Muzsikás - Blues for Transylvania (Hungary 1990) @320

Their second domestic release, also with Sebestyen, is part celebration and part commemoration of a troubled history. This recording explores the traditional music of the Romanian region of Transylvania (taken from Hungary after World War I). Even the fast and furious songs have a meditative quality. This is another outstanding release from one of Europe's premier folk ensembles.

01 - Old Song from Somogy

02 - 'Legényes' from Kalotaszeg

03 - My Lord, My Lord

04 - Szapora

05 - Outlaw Song

06 - Dawn Song from Bodonkut

07 - On My Way to Kolozsvár Town

08 - 'Cimbalmos' from Bonchida

09 - Kati-Kata

10 - Old Wedding Song

11 - The Time is Autumn

Sándor Csoóri: Bagpipes, Hurdy Gurdy, Fiddle [Contra Fiddle], Vocals

Dániel Hamar: Bass, Vocals 

Péter Éri: Fiddle [Contra Fiddle], Tambura, Cello, Bombarde, Recorder, Bass, Vocals 

Mihály Sipos: Violin [Lead Violin], Vocals

Márta Sebestyén: Voice, Recorder 

Muzsikás - The Prisoner's Song (Hungary 1986) @320

MUZSIKÁS is a name given to musicians playing traditional folk music in Hungarian villages. Their performance is an exciting musical experience where the audience is transferred back to the remote Hungarian village atmosphere where traditions survived through the centuries. Members of the group play and improvise in the style of the old traditional Hungarian folk bands in which the solo violin and the song typically were accompanied by the three-stringed viola and the contrabass. The music of MUZSIKÁS can be characterized as the traditional arrangements of authentic Hungarian folk music featuring a style that is typical of the best village musicians. 

It has nothing in common stylistically with the Gypsy-Hungarian style, but is rather the true folk music of Hungary, the most beautiful melodies of which were considered by Béla Bartók to be equal with the greatest works of music.

01 - Rabnota (Prisoner's Song)

02 - Eddig Vendeg (The Unwelcome Guest)

03 - Azt Gondoltam, Eso Esik (I Thought It Was Raining)

04 - Hidegen Fujnak A Szelek (Cold Winds Are Blowing)

05 - Bujdosodal (Outlaw's Song)

06 - Repulj Madar, Repulj (Fly Bird, Fly)

07 - Regen Volt, Soka Lesz (It Was Long Ago)

08 - Szerelem, Szerelem (Love, Love)

09 - En Csak Azt Csodalom (I Am Only Wondering)

10 - Elment A Madarka (The Bird Has Flown)

Márta Sebestyén: voice, recorder

Sándor Csoóri: bagpipe, viola, hit gardon, koboz, voice

Péter Éri: double bass, buzuki, cello, viola, tambura, zither, Turjkish pipe, voice

Dániel Hamar: double bass

Mihály Sipos: violin

with

Antal Racz: zither

Levente Szorenyi: drums, bass guitar, voice

Szabolcs Szorenyi: bass guitar

Zoltan Zsurafszki: dance

Quimorucru - Projet Folk (2017 Canada) [256m4a]

Tracklist:
1. Au millieu de nulle part 03:35
2. L'oubli 03:12
3. Fier 03:28
4. Un nouveau départ 03:48
5. Ma prière 03:38
6. On t'a déjà dit 03:18
7. Que pour toi 02:28
8. Soleil de mai 03:13

Quimorucru - Gaspésie (2016 Canada) [256m4a]

Tracklist:
1. Cap à l'enfer 02:04
2. Party gaspésien 02:46
3. Pit Caribou 02:46
4. Petit Jean 03:15
5. Pour les autres 02:42
6. Une bouteille de rhum 03:02
7. Dans ton truck 02:43
8. Bidou 02:32
9. Équipé pour veiller tard 03:20
10. Jusqu'à demain 03:18
11. Les mains dans l'eau frette 03:53
12. Chez nous en Gaspésie 03:22

Quimorucru - Les Lendemains (2013 Canada) [256m4a]

Tracklist: 
1. Fier 03:33
2. Loin devant 03:12
3. La ballade de Jacques Cartier 03:10
4. Capitaine Jack 02:46
5. Ma façon à moi 02:40
6. Les temps ont changé 03:10
7. Un nouveau départ 03:48
8. Même si 03:32
9. Tite tuque ( Bosco Stomp ) 03:32
10. Sur l'autoroute 03:15
11. Toute la nuit 03:18
12. Les lendemains 02:43

Quimorucru - La Route Est Longue (2011 Canada) [256m4a]

Tracklist:
01 - La Route Est Longue
02 - Mother
03 - John Junior
04 - Quand La Bière Est Tirée
05 - Le Chasseur
06 - Elle S'appelait Sylvie
07 - À M'a Dit
08 - Comment T'impressionner
09 - Gueule De Bois
10 - John Edmond
11 - Salut John

Quimorucru - Quimorucru (2009 Canada) [256m4a]

Tracklist:
1. J'ai été au bal 03:34
2. Un gars de la baie 03:30
3. Soleil de mai 03:16
4. Mama 04:05
5. Ma prière 03:42
6. L'empress of Ireland 04:55
7. Chanson pour Éliane 03:38
8. John Edmond 03:37
9. Par la fenêtre 03:35
10. Matelôts 02:54
11. Un prochain été 03:13

Quimorucru - Quimorucru II (2007 Canada) [256m4a]

Tracklist:
01 - Mon Arbre Reel De L'anse Mcinnis
02 - Macho Gumbo
03 - Martin
04 - Un Boc Marjo
05 - On T'a Déjà Dit
06 - Ici En Gaspésie
07 - Heille Joe
08 - Le Gros Armand
09 - Su'l'quai
10 - Doux Le Loup
11 - Le Feu De La Baie
12 - Ma Bouteille

Quimorucru - En Attendant (2006 Canada) [256m4a]

Musicians:
Jean-François Cyr - Violin
Yan Cyr - Guitar, Voice
Marc-Antoine Delarosbil - Drums, Vocals
Steven Delarosbil - Accordion, Harmonica, Ukulele, stricker, Voice
Steve Delarosbil - Mandolin, Banjo, Dobro, Harmonica, Flute, stricker, Voice
Dérick Horth - Bass


(Translation.... FUNNY, please read!  poor Remi!)

Here is the story of Quimorucru .....

Quimorucru, folk group French-speaking Quebecers, but with a slight accent that makes it so nice and sweet to the ear. Arguably these six Gaspé capita Montreal, Laval, Quebec and Rimouski's beautiful, they are cheerleaders. Although a bit scattered, but always ready to put on their backpack for to conquer new audiences and make their festive music and full of all that may sound like a good mood.

It all started one day in July 2002 when the twins Delarosbil (Steve and Steven) had lost their license to fish for cod. They decided to pursue music by buying banjo and kazoo to let out their overflow of creativity. After several shows in the dark slums of the bingo halls of the Baie des Chaleurs, they had the chance to meet a friend named Rémi Whittom who, having been sacked from his job Complaints Officer of the municipality Hope, because he complained himself a little too much his salary conditions, made an immeasurable joy to join them. With little financial means to acquire any instrument, he had to resolve to hit sticks of margarine until they find better. The group sank deeper and deeper into the depths of mediocrity when a savior responding to very sweet name of Marc-Antoine Delarosbil is joining this triumvirate. Of course, being himself a virtuoso of the stick, it took Rémi reconsider the role of the group. An uncle of his mother being taken from arthritis and is unable to bend at least two fingers of his left hand, gave him the object of his dreams which he could cling to the sensitivities of all girls vibrate s' binder before this Adonis every show gives new training. This instrument was in fact, in the words of this uncle, a true Stradivarius made in China in 1985, no less. Thinking to pass money, he put his superb violin for sale on Ebay. Mal took him, a nobody not very familiar with the field of the violin could buy his violin for the magnificent sum of forty-one dollars. For a great chance, a certain Jean-François Cyr Newport and I said Newport, through the Canadian Tire Paspébiac heard Steve laugh at the misfortune of Rémi with the cashier who is actually being his cousin . Taking his courage in both hands, he decided to stand in for her sister to share his talent with the violin and by the same token offer to join the group. It took a time to reconsider the role of Rémi within the group. Quimorucru decided to do a benefit concert to pay him a guitar and put some rhythm in their tunes. Three months later, on the eve of a major show at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Port-Daniel, a major cataclysmic crisis struck the group as twin brothers singers caught the same day a strange virus that attacked without restraint to the vocal cords of the followers of opera. In disaster, the group launched an appeal to all the radio CHNC New Carlisle to find a new singer for the show the next day. Hundreds of people wanted to suddenly call QUIMORUCRU. Some had no real singing talent but could only admire their little naughty and saucy side in the interpretation of the beautiful song the little frog is eventually became a true anthem Gaspé. Others, however, sang well as the Apollo L'Anse aux Gascons prénommant Yan Cyr. In him is embodied the sensuality missing element as the group. However, there was a small problem, Mr Cyr not only excelled as a songwriter that he also played guitar. It is therefore necessary to once again reconsider the role of Rémi within the group. The group then heard five against one that is the next bassist Rémi training. This is the story of a rather unusual group that unites people from 1 to 111 years to his music and has as its motto, let the good times roll, let go and swing the potato bacaisse in the bottom of the wood box.

Discography:
2006 En Attendant
2007 Quimorucru II
2009 Quimorucru
2010 Encore nous autres (Compilation)

Tracklist:
01 - Chemin Du Moulin
02 - Samedi
03 - Cocu
04 - Tendre Et Douce
05 - Tentant
06 - C'est La Faute À Mon Grand-Père
07 - Le Train Pour Pasbebiac
08 - Le Pêcheur
09 - Emmène-Moi
10 - Le Colborne
11 - Ma P'tite Mémé
12 - Asteure J'comprends
13 - La Pilule
14 - En Attendant

Breton & Cyr - Les Grandes Folkloristes Quebecois (2006 Canada) [256m4a]

Gaétane Breton and Richard Cyr. It was the summer of 1974, Quebec gave an appointment to the world francophone for the SuperFrancofête in the old capital. Everywhere, we came into contact with all the continents and we discovered young artists from Quebec from all regions.
Among them was a guy and a girl who had met at the Cégep de Rivière-du-Loup. Gaétanne the Beauceronne of Sainte-Héndine and Richard the louperivois, had begun to sing old songs that had nourished their childhood. Without any other accompaniment than Richard's podorythmia, they enjoyed making shows for their friends and in the cafes of Rivière-du-Loup. And here we invite them to Quebec for the great event. A producer notices them, a first album is launched and the shows accumulate. An adventure of a decade begins that will take them all over the country and in Europe. They become the bearers of tradition, the ambassadors of a traditional Quebec which gives itself a young and contemporary face.
In the early 70s, Quebecois music took on more rocky accents, but with original material. Yes the song can groover in French with music from here. The youth who lived on original Anglophone music or in translation discovered an original rock that was no longer a copy. In the midst of this effervescence, the Breton-Cyr duo distinguished itself. They arrive with a personal repertoire which they have collected for the most part, present themselves without concession, a capella, with a way of singing that comes closest to the tradition. No discount, genuine. And yet it works.
It was not by chance that this success was achieved. Gaétanne Breton and Richard Cyr were young and beautiful, but that is not enough to explain their success. These songs, they loved them deeply, they stuck to the skin as well as if they had been their compositions. The tradition was alive and vibrant. We laughed with the songs of lewd or joking, the complaints moved us, all in the simplicity of an authentic interpretation. The addition of musicians, later, allowed to enrich this sonorous universe while respecting the spirit that animated them. But the 80's arrived. The post-referendum moroseness and the new decade relegated the craze for traditional music. Breton-Cyr could not survive.
But traditional music does not die. People still keep her alive and she comes back. Gaétanne Breton continues to bring her songs and tales to young audiences here and in Europe. Richard Cyr unfortunately died on April 10, 2003. But the influence of the duo continued and remains present in the memories. How many youngsters in their twenties who brought traditional music back to our stage in the mid-90s were fed, in their childhood by the album Breton-Cyr sing and content for the children.
Yves Robitaille

Tracklist:
1 Je m'en vais au marché
2 Belle grosse madame
3 Chu pas capable
4 Un ivrogne à table
5 Marie quantitome dominome
6 Le bedeau de St-David
7 Raquette à ramager
8 C'est un p'tit cordonnier
9 La courte pointe
10 C'était un beau p'tit bonhomme
11 Mon mari est malade
12 Je m'en fus dans une auberge
13 Lalam dou dou
14 L'oiseau messager
15 La violette
16 Un p'tit métier
17 Pis l'bonhomme y riait

Faraway Folk - Seasonal Man (1975 England) @320

Band founders John and Shirley Turk have had a long (although only modestly successful) career in the folk music business. This is their most notable (but not only) band, and easily represents the apex of their creative output. John Turk lays down some pretty tight fuzzed licks on his Gibson throughout the album, something that is sadly scarce on most of the band’s other albums which instead feature a lot of acoustic strumming and lack the creative ambition he demonstrated here. As the story goes, the Turks spent most of 1974 tending to a friend’s studio, which left them ample time and access to recording equipment. The band responded by recording and releasing the now impossible-to-find cassette ‘Especially for You’ and this LP, both on the obscure RA label.

ClemofNazareth review - Progarchives

1. Seasonal Man

2. The Yule Log

3. Coming Back to Brixham

4. Patterned Moon

5. Summer's End

6. Crow on a Cradle

7. Sparrow

8. Portland Town

9. Cherry Tree Carol

10. Bonny Black Hair

John Turk: guitars (incl. Gibson SR with Fuzz pedal), mandolin, vocal

Adrian Morris: rhythm guitars, harmonica, vocal

Shirley Turk: percussion, vocal

Bryony Smith: bass, banjo, vocal

Les Enfants Terribles - C'est la Vie (France 1970) @320

Gently offered by gregosgregos

Les Enfants Terribles was mostly the "thing" of Alain Feral, singer-songwriter-guitarist, a great amateur of joints and an outstanding singer, with a voice tonality to the Pascal Danel (but with balls) and a force of stentor to the Michel Corringe (who will reissue this genius there ??). His group, or rather his community, gathered his wife Luce, brothers and sister Gilles and France Pommier and the solitary Jacques Mouton ... Les Enfants Terribles were born in 1966, and produced until 1969 four Ep precursors of folk songs -rock, with rich and inflamed vocals, supported by acoustic guitars and percussion, sometimes of psychedelic electrical arrangements (the titles of 68 and 69) and with a strong poetic charge. In 1971, Barclay released "C'est la vie", an album, which as tradition wants it then, is a meeting of the Eps, except that this time, the titles are all re-recorded and rearranged. Everything is lighter, more acoustic, the electric guitars leaving the rhythmic for the arabesques. So, "C'est la vie" becomes a real folk album, with a new unity, which, while respecting a "French chanson" tone, is inspired by the British cousins, Incredible String Band in particular. 

01 C'est La Vie

02 Nativité

03 J'ai Peur De Vivre

04 Le Poète Et La Rose

05 Hissez

06 Bonjour Le Petit Jour

07 Sur Un Fil Blanc

08 Wagner

09 Titi8

10 Quand Mon Arbre

11 Monsieur L'Univers

Bonus:

12 Quand On En Aura Marre

13 Clic - Clac

14 Desolee

15 Pas De Roses Pour Rosa

16 Les Fleurs Imaginaires

17 Le Petit Opera De "P'tit Bonhomme"

18 Qu'Est-ce Qu'On S'En Fuit!

19 Longtemps

20 Anachroniques

21 Monsieur L'Univers (Version 45 Tours)

22 Wagner (Version 45 Tours)

23 J'ai Peur De Vivre (Version 45 Tours)

24 Hissez! (Version 45 Tours)

25 Bonjour Le Petit Jour (Version 45 Tours)

26 Nativité (Version 45 Tours)

27 Le Poète Et La Rose (Version 45 Tours)

Alain Féral

Luce Feral

Gilles Paumier

France Paumier

Jacques Mouton

Liz Carroll - Lost in the Loop [2000 USA] @320

Liz Carroll is an American musician of Irish descent. She was born in Chicago of Irish parents. In 1974 she won the All-Ireland under 18 fiddle championship. The next year she won the All-Ireland Senior Fiddle Championship.

Liz's first recording was in 1978, a collaboration with Tommy Maguire called "Kiss Me Kate". She recorded her first solo album "A Friend Indeed" the following year, and recorded another solo album in 1988. In 1992 Carroll joined up with Billy McComiskey and Dáithí Sproule to form Trian. The group recorded two albums. Liz received the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship Award in 1994. A third solo album, Lost in the Loop, was released in 2000. It received the Indie award for best Celtic/British Isles recording that year. In 2002, Liz recorded another solo album entitled 'Lake Effect', and most recently, 'In Play' and 'Double Play', with guitarist John Doyle.

In 2005, Liz recorded a live album and DVD with String Sisters titled Live, released in 2007.

Her recent CDs are on the Green Linnet and Compass Records labels. She appears in concert solo, as well as with John Doyle.

In 2010, Carroll became the first American-born traditional Irish musician to be nominated for a Grammy, when her recording with John Doyle Double Play on Compass Records was nominated in the "Best Traditional World Music Album" category. 200 Carroll compositions, recorded and unrecorded, were published in August 2010 as Collected: Original Irish Tunes

01. Sevens - Michael Kennedy's - The Cup of Tea (reels)

02. The Champaign Jig Goes to Colombia - Pat & Al's (jigs)

03. See it There - Con Cassidy's (slow reels)

04. The Golden Legs - The Flogging Reel (reels)

05. Lament of the First Generation (air)

06. The Drunken Sailor - The Bag of Spuds (hornpipe & reel)

07. The Old Maid of Galway, Lizzy in the Lowground (reels)

08. The Crow in the Sun (air)

09. The Ugly Duckling (tune)

10. On the Boulevard - Crabs in the Skillet (jigs)

11. Letter to Peter Pan (tune)

12. The Silver Spear - The Earl's Chair - The Musical Priest (reels)

13. The Didda - Fly and Dodger (tunes)

14. Lost in the Loop (reel)

Liz Carroll: fiddle

John Doyle: guitar

Chico Huff: bass

Zan McLeod: bouzouki, guitar

Seamus Egan: percussion, whistle, guitar

John Anthony: percussion

Michael Aharon: keyboards, percussion, electric guitar, cello

Winifred Horan: fiddle

Dáithí Sproule: guitar

Jackie Moran: percussion

Kornog - Premiére: Music from Brittany (1984 France) @320

In 1980, Jamie McMenemy (ex-famous Battlefield Band from Scotland) met up with guitarist Soïg Siberil and fiddler Christian Lemaître. Under the name Kornog ('west' in Breton), the trio rapidly gained fame in Brittany, before being joined by fourth member Jean-Michel Veillon. 

From then on the Kornog sound was characteristic: dynamic flute and fiddle unisons (totally unprecedented in Breton music) backed by an impresive web of harmony and rythm spun by the bouzouki and guitar, highlighted by Jamie's introductions and his unique arrangements of Scots ballads.

As opposed to the majority of Breton bands of the 1980's, Kornog decided not to play for the traditional dance-band (fest-noz) market, and it was in the concerts circuit that they toured France, then all over Western Europe.

The public's reaction during their first tour in the U.S.A. was so enthusiastic, that the band recorded a live album in Minneapolis ('Premiere') for the american label Green Linnet. Three USA tour followed, and another recording ('Ar seizh avel/On seven Winds'), but, in contrast to this high activity, the absence of a efficient management in Brittany became difficult to endure. Soïg Siberil left the band in 1986, and Kornog was joined by guitarist Gilles Le Bigot.

Just after a new album(Kornog IV) was released, after a tour in Yugoslavia and several concerts with the Chieftains in Brittany, the band split up. Jean-Michel Veillon and Gilles Le Bigot founded Barzaz, Christian Lemaître joined Storvan, then toured as a member of Celtic Fiddle Festival (with Kevin Burke and Johnny Cunningham).

Jamie McMenemy put the bouzouki in the attic... but not for long, as he brilliantly featured in several recordings as soon as 1993 : 'E koad Nizan', 'Swing & Tears', 'La Ballade du Nord-Ouest' (Gérard Delahaye), and as a member of Taxi Mauve and Orion.

Finally, after incessant requests by Herschel Freeman, the band's America agent, Kornog reformed in 1999, this time with the excellent guitarist Nicolas Quemener, ex-Arcady and member of Breton band Skeduz.

1. Dans Loudieg  4:31  

2. The Demon Lover  4:38  

3. Ton Bale / Son Ar Rost  3:38  

4. Dans An Dro  3:04  

5. Jesuitmont  4:52  

6. Ton Bale Mure Ha Dans  4:19  

7. Gwerz Ar Marc'hadourig Bihan / Autrefois Disait Un Guerrier / Ton Dérobée   4:37  

8. Bonnie Jean Cameron  4:04  

9. Laridé / An Dro  3:43  

10. War Hent Kerrigouarc'h / Sheriffmuir  5:17 

Fiddle, Guitar – Christian Lemaître 

Flute, Low Whistle, Bombarde – Jean-Michel Veillon 

Guitar – Soïg Siberil 

Vocals, Bouzouki, Mandolin – Jamie McMenemy 

Boréale - Ébène (France 2015) @320

Three musicians with open ears
multi-instrumentalists alerts
that have to heart and keep in mind
offer the ball of smiles and tears, sweat and party...

Has the image of the North pole which merges at its point the meridians of the continents, Boreal kingdom to its axis of musical composition for the dance folk, pulls the strings multiple dances of the World and music of the Earth.

So let's dance waltzes to 5 and 11 times, kost ar it hoat and rond de St Vincent, scottish, circle and mazurka, rondeau, bourrée 3 temps...

But the hume is just as much blues of mali and argentine tango, and trills to Bulgarian and forro nordestin, nervousness flamenco and calypso chaloupé, hip-hop, funky and ska showman...

(google-translate from french, sorry)

 Tracklist:
1. La Terrona 02:39
2. Persistance reptilienne 05:32
3. Sans le soupir / Avec le sourire 04:40
4. Ze Daninho / Pachamama 04:56
5. Ora Cero 06:02
6. Parités en aparté 03:02
7. Le murmure des lamentations / Alliage à l'amiable 06:53
8. Mama Tierra et le vortex portable 06:50
9. Harlem / Mélanine / Presqu'elle 06:18
10. Poulpe Fiction 05:55
11. Zirkon 04:38

Léo Danais: basses électriques, percussions.
Rémy Tatard : accordéon chromatique, cistre, cetera.
Boris Trouplin : cornemuses (veuze, 16 et 20 pouces), flûtes à bec, steel drum.

Jacky Molard, Patrick Molard & Jacques Pellen - Triptyque [1993 France] @224

The maturity of the breath, the strings and the reeds, for a freedom of improvisation between the land of Brittany and the Celtic world, by a trio of reference.

01 - Chypre

02 - E Kergonan

03 - Port Na B-Puchai - Galicia

04 - Jim Hoy

05 - Triptyque

06 - Marcha processoional

07 - It should have happen a long time ago

08 - An Hañv

09 - Just around the Window

10 - Lament for the Viscount of Dundee

Jacky Molard: Violin, Guitar [Small], Mandolin, Guitar Synthesizer

Patrick Molard: Flute, Bagpipes [Biniou Kozh], Bagpipes [Scottish], Bagpipes [Bulgarian Gaïda]

Jacques Pellen: Guitar, Guitar Synthesizer

Lyradanz - Un Giorno in Ballo [2015 Italy] @320

Thanks Waters for this great contribution!

LyraDanz is a musical project composed of three experienced musicians, members of well-known bands in the Folk music scene both in Italy and abroad.

Since the beginning the main purpose of LyraDanz was to introduce unconventional musical instruments such as the bowed psaltery and the Celtic harp with the aim of experimenting new and unusual sonorities in the Neo-trad genre, usually dominated by bellows-driven instruments. The group first performed on the open stages of the French Festivals “Boulegan à l’Ostal” (April 2013) and “Rencontres Internationales de Luthiers et Maîtres Sonneurs” (July 2013) immediately fascinating the public for the elegance and the freshness of the music proposal. Other concerts for several Italian balfolk associations have followed. LyraDanz gave unofficial concerts also in the important Festivals of Vialfré and Gennetines in Summer 2015, attracting new listeners and followers.

In 2016 LyraDanz has received positive reviews and enthusiastic feedback in the European folk scene by performing mainly in Belgium and in the Netherlands (Valentijnsboombal, Eindhoven, Amsterdam, Nijmegen, Geldermalsen, Utrecht, Bornem…), but also in France and Switzerland - and in Italy at the Gran Bal Trad in Vialfré, Isola Folk Festival in Suisio, Zingaria Folk Festival in Bari and Reno Folk Festival in Bologna.

For 2017 concerts are already scheduled in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. At first the group has tested a range of instrumental possibilities through a repertoire of traditional French, Breton and Italian folk dances, afterwards has developed its own peculiar style through original compositions, collected in the album “Un giorno in ballo” (A dancing Day) - a sort of concept album with 12 tracks which mark each hour of the folk dancer’s everyday life - released in October 2015 and distributed by RoxRecords.

What’s more, with great pride, some of the tracks of the CD “Un giorno in ballo” have already entered the Italian balfolk chart ….
- LyraDanz site -

01 - Croissant Bourrée (Bourrée à deux temps)

02 - Dramma allo specchio (Scottish)

03 - Dans le train (Mazurka)

04 - Men at work (Ton simple. Gavotte des montagnes)

05 - Ticket Restaurant (Chapelloise)

06 - Méditation (Valse à 8 temps)

07 - Tavola Rotonda Conversations (Bourrée en cercle)

08 - Daydreamer (Mazurka)

09 - Un salto nel vuoto - Descarbuglies (Cercle Circassien)

10 - Sur le chemin du retour (Valse)

11 - Apértivo cubano (Scottish - Portughese)

12 - Rondeau dei marinai (Rondeau en couple)

Adriano Sangineto: Celtic Harp with nylon and metal strings, Bass Clarinet, Voice

Caterina Sangineto: Bowed Psaltery, Flute, Recorder, Voice, Bodhran, Celtic Harp.

Jacopo Ventura: Acoustic and Classical Guitar, Charango, Voice

Buy it HERE.

Left Blank's Compil Folk 51

Duo Massarelli - Musique en Vogue (2013 Italy) @192

This album was kindly offered for download by the artist!

Musique en Vogue contains about 60 minutes of Bal-Folk music, played (and partly composed) by us, the Apulian cousins Carlo and Tommaso Massarelli, who are the musicians of southern Italy (Pizzica pizzca Salentina in primis). 

This work is therefore a brave attempt to explore a different, distant, fascinating music culture that has infected us since the first contact. However, the influences of southern musicality remain evident and can be seen from the use of particular instruments (friscaletto, ciaramella, tamburello), styles, 

techniques and an indispensable spirit of musical contamination.

Duo Massarelli

01 - Mimà (Valse à 5 temps)

02 - Circolo di Famiglia (Cercle Circassien)

03 - Valses pour Sylvie (Valse à 3 temps)

04 - Suite de Bourrées (Bourrée à 3 temps)

05 - Malazurka (Mazurka)

06 - Riso, patate e Polka! (Polka, Polka piquée)

07 - Resistencia (Rondeau)

08 - Escoticha Pizzicata (Scottish)

09 - Suite de Mazurkas (Mazurka)

Tommaso Massarelli: Organetto, Voice

Carlo Massarelli: Organetto, Friscaletti, Whistle, Ciaramella, French Musette, Clarinet, Voice

Guests:

Fabrizio Filippelli: Classical and Acoustic Guitar

Simone Lombardo: Ghironda, Boha, Fifre

Luca Rampinini: Sax soprano

Andrea Beltramone: Cajon

French Dipierro: Voice

Giuseppe "Pepperino" Lion: Modern tambourine

If you want to help the artist, you can buy the album HERE

Ciac Boum - Volume 1 (2010 France) @320

This trio, composed of three "road" offers Bal Country music essentially Poitevine (Central West France) and compositions.

They send round before two, not summer, waltzes, and other maraîchines limousines dances ... as if their life depended on it! ... While respecting the spirit of the dance they wear fingertip. And if sometimes a fresh perspective and joyful freedom flies over the floor, is that the old melodies impel them to eternal youth perfume.

Ciac Boum has a solid reputation among dancers in France and Europe, both its singular music exudes cheerfulness, energy and celebration. So, dancers, brace yourselves! We know how it starts, but after...?

Tracklist:
1 - Polkas
2 - Demi rond "Les filles de La Rochelle"
3 - Suite d'avant-deux
4 - Scottish des batteries
5 - Pas d'été solo
6 - Maraîchines
7 - Pas d'été à 4
8 - Mazurka à tonton Paul
9 - Avant-deux à Coutant
10 - Marchoise "Allez les filles"
11 - Suite de scottish de Noël
12 - Bransle de l'épine
13 - Bal limousine
14 - Ronde d'avant-deux
15 - La java des dimanches

Christian PACHER : violin, diatonic accordion , vocal
Julien PADOVANI : chromatic accordion , vocal
Paul BOUFFET : guitar, "ciac-boum", vocal

Stary Olsa - Bip (Vir) (2001 Belarus) @320

Rare instruments, mediaeval reels, numinous impromptus, instrumental ancientry, club recordings, and a disco-version.

In this music, there is a devout obeisance to history and limitless troth to avital instruments, among which the most unearthly Belarusian instrument bagpipe is set on the highest pedestal.

01 - Анёл

02 - Замова

03 - Бранль

04 - Рэчанька

05 - Пагоня

06 - Trotto

07 - Вір

08 - Выправа

09 - Codex

10 - Зімовы лес

11 - Дуда

12 - Акарына

13 - Гуслі

14 - Свірэль

15 - Пена піва

16 - Падыспань

17 - Нямон

18 - Вальс

19 - Танцы

20 - Руевіт

21 - Руевіт (DJ Anton Mix)

Left Blank's Compil Folk 24

Stary Olsa - Kelih Kola (Loving Cup) (2001 Belarus) @320

«Stary Olsa is a band of mediaeval Belarusan music. It was founded in 1999 by its present leader Zmicier Sasnouski and now consists of 5 musicians. It takes its name from a brook in the west part of Mahilou Region (Belarus). The band’s repertoire includes Belarusan folk balladry and martial songs, Belarusan national dances, works of Belarusan Renaissance composers, compositions from Belarusan aulic music collections (e.g. Polacak Notebook, Vilnian Notebook), Belarusan canticles of the 16th – early 17th centuries, as well as European popular melodies of the Middle Ages and Renascence. Stary Olsa cooperates with many knightly clubs from Belarus and Europe, museums and research centres, masters of early instruments, bands of folk, aulic, sacred and city avital music, as well as with solo

performers using old instruments.

The band’s music makes it possible to restore sounding of many forgotten instruments. Stary Olsa uses for its performances maximally exact (in appearance, technology and materials) copies of the age-old Belarusan instruments such as duda (bagpipe), lira (lyre), husli (psaltery), svirel (pipe), drymba (jew’s-harp), akaryna (ocarina), surma (trumpet), bierascianaja truba (birch bark trumpet), hudok (rebec) and baraban drums). The purpose is to reconstruct completely (whenever possible) the musical traditions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania where Belarus was the basic cultural and geopolitic part in the 13th-18th centuries, and where there was a unique synthesis of Belarusan folk and aulic music with the European musical achievements of that time. In order to revive this cultural feature the band’s members mix early Belarusan instruments’ sounding with the all-European mediaeval instruments such as lutnia (lute), flejta (flute), mandalina (mandolin), arabski baraban (Arabian drum).» 

(Stary Olsa)

01 - Bewitchment

02 - Ballad

03 - Shallop

04 - Epulation

05 - Threnode

06 - Plying the Seas (Belarusian folk song)

07 - Dances

08 - Plenilune

09 - Rose (Belarusian folk song)

10 - Vajtouna (Belarusian folk song)

11 - Hoarfrost

12 - Warfare

13 - Loving Cup (Belarusian folk song)

14 - Legend

15 - Town Gates

16 - There, Over The Hill

Zmicier Sasnousk - bagpipe E, bagpipe G, psaltery, wheel lyre, birch bark pipe, zhaleyka, flute, reed pipe, vargan, guitar

V. Saltsevich - drums, tambourine; A. Kaltunou - vocals

D. Gamzjuk - guitar (on tracks 11 and 15)

Cuarteto Caramuxo - Arrieiros somos (Galicia / Spain 2015) @320

Another great work of galician musicians. 

Tracklist:
01. A min
02. Na vendima
03. Alalá do val
04. Apertura
05. Muiñeira nova con retranca
06. Mazurka de Laroá
07. Equerquellequer
08. O crime
09. Arrieiros somos
10. Punto, volta e revolta

Patricia Cela: percusión
Marcos Padrón: acordeón
Felipe Agell: clarinetes requinto e soprano
Xoan Carlos Vázquez: clarinete soprano
Oscar Prieto: clarinete soprano e baixo
Fernando Abreu: clarinete soprano, baixo e contrabaixo

Left Blank's Compil Folk 23