion.

Cantu - Fratelli Mancuso - 17.99
The brothers Mancuso have made a mark in Italy for their unique - sometimes lush, sometimes raw but always artful - interpretations of Sicilian folk music. On Cantu, the composer/singer duo is accompanied by great ensemble including Enrico Rava (trumpet), Luciano Biondini (accordeon), Michele Acolese (guitar), Stefano Bollini (piano) and guest vocalist and narrator GianMaria Testa.

Aria Stisa: Canti di contadine e trattoristi a Torchiarolo - various - 18.99
Music from Puglia: Raccolta di canti a cappella in monodia e polifonia del Salento: canti ad aria e a distesa (aria stisa, appunto), canti narrativi, stornelli, canti religiosi e di lavoro eseguiti da voci impostate per cantare nei campi con emissioni "di testa" e adeguato uso del fiato.

Bellina Che Te Piace L'Allegria - various - 18.99
"Canti e balli marchigiani nella Valle del Chienti / Songs and dances from the Marche region - Volume 1" The first CD dedicated to traditional musical music from Marche. - Dalla media valle del Chienti nel Maceratese virtuose suonate di saltarelli e castellane, ma anche canti di lavoro, stornelli a serenata e a dispetto, ballate e canti a vatoccu eseguiti con modalità vocali contadine.

Boghes e chiterra (Ethnica 29) - Denanni, Porcu, and Matzau - 18.99
Canti a chitarra del Logudoro (Sardegna) presents Sardinian singers and guitarists Gianni Denanni, Antonio Porcu and Tore Matzau in ten traditional songs from the island.

M'oli tin passiuna - Suoni e canti di Corigliano d'Otranto - Giovanni Avantaggiato - 18.99
In Corigliano d'Otranto, one of the most important towns of the Greca Salentina of southern Italy, there are several families or individuals who have cultivated a particularly intense musical heritage and who are reference points today for their fellow townspeople and for scholars. One of the most notable is Giovanni Avantaggiato, a musician with a lively personality, over 80 years old, who with his hand organ and his voice, is one of the most important repositories in all of the Greek-influenced area of the Salento.

Chilla Stilluccia Mia - Canti tradizionali in Abruzzo - Vol.4 - various (Taranta Etnica) - 18.99
Folk songs of Abruzzo: Domenico di Virgilio. The songs on this CD present the vocal repertory from the Abruzzo region and present both single multiple voice songs. These authentic recordings of the folk culture give a brief tour of the variety of spoken dialects of Abruzzo.

Balli Popolari In Abruzzo: Vol. 3: Musica tradizionale dalla Majella e dalla Val Pescara - various - 18.99
Folk music from the Majella and the Val Pescara: Abruzzo is a surprising territory which offers many repertories and a lively folk culture. In this central region, a cultural crossroads, there is a rich history of dance music: saltarella, ballarella, quadriglia, tre passi, danzo, scossë, valzer, polka e mazurka. Many of the pieces are performed by older musicians, in a traditional style which makes the recordings irreplaceable today.

Tomma Tommë - Various artists - 18.99
Musiche e canti dalla Murgia dei trulli - Le tradizioni musicali in Puglia Vol. 4 is the 24th CD in the exceptional Taranta Ethnica series.

Pizzica Taranta: Le Tradizioni Musicali In Puglia, Vol 3 - various - 18.99
Recorded in Lecce (with a few from Brindisi), this edition from the Ethnica series looks at the social, spiritual and dance music of the region. The pizzica pizzica, pizzica tarantula are performed the tools most expected for this music: vocals, percussion (tambourine, castenets and friction drum), harmonica and organetto. Quadrilles, schottishes, polkas, and marzukas are offered on mandolin, violin, and guitar.

Cantigos A Chiterra: Sardegna - various - 18.99
Traditional guitar music from Sardinia, recordings made by Andrea Carpi in 1984-85. They are performed by a number of artists, including the wonderful Nino Cau in full melismatic splendor (and might take a bit of getting used to!).

La Tarantella Del Gargano: Le Tradizioni Musicali I Puglia - Vol. 2 - Various Artists - 18.99
The traditional music of Puglia. Vol 2. - An ample collection of songs for serenata and tarantella in the fascinating melismatic style of the peasant culture of the Gargano, to the sounds of the chitarra battente, chitarra francese, castagnole, and tamburo. There are also pieces from the artisan world (tarantella, quadriglia, valzer fiorato) with mandoline and violin. Recordings from 1980 to 1988.

Suoni D'irpinia - Vol. 3 - Various Artists - 18.99
Traditional songs and folk dances from Iripinia, Campania, Italy

Suoni Di Canto - Various Artists - temp out of stock-18.99
Irpinia remains today a grand depository of traditional music: The cd presents tarantella songs, stornelli, and serenades with hand organ, polivocal songs, and instrumental dance pieces (polka, valzer, tarantella, ecc.) Recordings from 1984 to 1999

Tarantelle E Maschere: Balli E Canti Tradizionali In Irpinia - Various Artists - 18.99
The region of Irpinia, in the province of Avellino east of Napoli, is the area in Italia with the greatest intensity of carnival rituals, including processional dances. Lengthy and spirited tarantelle dances with traditional masks weave their way through villages. The disc also presents other dances (batticulo, quadriglio, valzer, polka, and marzurka) and various songs performed with the hand organ. Recordings from 1984 to 1999

Vecchi Balli Di Romagna No.2: Manfrine, Quadriglie E Vecchio Liscio - Various Artists - 18.99
This disc continues the musical explorations of the liscio dances of Romagna, among the many tradtitional dances that were in use up to the Second World War and that still exist today in the memories of elderly musicians and dancers. (saltarelli, manfrine, furlane, quadriglie, veneziane, galleto, roncastalda, trescone, ballinsei, vanderina , etc) These are important recordings, when one considers the gradual disappearance of the archaic musical forms. Recordings from 1970 to 1997

Musica Da Ballo In Sicilia - various - temp out of stock-18.99
A mix of music for dancing performed in the last 80 years in various parts of Sicily. In addition to the performances recorded during recent research, the album presents historic recordings produced by immigrants in America from 1916 to 1939. Contraddanze, quadriglie, tarantelle, scotis, balleti, valzer, polke, and mazurka present an initial inventory of the many ethnic traditions of Sicily.

Ballos Sardos (No. 1) Anthology Of Sardinian Folkdances - Various Artists - temp out of stock-18.99
Sardinia today offers the richest and most lively ethnomusical and ethnochoreutic patrimony in Italy. Its insularity has helped maintain the cultural identity of Sardinians. The disc is the first in a significant anthology of the musicians (Burranca, Vercellino, Chessa, Fulghesu, ecc,), of the instruments (laundeddas, benas, organittu, ghitterra, tamburrinos, etc) and the dances (tundu, passu torrau, durdurinu, dillu, logudoresa, arroxiada, passu e trese, campidanesa, etc). Recordings from 1987 to 1997.

Campania - various artists, Italy - 18.99
In Campania, the region of Naples, the calendar is studded with ethnic festivals with interesting anthropological aspects. The carnivals and the religious festivals of this magical and hidden South are present in this album with their profound sonority: The tamburine and the castanetts travel through the various musical and choreutic styles of the tarantella, the ballo ‘n copp’o tammurrë and the ballintrezzo. Recordings from 1981 to 1996.

Trescone A Veglia - Various Artists - temp out of stock-18.99
The Maremma is the south-western part of Tuscany and is an area of great interest. For centuries it has been host to the seasonal migrations and cultural exchanges with the Apennine regions. Today in fact it preserves many customs that have been lost in other area. The musical and choreutic patrimony is rich with pieces such as trescone, veneziana, ballo dei gobbi, galletta, quadriglia, scotis, ballo del chiamo, etc). Recordings from 1982 to 1993.

Cumpagnu Ti Mannu Lu Signuri - Various Artists - 18.99
In Sicily grain is the emblem of survival; to it are linked ritual forms of protection and inauguration. The disc contains a precious collection of songs and orations of the harvest and threshing of grain, in both monovocal and polivocal forms. Several pieces come from the ethnomusical archives of the National Academy of Saint Cecelia in Rome. Presentation by R. Leydi. Recordings from 1955 to 1994.

Balli Popolari In Abruzzo: Vol 2 - La Saltarella Del Teramano - Various Artists - 18.99
Ethnomusical anthology of popular dances from the northern Abruzzo, an area which conserves the most prestigious and difuse tradition of the du’ bottë, the Abruzzese double base hand organ still produced by several workshops. Together with the saltarella, other ethnic dances appear (laccio d'amore, ballo dell'insegna, denzë, polka figurata, ballo della sala, ballo del merlo, etc). There is also an exemplary selection of valzer, polka, and marurka of local origins. Recordings from 1982 to 1998.

I Doli Du Signuri - various artists, Italy - 18.99
The sorrows of the Lord - As with Christmas, the Passion and Death of Christ have long stimulated the popular musical creativity in various compositions. The album presents research documents from the provinces of Messina, Enna, and Catania: monovocal and polivocal songs from the rituals of Holy Week in Sicily. The Passion, the Stations of the Cross, and Resurrection, through the liturgical songs and the traditional religious culture. Recordings from 1979 to 1992.

Vecchi Balli Di Romagna: Vol. 1: Saltarelli, Furlane E Vecchio Liscio - Various Artists - 18.99
The disc is the fruit of a capillary investigation into the remains of the traditional dances of Romagna. The memories of former musicians and dancers has brought to life manfrine, saltarelli, furlane, russiano, vinchia, giga, scotis, bolognese, lavanderina, ballo della mela, galoppo , etc. The anthology also examines the old liscio dances from the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century. Recordings from 1970 to 1994.

A Cantata Di Li Pasturi - Various Artists - 18.99
Vocal and instrumental pieces from the Christmas tradition in the province of Messina, with an wide and varied panorama of monovocal and polivocal pieces (ninne nanne, litanie, novene ) and instrumental pieces (pastorali with bag pipes). The collection demonstrates the profound roots of the rich culture of Christmas in the popular religious traditions. Recordings from 1984 to 1993.

Violini E Serenate A Canosa - Various Artists - 18.99
The populous centers of Puglia once were characterized by grand musical ensembles, small dance orchestras and fervent instumental schools composed principally of craftsmen. These artisans, musically literate, adapted the antique serenade (matënètë) in fascinating suites of dance music. The disc presents tarantelle, quadriglie, scotinë,valzer, polke, mazurka, beghine, tanghi, and slow taken from rituals of the serenade still in use. Recording from 1979 to 1992.

Balli Popolari In Abruzzo Vol. 1: Saltarella E Spallata Dell'area Frentana - Various Artists - 18.99
An anthology of the popular dances of the southern Abruzzo. The Frentana region is one of the most interesting for the number, variety, and the physiognomy of the dances still in use (saltarella, spallata, 'ntricciariello, valzer scambiato, mazurka scambiato, serpetille, isciana, sciottë, cotta, danza, tre passi. The hand organ (organetto) is the instrument which predominates in the Abruzzo. Recordings from 1981 to 1991.

Saltarella Dell'alta Sabina - Various Artists - 18.99
The Alta Sabina, a part of the Abruzzo region for centuries, conserves still today traces of an original pastoral tradition with influences from the regions of Lazio and the southern Marches due to centuries of transumation The pride of the amatriciana area is the vivacious saltarella, which is danced to the sounds of the organetto, the hand organ, the tamburello, and a particular type of zampogna, the ciaramella, which has only two sound pipes. Ballo del canto, ballo della sala and quadriglie complete the panorama together with the valzer, mazurke, and marcette. Recordings from 1988 to 1993.

Balli Tradizionali In Umbria - Various Artists - 18.99
Volume 4 in the Taranta series of tradtional Italian folk music. Umbria is one of the least explored regions of Italy, musically speaking, due in part to the progressive dispersion of the popular dance. But a difuse musical memory remains, and the disc demonstrates a great variety of repertoires, a historical testimony that makes Umbria a crossroads of diverse influences (saltarello, tarantella, manfrina, trescone,etc.) Recordings from 1987 to 1992.

L'arpa Di Viggiano: Le Tradizioni Musicali In Lucania. Vol. 3 - Various Artists - 18.99
Volume 3 in the Taranta series. Viggiano, an agricultural and pastoral center in the Agri Valley in Lucania, was famous in Italy and abroad for being the production center of portable harps, arpicelle, and the home of many ambulatory musicians. The disc presents an interesting repertory of rediscovered harpists and an ample panorama of the traditional instrumental production of Lucania (the guitar battente from the Cilentano area, the violin, the mandolin, and guitar). Recordings from 1980 to 1991.

Organetto E Tarantella - Various Artists - 18.99
The traditional music of Lucania includes 34 tracks of the real roots, field recorded folk music from Italy. The organetto, the hand organ, in Lucania is the direct descendant of the zampogna . Produced by the small semi - artiginal industries of central Italy, it has gradually taken the place of the zampogna since the mid 19th century: The hand organ offers richer and more definite tones and harmonies, has a vivacious timbre, is easily transportable, and is always in tune and ready to use. Various tarantelle, quadriglie and older dances from the 19th century are woven with interesting vocal pieces. Recordings from 1979 to 1991.

La Zampogna Lucana - Various Artists - 18.99
The traditional bagpipe music of Lucania, Italy, the zampogna - the bagpipes and the wind instruments of the pastoral tradition: a rich archaic repertory of song and dance executed with various types of keyed zampogne, surdulina, ciaramelle, flutes, and clarinets. Recordings from 1981 to 1991.

Bonasera Bbona Ggende - Various - 18.99
Canti e musiche dall'Abruzzo Li Sandandonjirë, Volume 2 in Taranta's Ethnica Symphonia series.

Io (4 CD box set) - Ennio Morricone - 74.99
4 CD set in presentation box: Music for Piano; Film Music; Chamber Music; Symphony Music

Le vespe - Stefano Saletti and Renato Giordano - 14.99
The idea behind Le vespe was not to recover 'the lost music of the Greeks,' but to search for a 'Spirito Sonoro' that was compatible with the ancient ideals. Le Vespe is a search for commonality and digression in the music of the Balkan peninsula, from modern and ancient Greece, Bulgaria, the Roma and beyond, fused with the art music of Europe, both old and contemporary. It is both and neither ancient and modern, and the tension and beauty this divergence creates is palpable.

Pai Nai - Methel and Lord - 17.99
Impossible to adequately describe, this unusual collaboration of peorty and music crosses a lot of boundaries, with it's mix of jazzy rock, folky blues and artsy bad attitude. 'Methel is the composer and the voice of the band, and together with Lord arranges acoustic and electric music with special electronic effects that break the natural rythm of the compositions and create a very unusual, evocative sounds.'

Sands - Alephra - 17.99
Italian composer and musicans presents new music for ud, duduk, percussion and some electronics.

A Banna! - Banda di Avola - 17.99
A HUGE band of horns, reeds, woodwinds and percussion from Sicily offer a series of spirited, tongue-in-cheek marches from the 1920s, capable of captivating both players and audience alike. For those who enjoy Banda Ionica, here is a different look at the Sicilian brass band tradition, more raucous, more abandoned and wild.

Incanti - Elena Ledda - 17.99
2003 release from the incredible Italian singer offers another excellent merging of ancient roots and modern sonorities.

Chitarra Battente - Marcello Vitale - 17.99
The beating guitar' of Vitale is already well known to fans of Eugenio Bennato, as Vitale is an integral member of the Bennato Taranta Power family. Here is his solo recording, focused on the guitar and lightly accompanied by percussion, guitars, oud, mandocello and tamburello. Vocalists include Vitale, Daniela Bonaventa and Paulo Agrippa.

La Luz Prodigiosa - Ennio Morricone - 17.99
Music for the film by Miguel Hermoso and featuring the title song sung by Dulce Pontes

Tara Gnawa - Phaleg and Nour Eddine - 17.99
The TaraGnawa project brings together two sides of the Mediterranean; Phaleg's Calabrian roots in Italy and the Mahgrebi roots of Morocco's gnawa tradition as exemplified in the music of Nour Eddine. It is performed with both daring and sensitivity to the traditions of both cultures, creating something new rather than simply fusing disparate elements.

3(three) - Birkin Tree - 17.99
The Italy based Celtic ensemble is joined on their third recording by two great guest artists, Niamh Parsons and Cyril O'Donoghue.

Songs of Trinacria - Michela Musolino - 16.99
A collection of Sicilian folk songs, accompanied by Wilson Montuori opn guuitar, and on one track, the Sicilian musician Alfio Antico.

Sicilia: Canto Nuovo - Various Italian Artists - 17.99
Sicily is also the home of a new generation of performers, proud of their roots and open to the promise of the future. These musicians are perpetuating traditions, but also enriching them with their own life experience. Both preserving an ancient art and inventing a future for it, their instruments are the zampogna (bagpipes), friscalettu, organetto (accordion) and tamorra and their goal is to celebrate the beauty of Sicilian song.

Il viaggiatore degli astri - Amarcord - 17.99
The premiere recording from the Bolognese 'small Amarcord orchestra.' Fisarmonica, bugles, guitars, melodies that carry the rhythm of Balkan music with an hint of Dixieland, and with unmistakable, viral world sound that shrieks of Fellini.

Archedora - Archedora (Colombo and Corradi) - 17.99
Rachele Colombo and Corrado Corradi and their musical support team have created a beautifully dreamy recording of Italian roots and global branches. Colombo's voice, guitar, synthesizers and percussion and Corradi's accordions create a lush atmosphere, supported by electric bass, piano, strings, percussion and voices. Colombo and Corradi are also members of the Venetian band Calicanto.

Soffi - Mario Crispi - 17.99
Sicilian musician Mario Crispi (one fo the foundign members of Agricantus) has researched the wind instruments of the world: the ney (Persian, Turkish and Arabian), the selijefloyte from Lapland, the North African zummara, the Sardinian launeddas, the Egyptian arghoul, the Balkan clarinet, the Andean antara and sikus, the Turkish duduk, the Sicilian marranzanu, the Australian didjeridoo.

Lunario - Lucilla Galeazzi - 17.99
The 2001 album from this powerful Umbrian (Italy) singer brings with it both her recent folk-rooted energy and a bigger instrumental sound, featuring guitars, accordion, percussion, reeds, violin and viola . Fans of her tracks on the 1990's Mammas recording will love this full sound and of course, one of the great passionate voices of Europe

Sceni - Klezroym - 17.99
This outstanding klezmer ensemble is based in Italy, and they forage into the world of Jewish music, tinged with contemporary jazz, deeply rooted in Eastern European and Mediterranean musical traditions. The group plays musicthat crosses borders and mixes different cultures effortlessly, and on this recording they are graced with two guest musicians that complete the circle: the Arab artists Karam Abdelmagid (oud) and Abdullah Mohamed (darbouka).

Pamunt Rom Group - Pamunt Rom Group - 17.99
The Pamunt Rom Group includes Ionut Gugulan (accordion and vocals), Florin Barby (guitar and vocals) , Adrian Nan (stand-up bass), Castel Ciortan (accordion), and Laurentiy Dinca (clarinet), with Ciccio Merolla (percussion) and Riccardo Veno (soprano saxophone). The trademark sound is the furious interplay between the two accordions, or the accordions and the reeds.

Lettere Migranti - Radicanto - 17.99
The Italian band explores the issues and stories of emigration in a series of contemporary songs based on the tradition. Taking the traditions of Puglia and merging them with a trans-Mediterranean modernity has made radicanto one of the most stunning bands in southern Italy. Their recording Terra Arsa was one of our records of the year in 2001, and this recording follows closely behind it for its strong mix of contemporary pop and jazz with an undying local sensibility.

Amnesia (a film by Gabriele Salvatores) - various Artists (soundtrack) - 17.99
Includes original music for the film by Daniele Sepe, and songs by Macaco, Leonard Cohen, Corporate Avenger and Ojos De Brujo

Conosci Victor Jara? (1996) - Daniele Sepe - 17.99
Read more about this great Neopolitan composer and saxophonist here

Lavorare Stanca - Daniel Sepe - 17.99
This contemporay collection of music by Italian composer/musican Daniele Sepe is as diverse as it gets. Traditional polyphonic singing, jazz, theater music, folk music and reggae all merge harmoniously in this rich, colorful and often disturbing portrait of a culture.

Spiritus Mundi - Daniele Sepe - 17.99
Read more about this great Neopolitan composer and saxophonist here

Totosketches - Daniele Sepe - 17.99
Read more about this great Neopolitan composer and saxophonist here

Truffe and other sketches - Daniele Sepe - 17.99
Read more about this great Neopolitan composer and saxophonist here

Viaggi fuori dai paraggi (1996) - Daniele Sepe - 17.99
Read more about this great Neopolitan composer and saxophonist here

Gypsies - i nostri zingari - Various Gypsy Artists - 16.99
music by Kocani Orkestar and Harmonia Ensemble / Taraf de Haidouks / Note Manouche / Cortjzo- Torna a Kocani Orkestar and Harmonia Ensemble / Taraf de Haidouks / Note Manouche / Cortjzo

I Miricani - various Italian artists - 17.99
The recorded adventures of Sicialians in America during the years of the emigration. 29 tracks trace the music of the Miricani, the Sicilaian emigrants to America. Singing, accompanied by mandolin and clarinet, is the dominant mode here, waltzes and polkas that helped to ease the separation from home. These 24 tracks were recorded between 1917 and 1929.

Mister Romano - Acquaragia Drom - 17.99
Music from the gypsy regions of Italy. Songs and dances in their original Italian gypsy style, a mix of Romany/Sinti music and southern Italian traditional dances.

Beica: Polifonie de Piemonte - Ariondela - 17.99
Three women from Piedmont (Northern Italy) present their unique style based on three-voices a cappella singing. The repertoire is partially taken from the tradition of the Piedmontese valleys tradition and partially original compositions.

Terre di Passo - Baraban - 17.99
Baraban use a wonderfully judged mixture of traditional material, sympathetically styled compositions, contemporary poetry and non-indigenous musical styles, to produce an album that manages to be adventurous and include lots of experimentation, whilst maintaining its Italian folk roots.' - fRoots

Thiato Thiate - Dou Dou M'Diaye M'Bengue - 17.99
Senegalese mbalax, raw, acoustic music and potent vocals

Ammentos - Tenores di Bitti - 17.99
Polyphonic singing from Sicily

Intonos - Tenores di Bitti - 17.99
Polyphonic singing from Sardinia

Launeddas - Melis and Lara - 17.99
Masters of the Sardinian 'proto-bagpipe' reed instrument called the launeddas

Senza Cchui terra - La Moresca - 17.99
Italy

a volte ritornano - Mauro Palmas - 17.99
sometimes they come back' - one hundred years of Italian hopes in the popular tradition - featuring Elena Ledda vocal Mauro Palmas- vocal, mandole, mandoloncello, guitar; Minonetta Soro- vocal; Maurizio Geri -vocal, guitar, Gabriele Mira-bass clarinet; Silvano Lobina-bass; Alberto Pisu -drums, percussion; Serge Desaunay- accordeon;

M'han Presa - Piva Dal Carner - 17.99
quartet from Emilio plays bass, piano, melodeon, guitar, reeds, bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy and mandocello, utilizong these instruments to make deeeply roots folk music in a new way.

Caldera - Mario Salvi - 17.99
One of the masters of the Italian melodeon, Salvi needs little introduction to the afficiando of Italian folk music. This recording presents masterful performances from Salvi, accompanied by a band of reeds, percussion, flutes, strings and electric bass.

La Cavalio - Senhal - 17.99
Trio from Italy play the folk music of Occitania (a region that comprises parts of northern Italy and southern France) performed by three wonderful traditional musicians.Gianrenzo Dutto (diatonic accordion, harmonica, scacciapensieri, vocals), Silvio Peron (diatonic accordion, mandolin, vocals), Lucia Norbiato (violin, galoubet)

Senza Filtro (compilation) - Daniele Sepe - 17.99
a collection of some of his favorite works (Sepe himself made the collection), and includes some rare and unreleased tracks

Anime Candide - War and Love Songs - Daniele Sepe - 17.99
Another masterful work from the mad Neopolitan world of saxophonist/composer Sepe.

Banditaliana - Riccardo Tesi - 17.99
Italy's most recognized melodeon (accordion) player in his best recording to date. With a solid band, wonderful new arrangements, this is dynamic new folk music, touched with classical and jazz, a few bits of funk and a brilliant interpretation of Malagasy music for solo accordion. Simply a must have CD for anyone who like innovative, melodic music. Highly Recommended

Trallalero: Genovese Polyphony - Squadra Di Canto Popolare Valpolcevera - 17.99
one of the eldest team of this kind of polyphonic vocal music in the Genoa area

Zampogna: piva, ciaramelle, surdulina - various Italian bagpipers - 17.99
Traditional music and new repetoire for the zampogna (Italian bagpipes)

Aneme Perze (Lost Souls) - Spaccanapoli - 16.99
neopolitan spacanopoli spacconapoli spacanapoli

Live - Opa Cupa - 17.99
italy italian italia alitalia gypsy bari mediterranean

Electroch'oc - Gai Saber - temp out of stock-17.99
3rd recording by an Italian group dedicated to Occitan roots and high-tech productions

Per non parlare della Strega - Martinicca Boison - temp out of stock-17.99
Words escape me when I try to write something about this Italian band, self proclaimed as "avant-folk-roots progressives.' The ensemble includes voices, guitars, cornamuse (bagpipe), Irish flute, violin, mandolin, trombone, drums and bass as the core, with plenty of surprises. Just go listen to a few samples!

Kocani Orkestar meet Paolo Fresu and Antonello Salis - Kocani, Fresu, Salis - temp out of stock-18.99
This one leaps out to the edge, with the inimitible Balkan brass band joined by two Italian jazz experimenters for a raucous, surprising and completely unexpected set of musical adventures. 60 minures of great music from various live performances during late February and early March of 2004

Kragujevac nell'Emilia - Violini Di Santa Vittoria - temp out of stock-17.99
Musicians from Kragujevac, Serbia and the legendary Violini di Santa Victoria come together under the direction of the Arabic violinist Ouassini (of the Orchestra Arab-Andalusian of Tangeri) and Serbian musician Alexandra Milojevic create an unusual combination and clash of cultures.

Monti Lepini: musica strumentale - various - temp out of stock-16.99
Music from the Lepini mountains of Italy, with an emphasis on bagpipes and flutes

Il Natale nella tradizione siciliana - various - temp out of stock-17.99
Il Natale nella tradizione siciliana - Messina e la sua Provincia starts with a slow beautiful zampogna a para (bagpipe) solo and then moves through 31 tracks of Sicilian stories and music for Christmas and the nativity. Real folks songs and folk stories told by local, non-professional musicians for the most part. Includes notation for some of the music, notes are in Italian.

Sonos 'e Memoria - Paulo Fresu, with Elena Ledda, et al - temp out of stock-17.99
A remarkable sound track to a documentary by Gianfranco Cabiddu, recorded live as the musicians watched the film. It moves from Sardinian folk music to edgy-outside improv to structured big-band jazz, fuled by incredible musicianship - Antonello Salis (amazing accordion work!), Luigi Lai (laudennas), Elena Ledda, Mauro Palmas and many more.

Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle - various Italian artists - temp out of stock-17.99
Descending from the starry skies presents the music of the nativity, culled from 78rpm discs recorded between 1916 and 1955. It includes small ensembles and solo performances for voice, fiddle, bagpipes, zampogna and ciaramelle, accordion and more. 25 tracks, with extensive liner notes in Italian only.

Ulixes (Ulysses) - Harmonia Ensemble and Kocani Orkestar - temp out of stock-17.99
A surprising and unpredictible collusion between the Macedonian brass and and the Italian avant gardists yeilds an exciting, often conflitcing series of emotional tracks.

Vite Perdite - Daniele Sepe - temp out of stock-19.99
Read more about this great Neopolitan composer and saxophonist here

Malamusica - Daniele Sepe - temp out of stock-19.99
Read more about this great Neopolitan composer and saxophonist here

in terra e in chelu - TancaRuja - temp out of stock-17.99
Back in Print! An Italian band that deftly balances ancient tradition and modern tecnology and ideas, this is truly a marvelous recording, and I URGE you to click on the link and LISTEN. There's no other way to get you there.

Non Iàbbu e Non Maravìgghia - Malanova - temp out of stock-17.99
Exploring the roots of Sicily in an acoustic yet contemporary approach. Listen 1 and Listen 2

Tarant Beat Project - Rione Junno - temp out of stock-17.99
The latest heir to Eugennio Bennato's TarantaPower movement is this young band of musicians who have learned from Bennato and moved forward into their own new territory. In the best of the tradition they are deeply indebted to the ancient songs while forging their own modern path, in the new Italian dedication to 'contamination.' Highly recommended.

Lokshen: patrilineare - un racconto - Enrico Fink - temp out of stock-19.99
Jewish Italian composer Fink and his ensemble of clarinet, baritone and tenor sax, guitar, percussions and voice, retraces a journey through the culture and history of a generation of Italian and European Jews.

I Suoni Del Pollino - Sonate Calabresi - temp out of stock-17.99
A unique recording of music form Calabria, focused on piva (bagpipes) and chitarra battente (sometimes accompanied by flutes, cupa-cupa, percussion and voices) performed by Francesco Rusciano, Pietro Adduci, and Walter Astorino. Listen 1 | Listen 2

La notte del dio che balla - Various Artists - temp out of stock-17.99
The night of the dancing god is a reasonable translation, and an apt title for this diverse collection of Italian folk, roots, jazz and pop music. Originally put together as a travelling program to celebrate myth and rituals of the Italian past. the bands and artists involved are some of the best in the country: Agricantus, Daniele Sepe, Addosso Agli Scalini, RestArt and Nidi d'Arc supply contemporary edge to the project. Ambrogio Sparagna offers some phenomenal organetto (accordion). Director of the project was singer Teresa de Sio, a fine traditional singer. It's an impressive mix, wildly unrelated in style and yet intimately connected in spirit. Just listen to the amazing Tarantella Calbresse, a tour de force of roots and jazz by Daniele Sepe, and you will see the endless possibilities. – RootsWorld

Terra - Zoe' - temp out of stock-19.99
This ensemble performs the music of the people of Salento, in southern Italy. .

Piccolo Canto Nomade - Mazapagul - temp out of stock-17.99
This Italy band from Emila-Romagna grabs folk music, reggae, salsa, jazz, spaghetti western sound track themes and what might be called art school music (i.e., Talking Heads) and toss it around like a musical rag doll. A big brass sound hallmarks this band, and the Blakna influences are pervasive and unique.

Umpa Umpa - Trio Tresca - temp out of stock-17.99
A new look at making truly Tuscan music for dancing, celebrating the instruments and rhythms of the region. Folkworld writes: 'An appealing album of traditional dances and songs from Tuscany. The trio features guitar and other string instruments, accordion and flute/clarinet, playing themselves through a wonderful collection of quiet and toughtful songs full of atmosphere and lively dance tunes. What makes the album so highly appealing is the honesty and simplicity of the music - three instruments played with passion; there are still the edges, the natural live feeling, the liveliness in the music. The dance tunes are full of life and are likely to get any listener tapping his feet if not jumping up and dance. Traditional music as it should be - pure and simple and full of passion. There are not many folk albums that have as much a "live" feeling about it as this one. Recommended.'

Amore e Acciaio - Lucilla Galeazzi - temp out of stock-18.99
"love and steel" refers to the lyrical content of the songs presented here, about factory layoffs, famous murders, sons going off to war. But it is also a good description of the music of Lucilla Galeazzi. She has a huge heart that comes through in every note she sings, and those notes are powerful, full of the strength and wisdom of Italian roots. This 2006 recording confirms my opinion that among the firmament of Italian singers, Galeazzi still shines as bright as any.

Abballam - Tarantolati di Tricarico - temp out of stock-17.99
The 2008 recording byone of the founders of the 'new taranta' moevemnet in in southern Italy, led by painter, poet, architect, theater director, anthropologist, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Antonio Infantino. Listen 1 / Listen 2

Tretarante - Arakne Mediterranea - temp out of stock-18.99
An association based in Martignano in the Southern Italian region of Salento dedicated to the preservation and diffusion of the traditions and folk cultures of Salento.

Accordeon Diatonique - Riccardo Tesi - temp out of stock-17.99
The master of Italian accordion offers a completely solo recording that shows the breadth and depth of his skills, talents and interests in the music of the instrument. Highly recommended

Bona sera a quista casa... - Antonio Aloisi, Antonio Bandello - temp out of stock-18.99
Uccio' Aloisi and 'Uccio' Bandello are the recognized masters of the Salentine vocal style of gli Ucci. They sing all kinds of songs: romantic love songs, songs of sex and conquest, work songs and prison songs all recorded 1976–1979 and in 1997. The 79 page booklet includes commentary in Italian and English; lyrics in dialect, Italian and English; and musical transcriptions.

Musiche e canti popolari del Salento - Vol.3 - various - temp out of stock-18.99
The third volume of this important 'Music and Folksongs in Salento' series from Aramire. 55 minute - 16 track CD with a 96 page book of information (in Italian and English) and photos.

Il Salento di Giovanna Marini - Giovanna Marini - temp out of stock-18.99
Giovanna Marini is a popular singer of Italian folk music. This recording is the result of research into the traditional music of Salento, the south of Puglia, which has very ancient roots and goes back to the ancient Greek habitation of the region.

Al Qantarah - Ammaraciccappa - temp out of stock-18.99
This Salentine ensemble have a lot of phrases for their music: "electro-world+salento+maghrebi, ecstatic rhythms of south Italy, desert voices and metropolitan sounds." They make thoroughly modern Italian music, completely rooted in the ancient past, and totally beyond classification or pigeon-holes. Highly recommended.

Andamenare - Tarantolati di Tricarico - temp out of stock-17.99
This 1996 recording is from one of the older groups of the new taranta scene in southern Italy. Led by painter, poet, architect, theater director, anthropologist, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Antonio Infantino, they merge the raw percussive and male vocal energy of the traditional music with guitars, keyboards and other instruments, without ever losing sight of the main point of the music, to create a mood of social ecstasy. This band has been at the forefront of the taranta and political song movement in southern Italy since the 1960s. They've still got it!

Tarantella Storta - Antonello Paliotti Trio - temp out of stock-17.99
Guitarist Paliotti and his trio take a chamber music approach to traditional Italian folk genres such as the tarantella, moresca, and serenata. Their sound is delicate and well defined, with finely crafted intersecting lines and inventive, ever-shifting tonalities.

Tutti baci - Savina Yannatou and Elena Ledda - temp out of stock-18.99
The 2006 excursion by these superb Greek and Italian vocalists, includes Mauro Palmas and Primavera En Salonico. It's a bold statement, acoustic but agressively new.

Strumenti Di Pace: Live - Luca Di Volo and Claudia Bombardella - temp out of stock-17.99
A powerful recording of new music composed and performed by Di Volo (saxophones, clarinet and voice) and Bombardella (viola, accordion, voice and tuba), with a small chamber ensemble of percussion, strings, reeds, bombard, cornmuse and more.

Yankele nel Ghetto - Klezroym - temp out of stock-18.99
Klezroym's last production is an original elaboration of the songs of the Lodz Ghetto, collected in Gila Flam's book 'Singing for survival, Songs of the Lodz Ghetto, 1940-45,' presented as a song suite.

Vaffatica - Nando Citarella and Tamburi del Vesuvio - temp out of stock-18.99
Back in stock: Nando Citarella is a musician, researcher and performer of a unique and sometimes completely mad musical form born in Campagnia and other parts of southern Italy, and brewed in Naples by a band of percussionists, singers and dancers from different cultures and roots who give an archaic atmosphere to this energetic Italian music. Guests include Lucilla Galleazi, Riccardo Tesi and Maria Rosaria Omaggio.

Voce 'e mare - Nando Citarella and La Paranza - temp out of stock-17.99
Citarella and his ensemble Paranza offer a unique vision of the southern Italian tradition, steeped in Arab-Andalusian sounds, full of the sound of the human voice and the tammorra, vital and energetic. This is a collection of classic songs and liver performances done as only Citarella and company can do it.

Nadàl Encara - Cororchestra Cantarchevai - temp out of stock-17.99
A collection of Christmas carols from Italy and elsewhere, performed in a unique, sparse, modern folk style, an almost neo-field-recording atmosphere.

Arnèis - Tendachënt - temp out of stock-17.99
The 2009 release by a great Piemontese group. Four years after the wonderful "La Valle dei Saraceni" we finally get a new recording by the band led by Maurizio Martinotti. A brand new sound, totally acoustic sound is the hallmark of this work, still maintaining the old power in brilliant new arrangements on 14 new studio tracks, and five bonus tracks recorded live during their 2009 summer tour. Listen

Banda Olifante - Banda Olifante - temp out of stock-18.99
Somewhere between an Italian municipal brass band and The Thndering Herd you will find the music of Olifante.. At home with Mediterranean tradition and jazz, Afrobeat and klezmer. Guests include horn player Frank London, accordionist Simone Zanchini, Senegalese drummer As Niang and French tuba player Michel Godard. Thoroughly unique, highly recommended.

I virasolelhs - Lou Dalfin - temp out of stock-18.99
After a four year break, the Occitan band is back. The release of the I Virasolelhs (the sunflowers) is an opportunity to celebrate the twenty-five career of a band whose music has promoted the culture of the Occitan valleys of Piedmont. Guided by hurdy-gurdy maestro Sergio Berardo, Occitan music has come out of the local shadows to become known by global audience. Since the 90's, the band has put traditional instruments (hurdy-gurdy, accordeon, violin, horns) next to guitars, keyboards and drums, modernizing their music without radically changing their sound, keeping alive the traditional legacy of the valleys in which they were born.

Tuttipari - ipercussonici - temp out of stock-18.99
The "marranzano", Sicilian for jew's harp is the core of this band from Catania. In this project there is all of Sicily, the ancient Trinacria and the modern island as different rhythms and instruments intertwine with the sound of an electrified jew's harp and the beat of primitive drums. Dum dum and didjeridoo become the drum n' bass for the syncopated, psychedelic raids of the electric jew's harp; tambourine and djembè create African-Sicilian rhythms, with the voice switching between sea and urban chants, serenade and ragamuffin. Sicily is celebrated and criticized with energy, involvement, collectivity and passion.

Mediterranea - Alla Francesca Trio - temp out of stock-17.99
16 medieval songs and dances. Ever since antiquity, the shores of the Mediterranean have assembled men and women who share a cultural heritage with multiple resonances. Brigitte Lesne, well-known to lovers of medieval music, and Carlo Rizzo, a specialist in the traditional songs of the Italian peninsula, create contrasts enhanced by the use of early instruments as well as those associated with the traditional repertory to produce a lively, colorful whole that sets the imagination vibrating. Brigitte Lesne: vocals, medieval harp, gothic harp, percussion; Pierre Hamon: recorders, bansuri, flutes, tambour, cornemuse; Carlo Rizzo: tammorra, tamburello, tambourines, vocals

Ballate 1978-1996 - La Lionetta - temp out of stock-16.99
A compilation of early recordings by one of Italy's most interesting new-roots ensembles.

Sospiro - Faraualla - temp out of stock-17.99
Sospiro (whisper) is the third recording by the female vocal ensemble Faraualla. The name of the group derives from a deep hollow in the Murgia, the plateau of Puglia, a mysterious place that has inspired singers Teresa Vallarella, Gabriella Schiavone, Loredana Perrini and Paola Arnesano. They are joined by percussionists Cesare Pastanella and Pippo Ark D'Ambrosio.

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