Modou Tour�, of Dakar, Senegal, plays highly-groovy rhythms; Afrobeat, pop-rock and funk. This album features sharp guitar playing harmonized with drums, bass, percussion and electric guitar. Tour�'s voice is powerful and sublime as it soars over energizing, contemporary music. Heir of the legendary group Tour� Kunda, the first West African group to achieve worldwide fame in the 1980s, Modou Tour� was born into music. His voice strikingly echoes that of his father, Ousmane Tour�, who was the inspiration for his choice of career. Passionate about music from a tender age, he was to be found regularly singing up a storm and playing the drums under his neighbors' windows in the modest district of HLM4 in Dakar, where he spent his childhood.

Nature, the cosmos and humanity are the inspirations for Joji Hirota's latest solo album, Prayer's Tale. Single-handedly playing 40 different Japanese and Asian instruments, combined with vocals, he weaves sounds of nature, emotions and colors of the universe into a beautiful soundscape. With Joji's circular instrument set up (various taiko drums, 13 different sizes of kin [prayer bells], six sizes of gongs, various bells and wind chimes) he can stand in the center and respond intuitively. "Everybody has their own personal circumstances... their own sense of 'universe'. Here, I try to express my own personal sense of Earth's history, human history, and my own outlook on the future through musical scenes, emotions, colors and nuances of sound." (Joji Hirota)

Essence of Raga Tala is unique and compelling take on Indian musical tradition. Presented by producer and composer Kuljit Bhamra MBE, nine Indian ragas and selected talas are re-imagined for both traditional and western instruments in new and exciting directions. Kuljit Bhamra MBE is a prolific composer, musician and record producer whose main instrument is the tabla. He is best known as one of the record producers who pioneered the British Bhangra sound and for his many collaborations with musicians from different genres and continents. Kuljit has worked on numerous film scores, including Bend it Like Beckham, Bhaji on the Beach, A Winter of Love, and he appears on soundtracks for The Guru, The Four Feathers and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. He is the recipient of many awards including a platinum disc for outstanding record sales presented by the much-loved BBC Radio DJ John Peel, who was a big fan of his music. His cutting-edge projects and ground-breaking educational work earned him the prestigious honor of MBE in Her Majesty The Queen’s birthday list 2009.

Baluji Shrivastav OBE is an Indian/British musician and instrumentalist who plays a variety of traditional Indian instruments including the sitar, dilruba, surbahar, pakhavaj and tabla. In 2008, Baluji established the Baluji Music Foundation: a London-based charity which, as stated on their website, aims to promote "the understanding and enjoyment of music and performing arts from the Indian Sub-Continent in all its traditional and evolving forms." In 2012, Baluji formed the Inner Vision Orchestra, the UK's only "blind orchestra". Its aim is to promote blind and visually impaired musicians to address the imbalance of their absence in most of the music industry in the UK. It also aims to give confidence to blind and visually impaired musicians through the experience of workshops and performances. This album marks the 9th volume from Baluji Shrivastav OBE from ARC Music.

A folksy take on traditional music straight out of the Argentinian songbook. Intertwining village roots, lively urban rhythms, traditional acoustic guitar, melodies of the pampas and Buenos Aires tangos, presented by Instituto El Cimarr�n. Argentina's folk music has a rich and varied tradition. Apart from the indigenous music of the Fuegians and Patagonians, Mapuche and Chaco Indians, the descendants of the Quechua and Aymara and the Calchaqui Valley Indians, there is a large mestizo and creole repertoire. The creole repertoire is of predominantly European origin. Three basic types emerge, differentiated by function: Carnival songs (performed collectively), entertainment songs (performed for an audience) and religious songs (performed solo or in chorus).Carnival songs, their lyrics in short stanzas, are accompanied by drums and guitars. Related dances are the chacarera, zamba and gato, the latter being one of the most important rural Argentinian dances. The cueca, a dance like the zamba, is found in western Argentina. The malambo is a dance in which solo dancers alternate in competitive performances. It is popular among the gauchos. The sung milonga may be a romance (traditional ballad) or a corrido (ballad, based on contemporary events). The milonga (dance) is an urban style developed primarily in Buenos Aires by known composers. It is usually accompanied by the accordion. Polkas are sung to guitar accompaniment in triple time or sung in duplets over a 6/8 accompaniment with much syncopation. The polquita (little polka) is sometimes played in processions for saints.

A wildly creative and joyful exploration of traditional Taiwanese culture. The music of A Moving Sound is the result of a deep commitment to making art entwined with spiritual practice. Starshine celebrates life and our journey through it. This album features original compositions weaving folk and traditional opera, from earthy to transcendent, joy to suffering, all enhanced with stunning vocals and the rich textures of traditional Taiwanese instruments. “A Moving Sound is one of the most original outfits working in the world music arena today. An inspired marriage of Taiwanese traditional sounds and Western pop experimentation that forges an important new musical dialogue.” (Tom Pryor)

Clannad the Irish family group responsible for such timeless music as ‘Theme From Harry’s Game’, ‘In A Lifetime’, and ‘I Will Find You’ make an international welcome return to mark their 4th Anniversary. Over the decades, Clannad have made music that entwines the traditional and the modern, the past and the future, with stunningly beautiful results. (ARC Music)

Founded in 1926, the London Jewish Male Choir enjoys a reputation for its performance of the broad spectrum of Jewish music- cantorial/liturgical, Yiddish, Ladino, Israeli and Chassidic- to a wide range of audiences. Throughout its more than 90 years, the LJMC has travelled extensively throughout the UK and has performed in London’s most prestigious concert halls. It has also taken part in national and international television and radio broadcasts for the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4. This collection captures a snapshot of the choir over its 90-plus years. In selecting the pieces, we have attempted to show the character and reflect the diverse nature of the LJMC’s repertoire, soloists, conductors, accompanists and musical styles. Cantors featured include Moshe Korn, Steven Leas, and Robert Brody. Accompanists include Shir and Jeremy Limb.

Olcay Bayir gives voice to the hardships of the valiant people of Anatolia, who, despite innumerable injustices, continue to preserve their language, culture, and customs. "Tu Gulî," a collection of Kurdish Alevi soul-infused songs, honors her multicultural and multilingual background. While blending her own personal memoirs with London's modern cosmopolitan sounds, she also pays tribute to the strong, devoted women of her Anatolian geography, including her own grandmothers and her mother.

Rhythms of West Africa, tapestries of authentic African voices, Senegalese / West African blues fusion, a cappella from Southern Africa, Namibian songs on guitar, serenades from Ethiopia and more... This African compilation is a stunning journey across the continent. The songs compiled on this release have been hand-selected from Arc’s vast catalog of African music albums. Musicians include Nii Okai Tagoe, Tinyela, Modou Toure and Ramon Goose, Musa Mboob and XamXam, and many more. Details on each song, the musicians, and the albums from whence these pieces were chosen are all included in the booklet.

In this stirring soundtrack of The Irish Revolution; Pól Brennan is joined by Steve Turner; Aiden O'Donnell and Nick Bailey; as well as his sister and fellow CLANNAD member Moya. His music captures the raw emotion sparked by historic events such as the Great Hunger of 1847 through to the Irish Civil War in 1922–1923; using moving tunes and mournful melodies to depict the sacrifices made by the Irish people in their quest for independence. Liner notes written by Cathal Goan.

Carrying Los Ruphay’s ambition to develop awareness and appreciation for the rich tapestry of Bolivian heritage, this album highlights the three seasons of the Aymara annual cycle and the impacts that climate change is having on their culture today. An uplifting album conveying the wind and grandeur of the high plateaus of the Andes through the entrancing melodies of panpipes, charangos and other traditional instruments. A tribute to Los Ruphay’s founder Mario P. Gutiérrez.

Each of the many temples in China has it's own special style of music. The Beijing Zhi Hua Temple was built during the Ming dynasty in 1443. Zhi Hua Temple music has remained pure and close to it's original state, being passed down through 27 generations exclusively through orgal transmission. Having it's roots in the music of the Tang and Song dynasties, Zhi Hua Temple music derived it's special style by combining court, Buddhist temple, and folk music. Two styles of this music developed, differentiating primarily in playing styles, instrumentation and title of pieces. Jing Yue (music from the Beijing area) is the most popular and Cham Yue (chanting music) is used exclusively for Buddhist services and ceremonies. The instrumentation consists primarily of percussion and wind instruments, with the lead instruments being the oboe-like guanzi. The earliest score dates back to the Qing dynasty. In the 1980s, much attention was given to Buddhist temple music and the first Chinese Buddhist music touring ensemble was founded. The most famous guanzi masters, Hu Zhi Hou and Bao Jian emerged as the only two guanzi players to carry on the Zhi Hua Temple music tradition, taking the music out of the temple and into the concert hall to the delight of spell-bound audiences worldwide.

In the 1980s, while staging her first plays, Fortuna composed a repertoire of songs in partnership with the Curitiba poet Paulo Leminski. The decisive chapter of her career, however, would begin to be written after a trip to Israel, in 1991. It was there that Fortuna’s art won an innovative orientation: when she heard a piece of the Ladino collection of songs, she found the raw material for a unique aesthetic proposal, in which music, dance and dramaturgy converge in the re-creation of a rich cultural legacy. Ladino, a Jewish-Hispanic dialect, is the language of Sefardim, the Jews of Sefarad, the Hebrew name of the Iberian Peninsula. The contact with the Ladino musical tradition would change Fortuna’s life and give new direction of her work. This album is a compilation of songs from Fortuna’s previous releases “Mediterraneo,” “Cantigas,” and “La Prima Vez.”

Tseng's students are all professional flautists in their own right by now - he should have done this recording long ago! "With talen tlike that, he qualifies as a real national treasure!" On the flute, Tseng readily grasped the essentials of all the fundamental stylistic schools, studying with thirteen different teachers, including Liu Guan-yue and Hu Ping-chi, though he is most reputed as a representative of the Northern School. He boasts a bold and assertive performing style that reveals his deep passion for the music, while his full tone is backed with all the technical command necessary - and his attainments in the musical world reflect his range of expression and the depth of this artistic conceptions. Many of Yung-Ching's original compositions have been recorded and are here for the first time.