As great lovers of traditional music, Rosemary Standley and François Lazarevitch were bound to meet one day. The founding leader of Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien proposed collaborating on a programme of English ballads with the iconic singer from the legendary rock band Moriarty, who has already recorded two equally iconic albums for Alpha, Love I Obey (Alpha 538) and Schubert in Love (Alpha 418): 'This repertoire suits her musical style and her voice perfectly; she brings her experience of folk music and popular song. The old ballads that Child and Sharp collected in the late 19th century are classics of the genre.' Rosemary continues: 'This repertoire is magnificent. The essence of American folk music lies in these English, Scottish, and Irish ballads-it's a genre that resonates with me very naturally.' With a carefully chosen array of instruments-baroque harp, viola da gamba, pandora, Scottish bodhrán drum and, of course, the flutes and bagpipes so dear to Lazarevitch-plus a superb group of singers and musicians, Rosemary and François set sail for the North in the wake of Alfred Deller, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, and Simon & Garfunkel, who had also fallen in love with these tales of sailors, fairs, a tailor and his mouse, murder, betrayal, and revenge.

Powerful songs inspired by the life and fate of Georg Elser (1904-1945): a musical memorial to the man who almost stopped Hitler. In 1939, Georg Elser failed in his assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler and was murdered for it on April 9, 1945, in the Dachau concentration camp. More than eight decades later, Michael Moravek (one of the most poetic representatives of English-language Americana songwriting from Germany) has dedicated an extraordinary work to him: GEORG - Songs of Courage and Humanity, and the question of attitude in dark times. Moravek, together with his band Electric Traveling Show, succeeds in giving Elser a voice and, at the same time, making the songs shine with a drastic topicality that could not be more contemporary. Together with his virtuoso band, he creates sparkling Americana folk rock with jazzy nuances and poetic, sober lyrics.

Fiddler extraordinaire and pioneer of the contemporary bluegrass movement, Tim O'Brien releases his new effort FIDDLERS GREEN. This new album "gives birth to the more conservative side of his neo-traditional core while still allowing him to delve into Celtic and Appalachian folk.

The twelve volumes comprising The Complete Songs of Robert Burns remain the benchmark of all Burns songs recordings. This groundbreaking series took seven years to complete and involved over 80 musicians. Encompassing ballads and bawdy songs, patriotic and political anthems plus songs which bring Scottish people and places to life, these volumes touch all aspects of human nature and represent a vigorous folk tradition past and present. ‘...a delightful cornucopia of excellent, often hauntingly authentic performances.’ (BBC Music Magazine)

Country Gazette had it's beginning in the country/rock scene in southern California in late 1971. The first version of the band recorded two albums for United Artists. From 1976 to 1988 the band recorded five albums for Flying Fish, with banjoist Alan Munde and guitarist Roland White the mainstays of the band. This selection of 21 tracks, compiled by Munde, brings together some of their best, most characteristic work. Guests include Sam Bush, fiddle; David Grier, guitar and many others.

Writer, poet and musician Gwyneth Glyn releases her new album Tro on the bendigedig label on September 29. Tro, which is Welsh for ‘turn,’ is the first major solo album from one of Wales’ most intriguing and talented artists, with a passion for language, who applies her delicate craft and exquisite gift to this compelling new album. Tro also geatures Senegal’s acclaimed kora player Seckou Keita and BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Winner Rowan Rheingans. Elegant and deliciously emotional, dark and poignant, the songs are united by a consistent quality and beautiful, poetic lyrics rooted in Gwyneth’s language and culture. Tro is the first album to release on the new label bendigedig, an independent partnership between Theatr Mwldan and ARC Music Productions. “Her lyrics have a simplicity of language and imagery: there’s a poet here who is able to leave words and images hanging in the memory… She has a fine feel for the art of song writing as well as the wind, trees and landscape of Wales that inform her music and emotions.” (LCWL1) “…molasses-sweet tones…” (Buzz Magazine)

The twelve volumes comprising The Complete Songs of Robert Burns remain the benchmark of all Burns songs recordings. This groundbreaking series took seven years to complete and involved over 80 musicians. Encompassing ballads and bawdy songs, patriotic and political anthems plus songs which bring Scottish people and places to life, these volumes touch all aspects of human nature and represent a vigorous folk tradition past and present. ‘...a delightful cornucopia of excellent, often hauntingly authentic performances.’ (BBC Music Magazine)

When we use the terms "Greek traditional," "Grek folk," or "Greek demotic" music today, we mean songs and tunes coming from the past, from areas that were home to Christian farmers, shepherds and sailors during the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. Mostly- though not exclusively- Greek speaking, these populations lived, as was normal then, in close proximity with other ethnic, linguistic, or religious groups. In these areas, some of which now form modern-day Greece, the oral tradition of folk song and ecclesiastical music were the only available forms of musical expression. This album is the highly anticipated re-release of the 1980 album of the same name, extended with tracks licensed from the Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association. Domna Samiou (1928-2012) was a charismatic and multifaceted personality who dedicated her life to a quest which is now synonymous with her name: the preservation, dissemination and teaching of Greek traditional "folk" music.

Lullabies, legends and country dances mix with genteel drawing room music on this album of folk music from the land of sheep and green hills. Harp, voices, dulcimer and oboe bring a richness of sound to ancient songs with origins lost in the mists of time, in largely instrumental versions of many Welsh folk songs.

John Metcalfe, who arranges songs for big names such as Coldplay, Simple Minds and The Pretenders, has produced albums with Peter Gabriel and has been touring for decades as a member of the Duke Quartet. Now he releases his debut album on the Neue Meister label. Metcalfe has always been surrounded by music. As a child, he would listen to his father sing opera, before a love of Kraftwerk and Joy Division led to a stint as a drummer in a high school band. But it was a move to Manchester that really accelerated his development as an artist, and led to him finding his true calling. Joining cult band The Durutti Column, then signed to legendary label Factory Records, brought him into the orbit of Tony Wilson and the Hacienda, formative events that would help foster his renegade spirit. Unimpressed with the strictures demanded by the classical recording industry, Metcalfe persuaded Wilson to launch the ground-breaking Factory Classical Label, aimed at unearthing exciting - and unconventional - new British talent. It was here that Metcalfe found a home, and the group that would come to define his musical career; the Duke Quartet. For nearly 30 years, they've existed at the vanguard of contemporary British music, innovating and delighting in equal measure. Working with world-renowned artists across the entire cultural spectrum, from pop, dance, film, TV, and theatre, Metcalfe honed his arranging and producing skills; he's now one of the UK's most sought after arrangers, regularly working with some of biggest names in music. As a solo artist, Metcalfe explores electro-classical soundscapes and the boundaries between genres. His finely tuned compositions are neat yet grand in scale, both in terms of sound and the conceptual ideas underpinning them. Absence, the fifth record to bear his own name, is something of a departure for Metcalfe, framing bold images and themes with some of the most conventional song structures he's ever employed. But it's also his most affecting, deconstructing a subject he's been interested in since his childhood in New Zealand: Dealing with loss.

It's traditional, and brand new!It is bound, and free! It's heavy, and easy! It is music that goes in through your ears but does not stay in your head, or even your heart without rushing right into your feet and setting your musical world rocking. Get ready for a magical encounter between Gävle Symphony Orchestra and national fiddler Görgen Antonsson - with music arranged by Karl-Johan Ankarblom.

CONZASIEGGE is an expression in the dialect of Molfetta (a town in Apulia), indicating an ancient craftsman: the man who repaired chairs. Vincenzo Valente (1830-1908) was inspired by the “chant” of those trying to draw the attention of this craftsman, when he created his funeral march that he therefore called “Conzasiegge”. This record collects five of the most beautiful marches that animate the Holy Week processions in Molfetta, introduced by the typical sound of the “Ti te” that opens every procession. The original feature of this repertoire in the album is its version for mandolins that in the 1940s saw the barbers, especially Sabino Andriani, as refined and cultured amateurial players.