An album of soulful compositions with heartfelt melodies, each piece highlighting a particular Egyptian instrument. Following Hossam Ramzy's high standard in dance pieces it washes onto the shores of world music with a hypnotic and exotic flavor. Includes four bonus practice tracks for dancers, and explanations to each of the songs.

Two CD set. 25th Anniversary edition featuring previously unheard tracks from the original 1996 recording sessions, previously unseen photos, and new liner notes. Buena Vista Social Club is both the name given to this extraordinary group of musicians and the album, recorded in just seven days in 1996 in Havana's 1950s vintage EGREM studios. It was clear from the atmosphere of the recording sessions that something very special was taking place. However, no one could have predicted that Buena Vista Social Club would become a worldwide phenomenon - awarded a Grammy in 1997 and, at 8 million copies, outselling any other record in the same genre. The acclaim of the original album has elevated the artists (including Ibrahim Ferrer, Rub�n Gonz�lez and Omara Portuondo) to superstar status, inspired an award-winning film by Wim Wenders, and has contributed to popularizing Cuba's rich musical heritage. Produced by Ry Cooder for World Circuit, the timeless quality of the music and the sheer verve of the veteran performers have ensured that this will go down as one of the landmark recordings of the 20th century. To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the album's recording, producer Ry Cooder and World Circuit's Nick Gold have gone back to the original tapes and into the archive to produce this deluxe remaster package, featuring previously unheard tracks from the original 1996 recording sessions, previously unseen photos, and new liner notes.

"• Kurdish singer and composer Sakîna presents passionate and captivating songs from Kurdistan portraying life of the people in the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iran and Iraq. • Sakina combines regional singing styles with traditional and experimental interpretative techniques. • Traditional and modern instrumental accompaniment. • Booklet contains information about the artist and each of the pieces in English and German."

Modern Bellydance: Lebanese Nights

Encore is a new album produced from previously unheard archival recordings by the legendary Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence, made in 1965 at the height of his career. Spence's radically innovative guitar style transformed elements of Bahamian traditional music into adventurous, joyful improvisations and influenced players worldwide. His powerful singing stemmed directly from the rhyming tradition created by Bahamian sponge fishermen early in the 20th century. The music is punctuated by Spence's unique, sometimes otherworldly vocalizations including humming, short bursts of lyrics, and near-scat singing. Some of the recordings include singing by Spence's sister Edith Pinder and her family members Raymond and Geneva Pinder. Producer Peter K. Siegel captured these performances at Spence's only New York concert, at the performer's cottage in Nassau, Bahamas, and at Siegel's apartment in Manhattan.

Macedonian bellydance music has a distinct ''Balkan'' flavour with its typical instrumentation blended with contemporary instruments - modern, exciting, quirky, and very ''bellydanceable''!

Hossam Ramzy, Egypt’s Ambassador of Rhythm, was born in Cairo. His musical career began early, when at the age of three he was given his first drum- an Egyptian table. His passion for percussion was noted by his family who encouraged him to master his craft by studying with the leading music teachers of Egypt. A move to Saudi Arabia introduced Hossam to many of the Bedouin tribes who gave the young Hossam a rich insight into the cultural origins of Middle Eastern music that became the inspiration for many of his later rhythmic directions. Faddah (“Silver”) is an album of classical style Egyptian Dance compositions, created by Hossam Ramzy. Creating music for a dance routine is rather complex and requires vision and innovation. You have to be able to see the dancer in your mind while writing such music for her, counting her every step, caring about her every move and working it out rhythmically, melodically and making sure it flows from mode to mode, from beat to beat with logically worked-out transitions.

This release features bouncy and sinuous bellydance music by Emad Sayyah. He writes soft and harmonious arrangements, avoiding quarter tones, using traditional instruments as well as modern ones. His compositions have found many admirers among professional belly dancers, but beginners and non-dancers will also enjoy these exciting songs. Emad Sayyah was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He has been performing professionally for more than three decades across Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, as well as Europe. Besides using traditional oriental instruments like the derbacki, rik, kanoun, nay, and santur, Emad also utilizes modern instruments like the saxophone, oboe, clarinet, accordion, keyboards, and violin.

This album features original Egyptian dance compositions as well as traditional pieces with a modern touch, by Essam Rashad. Essam Rashad was born in Cari, Egypt. He learned music from his father early in hi life. In his twenties, he worked as a composer for the national Egyptian radio station. After his father’s death, he began to study violin and joined a small orchestra, recording a great number of songs by various Middle Eastern composers. Thus he gained a great wealth of knowledge and wide-ranging experience in different musical styles and techniques. Gradually he became highly regarded as a talented musician, whereupon he was appointed to join the Egyptian National Classical Orchestra as a specialist of the oud, his first instrument. In 1981, he came to England. He then began to teach music privately, while also looking for an opportunity to release his musical works. He worked on arrangements for Indian and Western music with his special skills. At present, he is completing work on original pieces of full orchestrated modern classical music.

An exciting album with a fine collection of fiery Flamenco. 14 pieces, sung, as well as instrumental, from the very traditional to today's modern renditions, presented by some of the finest exponents in the genre.

Recorded by the ethnic folk music expert and producer Deben Bhattacharya in the year of his death (2001) for the film “Music According to Deben Bhattacharya”, this album of field recordings focuses on the Murshidi (spiritual master) singers from Bangladesh. Devotional rites and esoteric poetry set in folk music, the melodies are often nostalgic and slow. Sometimes, as can be heard on this album, the rhythm is made faster so as to make the songs more attractive. Extensive information about the history, music and instruments can be found in the accompanying booklet.

Istanbul is the interface between orient and occident. The noises and urban sounds in connection with Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish and Macedonian songs as well as nomad chants belong to the culture of Istanbul like the centuries old architecture in the city. Some notable artists featured on this album include Volkan Yilmaz, who was born in Istanbul and studied at the Istanbul Conservatory under Fuat Tukelman and Salih Bilgin and began his career as a soloist at the radio station Istabul TRT, Gulay Diri, who was born in Southern Turkey where semi-nomadic people continue their lifestyle and she was influenced by their folk music, and Muammer Ketencoglu, who is an internationally renowned musician and one of the foremost Turkish artists performing today. These are folk songs, modern compositions, nomadic chants, and improvisations, all brought together to paint an aural portrait of this ancient city.

Classical Music

Classical Music

This fun new album is a collection of sixteen Brazilian children’s songs. Pulinho Garcia performs this music wonderfully. “Garcia provides constant evidence of his mastery of the art of the Brazilian song.” (Jazz Improv Magazine) This release includes free downloadable activities and lesson ideas for parents and teachers on GLP’s language learning website.

Viguela is a five-member band from Castilla-La Mancha, who has been sustaining their homeland’s traditional music for over three decades. Their music fuses traditional songs with more modern aspects and sounds from other areas in the Iberian Peninsula and Northern Africa. Temperamento is being released alongside their 2016 European tour, which will take the group through Spain, Sweden, and Germany. “Viguela’s CD is a treasure. Full of reality, human presence, intensity – and musically and technically perfect.” (Janusz Prusinowski, Mazurkas of the World Festival)

Calypso is a form of folk music and dance from the Caribbean. Historically, Calypso can be traced back to the arrival of African slaves in the Caribbean islands in the seventeenth century. It has its roots on the island of Trinidad. The words of calypso songs are witty and humorous, usually involving social or political commentary in satirical form. The lyrics are characterized by arbitrary shifts in the accentuation of everyday English words. The infectious Calypso music is set in duple meter. It is a vital component of any carnival celebration in the Caribbean, and there are annual calypso competitions which are themselves a premier aspect of the carnivals. Born in Africa in 1968, King Selewa got into music through Jamaican 70s calypso, ska, rock-steady and early reggae music which he and his elder brother, Lord Skalipsoul, then performed live all over Europe in 1995. King Selewa and Chico, his guitar player, soon formed their own band of experienced musicians- their “Calypsonians,” in order to go deeper into the roots of Caribbean music, that is to say, Calypso. As Lord Invader said: “Calypso is folklore of Trinidad, a style of poetry recounting current events in song.”

Ten piece band Mariachi Azteca are a group of professional musicians led by Orlando Rincon Padilla. The ensemble performs across Europe, and have appeared on television multiple times. The group performs on traditional mariachi instruments, violin, vihuela, jarana, trumpets, guitarron, and accordion. This exciting and vibrant album features traditional Mexican mariachi music, as well as several modern tunes.

This new release features an Andalusian flair, with exciting tracks of traditional Flamenco and Flamenco Nuevo.; These thrilling tunes feature quick rhythms, exciting guitars, zapateados (“feet”), palmas (clapping), and jaleos (cheers).; Telling stories about love, folk customs, and festivals, these songs will transport the listener into the romantic world of Flamenco.

This release is a collection of beautiful and traditional children's songs as well as a fun and effective way for any family to learn and practice Colombian Spanish. The complete Colombian Spanish lyrics and English translations are included with this release. Having graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Berklee College of Music, after receiving the Best Achievement Scholarship, Marta G�mez has developed an extensive music career which has placed her as one of the most interesting singer songwriters on the world music scene today. Marta and her group perform a repertoire of original compositions based on a vast amount of rhythms from Latin America. On her songs, Marta mixes the joy of the Caribbean with the nostalgia of the Andes adding jazz and pop elements, taking the authenticity of South American indigenous folk music into a new realm.

Two CD set. This never-released-before project from The Owsley Stanley Foundation and Claddagh Records is the last ever by the legendary member of The Chieftains, Paddy Moloney. Bear's Sonic Journals: The Foxhunt, The Chieftains Live in San Francisco 1973 & 1976 was recorded live by legendary soundman Owsley "Bear" Stanley, at Boarding House on 1st October 1973, where The Chieftains appeared at the personal invitation of The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia.

This new release is an enchanting collection of traditional and contemporary music from mainland China and Taiwan, with both sung and instrumental pieces, showcasing traditional Chinese instruments such as the board zithers guqin and zheng, lutes, such as pipa and ruan, flutes, dizi and xiao, as well as erhu (fiddle), yangqin (hammered dulcimer), sheng (mouth-blown bamboo organ) and konghou (Chinese harp). Eastern music specialist Diz Heller compiled the songs featured here and mastered them for optimal sound quality. Authentic ensembles and musicians perform here, including the Pan Jing Ensemble, Mei Han & Red Chamber, Silk & Bamboo Ensemble, and many more. Information about each song is included in the booklet.

This release features the most beautiful songs from the Andean regions of Colombia, presented by Niyireth Alarcon who is widely known for her warm, velvety voice. Niyireth is accompanied here on traditional instruments such as the tiple, bandola, guitars, bombo, and percussion. Born in Garzon, Niyireth Alarcon is a mezzoprano with a first class singing technique. In over twenty years of continuously working with Colombian music of the Andes, Niyireth has made her contribution to theis genre by taking its singing to new levels seeking to bring the genre close to the Latin American singing movement.

From the beautiful and mysterious equatorial African nation of Angola, a country which has had such a mixed and varied history, comes an album of supremely colorful music written, produced and performed by the veteran Angolan musician Manuel Diogo.Capturing the infectious sounds of traditional and contemporary Angolan gospel music, it blends various popular styles such as semba, rebita, mainstream Angolan folk, and northern Angolan Kintweni rhythms.

‘Masters of the Arabian Flute’, produced by Hossam Ramzy, is an album of haunting and beautiful atmospheric music with nay and kawala, keyboards, bass, mizmar, piano and percussion. + Mohamed Naiem, born in Port-Said on the northern edge of the Suez Canal, has demonstrated a rare talent for playing the nay and kawala, very difficult instruments to play, and it is rare to find someone who plays both flutes with such precision, talent and soul-captivating spirituality. + He has recorded on several of Hossam’s productions and has done live radio and TV recordings with the best Shaabi singers.