folk music
Albums of the Year 2017: Daymé Arocena - CubafoniaSaturday, 30 December 2017
All things considered, there aren’t many criteria by which this album, however cosmopolitan its influences, sensitive and precise its vocals and supple its rhythms, is really the best of the year. I’ve had a few sleepless nights recently over the... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2017: Offa Rex - Queen of HeartsWednesday, 27 December 2017
I’ve only seen Olivia Chaney perform live a handful of times – once at a Copper Family celebration at Cecil Sharp House, 10,000 Times Adieu, singing unaccompanied with Lisa Knapp and Nancy Wallace, and at the nestcollective’s Unamplifire festival at... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2017: Rising Appalachia - AliveMonday, 18 December 2017
2017 has been a time of change if not turmoil, on both personal and political stratospheres. So the music of two sisters whose jam is made up primarily of protest and healing songs, is the perfect antidote.When chaos abounds, the relentless... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2017: Nick Mulvey - Wake Up NowThursday, 14 December 2017
For the past few years my Album of the Year has leapt out at me, craved attention, stood out from the competition. With no disrespect to Nick Mulvey’s fine second album, that wasn’t the case in 2017. Many albums this year had vital, enjoyable music... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: PentangleSunday, 10 December 2017
A nineteen-minute adaptation of “Jack Orion” took up the whole of Side Two of Cruel Sister, Pentangle’s fourth album. It's the highlight of the smart but blandly titled 115-track box set The Albums 1968–1972. Up to this point in 1970, British folk... Read more... |
Tom Russell, 100 Club review - tales from a time-honoured troubadourMonday, 04 December 2017
Nothing beats a great singer-songwriter live and unadorned. So it was with Tom Russell at London’s 100 Club on the penultimate night of his UK tour. Accompanied by his faithful friend the brilliant Milanese Max Bernadino on guitar, the man whom... Read more... |
CD: Erlend Apneseth Trio - ÅraSunday, 03 December 2017
Although the Hardanger Fiddle is regarded as a traditional Norwegian instrument, its use stretches back to no earlier than the middle of the 17th century. The music players summon from its strings is more easily seen as traditional though: music to... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Nick MulveySaturday, 25 November 2017
Nick Mulvey (b.1984) is a singer-songwriter who draws from a refreshing and unexpected palette of global roots music, modernist classical and electronica. His second album, Wake Up Now, was released earlier this year, and showcases a man on a quest... Read more... |
CD: Neil Young + Promise of the Real - The VisitorSaturday, 25 November 2017
Not since the 1960s has there been so much global shit to protest about! The Sixties, of course, gave us the protest song – and how well the best of them have worn. “Masters of War” and “With God On Our Side” are timeless classics. “Give Peace a... Read more... |
CD: Martin Hayes Quartet - The Blue RoomThursday, 23 November 2017
Recorded at beautiful Bantry House in the far south-west of Ireland, The Blue Room is the debut of West Clare’s fiddle player extraordinaire Martin Hayes’ new quartet, comprising bass clarinettist Doug Wieseman, viola d’amore player Liz Knowles, and... Read more... |
Seeger MacColl Family, Cecil Sharp House review - keeping the folk tradition aliveFriday, 17 November 2017
The family that sings together stays together… At least that’s true in folk music. Think of Waterson- Carthy and Seeger-MacColl. And last night at Cecil Sharp House, citadel of British folk music, Peggy Seeger and her sons Calum and Neill stepped... Read more... |
The Best Albums of 2017Tuesday, 14 November 2017
Disc of the Day reviews new albums, week in, week out, all year. Below are the albums to which our writers awarded five stars. Click on any one of them to find out why.SIMPLY THE BEST: THEARTSDESK'S FIVE-STAR REVIEWS OF 2017Alan Broadbent:... Read more... |
