Folk 261 Items

Chaoui is a genre of Berber music that originated in the Aurès region of Algeria. It is a mixture of Saharan and Atlas mountain music marked with dancing rhythms and is part of the oral living tradition of the Aurès region. The first recordings on magnetic tape date back to the 1930s when Aissa Jermouni’s music was introduced and published internationally. Over the years, Chaoui has given birth to various sub-genres. The genre was popularized in the 1930s and 1940s, and still generates a strong following of fans across the country and especially in the Aurès region in the 2000s. In its most frequent instrumental configuration, a chaoui music group includes a zorna, a gasba flute, a bendir and one or more singers.

Originally, Chaoui musicians were shepherds who lived in the Aurès mountains, and they sang their own localized poetry of personal and regional topics. But also, joyful themes such as local or religious festivals or in the context of Chaoui weddings.

Hocine Chaoui is one of the genre’s most famous and respected musicians and poets. ,Hocine modernized his sound with drum machines, incorporating intense and modern production techniques with phased gesba flute, reverbed out vocals, taking the genre to its logical new phase. This LP is a reissue of one of the most “in demand” of the genre’s cassettes originally released by Oriental Music Production, a cassette label dedicated to the some of the best regional releases during the heyday of the 80’s and 90’s golden era of rai and local Algerian music cassettes. These releases were only ever released on cassette and now command a premium on the collector’s market.

Released on Whale Watch Records, which previously released albums by Mariee Sioux and Bingo Club and recorded in the Autumn of 2020 at Wonka Sound Studio in Lowell, Massachusetts, Assorted Orchids’ self-titled debut album consists entirely of steel and nylon-stringed acoustic guitar inspired by the ornate and intricate yet rhythmic and pulsating fingerpicking patterns of Mississippi John Hurt, Donovan, and Nick Drake. Additional instrumentation is kept to a bare minimum and vocals are up front in the mix, fragile but forceful, delicate but precise. With a total running time just shy of 30 minutes, the album was designed and sequenced like a short story: a pure distillation of a single mood. As Pete Seeger would say, it’s “sit-down music”.

Whale Watch Records (Mariee Sioux, Bingo Club) is proud to present these first ten songs of Assorted Orchids. It is music best paired with driving alone at night or sitting in a circle with friends, drinking, smoking, and talking. Don’t forget to dim the lights.

Back in October, Artist To Watch alum Mdou Moctar returned with a new song called “Chismiten.” The song accompanied news that the virtuosic Tuareg guitarist had signed to Matador, with a promise of a new album on the way. Today Moctar’s back with the official announcement: That new album is called Afrique Victime, and it’s out in May. Turns out “Chismiten” is the album’s opener, and along with today’s the announcement Moctar’s shared another new song called “Tala Tannam.” “‘Tala Tannam’ means your tears,” Moctar said in a statement. “It is another love song of which I’m very fond.”

“While the song talks about love, we wanted to show the love between friendships and the love of Niger,” Moctar’s bassist Mikey Coltun added. “The video includes friends and family — in the Tuareg community in villages around Niamey as well as Hausa people from villages in the Dosso region.”

Part of Moctar’s rise to prominence in the West was thanks to his searing, psychedelic style of guitar-playing. Afrique Victime promises more of that.

Bobby Lee Trades In A Wide Screen Brand Of Cosmic Country-Folk, Full Of Space And Pawn Shop Guitars. There Are Touches Of Jj Cale's Analogue Americana, The Swampy Groove Of Tony Joe White And Richard Thompson's Sinewy, Modal Guitar Work. Amps Hum In The Warm Afternoon Sun, Kids And Dogs Snooze On The Grass And Broken Drum Machines Keep Time With The Universe_open Sky/Scorched Earth Improvisations Recorded To Four Track Tape During The Rare Moments Of Solitude Afforded By Lockdown And Early Fatherhood. Bobby Lee's "Worn-Denim Psych-Country" Remains, But The Ancestral Spirits Of Ashra, Popol Vuh And Terry Riley Are Present Here Too. Time And Technological Limitations Have Been Embraced. A Song Dreamt Up, Tracked And Mixed In An Afternoon, Never To Be Tampered With Again. Imperfections Allowed To Stand; Knowing That Nothing Is Ever Truly Finished. The Bob Ross School Of Philosophy. "Overdriven Drum-Machine Low Slung Choogle" - Mojo "The Further Bobby Unmoors Himself From Songs And Heads Towards Long-Form Abstraction, The More Engrossing It Becomes" - Uncut

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the reissue of Ziad Rahbani's cult album, "Bennesbeh Labokra...Chou?" released in Lebanon only and mixing arabic music with Jazz, Bossa Nova and other western influences. Hailed as an absolute classic, the album is the soundtrack to his eponymous play and has been highly sought-after by DJs and collectors around the world. Curated by Lebanese-born music expert Mario Choueiry from Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the album is reissued on vinyl for the first time since 1978, featuring original gatefold sleeve, remastered audio and a 2 page insert with a new introduction by Choueiry. When Ziad Rahbani released "Bennesbeh Labokra... Chou?" he was only 22 years old. He had started to make an impression on the Lebanese cultural scene a few years before, while still a teenager, composing and releasing albums under his own name. Born into an illustrious musical family - his mother is the legendary Lebanese Diva Fairuz and his father, Assi Rahbani, was a renowned composer and part of one of the most famous Lebanese groups, The Rahbani Brothers - Ziad quickly gained exposure as a gifted composer and producer. When his father fell ill in the mid 70s, he took over as Fairuz's producer which led to a fruitful collaboration starting with the 1979 album "Wahdon." ?Highly influenced by other genres of music, Rahbani had started bringing modern western influences to traditional arabic music. 1978 saw the release of two key albums by the young musician, the Disco 12-inch "Abu Ali" which went on to become one of the most sought-after Arabic albums on the international DJ scene and "Bennesbeh Labokra... Chou?" which follows "Abu Ali" closely in many diggers' want-list. ?A soundtrack to Rahbani's eponymous play, the album "Bennesbeh Labokra… Chou?" gathers all the musical interludes heard during the play, a social diatribe about the Beirut society underlining the difficulties of living in the tense social and political climate of the Lebanese civil war. Written by and starring Rahbani, the play follows the everyday life and problems of a young couple running a cafe in the heart of Beirut. The play underlying Rahbani's leftist sensitivity was an immense success and the album was released the same year (the complete play was also released over three LPs). ?"Bennesbeh Labokra… Chou?" is a skilful blend of Arabic music and Bossa-nova ("First Introduction" - the recurring theme of the album), groove with the funky beat of "Second Introduction" and the jazz vibe of "Variation 3" and "Variation 4." It's also interesting to hear an early version of "Al Bosta" which would grace Fairuz's 1979 album "Wahdon" in a faster, funkier version also produced by Rahbani." ?with a knack for cinematic orchestrations reminiscent of Lalo Schifrin, Ziad Rahbani also brings more complex arrangements to the album on such tracks as "Variation 5" making the album such a rich listening. Undoubtedly one of the most important albums recorded in the Middle East which Wewantsounds is glad to reissue in its full glory with remastered audio and original artwork.

Beynelmilân is delivering some funky turkish sound to your ears. A drumbreak in each track, psychedelic vibes and funky groove revisited classic turkish folk songs. If you like 70's anatolian Rock/Pop, Yeralti Oyun Havalari (Underground Belly Dances) is for you for sure. He recently contributed 2 tracks to the new Arşivplak record 'Mirror', which is a compilation of turkish disco folk with the typical psychedelic touch.

After it was only released on tape finally with the slightly different vinyl version of Yeralti Oyun Havalari, there is a full length LP containing 10 delightful tracks to take you on a trip to the turkoholic mekka of 70's anatolian psychedelic rock. Beynelmilân knows how to bring some heat to the dancefloor with tunes like 'Adam Mi Oldun' but also brings you down to a hypnotizing trip with tracks like 'Yaniyorum' which is topped with some melancholic vocals. Never missing the heavy drum breaks and intense melodies topped with some discoid flavour. Limited edition of 500 copies!

First vinyl reissue of this Indian classical masterpiece recorded by Shrimati Kalyani Roy in the late 1960's. Undoubtedly one of the most talented sitar players in the history of the instrument. She is considered as one the [sic] finest female players in a field that was dominated by her male counterparts. On these recordings, she is accompanied by Manick Das (Tabla) and Namita Chatterjee (Tambura). Volume 2

First vinyl reissues of this Indian classical masterpiece recorded by Shrimati Kalyani Roy in the late 1960's. Undoubtedly one of the most talented sitar players in the history of the instrument. She is considered as one the [sic] finest female players in a field that was dominated by her male counterparts. On these recordings, she is accompanied by Manick Das (Tabla) and Namita Chatterjee (Tambura). Volume 1.

We're super happy to announce our 13th release by Sharhabil Ahmed, the actual King of Sudanese Jazz (he actually won that title in a competition in the early 1970s). Sonically it sounds very different from what Jazz is understood to sound like outside of Sudan. It’s an incredible unique mix of rock’n’roll, funk, surf, traditional sudanese music and influences from Congolese sounds. Original copies of Sharhabil recordings are often hard to find, so we’re happy they will now be widely available. “Argos Farfish” which was featured on our last comp amassed close to 400.000 plays already.

What Sophie Michalitsianos has created, using barely more than her voice, piano, and cello, is magical, defying labels. Originally released as a private-press CD for her fans, I.A.A.Y.A, or I Am As You Are, is sublime, intimate, weightless, and comforting. The album takes its time yet feels urgent, like you need this music, this moment. This is the first time it's been available on vinyl. If the name Sol Seppy sounds familiar, it's because Michalitsianos had one groundbreaking album in 2006, The Bells of 1 2, which for those that heard it became one of the most important albums of the 00s. From it came the track Enter One, which has been used on numerous high-profile TV shows and has a silly number of views on YouTube. Most of I.A.A.Y.A was recorded and mixed in Knoxville, United States. Now, though, Michalitsianos lives in a small Greek village, hoping to make it her home while she works on the next two records. Yes, this is just the first part of a trilogy. In Sophie's own words: "Deep within these songs is a meeting place. It's an old home of everyone's and I hope for it to be an anchor whilst we bob up and down in chop." This is rare, this is real, this is true.

These contemplative alt-country songs on were recorded to tape in July last year with the help of The Low Anthem’s Jeff Prystowsky. The band moved away from the inclusion of digitally programmed drums and rhodes piano, opting instead for a warmer, more organic aesthetic and a starker performance. Most of the songs took shape while Dan Wriggins and Mike Cormier worked and lived as groundskeepers at a private estate in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, frequently driving into Philadelphia for shows and friends. The record is set both in the country and the city – community, peacefulness, and isolation can all be heard and felt throughout the superb new record.

Soundway presents the unique results of a one-off 2018 meeting in Marrakech between Belgrade-based tribal/techno/industrial outfit Tapan and the nomadic Touareg electrified desert-blues group Generation Taragalte.
Tapan is not an ordinary “techno” project, rather it escapes easy categorization. It is the Belgradebased production duo of 20/44 club resident Nebojša Bogdanović (Schwabe), and Goran Simonoski, a producer behind music projects such as Belgradeyard
Sound System, Piece of Shh and more. Both have been active in the Belgrade music and nightlife scenes since the 1990s, and since 2015 have brought together their diverse musical experience under the collaborative moniker of Tapan.
While performing at the Atlas Electronic festival in Morocco in 2018, they encountered Generation Taragalte of southern Morocco, and recorded the initial music for the Atlas EP in an improvised studio on the festival grounds, followed by final production
on returning to Belgrade. The result was the 4-track EP “Atlas”, a dark, desolate and potent collision of the electronic drone-jazz of Belgrade and the windswept, desiccated psych-guitar riffs of the Moroccan Sahara.

Alexis Zoumbas was one of the most sublime musicians to ever cast a shadow across the face of the Earth and no one has been able to translate the emotions of despair-of devastation-through an instrument as effectively as Zoumbas. Years of research and obsession have resulted in this, the first collection of recordings by the legendary and masterful Greek folk violinist Alexis Zoumbas. Very few Pre-War musicians have tapped deeper into the human soul than Zoumbas and this volume presents his most profoundly hypnotic and unearthly pieces. A deep set of notes based on Christopher King's pioneering research from 2012 is accompanied by previously-unpublished photographs as well as original artwork by R. Crumb.

Originally issued in 2014 for Record Store Day, the limited release of the LP immediately went out of print. Faithfully remastered from the original 78s, Christopher King's original version of the LP has been enhanced for Third Man Records by the inclusion of a 7'' EP featuring two previously unissued and unheard alternate takes of the masterpieces Epirotiko Mirologi and Doina.

The fantastic soundtrack of the new Tarantino comes in a double gatefold sleeve with inlay and poster.

A phenomenal soundtrack to a phenomenal movie. Tarantino once again proves that he not only has a great taste when it comes to music, but he also takes a good amount of time to dig through record collections to pick gems for his soundtracks and arrange the 22 songs 9 era-specific radio advertisements.
This should become a movie soundtrack classic.

On August 16th, 2019, Eilen Jewell will release Gypsy on Signature Sounds. Described as "one of Americana's most intriguing and creative voices" (American Songwriter), Jewell has written 11 new songs for Gypsy and is calling it her favorite album yet: new sounds, old sounds, electric guitar-driven rockers, classic country, and tender ballads. Gypsy continues to solidify Jewell's reputation as one of the most distinctive and potent voices in the Americana world today.

Ultimate space-age exotica trip from Venezuela.
In the early 70s, well-known composer and arranger Chelique Sarabia (who penned the famous “Ansiedad” when he was just a kid) decided to register an album of traditional & folkloric songs from Venezuela but giving them a modern touch, using especially developed equipment (M.R.A.A.), based off of the principles of the Moog.
Chelique, helped by a team of gifted musicians, employed traditional instruments like the cuatro and the bandola llanera, filtering them through oscillators, playing with feedback, tape delay, synthesized frequencies, echoing sounds… The result was “Revolución Electrónica en Música Venezolana”, an album with a truly exotic, psychedelic, and ahead of its time sound.
Originally, the album was sponsored by the Shell Company in Venezuela, given away to customers, employees and friends of the company as a Christmas gift in 1973. It was titled “4 Fases del Cuatro - Música Venezolana desarrollada Electrónicamente por Chelique Sarabia” (“4 Phases of Four – Venezuelan Music Electronically Developed by Chelique Sarabia”). Once the exclusivity period with the petrol company was over, Chelique did a commercial release, this time under the name of “Revolución Electrónica en Música Venezolana” (“Electronic Revolution in Venezuelan Music”). Thanks to this, Chelique and his team were considered electronic music pioneers in Latin America.
“In the past five decades, there have been many attempts at modernizing the vast folkloric tradition of Venezuela, but nobody has reached the level of depth that CHELIQUE SARABIA did when he put his impeccable reputation as a composer and arranger at risk with this out-of-the-blue revolutionary musical manifesto in 1971. 47 years later, an album that remains ahead of its time.” - Alex Figueira (Fumaça Preta)

AndOarAgain provides unparalleled access to what David Fricke calls ''the most harrowing and compelling artifacts of rock & roll's most euphoric era, across three dozen unheard tracks! A triple LP pressed at RTI, AndOarAgain features nearly two hours of unheard music on the way to Oar –along with roads not taken–that both clarifies and muddies the enigma of how psychedelic legend Alexander ''Skip'' Spence determined the final state of his iconic masterpiece.

Two raw and unmixed songs from Wind’s Poem were transferred from the original analog tape masters into the ProTools HDX system at Owl Lodge. The studio is situated in the woods near Olympia, WA and is the headquarters of Wolves in the Throne Room. A single vocal track from “Lost Wisdom" was layered with newly recorded digital synths and a heavy bass from a vintage Korg MS-20. Wisps of the original organ and guitar appear in a heavily processed form. “Mouth of Sky” was created using techniques inspired by Lee Perry. In this case, the original tracks were routed to a variety of analog and digital FX units via the faders on the studio’s Harrison PP1 console. The mix was performed in real time.

Dawn is finally back in print after many years of absence. The songs were written in 2002 mostly while traveling alone through the United States and Europe and especially while spending the winter of 2002/2003 alone in a cabin in Kjerringøy, Norway, but these recordings didn’t happen until years later when they were recorded simply, quickly in one sitting, just acoustic guitar and singing, and released as an LP and also as a (now out of print) book/CD of journal entries from that cold winter.

For this current edition, the entire text of the Dawn book has been squeezed onto a massive folded double sided poster and included in the record jacket, along with a download card and a pretty white vinyl LP.