‘Cantu a chiterra’, in which competing singers take turns showing off vocal daring, breath control, endurance and style, in settings of nineteenth century poetry.

Warmly welcome, expertly recorded, new saze music from southern Albania, upholding its traditional, stunning mix of drones, in-your-face a cappella, and rootsy, virtuosic instrumentalism — in this case, violin, clarinet, lute and percussion. Produced by Joe Boyd.
Try searching out Albanian Village Music (78s from 1930 reissued by Heritage). Other-worldly and heart-stopping; totally knockout.

Awe-inspiring 1950s recordings by one of the greatest bagpipe players of the century… from the Isle of Mull.

A suitably outrageous picture disc.

Sixteen albums, 1958-1987; singles; duets; radio and soundtrack recordings.
271 tracks; 48-page booklet, with numerous photos.

Superb, timber-shivering example of the city’s more elevated style of fado. Highly recommended.

Startlingly fresh and unusual, these timeless, traditional peasant songs from north-west Spain — mostly with percussion accompaniment, sometimes with flute, bagpipe, oboe or rebec.

Switzerland has four official languages and numerous dialects, and this mosaic of sounds is judiciously wide-ranging and open — starring wonderful yodelling, alphorn, Jew’s harp, zither and musette-style accordion.

The forgotten music of the Austro-Hungarian diaspora in the mid-west of the United States. An Ian Nagoski compilation to inaugurate the label, with a cover by Eric from Mississippi Records.

Another fascinating instalment in the history of Jewish recorded music, this time drawn from the Syrena — ‘Mermaid’— record label of Warsaw, when the city in its gloriously diverse, cultural heyday was known as ‘the Paris of the East’, before the devastation of the 1940s: precious, thrilling 78s thronged with people arguing, soldiering, going bankrupt, praying, dancing to Klezmer, meeting the devil, failing to have sex, complaining about modern girls…  and eating.
With an informative, richly illustrated, twenty-eight-page booklet.

Warm, nostalgic, stirring settings for voice, guitar, accordion and violin. Knowing nothing, we can hear Jacques Brel and Jake Thackray.

The masterful Greek folk violinist. ‘So raw and unmediated that anyone who has ever yearned for anything will feel these songs like a club to the back of the knees…immediate, destructive, and stunning.’ Crumb artwork.