★Mississippi Records

African acoustic guitar masterpieces, expanding on Mississippi’s beloved “African Guitar Box.” In 1979 and 1980, a young British-Kenyan musician named John Low hit the road to learn finger-style guitar from his heroes. He traveled across Kenya, Tanzania, Congo, and Zambia, visiting, and sometimes staying in the homes of, stars like Jean-Bosco Mwenda, Losta Abelo, and Emmanuel Mulemena. He also documented brilliant but previously under-recorded artists like Tanzania’s Francis Kitime and Kenya’s M…

Intensely expressive free-verse vocal laments over sliding violins, hammered santouri, guitar, and oud - the hybrid sounds of the Mediterranean in the early 20th century. “Aman Aman” cry the singers on these recordings, their voices preserved on 78rpm discs cut between 1911-1935. The phrase roughly translates to “mercy,” a call of despair, but also one of joy and admiration. On many of these sides, that full range of emotion is transmitted at once. Some of these artists are legends, others lost …

The MerKaBa Brotherhood are Roman Norfleet (The Cosmic Tones Research Trio, Be Present Art Group) and Andre Raiah (Brown Calvin of Brown Calculus, Be Present Art Group). The duo draw from esoteric texts, sacred imagery, and mystic thought, shaping sound into space, tone, and pulse. It's a spare and almost geometric record featuring Sax, keyboard and percussion. The album turns sound into a working language - textures as diagrams and melodies as signals. There is much to be learned and even more …

Includes deluxe 12-page booklet with unpublished photos, lyrics, translations, and liner notes written by NTS radio host Jamal Khadar. Before there was a Zambia, there was Alick Nkhata. Born in Kasama in 1922 to a Tonga father and Bemba mother, Nkhata would become the voice of a nation that did not yet exist - and help sing it into being. Vocalist, guitarist, bandleader, broadcaster, archivist, freedom fighter: he moved between these roles as effortlessly as he moved between lonesome country sli…

In the late 1980s, singer Bizimungu Dieudonne, his wife Agnes Uwimbabazi, and a backing band of family and friends self-released a visionary cassette, featuring stuttering electric guitars, loping bass lines, and call and response vocals. Their combo of 80s studio wizardry rooted in traditional Rwandan praise songs resulted in hypnotic, extended jams unlike anything else released in East Africa at the time. The lyrics praised the beauty of the countryside and the exploits of the ancient gods. On…

Portland trio offering a distinctive contribution to the lineage of Great Black Music. All is Sound - now reissued - positions itself at the intersection of several African-American musical traditions: the meditative modality of Alice Coltrane's ashram recordings, the cosmic expansiveness of Sun Ra's quieter moments, and the devotional intensity that Pharoah Sanders brought to his late-period work. The Cosmic Tones Research Trio comprises alto saxophonist and composer Roman Norfleet, cellist and…

First-time reissue of Willem Nyland's rare private-press piano improvisations. The Dutch chemist-turned-Gurdjieff disciple recorded these spiritual teachings on specially tuned piano in 1960s upstate New York

**Clear vinyl editions. Old-school tip-on jacket with metallic silver foil stamping along with a 12-page booklet featuring extensive liner notes from scholar and pianist Thomas Feng.** From beloved composer Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, a revelatory new album of vocal pieces. The first vocal album by beloved Ethiopian nun, composer, and pianist Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru - profound and deeply moving home cassette recordings made amidst political upheaval and turmoil. These are songs of wisdom, loss,…

A breathtaking journey into Arvo Pärt’s sacred minimalism. This LP features rare and moving renditions—including a radically slowed performance of Silentium—that illuminate the composer’s most intimate, time-suspending work.

A lost classic of the Ethiopian Golden Age, reissued in full for the first time! On this 1976 gem of a record, Aselefech Ashine and Getenesh Kebret’s voices intertwine in close harmony, the two “beauties” singing in duet across 10 gorgeous tracks. The Army Band, which backed greats like Tlahoun Gesesse and Mahmoud Ahmed, brings Mulatu-esque minor-key piano runs, interlocking percussion, and rock-steady basslines. Arranger Teshome Sisay’s flute winds through the compositions, tying together glori…

Big Tip! “You’re living in a dream, Coley…” Surreal, layered, Lynchian landscapes by Birmingham, Alabama poet, Johnny Coley. On his Mississippi Records debut, Coley takes a completely improvised and semi-hallucinatory journey down decrepit southern trucking routes, gaslit Victorian alleys, past “a small frame house / transparent with fire,” and by women arguing on the cobblestones outside a dark club in Rome (“you could only see their lips”). It’s a world of flesh vehicles, supernatural waiters,…

Big Tip! Our obsession with underground Greek music continues with 10 ultra-rare recordings of heartbreak and vice from rembetiko legend Giorgos Katsaros. Katsaros, who by some accounts lived to be over 100 years old, carried the old songs of Greece to the Diaspora in the United States, bridging centuries of music in one storied lifetime. Born in 1901 on the Greek island of Amorgos, Katsaros’ was enchanted with the songs he picked up as a kid in the streets of Piraeus and Athens. Encouraged by h…

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.

Big Tip! LP (clear amber). 8-page insert. The lost soundtrack to “Chess of the Wind”, Iran’s banned 1976 queer-gothic-class-horror masterpiece, restored by the director and released for the first time. A masterpiece of world cinema, Mohammad Reza Aslani’s “Chess of the Wind” was banned in Iran and thought to be lost until a complete print of the film re-emerged in an antique shop in 2014. Restored by Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation and released to rapturous reviews in 2020, “Chess of the Wind”…

One of the greatest, heaviest, and most sought-after guitar records from 1970s West Africa, available on vinyl for the first time in over a decade!!!

Premiere LP by Portland's finest practitioners of Great Black Music. A spiritual record for the ages. Roman Norfleet And Be Present Art Group play deeply felt sometimes earthy and sometimes cosmic music. A trio (sax, drums and organ) are augmented by additional percussion, soaring vocals and even a vocal appearance by a toddler. This record will take you where you need to go. Don't miss history in the making. Across six expansive tracks, Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group build from free-fl…

Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff is the sprawling drum collective tearing up Dakar’s nightlife scene. Senegalese poet Djiby Ly (Wau Wau Collectif) is backed by fourteen different percussive instruments plus horns, winds, balafon, and the occasional accordion, combining Count Ossie’s spiritually elevated polyrhythms with Fela Kuti’s orchestra and Tony Allen’s groove. Based in the impoverished neighborhood of Grand Yoff and operating as a mutual aid group for the larger community, the band builds …

2024 Stock. First volume of solo piano compositions by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, finally back in print.  Born to an aristocratic family in Addis Ababa in December of 1923, Emahoy spent much of her youth and young adulthood studying classical music in Europe. She returned to Ethiopia in the 40s, where the war interrupted her musical studies. In 1948 during a church service in Ethiopia, she found her faith and began years of religious training.  Throughout her physical and spiritual journeys, Ema…

From beloved composer Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, a revelatory new album of piano pieces, unreleased or virtually inaccessible until now!  Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru is a true original – an Ethiopian nun whose recordings have funded orphanages back home since the early ’60s. Her compositions and unique playing style live somewhere between Erik Satie, Debussy, liturgical music of the Coptic Ethiopian Church, and Ethiopian traditional music. It is some of the most moving piano music you will ever he…

** 160 gram vinyl, old school tip-on jacket +  8-page booklet ** A new LP collection of incredible performances by the virtuosa of theremin, Clara Rockmore, accompanied by her sister Nadia Reisenberg on piano. Recorded in 1975 and never before released on vinyl, this compendium features stellar performances of compositions by Bach, Chopin, Schubert, Gershwin and more, and even features a cello ensemble on a few songs!  Some of the finest examples of Clara Rockmore’s unrivaled art - rich with bit…

** 2xLP set in deluxe gatefold jacket with extensive liner notes by Nathan Salsburg of the Lomax Archive. First edition, 160 gram black vinyl ** A stunning 2xLP collection of music documented during Alan Lomax’s final American field recording sessions from 1978 to 1983. A completely overlooked and underrepresented period in American folk and blues history, this album includes legendary performances by RL Burnside, Napoleon Strickland, Boyd Rivers, Tommy Jarrell, and many more, newly remastered a…

** 2021 Stock. Includes a 12 page color booklet with rare photographs, full lyrics, and extensive notes ** Marika "Politissa" Frantzeskopoulou was a Greek singer from Constantinople, reknowned for her precise, fluid and graceful performances and depth of feeling. Backed by some of the best musicians of the era on lyra, violin, oud, kanonaki and guitar, Marika’s repertoire and techniques drew from Byzantine and Ottoman musical traditions. She possessed an ability to devastate her audience through…

A survey of Moondog’s earliest recorded works – many of them unreleased until now – through a collaboration by Mississippi Records and Lucia Records.

A trip through the productions of pioneering genius Joe Meek. Here we have a mix of hits that have appeared on comps before and real out-there obscurities. Designed to be highly listenable. Never a dull moment amongst these songs that cover subjects close to Joes' heart such as vampires, love (and the lack of it), death, outer space, the human soul, Buddy Holly, and more. Artists featured are The Blue Rondos, The Blue Men, Jason Eddie and the Centremen, The Sound Offs, The Moontrekkers, Johnny L…

Compilation of Mississippi's favorite Arvo Part pieces. All sparse and beautiful arrangements. Some solo piano pieces, some duets with piano, violin cello and viola and one string quartet. The pieces on this record are all unique to the style of Arvo Part—deceptively simple compositions that force you to live in the moment you are listening to them. A Part quote from the back of the record: "You can kill people with sound. And if you can kill, then maybe there is also the sound that is op…

"At last! The second LP in our ongoing series of releases from Mariam Tsege Gebru! More 1960s recordings of her truly unique solo piano performances. Mariam Tsege Gebru is a true original - her playing is somewhere between Erik Satie, Debussy, liturgical music of the Coptic Ethiopian Church and Ethiopian traditional music. It is some of the most moving piano music you will ever hear! All original compositions available for the first time on vinyl beyond the original early 1960s editions, …

Compilation of early gospel recordings spanning from 1927 - 1955. Sanctified blues by the Two Gospel Keys, Mother McCollum, Blind Rosevelt Graves, Lottie Bracey, Sister O.M Terrell & Rev. IB Ware. Beautiful slow country gospel by the Anglin Brothers & Delmore Brothers, Intense vocal performances by the New Gospel Keys, Elder Richard Briant & the Silent Grove Baptist Church Congregation, & much more! All killer no filler compilation that rocks hard & gets deep & sad too. Old school 'tip on' cover…

In celebration of Alan Lomax's 100th birthday, Mississippi Records is proud to present a 6 LP box set featuring 100 of his finest field recordings. Previously unreleased tracks by Bob Dylan, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Southern Drum and Fife Corps, Bill Broonzy, Rosa Lee Hill, Dennis McGee, Jean Ritchie, Shirley Collins, Bukka White, Vera Ward Hall, The Georgia Sea Island Singers, Son House and many more. 55 unreleased tracks in all on this set! Also features hard to find tracks by Skip James.…

One man band Jesse Fuller's first recordings from 1954! Jesse Fuller was a truly unique one man band who played blues, spirituals, ballads and folk songs. On these recordings we find Jesse playing guitar, harmonica, kazoo and the footdella (a bass that Jesse built which he plays with his feet). One of the greatest folk musicians of all time in his prime. Features top tunes - San Francisco Bay Blues, Railroad blues, John Henry, Lining the tracks, Hanging 'round a skin game and the Railroad work s…

During the 1970s, Tilahun Gessesse enjoyed a successful career in his native Ethiopia. Blessed with a sublime voice, he specialized in creating popular hybrids of hot American styles - most notably soul and jazz - with traditional Ethiopian styles. Sima!, which is named after one of his most revered 7" singles, gather together music from numerous releases throughout the 1970s. It boasts numerous gems that see Gessesse combine his bold, snaking vocals with rocking rhythms, modal jazz mysticism, a…

First ever vinyl collection of the legendary 'Kostis,' the most enigmatic of all Greek rebetika artists of the early 1930s. Truly unique guitar duets and black-humor prose chronicling the hash dens, prison culture and pickpockets of old Athens. Virtuosic fingerpicking of Near-Eastern modes at the dawn of rebetika, when the bouzouki was yet to become supreme. Recorded under a pseudonym for export to the Greeks living in America, it stands as an enduring mystery and the high standard for a …

Lurking around the Northwest music world for years playing with the likes of the Black Cat Orchestre, Earth, David Byrne, Terry Riley, Nirvana and a ton of other musicians, here we have Lori Goldstons' beautiful cello playing in its purest form - unaccompanied and acoustic. The pieces on this LP all carry a certain level of austerity and gravitas, though they never come off as cold. On the contrary, they are warm emotional pieces of music played by someone who really knows their way aroun…

A classic and seldom heard LP from Bamako! Not just your average Malian LP, Le Tioko-Tioko features has to be heard to be believed organ, hypnotic guitar and amazing sweet vocals. A truly great LP and must have for fans of Malian music. A faithful reproduction of the original with the addition of liner notes by Florent Mazzoleni. A co-release with Singasongfighter.

Ishilan n-Tenere is a compilation of recordings of guitar music from three regions of Senegal and Mali -- Fouta Toro, Timbouctou, and the Adrar d'Ifoghas. Each region differs in language and culture, but all have a popular music based on the guitar, and their respective local guitar bands. These bands are almost unknown outside of their homes but have a devoted local following. They play all events, celebratory or political. Their songs are folk anthems, hummed under the breath and chante…

Beautiful sounds in a style we've never heard before – music played on the saung gauk, which is a special leaf-shaped Burmese harp – mixed with some light background percussion and ethereal vocals from Su Wai herself! The notes of the harp have this rhythmic way of progressing – almost like the falling of rain – but the vocals slide more gracefully over the top in waves of lyrics – a strange sort of counterpoint that really creates a lot of presence from the relatively lean elements of t…

"I'm sorry, but any record that opens with a vintage rebetika track is pretty much sold for me, and since this record does, the rest doesn't really matter, it's already awesome. Yep the first track on this killer re-issue is from Marika Papagika and sets the pace (and standard) for the rest of the album, which is a showcase of music recorded in the USA between 1927 and 1948 but rooted in other cultures. So from the initial blast of gorgeous Greek folk, we're thrown into Calypso, Appalachian folk…

The first Mississippi compilation, in print again for the first time in over 7 years. Here we have some of the absolute best performances of country blues and ballads ever put out, dating from 1926 - 1953. Early 78's that speak of the universal human condition in a profound way. Artists include Geechy Wiley, Blind Wille and Kate McTell, The Blue Sky Boys, Lottie Kimbrough, Robert Petway, Memphis Minnie and much more. No typical blues riffs or boring standards here - just truly unique artists tra…

Compilation of absolutely must-have country blues from Mississippi. A mix of well known artists playing their signature songs and more obscure musicians. Highlights include Bukka White's elemental "Fixin' to die", Lottie Kimbroughs' seldom heard "Don't Speak To Me", George Carters' haunting "Ghost Woman Blues", Willie Browns' existential "Future Blues", Monroe Moe Jackson's wild "Go Away From My Door" and many more hits. The real stuff and some of Mississippi Records all time favorite tunes.

The Indian Music Of Chiapas, Mexico'. In the mid 1970's Richard Alderson made these amazing recordings in Chiapas, Mexico. A very unique blend of ancient music and modern rhythms. Here we have modern Mayan people singing folk songs accompanied by guitar, ragged brass bands, and much more. A trip into a very beautiful world. The cover is a faux Folkways style wrap around print on an old school "tip on" jacket. Includes liner notes. A co-release with Mississippi Records."The music of the indigenou…

Amazing sounds from the subcontinent – a selection of mid-century recordings that focuses on the incredible vocal range in Indian music, served up by a set of singers we might never have known otherwise! The voice is almost the lead instrument here – usually just supported by a bit of percussion or sitar, and set free in open space with these insane inflections and cascading tones that really leave us breathless! Mediative and exciting vocals from the masters. Great liner notes and master…