This release features authentic contemporary Hungarian gypsy music collected from all over the country, as well as original compositions. A wide array of instruments (guitar, pitcher, cajon, darbuka, tapan, spoons, mouth bass, mandolin, violin, bouzouki, cimbalom, double bass and 4 voices) make for an infectious, interesting and entertaining album. Khamoro Budapest Band is a folklore band that plays authentic contemporary Hungarian gypsy music collected from all over the country. Besides collected music and covers, they write, compose and publish their own original songs. Their virtuosic songs are accompanied with ‘voice bass’ and other colorful ornamentations in the accompanying voices and instruments. The music touches the hearts of the audiences and they can become deeply emotional. The lyrics sung in polyphonic modes are of real life stories about family, love, sorrow, and happiness.

Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian was the unparalleled master of the oud, the Middle Eastern lute. Here he showcases many styles of oud playing, with fourteen folk songs and original compositions from his homeland of Armenia, as well as Turkey, Lebanon and Greece. “Oud at lightning speed with incredible sensitivity to the melody” - Allmusic.com “An earthy, elevating sound…” - Elsewhere New Zealand “The improvisational work is world class…” - OmRadio USA ALAN SHAVARSH BARDEZBANIAN was born into an Armenian family in the thriving ethnic community of Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1950. Musically gifted from an early age, Al began playing the oud as a child, modeling his playing on the versatile dance band musicians like George Mgrditchian and Richard Hagopian who performed in the local clubs every weekend. By his teens, Al had already mastered the Armenian dance hall repertoire, which he continued to perform for the rest of his life, and began exploring a wide range of other musical idioms, particularly the contemporary jazz scene of the 1960s.

Those who endeavor to live on this Atlantic Archipelago have been torn away from both Europe and Africa. They are imbued with saudade, the nostalgia born from separation. From hardships, the Creole language, and cross-bred poetry and culture were born, which the music from the various islands of Cape Verde is now taking over the seas. Cape Verde appeared for the first time on a geographical map in 1460 when this uninhabited archipelago was discovered by Portuguese sailors some five hundred kilometres off the coast of Senegal. Cape Verde history began a few years later, with the settlement of poor colonists and adventurers sent by the Portuguese Crown, followed by slave deportation from Africa, in order to cultivate the islands’ mostly dry and barren land. Finally, on July 5th, 1975, after five centuries of Portuguese domination, Cape Verde obtained its independence. The identity of Cape Verde is based on the forced meeting between the dominating, colonizing culture of the Portuguese masters, and the few scattered elements of various African cultures which were clandestinely passed on through generations of slaves. Today, the Black, White and cross-bred Cape Verde inhabitants, or emigrants, are all proud of their rich heritage of music and poetry, born from these confrontations and mixtures, and the morna –now famous throughout the world– has become its best ambassador.

Celtic Thunder - "Celebration: Favorite Pop Hits Across The Decades" - Celtic Thunder is back with a compilation of classic and modern hits! The tracklist includes romantic American standards I Want to Know What Love Is, Nights in White Satin (Moody Blues), (Everything I Do) I Do it For You and modern favorites I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) and When I Was Your Man (Bruno Mars). The group celebrates their Irish roots with renditions of The Boys Are Back In Town (Thin Lizzy) and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, made famous by Irish rockers U2.

Classical Music

Sufism broadly refers to the esoteric Islamic tradition represented by many strains, most of whom explain the creation of the universe with the principle of Unity of Being. The Sufi understanding is that God is the Sole Being and that all creatures manifest reflections of His Being. Music has always been part of religious rituals, producing forms and styles that remain as basic patterns of the society's musical tradition. Some of the Sufi branches utilized music as a significant spiritual training method whereas some other Sufis relied on other techniques. The Mevlevi order, which follows the path of Rumi, is a leading example of a Sufi branch that accompanies the inner teachings by intensely using the medium of music. Turkish Sufi music has been perfected throughout the ages across many countries. There are two types of Turkish Sufi music: the music employed at the mosque and at the tekke, or convent. This album features relaxing Sufi music recorded in Turkey. These works are played at the tekke at ceremonies of the whirling dervishes, as well as some never before recorded music commonly played in Turkish mosques.

After all is said and done, after 30 years, after a pandemic which shattered the world, after thousands of kilometers travelled and many more thousands of notes played and sung, what remains ? A deep love and respect for great music and the greatness in music, a deep love for the humanity that is brought to life by it, a deep appreciation for the gift of friendship and for the power and resonance that brought and kept us together all these years, and for that curiosity and passion, that meticulous quest to unveil the deepest mysteries of music, that drives us always onwards. Finally, we’ve given it a name: Afterallogy

These mask dances, folk songs, and ceremonies come from the state of Jharkhand in India. This is energetic and up-tempo music played on purely traditional instruments, flutes, folk oboes, various drums, and percussion. Three of these tracks were made during the Karam Festival. On the eleventh day of the moon in the month of Bhad the head of the family brings home two branches of the karam tree and in the evening plants them side by side in the courtyard of the house. He then makes an offering of milk, ghee, and bread made of rice flour to the gods. Meanwhile the inhabitants of the house dress up and sing and dance in the courtyard or by the house. Performing these works is the Chhau and Nagpuri group.

After all is said and done, after 30 years, after a pandemic which shattered the world, after thousands of kilometers travelled and many more thousands of notes played and sung, what remains ? A deep love and respect for great music and the greatness in music, a deep love for the humanity that is brought to life by it, a deep appreciation for the gift of friendship and for the power and resonance that brought and kept us together all these years, and for that curiosity and passion, that meticulous quest to unveil the deepest mysteries of music, that drives us always onwards. Finally, we’ve given it a name: Afterallogy

Vinyl LP pressing of this 1978 album from the reggae group.

Margie Butler: Carolan's Draught - Celtic Harp

The phenomenal French-horn player Radek Baborak comes with a new album (his second on Animal Music) featuring music by the Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, in arrangements that were tailor-made for his eleven-member ensemble which unites foremost Czech and international players. Piazzolla's music - which listeners all over the world know as a one of the purest expressions of "tango nuevo"- does not feature French horn. Radek Baborak, however, continues on his pioneering mission of an arranger and a performer of Piazzolla's work in atypical line-ups. The role of the bandoneon - traditionally the carrier of the Argentine-tango sound - is here taken over by the French horn, the bass clarinet, violin and piano. Baborak thus succeeds in reaching his desired aim, which is not to sound as one of the many "revival bands" of Piazzolla's own legendary quintet. Instead, the arrangements let the music itself stand out and they highlight the masterful invention of Piazzolla who was able to combine in his compositions great expressivity and exulted passion with melancholy and humbleness. All those qualities remain at the heart of the interpretation by Radek Baborak Orquestrina while they are taken to a whole new level in this recording based on perfect harmony and vigorous interpretation.

On this release, the Red Army Choir sings traditional and orthodox Christmas songs. Even when singing such familiar music, the precision of the ensemble's sound reveals the full mastery of the choir's vocal skills. Combined with a unique feeling for these carols' arrangements, these performances remind the listener exactly why the Red Army Choir was one of the great artistic symbols of the Soviet era.

The new Musical Explorers series from ARC Music makes available, often for the first time, a valuable range of historical films and audio recordings gathered from all over the world. The next release on this series is Music of Tibet, curated by Simon Broughton. Accompanying the album is Deben Bhattacharya’s film, Echoes from Tibet, which was shot in 1979 in Ladakh, Darjeeling and Dharamsala. This is where many Tibetan exiles and the Dalai Lama (who appears in the film) are based. The music on the accompanying album was recorded in 1975 and 1979 in the refugee communities of Ladakh, Himalchal Pradesh, Sikkim and Darjeeling, and also in Sarnath, close to Varansi where The Buddha gave his first sermon. The music on the album was recorded by Deben Bhattacharya on his Nagra in 1975 and 1979. “For the new Musical Explorers series by the British label, the world music expert Simon Broughton has raised a real treasure.”

The music of the British Isles has been charming audiences for centuries. This beautiful collection of Celtic music from Ireland, Scotland and Brittany features famous Celtic artists such as Cunla, Colm O Foghlu, Noel McLoughlin, Clannad, and many more. The songs presented are a shimmering array of the most wistful and beautiful songs and instrumental pieces, which are in a similar vein as the “Titanic” soundtrack, or the ever-popular “Riverdance.” Folk songs are presented here in their most authentic forms, as well as several more recent compositions inspired by these roots. This is true cornucopia of Celtic jewels!

Classical Music

Nominated for 'Best Band' at the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, The Rheingans Sisters are one of the most visionary acts on the British folk scene today. Their new album Receiver follows 2018's Bright Field – a record that dazzled audiences and critics with its Leonard Cohen-esque lyrical imagery and strikingly inventive arrangements of violins, banjo, Bearnaise three-holed flute and Pyrenean stringed drum. Produced by Andy Bell (Karine Polwart, The Furrow Collective, Sam Sweeney) Receiver is their first collaboration with record label bendigedig (the team behind Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita's SOAR).

Produced by Andre Benichou, this record is the result of an encounter between Pedro Ibanez, the great Spanish classical guitarist, and Vadim Avdeev, the director and arranger of Boris Alexandrov's Red Army Choir. This collaboration between two universes combines the Iberian guitar and the Mediterranean traditions with the power and rigor of a Russian choir evoking the collective soul of the great peoples of the north.

"Quebec has always endorsed its culture, upholding its folklore and traditional music as well as its popular variety genre. Two eminent historians from Montreal (Martin Duchesne and Robert Therien) have decided to create a descriptive catalogue of successful songs from 1900 to 1960. This 4 CDs boxed set features 100 titles which were all well-received at the time and which belong to the history of Francophone songs in North America." Patrick Fremeaux & Claude Colombini

Classical Music

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Founded in Tel-Aviv in 1964, the Batsheva Dance Company has been headed since 1990 by Ohad Naharin: an incredible dancer with musical training, who has a true passion for movement. Through his “Gaga” technique, a choreographic vocabulary that explores the sensations and the availability of the bodies, he made his mark on the dance world and offered the company its finest hours. In 2015, Tomer Heymann’s documentary “Mr. Gaga” paid tribute to the Naharin phenomenon, its influence on the contemporary dance scene and in pop culture. This diptych aims to broaden the Batsheva videography by, as a showcase of Naharin’s aesthetics and demanding technique, featuring two of the most emblematic works in the company’s current repertoire, both filmed in Paris: Naharin’s Virus and Last Work. A collective creation, Naharin’s Virus is, in a way, a dialogue between Naharin’s choreographic style and the Batsheva dancers’. Its starting point is the text Publikumsbeschimpfung (Offending the Audience) by the Austrian playwright Peter Handke. An aesthetic manifesto, it is also a political piece: it is worth noting, for instance, that it features traditional music written by a Palestinian composer… A carefully negotiated balance between frenzy and meditation, a frail and unstable whole saturated with an enigmatic opacity and symbolism, Last Work is also a politically committed, ethically-charged piece reflecting on war, peace, oppression and coercion. While dance is stretched up to its limits, Naharin’s choreographic gesture calls for a new outlook on our contemporary world, its violence, its possibilities, its future.

China’s rich and diverse musical heritage has been recorded and documented in a stunning, original collection. With twenty albums in the pipeline, this is a highly specialized series with the appeal of perhaps being the closest thing to the ‘complete works’ of traditional Chinese music.Each album features a different region of the vast territory; an historical snapshot of China’s heritage. Due to the cultural privacy China mandates, these are in fact rare, musical gems. This is volume nineteen of a twenty album series, exploring China’s rich and diverse musical heritage. It includes ballads and love songs of the Lahu, featuring the gourd mouth organ and Jew’s harp; the most famous working song of the Jingpo people, the husking rice tune Yue Lu; mountain and hunting songs of the Jino peoples, played on bamboo ideophones; and excerpts from the Achang opera of spring lantern.

World Travel - Bellydance

In the year of the centenary of Ástor Piazzolla’s birth, an album comprising some of the renowned composer’s best-known compositions in the style of the Argentine tango is released by the conductor and phenomenal horn player Radek Baborák. The album’s release on 11 March 2021 marks what would have been Piazzolla’s one hundredth birthday. Coincidentally, Radek Baborák, who has completed his pioneering journey as an arranger of Piazzolla’s work with this album, celebrates his birthday on the same day. The album has been recorded in collaboration with Radek Baborák Orquestrina, an ensemble composed of foremost soloists and chamber players. Its variable line-up is adjusted according to the needs of individual projects which mostly consist of tailor-made arrangements of music originally composed for other instruments. Baborák’s wish to extend the repertoire for the French horn through such arrangements eventually brought him to Ástor Piazzolla. In collaboration with the arranger Tomáš Ille and having received consultations from the famous violinist Fernando Suárez Paz who had been member of Piazzolla’s acclaimed Quinteto for ten years, Baborák introduced his first, original arrangements of Piazzolla’s music in 2014, on the debut album of his ensemble. In 2019 he dedicated an entire eponymous album to Piazzolla, also recorded by Orquestrina. The characteristic sound of tango, provided by the bandoneon, is produced in Baborák’s arrangements by the French horn, bass clarinet, violin and piano. Together with his colleagues, Baborák has expanded the catalogue of sounds and sound effects available for the performance of Piazzolla’s music, including rapping on the French horn, slaps performed on bass clarinet, prepared piano, glissandos, imitation of the sound of cicadas, sirens and others. Performing Piazzola’s music, the members of Orquestrina often incorporate improvised cadenzas, fixed improvisations and make free with Piazzolla’s typical ornamentation.

Celtic Woman - "20 (20th Anniversary)" Capitol Music Group; Celtic Woman returns with a brand-new album to celebrate this incredible 20-year milestone. 20 (20th Anniversary) - the CD - features 18 new recordings and is the group's first new studio album since 2021's Postcards From Ireland. It features new arrangements of beautiful and iconic songs, some new compositions and, of course, some fan favorites.