Through a large repertoire spanning from the 18th century to their own compositions, Jean-Francois Dutertre, Jean Ribouillault and Christophe Toussaint (key figures in the folk revival of the 1970s) display here the profound expressive richness of the epinette of the Vosges. The type of dulcimer called epinette des Vosges is a box zither which is commonly found in a few valleys of the Vosges, in Franche-Comte and Lorraine. It serves both as an accompaniment to dancing or singing, and as music for entertainment. This dulcimer belongs to a family of box zithers which is wide-spread throughout Northern and Central Europe (this European family of instruments is also related to certain Asian zithers). In Europe, the use of dulcimers seems to have remained popular for the most part, except in the context of religious ceremonies. It's main characteristic is the presence of frets under part of the strings, which distinguishes two groups: melody strings or chanterelles, and accompaniment strings, or drones, which produce a fixed, invariable chord.

Sakina Teyna was born into a Kurdish Alevite family in the small town of Varto in Turkey. As a teenager, she started singing with Turkish choirs and bands, but it wasn't until she entered university that she became acquainted with Kurdish musical traditions and set out to defy cultural assimilation. In 1991, she joined the Mespotamian Cultural Centre in Istanbul, a proponent of Kurdish culture, as a vocalist. Like many other Kurdish musicians, she was forced to literally go underground to practise her music, and soon she had to choose political activism over art. It wasn't until Sakîna arrived in Austria as a political refugee in 2006 that she took to singing as a full-time pursuit again. The first fruit of her concentrated creative efforts was released in the form of her first solo album ROYE MI. Suret is the story of a photograph, of a face. A story that also whispers the silent tales of the faces hanging on the walls of almost every home in Kurdistan, or hidden away in the quiet pages of photo albums. Some people visit the living world only briefly-they depart before dawn breaks, before their names are spoken widely, before their faces become etched in the memories of others. (Sakina Teyna in the booklet accompanying this CD)

CHOI Kyung-man, a virtuoso of the piri and taepyeongso oboes, acclaimed for his mastery of rhythm and improvisation, moves with ease between tradition and contemporary creation. This recording explores new roles for these instruments, offering a varied listening experience and a glimpse into a profound musical universe. This album brings together selected tracks from four CDs released in Korea between 2008 and 2021, offering a broad overview of the music of the piri and taepyeongso oboes. In Korean music, the piri is a leading melodic instrument with a loud and steady voice, and the taepyeongso, also played with a powerful and piercing sound, is mainly used for processional music or outdoor performances. Due to their distinctive nature, these instruments are rarely used outside their traditional repertoire to perform complex melodies drawn from folk songs. Found in similar forms across many cultures, the piri and taepyeongso oboes take on a new dimension here thanks to CHOI Kyung-man's unique sensitivity.

Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band are a multi-generational psychedelic powerhouse from rural Thailand whose ecstatic, amplifier-blown folk music has quietly become one of the most unlikely global cult phenomena of the last decade. Hailing from Phetchabun Province, the group formed as a community celebration band - playing weddings, temple fairs, ordinations and village parades. At the center of their sound is the electrified phin, a traditional three-stringed Thai lute whose piercing, spiraling melodies cut through walls of percussion and portable PA distortion. What might begin as a local procession quickly transforms into something transcendent: hypnotic riffs cycling endlessly, rhythms pushing forward with relentless momentum, musicians of all ages locked into communal euphoria. Ten years after their last release, Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band return with their first new album in a decade - and their first ever recorded inside a professional studio. Produced by Tommy Brenneck (known for his work with Amy Winehouse, Charles Bradley, Sharon Jones, Beyonce, Mark Ronson, and The Budos Band), the album captures the band with a depth and clarity never heard before - without sacrificing the ecstatic propulsion that defines them. The result is both refinement and revelation. The phin still soars in sharp, spiraling lines; the percussion still drives with marathon intensity; but now every texture resonates with new dimension. It is the sound of a village tradition amplified for the world stage - communal, kinetic, and joyfully uncontainable. Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band do not simply perform songs; they create momentum. They build trance from repetition. They turn celebration into transport. A decade later, their return feels less like a comeback and more like a continuation of something timeless - music that exists beyond borders, beyond genres, and beyond expectation.

Piazzolla in the hands of a new generation - with passion, freedom, and virtuosity. The fourth Supraphon album by the 21-year-old performer Daniel Matejca brings a change of genre. Following virtuosic sonatas by Eugene Ysaÿe (2023), a chamber music album with pianist Jan Schulmeister (Suk, Martinu, Fiser, 2025), and exciting concertos by Shostakovich and Prokofiev with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and Tomas Netopil (2025), the focus now turns to tango nuevo, inseparably associated with astor Piazzolla. Besides the Argentine tango, his language as a composer reflects not only the contemporary classical music he studied in Paris under Nadia Boulanger, but also jazz and especially the music of Bach, which Piazzolla played on the bandoneon to the surprise of many people. On a map, Piazzolla would lie along an imaginary axis between Buenos Aires, Paris, and New York. It may well have been this breadth of inspiration that captivated Daniel Matejca, who plays piano and percussion as well as violin (not to mention the wide range of genres he performs) and the exceptional accordion player Martin sulc, whose palette of colours ranges from intimacy to an almost orchestra fullness at times. Their flawless ensemble is a given; what is more striking is the degree of freedom and expressivity they bring to it. Both suites (Suite del angel, Histoire du Tango) contain clearly audible echoes of Piazzolla's studies in Paris. Of course, the album could not omit Ave Maria, Oblivion, Escualo, and Finale, irresistible works that alone would be enough to secure Piazzolla's immortality. This recording by two young musicians captivated by the Argentine legend may well contribute to that lasting legacy.

This box set offers an immersion into the vibrant spirit of the Roaring Twenties. Curated by Norman Barreau-Gély and Olivier Julien, it pays tribute to the singers who shaped the musical and cultural imagination of the interwar years. From Paris to Broadway, it gathers the queens of the music hall-Mistinguett, Joséphine Baker-the great "réaliste" singers such as Damia and Fréhel, as well as the muses, including Kiki de Montparnasse (whose complete recordings are presented here). A unique sonic journey where glamour, boldness, humor, sensuality, and irreverence converge to tell, through music, the story of the women who, a hundred years ago, dared to transform their era. Patrick Frémeaux

From his early days in Parisian cabarets to his first recordings, Marc Ogeret embodied the art of interpretation with rare intensity and intelligence. Singing Léo Ferré, Guy Béart, Aristide Bruant, François Villon, and Pierre Seghers, he united poetry with commitment. This 2-CD set, curated by Jean-Baptiste Mersiol, highlights his earliest recordings, spanning traditional and popular songs to contemporary hits, and reveals a generous interpreter of unmatched nuance. French song in it's most authentic, committed form. Patrick Frémeaux

Gypseas of Infinity is a sonic ceremony, a collection of songs reimagined from sacred circles and brought to life in the studio. Each track invites listeners into a space of connection, meaning, and beauty. These songs serve as musical medicine for a world in need of healing-a reminder of what happens when spirit and sound become one.

Planet Ilunga, the Brussels-based publisher has, since 2013, produced a series of recordings dedicated to the history of Congolese popular music from artists like Franco & OK Jazz, Docteur Nico, Orchestre Rock-a-Mambo and Joseph Kabasele & African Jazz.

Whoever has seen them, Mounia and Areski, rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Ile or elsewhere, a little eternal hat for him, a gavroche cap for her, quickly grasps the content of their bond. Between the actress-author and the mythical composer, the sun has been shining for a long time. "With Areski, we have been fraternizing for a few years, we can say that we are celebrating our decade, she smiles between two runs, and much more besides since we met in 2013. And it is almost halfway through this relationship that I approached him for a joint project aimed at nourishing our friendship and making it grow, I thought we needed to work together. I proposed to him a theatrical and musical show for which he would do all the music. It gave Les Momes Porteurs and this album is the original soundtrack or more exactly it was imagined, dreamed like a sound film. For all that, after twenty-three albums, most of them with his wife and partner Brigitte Fontaine, the score that Areski delivers here is once again particularly inspired, he himself rightly recognizes it's "rock dimension, trance and uppercut".

Let Us Clap is a bold tribute to the sisterhood of Lamisi's homeland. Deep in Northern Ghana, women and girls have long kept time with intricate handclaps and harmonised chants - an age-old folkloric tradition pulsing with polyrhythms and ancestral melodies. This isn't just music; it's history, passed down through generations, raw and untouched. The album was co-written with Ghanaian icon Wanlov the Kubolor.

Since bursting onto the scene in 2018 with their debut album, On, Amsterdam-based Altin Gun have been at the vanguard of the 21st century revival of Turkish-influenced psychedelic grooves. Now, the Grammy-nominated quintet return with their sixth studio album Garip - their most ambitious and diverse release to date, and a heartfelt tribute to Neset Ertas - a revered and much-loved Turkish singer, lyricist and baglama player who recorded more than 30 albums and wrote hundreds of songs. Softpak.

Ten years after their last collaboration, Jacques Duvall and Benjamin Schoos return with Plein Sommeil, a duo album that is at once melancholic, ironic, and tender-a poetic mirror of the fatigue of the modern world. The legendary lyricist for Lio, Chamfort, and Daho meets the indie pop producer and sonic adventurer of Freaksville, in a generational union as improbable as it is natural. Between Brussels and Paris, they weave songs about slowness, worn-out love, and resistance through gentleness. Blending original compositions and delicate covers (The Kinks, Higelin, Daho), the album evokes a sensual and lucid refuge amid the overheating of everyday life. Recorded with Bertrand Burgalat, The Loved Drones, and lush string arrangements, Plein Sommeil embraces a handcrafted, timeless aesthetic. It's motto: "Slow business" - a manifesto against the speed and emptiness of contemporary times. Each song, balancing irony and elegance, celebrates fragility and humanity.

TRIBUTE TO ANNE SYLVESTRE These Rendez-vous are a vibrant and contemporary tribute, performed by fifteen artists from different generations and backgrounds who have come together to celebrate the extraordinary legacy left by Anne Sylvestre through music. Each of them has expressed, in their own way, their deep attachment to her world. Whether they knew her, sang her songs, or simply admired her, they pay her a sincere tribute here, on a human level, in the emotion of a live performance. Rendez-vous Sylvestre is not just a series of videos or an album. It is a bridge between generations, a living memory, a group of artists who affirm that Anne Sylvestre's words are more necessary than ever. The location was not chosen at random: these recordings took place in the legendary Studio Ferber in Paris, where she made her last albums. Each artist chose their own cover version and provided their own musical direction. This artistic freedom gave rise to fifteen unique, deeply personal interpretations, imbued with emotion, rebellion, humor, and tenderness, echoing all the facets that illuminate Anne Sylvestre's art and personality.