Folk & Traditional / All styles

Amina Alaoui (vocals, daf) with Saïfallah Ben Abderrazak (violin), Sofiane Negra (oud), José Luis Montón (flamenco guitar), Eduardo Miranda (mandolin) and Idriss Agnel (percussion). Recorded April 2010 at Auditorio RSI, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Solo album by Norwegian violinist Nils Økland, playing his own pieces on Hardanger fiddle, violin and viola d'amore. Recorded July 2007 in Olavskirken, Avaldsnes, Norway, engineered by Audun Strype. CD, ECM 2069, 2009.

Third ECM album by Greek singer Savina Yannatou with the Thessaloniki ensemble Primavera en Salonico: traditional songs from Armenia, the Balkans, Kazakhstan, Italy and Greece, arranged mostly by Kostas Vomvolos. Recorded October 2007, Sierra Studios, Athens.

The Iron Stone is Robin Williamson's third ECM album, with Mat Maneri on viola, Ale Möller on mandola, accordion and flutes, and Barre Phillips on double bass, recorded in September 2005 at Mill House, Abergavenny, Wales, and produced by Steve Lake.

Ghazal, Kayhan Kalhor (kamancheh) and Shujaat Husain Khan (sitar, vocals) with Sandeep Das (tabla), in three Persian and Indian improvisations recorded live by Swiss radio DRS in Bern on 28 May 2001, released by ECM in 2003.

Solo album by Robin Williamson (vocals, guitar, harp, mandolin) setting poems by Dylan Thomas, Henry Vaughan and Welsh bardic texts beside his own songs. Recorded March 2000 at Albany Productions, Cardiff, produced by Steve Lake. CD edition.

Swedish fiddler Mats Edén on drone-fiddle, violin and viola, with flutist Jonas Simonson and, in his String Quartet No. 1, the Cikada String Quartet. Recorded September 1997 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Second Nordan Project album, led by Lena Willemark and Ale Möller, with Palle Danielsson, Mats Edén, Jonas Knutsson and Tina Johansson: Swedish traditional and new songs. Recorded 30 March to 3 April 1996, Rainbow Studio, Oslo. ECM 1610.

Medieval Swedish ballads and traditional tunes arranged by Ale Möller and sung by Lena Willemark, with Palle Danielsson, Mats Edén, Per Gudmundson and others. Recorded December 1993 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher, released by ECM in 1994 (ECM 1536).

Medieval Norwegian ballads sung by Agnes Buen Garnås, arranged by Jan Garbarek for saxophones, synthesizers and percussion. Recorded September-December 1988 at Bel Studio, Oslo, produced by Garbarek and Manfred Eicher. CD, ECM 1402, 1989.

an amazing album 'Lookaftering' displays a much maturer sound and outlook than the sometimes naïve (in retrospect at least) trappings of the Brit-Folk classic. Produced by Max Richter and featuring guest spots from (deep breath) Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Adem, Adam Pierce (Mice Parade), Robert Kirby (Nick Drake / etc.), Otto Hauser and Kevin Barker, 'Lookaftering' is a Fairport Convention indebted LP of autumnal grace, dappling the likes of 'Lately' and 'Feet Of Clay' in gloriously evocat…

*last copies* Beautiful self-released 10" in Vincent Gallo's 'when' vein, 8 songs between songwriting and electroacoustics, a great preview for his wonderous full album "Prontuario per giovani foglie". With Giuseppe Ielasi and Jacopo Andreini.