Folk & Traditional / All styles

Like many Birch Book/In Gowan Ring fans, we have been waiting for new releases from B'ee. So today, IFP is happy to announce the imminent release of a live recording, which has been in the works for over 10 years. The concert was recorded thirteen years ago, in August 2011, when IFP and friends invited our beloved B'ee to visit us in Siberia, where we were based at that far time. “Live in Siberia” is a 70-minute immersion in the friendly atmosphere of a small chamber hall and enjoyment of those …

"Extra Width," released in 1993, is the third album by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Fusing punk blues with garage rock and rockabilly, it captures the band's raw energy and innovative sound. With standout tracks like "Afro" and "Soul Letter," the album solidified their reputation for wild, groove-driven rock.

Centripetal Force (North America), Cardinal Fuzz (UK), and Radio Khiyaban (Europe) are excited to announce Mohammad Mostafa Heydarian's second album Noor-e Vojood. The album is being presented digtial;y, as well as a 500 copy vinyl pressing. The album will be made available for preorder on January 24. Its release date is March 7. Mohammad Mostafa Heydarian was born on the first of January, 2002 in Kermanshah, a city in western Iran. Kermanshah is the home of the tanbur, a pear shaped lute whose …

An official collection of otherworldly and beautiful folk songs performed in 1980 in Canada by pupils (singers) and their teachers (instruments). Three songs are taken from a scarce privately pressed 'mysterious' Lp released under a different moniker. Two songs are unreleased songs from that session in 1980. For fans of The Langley Schools Music Project (Echo Singers steal the cake!!!) and even fans of performers like Belle and Sebastian should take note! Comes with liner notes by people involve…

**500 copies** Originally pressed in a limited run of 1000 numbered copies in December 1974 The Alice Island Band is one of the rarest UK folk private pressings, having sold in auction for over 600 pounds. Little would school friends Keith Hughes, Tim Phillips and Roger Moore imagine that when they formed The Conqueroos blues band back and subsequent projects like Cinderella's Party Songbook from 1967.By 1974, Keith, Tim and Roger were ready for something special, and the arrival of Cinny - the …

A masterclass of intimate electric blues — every bit as immediate and gripping as the much-revered Muddy Waters “Real Folk Blues” LP.

Recorded in situ in the highlands of Lesotho—one of the world’s most elevated and perilous nations—the group Famo Mountain crafts raw, topical music driven by visceral vocals, accordion and percussion. This sound not only echoes the rugged beauty and harsh realities of its environment but also rises above them, creating something timeless and transcendent. “For Those Left Behind” is an unforgettable audio snapshot capturing the soul of a remote music and culture. Recorded and produced by Grammy-…

After the remarkable success and acclaim that greeted her second album Carry Them With Us (tak:til / Glitterbeat, 2023), Scottish composer and small pipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul returns with a magic(k)al third album, Sunwise, which sees her push forward experimentally but also immerse her music more deeply in tradition, folklore and mystery. Chaimbeul has travelled in a short time from her roots as a teenage piping contest winner into a fearless, widescreen artistry. She appeared on avant-pop …

*2024 stock* The Coxcomb is an adaptation of Stephen Crane's "The Blue Hotel." Aux Noctambules was recorded in June 1998 at Xtralab, Paris. Mastered at DM Studio, Limoges, France. Aux Noctambules is dedicated to Pierre Carré. © Gastr Virgo Music (BMI), administered in Europe by Rough Trade, Ltd.

Home recordings made between 1977 and 1985 by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, the Ethiopian nun and pianist: her first album of songs, sung in Amharic at the piano about exile and the 1974 revolution.

Ramiro Rodriguez—Son Bayoú accordionist–shouted into the microphone: "We started at the pulga and now we're here!" The crowd erupted. He adjusted his red Hohner accordion to lead his band into a blistering rendition of Andres Landero's "La Pava Congona." "Here" was the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston: the Bayou City's preeminent modern arts museum which invited the group to perform their barrio cumbia inside their hallowed spaces. When I first met them, formerly as Reyno Sabanero, they had i…

2013 release ** "The Kel Tamasheq people of the Sahara respect an ancient social order of noble families supported by lesser nobles, craftsmen and former slaves. Noble princes never would pick up a musical instrument -- that was for the craftsman, the griot, the professional bard, or the lesser nobles. But all that has changed during the droughts and rebellions of the past 50 years. The whole social order has been challenged. In the 1970s, electric guitars appeared in the desert. Everything bega…

A captivating compilation of eight tracks by Drissi El-Abbassi, Rai Sidi Bel Abbes – Volume 2 explores the fusion of traditional Raï music with modern electronic elements, highlighting El-Abbassi's soft vocal style and innovative approach to the genre's evolution

Four years after his rock juggernaut Puritan, Chris Brokaw delivers Ghost Ship, a landscape meditation (at sea) for vocals and electric guitars.  I set out to make an 8 song statement like 'Desert Shore' or 'Raw Power', but it became a 9 song...something else. I've described it to friends as 'Twin Peaks-ish' but that feels only part right. The songs were written on a 60's Teisco Del Rey electric guitar, set up by the Belgian luthier Flip Scipio with heavy gauge flat wound strings and an .80 gaug…

2013 release ** "Music from the Istanbul hotspot, from the relatively unknown Dolapdere district, inhabited by the local Roma who emigrated from Thrace. The clarinet virtuoso and the musicians surrounding him play a modern version of classic Turkish Roma (Gypsy) music, as well as folk songs from Albania, Macedonia, Spain, etc., which they have adapted to their own particular style. Orchestrated by A Hawk and A Hacksaw and released on their label."

Since their first album in 1995, Japan's Nagisa Ni Te has created an enchanting and deeply personal sound world woven from elements of folk, psychedelia and rock along with wistful melodies and gentle arrangements. Centered on Shinji Shibayama (Hallelujahs) and Masako Takeda's partnership, the group has created intimate, emotionally resonant music that floats and breathes with an ease that can only come from a sort of telepathic chemistry. Released in Japan on the group's 25th anniversary, Newoc…

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the reissue of Ammar El Sherei's sought-after instrumental album " Music From The East" from 1976. Here, the iconic Egyptian musician and composer revisits seven classic compositions by another Egyptian legend, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, in his own hypnotic way. Mixing Arabic music with funky arrangements and electric keyboard experimentations, the album is a perfect showcase for El Sherei's artistry. Curated and annotated by Lebanese-born Arabic music expert Mari…

2007 release **  ""non potho reposare" is the title of a Sardinian folk song, but none of these songs, however old they may be, should be relegated to oblivion. hence the meaning and title of the work: a reinterpretation of folk songs, some of which are very popular and almost "inflated", others more refined. however, roberto and paola never fall into the obvious, despite the minimal instrumentation: voice, a bit of accordion, double bass, no effects. the two artists have approached this materia…

Karen Dalton's 1969 debut is finally back in print. 2024 reissue features all-analogue mastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, direct from the original analogue tapes. Housed in an expanded gatefold jacket with liner notes by Brian Barr

Produced and annotated by Charlotte Heth, a member of the Cherokee nation of Oklahoma and a noted ethnomusicologist. This disc offers ritual, ceremonial, and social music of Indians of the eastern United States. It demonstrates remarkable similarities of style in the music of Indians from two distinct regions. Tracks 1-3 comprise songs and dances from the Cherokee and Creek Indians and probably the now-extinct Natchez as well, who were forcibly removed from their homelands in the southeastern …

This recording demonstrates some of the major developments in American social dancing and its music from after the Revolution up to the beginning of electrical recording in the mid-1920s. Dances such as the waltz, polka, tango, quadrille, charleston, cakewalk and turkey-trot are still familiar today, their names holding a permanent place in popular culture. The music they were danced to, however, is often forgotten.  This collection of hits, fads and phenomenons from the history of social dancin…

Songs of Progress and Protest in the Gilded Age 1865-1893 The Hand That Holds The Bread provides a window onto a particularly turbulent time (1865-1893) in this nation's history-a period of great economic disparity, surging immigration, and rampant government corruption. The accompanying 40-page booklet includes an essay situating the songs in their historical context, complete lyrics and a selected bibliography and discography.

This superb anthology of old ballads and other folk-song types comprises pre-war commercial and field recordings made in the rural Southeast, the part of the United States that most closely met the textbook definition of a "folk culture," in which culture was relatively homogeneous and customs were shared across class and ethnic lines. For this reason, this album focuses on the rural Southeast as a rich source of American folk life, ranging roughly from Virginia and Kentucky south to Alabama and…

*2025 stock* Born in 1945, Guo Yongzhang has performed zhuizi, a traditional Chinese style of narrative singing, for half a century. An artform whose history spans over a century, zhuizi originated in Henan province. Its main musical instruments are the zhuihu, a two-stringed bowed lute, and the zhuibang, a wooden percussion played with foot tapping. Almost completely blind, Guo Yongzhang is known for his peculiar, resounding yet smooth vocal style. He sings with deep feelings and great verve. L…

2025 stock  Ben Bo Er Ba & Ba Bo Er Ben（BBB & BBB）is an ever-changing, fascinating duo. Quirky Pipa and spiritual flute are the backbone, the two artists also randomly utilize all kinds of instrument they like, wandering freely in the musical realm, breaking and reconstructing the atmosphere. Their music may be a spell, a password, or perhaps a tongue-twister: ben ben bo bo, bo ben, bo ben bo, ben ba, bo ba, bo ba... Feel free to carry on “ben bo”ing.

2007 release **

2025 stock "Currently out of print on CD, Michael Yonkers's Grimwood finally receives its long-overdue vinyl re-release (with download code included). Yonkers's first four LPs were released simultaneously in 1973, but it is Grimwood, his first, that regular commands the biggest bucks on the collector-scum market. Recorded in 1969, less than a couple years after the material eventually released as Microminiature Love, Grimwood sounds like it emanates from another universe entirely. Straightforwar…

2012 release ** “While guitarist Yair Yona was first lured into the world of acoustic fingerpicking by a Bert Jansch CD that he found in a London shop, the Takoma school is his foundation. Like Steffen Basho-Junghans, he’s embraced this fundamentally American style on its own terms, learned its language inside out, and still made music that’s true to an upbringing on the far side of the Greenwich Meridian.” Recommended if you like: John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Leo Kottke, American Primitive Guitar,…

First official vinyl reissue of the now classic 1971 album. Produced by Transamericas in collaboration with the band from original master tapes, in a fully analog process at recording studios in María Pinto (Chile), London and Haarlem (Holland). Los Jaivas (“El Volantín”) is the first LP by Chilean rock band Los Jaivas, one of South America's biggest names in the fusion of folk roots and psychedelia during the 1970s. Los Jaivas were born in the city of Viña del Mar, with their five members deter…

Ironhand Records is proud to present another magnum opus of East and West music: "Chettini and the Turkish Trio - Oriental Soul", first released in 1972. Çetin Bükey, credited as Chettini, was a musician who, during his unique career in Turkey and the UK, has truly engaged in eastern, western and hybrid musical experiments with an adventurous and nomadic soul. Bükey has played along with Turkish music masterpieces and composed film scores with his brother, Metin Bükey. He also accompanied the ic…

Following its highly sought-after Zamaan Ya Sukkar compilation, Souma Records once again presents a collection of 3 singles with inimitably groovy Egyptian and Lebanese exotica, unearthed from the hallowed vaults of Sono Cairo and Voix De L’Orient’s archives. These rare gems, born from a time of boundless musical experimentation in the Arab world, capture the vibrant, ever-evolving soundscapes of Cairo, Beirut, and beyond. Each track invites listeners onto a sonic voyage where the familiar and t…

Following its highly sought-after Zamaan Ya Sukkar compilation, Souma Records once again presents a collection of 3 singles with inimitably groovy Egyptian and Lebanese exotica, unearthed from the hallowed vaults of Sono Cairo and Voix De L’Orient’s archives. These rare gems, born from a time of boundless musical experimentation in the Arab world, capture the vibrant, ever-evolving soundscapes of Cairo, Beirut, and beyond. Each track invites listeners onto a sonic voyage where the familiar and t…

Following its highly sought-after Zamaan Ya Sukkar compilation, Souma Records once again presents a collection of inimitably groovy Egyptian and Lebanese exotica, unearthed from the hallowed vaults of Sono Cairo and Voix De L’Orient’s archives. These rare gems, born from a time of boundless musical experimentation in the Arab world, capture the vibrant, ever-evolving soundscapes of Cairo, Beirut, and beyond. Each track invites listeners onto a sonic voyage where the familiar and the avant-garde …

*300 copies limited edition* 'After the Bend is the second album from Louisville based Flanger Magazine, and the follow up to FM’s 2018 debut, Breslin. Whereas Breslin was the solo creation of Christopher Bush, an album noted for “an astute synthesis of ‘library music’ and solo acoustic guitar,” and “a seamless blend into the uncluttered and airier side of classic 1970’s giallo,” After the Bend is an ensemble affair. An ecosystem, a perfect mutualism bodies forth—of strings, outdoor recordings, …

From Tsugaru, the birthplace of Kazuki Tomokawa and Kan Mikami, to Osorezan, Itako, Nebuta, Kesho Jizo... Mutsu's Orpheus (minstrel) Furukawa Mibu, who sings about a magical institution to connect this world to the next, left this superb work in 1978!　Shocking analogue LP reissue! Mibu, who is also a poet, deceives the dead in order to live the memory of his younger brother (Mibu), who died at the age of three. The song becomes a prayer and a cry, dancing wildly in this world and being sucked in…

Synod was a band that performed at concerts and dances, festivals, colleges, private parties, conferences and other venues from 1971 through 2013. They toured incessantly in the early years, traveling from Chicago in Illinois to New York, South Carolina, Georgia, Nebraska and seven other states. They performed at Chicagofest, Summerfest and everywhere they could find a stage. The recordings in this collection represent some of the 12 recording projects they did, primarily between 1972 and 1984.

A long-time best-seller of the MEG-AIMP collection and long out of print, this album of sanza music recorded among the Gbaya people of the Central African Republic by ethnomusicologist Vincent Dehoux was originally released on CD in 1993. It is now being reissued to coincide with the exhibition Afrosonica - Soundscapes. It features a selection of 'songs for thought': an intimate repertoire conducive to introspection, accompanied by the repetitive, meditative sound of lamellaphones.

Big Tip! *2024 stock* Qawwali is a syncretic musical form of heterodox Islam (the unorthodox doctrines of the Sufis, a group of ascetics and mystics) in South Asia. Derived from the Arabic Qaul (to say, creed, word), the term designates both an Indian and Pakistani musical genre and its manifestation. A religious song designed to convey the message of Sufi poetry, Qawwali is performed by an ensemble of professional male musicians (the Qawwal) ranging from 3 to 13 people.

*2024 stock* The Amha Records label issued approx 250 tracks in six years (1969-1975). 8 songs on this "Ethiopiques 3" CD are accompanied by bands affiliated with the Police. Indeed, until the very end of the 1960s, Ethiopia had no independant modern bands. Musical life was wholly dominated by the institutional bands attachd to either the Imperial Body Guard, the Police, the Army, the ciry of Addis Ababa, Agher Feqer Mahber or the Hayle Sellasie Theatre. Each of these institutions developed seve…

*2024 stock* In the Ethiopian musical world, Mulatu Astatqé is a typical, totaly unique personality, a legend unto himself. For 30 years, he has been an inescapabe presence, a virtual statue casting a long shadow over the Ethiopian scene. His true singularity resides in his efforts in instrumental music in a country where musical culture and tradition are strangers to it. Note: Jim Jarmush put some of these hypnotic instrumentals to great use in the soundtrack of his film Broken Flowers