Folk & Traditional / Traditional

Irish based Syrian/Kurdish artist Mohammad Syfkhan’s debut album ‘I Am Kurdish’ shows his brand of ecstatic music which takes elements from Middle Eastern and North African music to create an atmosphere of joy, love and happiness.

** 2025 stock. ** Lost Sounds Of The Tao (Chinese Masters Of The Guqin In Historic Recordings) reveals the refined artistry of Lo Ka Ping, presenting rare archival performances that mirror the spiritual depth and cultural resonance of the guqin tradition. The album’s historic recordings capture an intimate sonic landscape rooted in Chinese philosophy and poetic subtlety, honoring both instrument and legacy.

In the remote villages of Vietnam's Central Highlands, a profound musical transformation is taking place. Traditional songs that have echoed through generations of the Jerai, Banhar, Ede, and Rongao ethnic groups now exist alongside new forms of expression, creating a complex sonic landscape that Vincenzo Della Ratta has documented across two decades of field recording. This exceptional release captures not just the music itself but a pivotal moment in cultural history—the last flowering of anci…

This album bridges past and present through the voice and instruments of Maria Violenza and Luciano Turella, with the Irtumbranda project (formerly performing as the duo BrandaMaria), offering an intimate and visceral reinterpretation of Sicilian musical tradition. On Side A, the island’s ancient melodies come to life through an interpretation that enhances their raw and profoundly visceral character. Maria Violenza, who grew up listening to these songs in family gatherings and popular festivals…

"Kizaki Ondo" is a folk song from Nitta Kizaki town in Gunma, north of Tokyo. Played annually by local performers at the Bon-Odori traditional summer dance festival, it features unabashed lyrics about prostitution along with a rhythmic drive sure to appeal to fans of contemporary electronic genres as well as aficionados of traditional musics. The first track is a wildly echoing vocal version recorded in 1980, redolent of humid summer nights; the second track, recorded in 1981, is an instrumental…

40girls by Ya Tosiba: Rooted in folk music’s storytelling spirit the album introduces a dynamic conversation between generational memory and progressive innovation. It is crafting a soundscape that feels feminine, elusive and powerfully transformative. The album opens with delicate samples of the Şüştər and Rahab makams with its soft and ethereal textures intertwining with subtle, noisy experimentation. Kita Koun Kan by Sabou-Gnouman De Kita: Kita, a small town in the West of Mali was once consi…

"The Begena is one of those rare musical instruments of the world that has survived for more than 5800 years. What is fascinating about it is not only its age but the fact that both its manufacture and the purpose for which it is being played have never changed during all these years. It is still made of wood and animal products, such as the intestine of the sheep for the strings, the leather that covers the sound box. It is used for praying, for praising God and for meditation, just as it was i…

Julian Kytasty is celebrated around the world as a master of the bandura. This plucked-string instrument has become a symbol of Ukraine through its association with the deep tradition of the kobzari. On Songs of Truth: Music and Song from the Kobzar Tradition of Ukraine, he brings expressive clarity and vibrancy to this centuries-old repertoire of these blind bards through skillfully retold historical epics, timeless philosophical songs, biting satire, and joyful dance tunes.

"Shinshunfu" exists at a crossroads, a form both distinctly Japanese and distinctly "other", a complex blend of folk strains that is deep with emotional resonance and hard to place even for aficionados of Japanese traditional music. "Of "Shinshunfu", only the drone of the shō and the occasional taiko hit appear in plain view. The exploration sits comfortably in the idiosyncratic sound world that Ken has been prolifically constructing for himself in the last few years (what he has come to call "…

"This was traditional, transformative music, and music that made so much sense coming from EM's epicenter."― Matt Werth  Printed on special paper embossed with matte silver aluminium foil. Please consider the jacket illustration as an image as the texture of the original cannot be reproduced graphically. The disc is a translucent coloured disc with the image of the Okinawa sun. A charming set of double transformations on this 7 inch. "Kajyadhi Fu Bushi" is a traditional Ryukyu minyo (Okinawa fol…

"Deep session! It is rare to hear folk music from Japan in such beautiful fidelity and incredible dynamics. This recording is intensely gorgeous and hauntingly disarming. This should open up a whole new world of adventurous listening for folks outside (and inside!) Japan."―Brian Shimkovitz  "Sounds absolutely great! Super interesting and engaging."―Ben UFO "Just Give Me That Old Time Religion, It's Good Enough For Me."―Japan Blues A hotline to the gods! Kagura is a thousand-year-old form of Japa…

Marewrew (pronounced: Ma-leoo-leoo / mɑleːul̯ eːu)̯ is a female vocal group that sings traditional Ainu songs. The music of the long-suppressed people from northern Japan has been a particular focus of Pingipung's output in recent years, together with Oki Kano who recorded and produced many Ainu artists. Following various re-releases by Umeko Ando, the late grande dame of traditional Ainu music, the spotlight is now on the a cappella music of Marewrew, which by the way means ‘butterfly’ in Ainu.…

Zehra is proud to present the debut album Istehlal by the Mohamad Zatari Trio, consisting of musicians from Syria, Iran and India. The trio merges traditional Middle Eastern sounds with contemporary vibes incl. interpretations of Hossein Alizadeh and Riad Al-Sunbati classics.

Teppana Jänis was born in the village of Uuksujärvi in Suistamo on 21 June 1850. After becoming blind in the late 19th century, he went house to house, supporting himself by playing the kantele, a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument belonging to the southeast Baltic box zither family. He performed at dances and in schools, and also participated in the Suistamo kantele and runosong competitions in 1911. In the summers of 1916 and 1917, the young folk music researcher Armas …

Nyahh is honoured to be able to present this collection of airs to you from some of Ireland’s best fiddlers.

A lost classic of the Ethiopian Golden Age, reissued in full for the first time! On this 1976 gem of a record, Aselefech Ashine and Getenesh Kebret’s voices intertwine in close harmony, the two “beauties” singing in duet across 10 gorgeous tracks. The Army Band, which backed greats like Tlahoun Gesesse and Mahmoud Ahmed, brings Mulatu-esque minor-key piano runs, interlocking percussion, and rock-steady basslines. Arranger Teshome Sisay’s flute winds through the compositions, tying together glori…

*2025 stock* Born in 1945, Guo Yongzhang has performed zhuizi, a traditional Chinese style of narrative singing, for half a century. An artform whose history spans over a century, zhuizi originated in Henan province. Its main musical instruments are the zhuihu, a two-stringed bowed lute, and the zhuibang, a wooden percussion played with foot tapping. Almost completely blind, Guo Yongzhang is known for his peculiar, resounding yet smooth vocal style. He sings with deep feelings and great verve. L…

A long-time best-seller of the MEG-AIMP collection and long out of print, this album of sanza music recorded among the Gbaya people of the Central African Republic by ethnomusicologist Vincent Dehoux was originally released on CD in 1993. It is now being reissued to coincide with the exhibition Afrosonica - Soundscapes. It features a selection of 'songs for thought': an intimate repertoire conducive to introspection, accompanied by the repetitive, meditative sound of lamellaphones.

Big Tip! *2024 stock* Qawwali is a syncretic musical form of heterodox Islam (the unorthodox doctrines of the Sufis, a group of ascetics and mystics) in South Asia. Derived from the Arabic Qaul (to say, creed, word), the term designates both an Indian and Pakistani musical genre and its manifestation. A religious song designed to convey the message of Sufi poetry, Qawwali is performed by an ensemble of professional male musicians (the Qawwal) ranging from 3 to 13 people.

*2024 stock* The Amha Records label issued approx 250 tracks in six years (1969-1975). 8 songs on this "Ethiopiques 3" CD are accompanied by bands affiliated with the Police. Indeed, until the very end of the 1960s, Ethiopia had no independant modern bands. Musical life was wholly dominated by the institutional bands attachd to either the Imperial Body Guard, the Police, the Army, the ciry of Addis Ababa, Agher Feqer Mahber or the Hayle Sellasie Theatre. Each of these institutions developed seve…

*2024 stock* "Tigrigna music" refers to music of Tigray and Eritrea. The majorities in each of these territories share the same language, Tigrigna. Tigrigna music, dominant in Tigray and Eritrea, is quite distinct, both rhythmically and melodically, from 'Ethiopian' music, though both share the pentatonic scale. However, the instrument and traditional musical practices are similar, while their names may vary. Aside from the Tigrean Bèzuayènè Zègèyè, most of the artists featured on this album are…

*2024 stock* For many years everything we knew about Mahmoud Ahmed (and Ethiopian music in general) was limited to the cult album Erè Mèla Mèla (Ethiopiques 7 CD 829802), recorded in 1975 but released for the first time in Europe in 1986. Mahmoud's first LP, Almas ("Almaz men eda nèw"), recorded two years before Erè Mèla Mèla, now bears new witness to the talent of one of the greatest Ethiopian artists of the past 35 years.

*2024 stock* The Alèmayèhu songs already presented in Ethiopiques 3 and 8 have given a foretaste of this outstanding stylist of Ethiopian pop, a singer as remarkable for his frenetic rock numbers as for his heartrending ballads. By dint of rampant Americanism, he earned himsef such nicknames as The Ethiopian James Brown or the Abyssinian Elvis. With his dazzling stage presence, nimble voicebox and wicked pompadour, he is a strutting show-off, straight out of American Graffiti or Saturday Night F…

*2024 stock* Emptiness, melancholy, nostalgia; doom and gloom, morbid musings; heartache or  homesickness: such is the stock in trade of the misery and mournful memories expressed by the song Tezeta - Ethiopia's majestic hymn to the blues. Etymologically, the word itself means memory, nostalgia, and several Ethiopian authors have used Tezeta as the title for their memoirs. For Ethiopians, it is the Tezeta genre that seems to capture the essence of the blues.

*2024 stock* «Asguèbba!» is the Azmari’s cry urging listeners to enter into the dance, an invitation carrying the same sexual innuendo as Latino’s ¡Va dentro! The recordings on this CD are intended as a continuation of those in Tètchawèt! (Ethiopiques 2) and feature most of the artists from the first edition.The songs are accompanied on the mèessenqo (one string fiddle), the krar lyre, the kebero drum and the accordion.

*2024 stock* «An authentic legend in Ethiopia, Mahmoud Ahmed has laid down the basis of a music style which is resolutely original in the way it synthesizes the most diverse influences into a language both typical and universal. With his haunting, serpentine voice, at the same time raucous and velvety, Mahmoud Ahmed has invented a world of uncertain borders, an improbable mix of Eastern-African rhythmic lines, mysterious laments with refined ornamentation and melodies of unexpected Indian modula…

*2024 stock* Russ Gershon and his Grammy-nominated Either/Orchestra have included many Ethiopian pieces into their repertoire in recent years. In January 2004, the Boston big band travelled to Addis for a dream-come-true concert featuring prestigious Ethiopian guests, among them Mulatu Astatqè (Ethiopiques 4, «Broken Flowers») and Gétatchèw Mekurya (Ethiopiques 14). This recording perfectly renders the energy and emotion of this gathering, with beautiful arrangements remarkably performed by exce…

*2024 stock* Alèmayèhu Eshèté is no less than one of the great voices of the heyday of modern Ethiopian music -- the Swinging Sixties which, in Ethiopia, went on until the fall of the Emperor Haile Sellassie I in 1974. On a par with Tlahoun Gèssèssè, Bzunèsh Bèqèlè or Mahmoud Ahmed, Alèmayèhu is a star at the top of the constellation that once lit up the wild nights in the capital city Addis Ababa. The singer, as remarkable for his frenetic rock numbers as for his heart-rending ballads, has, by …

*2024 stock* As was the case with Ethiopiques 1 and 3, this 24th CD in the Ethiopiques collection presents a selection of powerful pieces from the historical Amha Records catalogue. We meet again with such artists as Ayaléw Mèsfin, Gétatchèw Kassa and Sèyfou Yohannes, and are introduced to other artists as yet unreleased or hardly known in the West, among them Menelik Wèsnatchèw, Seyoum Gèbrèyès, Tamrat Molla and Wubshèt Fisseha. Bonus tracks: Two pieces by the young Mulatu Astatqé, recorded in …

*2024 stock* For a long time downplayed and deprived of any recognition whatsoever, oromo music is one of the liveliest Ethiopian musical traditions. This 28th volume of Ethiopique pays tribute to Ali Birra, the man in whom Oromo music has irrepressibly affirmed itself since the 1960s. A very unusual groove, very different from gouragué, amhara and tigrignarhythms, a relentless quest for identity and, on top of that, a guitar style that would stand out anywhere. (Most of the pieces presented her…

*2024 stock* Kassa (1927-1973) belongs to the long tradition of melancholy raconteurs with a decided gift of gab. The unique embrace of his deep voice heightens the emotion generated by the hum of his lyrics. For Ethiopians he is, along with such other great post-war voices as Assèfa Abatè, Fréw Haylou, Asnaqètch Wèrqu or Kètèma Mèkonnen, a perfect example of the culture of the word: poetry and freedom of expression, wit and impressive verve that hits the mark, quiet vehemence and merciless loqu…

*2023 stock* These are live recordings of Nikhil Banerjee at KPFA Radio in Berkeley, California, on the 9th of July, 1967. It is for the first time they are made into vinyl record and published in China. The original recordings were on two reel-to-reel tapes. In 1988, American record label Raga Records released the recordings on both CD and cassette. Until a few years ago, it was by chance that producer Tu Fei got hold of these reel-to-reel tapes and decided to release this vinyl version, hoping…

*2024 stock. Deluxe packaging* Fascinating and highly attractive project which returns the music of Gurdjieff (c. 1866 – 1949) to its ethnic inspirational sources. To date Gurdjieff’s compositions have largely been studied, in the West, via the piano transcriptions of Thomas de Hartmann. Armenian composer Levon Eskenian now goes beyond the printed notes to look at the musical traditions that Gurdjieff encountered during his travels, and rearranges the compositions from this perspective. Eskenian…

*85 copies limited edition* Rooted deeply in traditional Sakha music Aldana Duoraan creates a meditational state of mind using an instrument called “khomus” and her voice. The second album of Prague based musician born in Sakha republic is a two-sided EP called “sɯrdɯk / qaraŋa” which means “lightness / darkness”. The name is inspired by the duality of the universe, light and dark sides of a person, ever changing reality. The name of the album is written in the first Sakha alphabet created by Sa…

Big Tip! New Torso!  Gloriously mature and engrossing movements for cello, flute and tape self-released from the Japanese duo on their Ozato label. It’s hard to write anything about Torso’s music without giving the impression that this is polite, nicely buttoned-up contemporary classical dishwater.  It isn’t.  The same constituents are there - bowed cello, shimmering flute, woody upright bass and expensive-sounding reed instruments.  Yet the arrangements take cues from addictive indie-pop struct…

Imaginative re-workings and improvisations by Andrew Tuttle of the late great Michael Chapman's unfinished instrumental album. Sonic explorations that bridge the Southern and Northern Hemisphere via the Caribbean, remote Northumberland and sub-tropical Australia. Navigating calm seas and turbulent waters of ambient corals, new-age pirates, waves of lapping banjos and drifting eroding guitars. When Michael Chapman passed away in September of 2021, at the age of 80, he did so – as he spent much of…

Wapna'kik (The People of the Dawn) by Mi'kmaw musical group Sons of Membertou foregrounds the powerful voices of their people. First released in 1995, Wapna'kik documents a vital resurgence of the Membertou community’s music practices. The 2025 updated edition by Smithsonian Folkways includes "Mi'kmaq Honour Song" and "500 Years," introducing a new generation of singers and musicians. Their addition to the album exemplifies the diversity of Mi’kmaw sonic and poetic expressions, which continue, a…

In 1940, over 100,000 Jewish men and women lived in Tunisia. Thirty years later, no more than 10,000 remained. Today, only a few of them have resisted the historical forces that dispersed their families and their neighbours. In spite of this exile, the thousand-year-old presence of Tunisian Jews has left an eternal and delightful imprint on the country’s landscapes and its heritage - cultural, culinary and, of course, musical. Habiba Msika, Louisa Tounsia, Raoul Journo and El Kahlaoui Tounsi, re…

*300 copies limited edition* Slavic Folk Songs is a collection of songs and sacred chants from diverse Slavic regions, based on oral traditions and melodies often without authors or composers, with a special emphasis on Ukrainian songs. The songs have been arranged by the duo for two voices and are performed a cappella by Latvian singers Ansis Bētiņš and Artūrs Čukurs, in various techniques, characteristic to the specific Slavic singing traditions. The songs are performed in a traditional s…

Born in 1989 in Bamako, Mali, Nfaly Diakité is a member of the Donsow, Bambara animist hunters. Nfaly Diakité is named after his grandfather, the late Nfaly Diakité, one of Mali’s most respected donso chiefs. His grandfather did not play, but as a leading figure in the donso brotherhood, he was always accompanied by musician Yoro Sidibé. Nfaly grew up alongside Yoro Sidibé, who became his first master of the donso ngoni, a type of eight-stringed antelope skin harp. After leaving school to devote…