The Editor's Best Loved Albums 2023
1. Ellie Gowers "Dwelling by the weir" This young singer/songwriter from Warwickshire (England) proves with her debut album her outstanding talent in both writing meaningful songs with beautiful lyrics, and performing them in her very own intimate style. 2. Tamsin Elliott "frey" An album that effortlessly crosses boundaries between music styles, between tension and relief, to create a stunning overall experience. 3. Megan Henderson "Pilgrim Souls" Mesmerising composition, carefully crafted arrangements and of course superb musicianship.
Runners Up:
Mike Heron (*27 December 1942, Edinburgh, Scotland). In 1965, the Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist successfully auditioned to join a new trio, the Incredible String Band, with Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer. "It was an exploring era in the Sixties and people were rebelling from the boring pop stuff into folk and blues and world music. You couldn't sit down and listen to Buddy Holly and pass the joint around. So we tried to make the kind of music we felt was missing from our lives, that fitted with the hippy lifestyle." Mike Heron has also released a number of more rock-oriented solo recordings. The first of these, Smiling Men with Bad Reputations (1971), took eclecticism to a new extreme, blending rock, folk and world music. In 2017, Andrew Greig published a memoir entitled You Know What You Could Be: Tuning into the 1960s, with Heron giving an account of his life from 1957 to 1966.
Ric Sanders (*18 December 1952, Birmingham, England). The English violinist has played in jazz rock and folk rock groups. In the late 1970s, he briefly toured as a member of the jazz-rock group Soft Machine followed with a stint in The Albion Band. In 1984, Ric Sanders joined Fairport Convention. Since 2002 he has also been working regularly with his Ric Sanders Trio, which features Vo Fletcher on guitar and Michael Gregory on drums. Over the years Sanders has worked with Dave Cousins (Strawbs), Jethro Tull, Robert Plant, Roy Harper, Pentangle, June Tabor, Martin Simpson, and many others.
Billy Connolly (*24 November 1942, Glasgow, Scotland).
Sir William Connolly gave up Glasgow shipyards to pursue a career as a folk singer. He first sang in the folk rock band The Humblebums with Gerry Rafferty and Tam Harvey, before beginning singing as a solo artist. In the early 1970s, he made the transition from folk singer with a comedic persona to fully-fledged stand-up comedian, best known for his idiosyncratic and often improvised observational comedy.
As an actor, Connolly has appeared in various films, including Mrs Brown (1997), for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
In 2022 he received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement.
In 2017 Connolly had been knighted at Buckingham Palace by Prince William for services to entertainment and charity.
Jean-Paul Corbineau (1948-2022).
The French singer-songwriter was a founding member of the band Tri Yann. Jean-Paul Corbineau
was dedicated to preserving the Breton identity. In 1966, he performed with Jean Chocun under the name Les Classic's.
In 1970, Jean-Louis Jossic joined Chocun and Corbineau and the group Tri Yann an Naoned (Trois Jean de Nantes) was formed.
Tri Yann were playing folk rock music drawing on traditional Breton folk ballads.
Among their best-known songs are La Jument de Michao and Dans les prisons de Nantes.
In 2000, the three members of Tri Yann were named Knights of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
They presented their final concerts in September 2021, a celebration of their 50th anniversary, delayed by the corona virus pandemic.
Corbineau died of leukemia on 16 December 2022, at the age of 74.
2022's Inductees into the Transglobal World Music Hall of Fame
Much appreciation to the extraordinary legacy of the In Memoriam inductees and congratulations to the individuals and organizations in the Artist and Industry and Media Excellence categories. Special thanks to all the judges involved and the people who sent us proposals.
The Artists category honors solo and ensemble living artists who have achieved lifelong artistic and technical quality or historical significance in the field of world music. The TWMC Hall of Fame 2022 inductees have been:
Salif Keita Debashish Bhattacharya Danyèl Waro Oumou Sangaré Milton Nascimento
Industry and Media Excellence celebrates influential music industry and media individuals and organizations who have provided increased visibility and recognition to world music and its multiple subgenres.
ANIM Afghan National Institut of Music (& director Dr. Ahmad Sarmast) Ian Anderson Ben Mandelson
In Memoriam includes posthumous inductions that honor historically inventive and influential artists or industry professionals who passed away in previous years or decades.
Paco de Lucía Djivan Gasparyan Mariem Hassan Fela Kuti Miriam Makeba
Official Folk Albums Chart January 2023
Straight in at No.1 is James Yorkston, Nina Persson and The Second Hand Orchestra’s The Great White Sea Eagle (Domino Recordings), the follow up to James Yorkston and The Second Hand Orchestra’s The Wide, Wide River – a Guardian Top 10 Folk Album of 2021. The record didn’t start life as a follow up; in early 2021, Yorkston began visiting his studio in Cellardyke, Fife and for the first time, started writing songs on the piano as opposed to his usual guitar, as he gazed upon the sea outside his window. After sending the first five or six songs to Karl-Jonas Winqvist (the ringleader/conductor of TSHO), they began to discuss working on the music together. With Yorkston’s shift from guitar to piano, they thought about what other changes they could make to their process which led to the involvement of a guest singer and the legendary Nina Persson (The Cardigans) was brought into the fold. They followed the same methodology as The Wide, Wide River – apart from James, Nina and KJ, none of The Second Hand Orchestra had heard the music prior to entering the studio – and the arrangements were made up on the spot.
Securely ranked among Scotland’s most skilled and imaginative contemporary folk acts, Breabach unite deep roots in Highland and Island tradition with the innovative musical ferment of their Glasgow base. Their latest of six released albums is Fàs (Breabach), which comes in at No.22. Fàs is a Gaelic word meaning growth, developing and sprouting,. Breabach are Megan Henderson (fiddle/vocals), James Lindsay (double bass/moog/vocals), Calum MacCrimmon (Highland bagpipe/whistle/bouzouki/vocals), Conal McDonagh (Highland bagpipe/Uilleann pipes/whistle/vocals) and Ewan Robertson (guitar/cajon/vocals). Fàs is heavily inspired by the natural environment of Scotland and sees the band showcase more progressive elements in their music than ever before. The protection, conservation and regeneration of the natural world influenced every part of the album making process, from song composition and sourcing material to the recording process and album production.
At No.29 is Bold Reynold (Talking Elephant), an album by David Carroll and Friends (Gryphon’s Dave Oberle, Graeme Taylor and Brian Gulland plus Fairport Convention’s Chris Leslie and Dave Pegg, with Tom Spencer from The Professionals and The Men They Couldn’t Hang, and Lucy Cooper). Bold Reynold puts the rock back into folk rock with seven traditional songs, a Dave Cousins classic and an epic version of The Last Leviathan. With instrumentation ranging from crumhorns, cor anglais and uilleann pipes through fiddle, tabla, bouzouki and dulcimer to bass, drums and electric guitar and all stops in between, this is a soundscape not to be missed. After appearing on numerous recordings for other people the idea of a solo album fermented over several years and, bolstered by offers of help from many good friends, (including all the above!) the ideas and arrangements finally surfaced in 2022.
Official Folk Albums Chart DECEMBER 2022
Straight in at No.5 is this month’s highest new entry, Black Cuillin (Copperfish) from one of Scotland’s most recognised and accomplished fiddle players and composers, Duncan Chisholm. Born and raised in the Scottish Highlands, the album’s inspiration came from the mountain wilderness on the Isle of Skye. Bringing statuesque landscapes of sound together, the richly evocative album represents a dream journey over a day and a night to the iconic ridge of The Black Cuillin. It speaks of the fortress of Skye and the redemption and freedom that lie within those dark ramparts. The album is sumptuously layered and awash with dazzling colours, textures and rhythms. This is inventive, 21st Century traditional music which is exhilarating and meltingly beautiful.
New at No.8 is Endurance Soundly Caged (From Here) by trailblazing London-based folk duo, Stick In The Wheel, an album of fresh new arrangements of six songs that span past releases, recorded live. Their relentless approach to questioning traditional music forms is matched only by the energy with which they play it, so 'Endurance…' aims to capture the vital connection and intensity of their live shows. The album sees a return to their core principles, largely bypassing their recent foray into more experimental sounds. Featured in the all new, revitalised collection of songs is the familiar pounding energy, shimmering dissonant guitars and vocalist Nicola Kearey's defiant vocals.
MydWynter (Bellissima) is the new album from vocal ensemble Mediaeval Baebes, landing at No. 9. The collection includes several uplifting seasonal favourites yet their focus is on a darker reminder of the pre-Christian origins of the winter festival. Featuring wild acapella arrangements and original compositions for arrangements of ancient texts, including the earliest of Christmas hymns, the album blurs lines between the old and the new. The Baebes unique choral style features a beguiling mixture of ancient music and modern arrangements, replete with a dazzling array of period instrumentation.
Known for their broad spectrum of folk styles, The Trials Of Cato release their second album, Gog Magog (The Trails of Cato) in at No.10. Named after the mythical giant of Arthurian legend and the Cambridgeshire hilltop where the new album was birthed, the trio fuse their Celtic instrumental interplay and Arabic sounds with striking new compositions. Not only does new member Polly Bolton bring skill on multiple instruments, but also brings a distinctive voice to the collection of 12 adventurous tracks that range from neo-traditional interpretations of Welsh language poetry to current-day plague songs as well as explorations of the outer edges of folktronica and trad-jazz
The cello is currently undergoing a revival in the folk world, thanks in part, to the celebrated South Korea-born cellist and Scotland resident Su-A Lee who releases her debut album Dialogues (Su-A Lee). Landing at No.33 it highlights the distinctive sound of her non-classical career. The album is a series of intimate duos with 15 of her favourite folk musicians with each choosing a tune or song that celebrates their connection with Su-a over the years. Combining original compositions and fresh arrangements of traditional tunes, the album is as extensive as it is diverse. Running for a full 75 minutes, tracks - whose collaborators include Julie Fowlis, Donald Shaw, Phil Cunningham and Karine Polwart – are thoughtfully grouped into three theatre acts. Aside from exploring the role of cello in folk music, this album sees Su-a finding her own, unique voice and bringing it to the fore.
At No.37 is Time Was Away (Robrec) from Emily Portman & Rob Harbron, two of the finest performers on the English folk scene in an inspired new collaboration. Eight English folk songs and two 20th Century poems set to music combine in this unapologetically dark and yet quietly optimistic album. Themes of reliance and resistance in the face of hard times open a window into our past with tales that still resonate in contemporary Britain. Emily’s crystalline vocals and distinctive banjo-playing are complimented by Rob’s virtuosic musicianship as they delve into English traditional music to present an absorbing, powerful masterwork that deftly treads the tightrope between contemporary and timeless.
Official Folk Albums Chart NOVEMBER 2022
The boundary-pushing Geordie singer-guitarist Richard Dawson lands straight in at No.1 with The Ruby Chord (Weird World), the final part of a trilogy that began with the pre-medieval world of ‘Peasant’ (2017) and ‘2020’ (2019) with this album concluding in a fantastical, sinister sci-fi future. Ethical boundaries have evaporated, human society has collapsed and morphed into something distinctly less solid. The ambitions opening track, ‘The Hermit’ is a simmering, sprawling 41-minute mood piece acting as a gateway to the album that bears Dawson’s uniquely unsettling, off-kilter, esoteric brand of English folk.
At No.3 is Tender (Lady Maisery) from Lady Maisery – the combined talents of three of the most accomplished modern folk artists, Hazel Askew, Hannah James and Rowan Rheingans. Comprising original songs as well as personal interpretations of other works, songs examine femaleness from many sides. In both sound and song, it is an affecting, powerful album radically different to their previous recordings. Richly textured, with meticulous arrangements of electric guitar and instruments that include harp, harmonium, banjo, and accordion, it bears voices that unite in strength, harmony and message.
One of folk’s great innovators, Eliza Carthy celebrates thirty years as a professional musician with Queen Of The Whirl (Hem Hem), straight in at No.6. Loved by staunch traditionalists and iconoclasts alike, Eliza’s music effortlessly crosses boundaries of genre and style. The collection includes some of her most loved career-spanning songs as chosen by her fans on Twitter. It’s a surprisingly diverse mix with each song reworked and re-recorded with her band The Restitution resulting in a unified sound. At its heart of course, is Eliza’s powerful, nuanced voice and fiercely beautiful fiddle playing.
Protector (Partisan) from Irish psych-folk singer-songwriter Aoife Nessa Frances enters at No.7. Having fled the city of Dublin for the rugged west coast of Ireland, Aoife’s 8-song collection of beautifully languid songs reflects her feelings of disconnection, self-preservation and the power of nature and family to restore and find peace. Her magnificent song writing and rich but soft, floaty vocals permeates songs of delicate instrumentation that are often juxtaposed by gritty guitars and synths.
The Mary Wallopers (BC Recordings) is the first debut recording to enter this month’s chart, and arrives in at No. 8. Led by Dundalk-based brothers Charles and Andrew Hendy with Seán McKenna, the group travelled the length and breadth of Ireland singing and collecting traditional Irish songs and this self-titled album is the result. Exuding raw energy, powerful guitar chords and riotous choruses, the collection of 11 sing-along songs are filled with warmth and intimacy bringing excitement to traditional ballad singing.
Glamour In The Grey (Collective Perspective) is the first album from folk-rock band The Magpie Arc, featuring fiddle-singer and songwriter Nancy Kerr, guitarist Martin Simpson, songwriter Findlay Napier and musicians Tom A Wright and Alex Hunter. In at No.9, the album combines original material with Nancy Kerr adaptations of traditional songs and echoes the classic folk-rock sound of the early 1970s. Featuring indelible melodies, soaring, multi-voice harmonies, fiddles, rock solid bass and drums and monster guitar riffs with electronic soundscapes to enhance the impact.
A Tarot Of The Green Wood (Mavis Recordings) from Glasgow-based experimental folk duo, Burd Ellen is at No.17. Together, Debbie Armour and Gayle Brogan have carved out a sonically adventurous niche but one that is informed by a deep love and respect for traditional song. Combining incessant buzzing drones, electronic sound washes and distinctive vocals, their sound is hypnotic, stark and uneasy. The album explores the idea of parallels between the interpretation of traditional song and the imagery and hidden meaning of the Major Arcana in tarot. It’s a moving and intense listen.
Acclaimed for their seasonal shows which have been touring for over 20 years, The Albion Christmas Band release their first album in 8 years, All Are Safely Gathered In (Talking Elephant) which takes the No.24 spot. Led by the co-founders of Fairport Convention, the band present a spellbinding collection of traditional seasonal songs, inspired arrangements of contemporary songs alongside new originals and spoken word. All shades of emotion and aspects of the season are on display from the humorous to melancholy and celebratory to sadness.
The final debut recording to enter this month’s chart comes from the Anglo-Scottish duo, Janice Burns & Jon Doran who release No More The Green Hills (Wylam), in at No.31. Saluting their roots with contemporary arrangements of Scottish and English traditional folk songs alongside Irish ballads, the pair explore man’s relationship with nature alongside themes of love and loss. Understated yet powerful, by turns fragile and poignant, spirited and soulful, dreamy and direct, the album features two strong, beguiling, clear voices enviable harmonies and multi-instrumental flair.
The Official Folk Albums Chart is a Top 40 chart, released monthly. It is open to artists where at least one band member is a UK or Irish musician. Tracks from the full Top 40 folk albums can be heard at the
Official Folk Albums Chart Spotify Playlist
Celebrating 75 Years of Folkways Records in 2023
May 2023 marks 75 years since the iconic independent label Folkways Records was founded by Marian Distler and Moses Asch in New York City. In that time, it has become one of the world’s most iconic collections of music and sound, spanning thousands of albums from foundational American folk music to the sounds of everyday life around the world. To celebrate, Smithsonian Folkways will be partnering with the Brooklyn Folk Festival and Smithsonian Folklife Festival for live music performances featuring luminaries such as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Alice Gerrard as well as members of a new generation of innovators like Jake Blount and No-No Boy. The label will also be reissuing classic albums from their storied catalog on LP, including the well-loved Sounds of North American Frogs. Finally, Smithsonian Folkways will be launching a new program called Friends of Folkways, which will allow supporters to stream the entire collection for a minimum monthly donation of $5, with details to be announced soon.
Since 1948, the music released on Folkways has defined and redefined the fabric of American music many times over: Woody Guthrie sang the nation into our collective imagination with “This Land Is Your Land,” the Anthology of American Folk Music played a pivotal role in defining ’60s counterculture, the ecstatic swing of Mary Lou Williams predicted spiritual jazz, the groundbreaking chance-based music of John Cage upended classical music, Ella Jenkins’s music has nurtured generations of children to adulthood, we heard the first glimpses at the genius of Lucinda Williams, and countless more.
The label also steadfastly documented the sounds of the entire world, with hundreds of recordings to be found from every populated continent. After Asch’s death and the label’s acquisition by the Smithsonian Institution in the late 1980s, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has continued the mission of Folkways to record music of, by, and for the people, releasing acclaimed albums by Elizabeth Mitchell, Our Native Daughters, Dom Flemons, Kronos Quartet, and many more. On July 6, Smithsonian Folkways will present “Folkways at 75,” a program featuring Jake Blount, No-No Boy, and a screening of Early Abstractions, short films by Harry Smith, at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Blount and No-No Boy are members of a new guard of musicians releasing music on Folkways, challenging audiences to rethink the past and future of folk music while exploring the complexities of their own cultural heritage through song. The program, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 8:30pm on the National Mall. More information can be found here.
Smithsonian Folkways is also partnering with the Brooklyn Folk Festival for an expansive weekend of programming November 10–12 celebrating 75 years of Folkways Records. Performers range from those who recorded for Asch and Folkways, including Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Alice Gerrard, Sonia Sanchez, and Peggy Seeger, to newer artists currently releasing music on Smithsonian Folkways, including Blount, Dom Flemons, Charlie Parr, and the Down Hill Strugglers. There will also be multiple tributes to the ingenuity of Folkways compiler Harry Smith, including a performance by The Fugs and a Q&A with author John Szwed. Other workshops and conversations will be announced soon. Find details, tickets, and more information here.
Throughout the year, Smithsonian Folkways will be reissuing and re-pressing many classic Folkways titles on LP, packaged in the classic black tip-on jackets with wrap-around, paste-on artwork (PRE-ORDER). The Sounds of North American Frogs, a celebrated release by Charles Bogert documenting frog sounds from throughout the continent, will be available on LP for the first time since 1958, with new Acoustic Herpetology bumper stickers designed by Darryl Norsen. The New Lost City Ramblers with Cousin Emmy, one of the group’s most popular releases, will be available on LP for the first time since 1968. And two albums from the late ‘70s by poet Sarah Webster Fabio, Jujus/Alchemy of the Blues and Together to the Tune of Coltrane’s “Equinox” will be reissued as well. Re-presses of albums by Elizabeth Cotten, Doc Watson, and Lightnin’ Hopkins are also available to pre-order.
We're thrilled to share “Blues Jumped a Rabbit,” a captivating, previously unheard gem from the inimitable Texas bluesman, Lightnin’ Hopkins.
In the song, Lightnin’ combines the lyrics from several Blind Lemon Jefferson songs, including “Rabbit Foot Blues” and “Long Lonesome Blues.” This intimate performance comes from the fieldwork of folklorist Mack McCormick and is the first recording of this particular song from Lightnin’ to be released. From 1959 to 1963, McCormick took over Hopkins’ management, which led Lightnin’ to tour outside Texas for the first time and to release several albums on various labels.
"Blues Jumped a Rabbit" is the latest excerpt from Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958 – 1971, a compilation of previously unheard field recordings from McCormick's legendary blues archive, out on Folkways August 4.
Playing for the Man at the Door is the first compilation of music drawn from this fabled collection, which indelibly documents a pivotal moment in African American history. It features never-before-heard performances not only from musicians who became icons in their own right — including Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb – but also, crucially, performers whose names may be unfamiliar to even the most devoted blues fans and scholars.
Newly mastered recordings and accompanying photographs bring to life many of these forgotten figures: offering insight into their lives and illuminating in new, enlightening ways their joys and anguish, deep social connections, distinctive voices, and cultural networks. The collection spans gospels, ragtime, country blues dirges, the unclassifiable music of George “Bongo Joe” Coleman, and more, showing that no community, no matter how tight knit, is monolithic.
“McCormick’s field recordings allow us to ponder the possibilities, power dynamics, problems and promise associated with interactions between ‘folklorists’ and ‘the folk,’ between a white collector and mostly Black artists, at a time and in places where Jim Crow traumas continued to prevail,” says John Troutman, curator of music at the National Museum of American History, co-producer of Playing for the Man at the Door and editor of Biography of a Phantom.
Ukraine 2023: "To protest against the tragedy and suffering of the innocent caused by the horrors of war"
The Ukrainian War is not taking the course the Russians had hoped.
President Putin has nightmares and calls his personal astrologer and fortune teller.
He looks into his crystal ball and says: "Mr. President, it is foretold that you will die on a Ukrainian holiday."
Putin curses: "A Ukrainian holiday? Which one?"
The fortune teller says: "Oh, any day you die will be a Ukrainian holiday."
Beans on Toast - releases the powerful new single: “Against The War”.
One year since the war in Ukraine began and with the Doomsday clock closer to midnight than ever before, the UK folk singer returns with a timely protest song that needs little explanation.
As Beans says: “Against the War is a protest song. It's a song about peace written in a time of war. It wasn't an easy song to write, but like everyone, the horrors of the Ukraine invasion have been at the forefront of my mind for the past year.”
From Neil Young to Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and countless more, the greatest folk artists have always used their voices to make a stand against conflict. Continuing in that tradition, the message from Beans on Toast couldn’t be plainer here, as he sings: “Peace is what I’m standing for and I’m Against the War”.
Available on Bandcamp
as a “pay what you feel” release, all proceeds from the sales of “Against The War” will go directly to the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (C.N.D.).
A limited edition T-shirt will also be available from 24 February, with 20% of profits additionally to be donated to the C.N.D.
Since 2005, Beans on Toast has written simple songs about complicated subjects. Tackling the big issues of the day but doing so with his feet firmly on the ground, he’s become a people’s champ of the modern folk scene and amassed a huge back catalogue of songs in the process.
An unrepentant optimist whose songs celebrate all that is wonderful about the human spirit, his live shows are similarly uplifting and have taken him from SOLD OUT headline shows in the UK to the stages of major international festivals across the globe.
Telling tales and playing tracks from across his extensive back catalogue, Beans on Toast will be "Back Out On The Road" for a huge UK tour this Spring.
"End of World War 3" remix
For the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the bloodbath in Ukraine that is bringing us closer to Armageddon with each new morning, here's a song I wrote last March.
Listen!
This is getting closer to the final mix for this song that will be on the album that will be out very soon, on all the streaming platforms, and as a folder of songs to download for all my
patrons/CSA members.
The album will be called Killing the Messenger.
All of the songs other than this one feature me as the main vocalist and bouzouki player, but on this song, Chet Gardiner sings the main vocals, with Lorna McKinnon and Kamala Emanuel forming the chorus, as they do on all the songs on what will be a wonderfully harmony-laden album.
Album cover art by the great Eric Drooker.
Ukrainian-Canadian Balaklava Blues Releases Album ‘LET ME OUT’, a Powerful Plea for Peace + Protection
“When Russia invaded Ukraine and millions of women and children started to flee across borders on foot, we understood that this song [‘LET ME OUT’] was about more than our personal or cultural experiences, it was a matter of global significance. And every song on the album felt heavier and more potent when viewed through this lens. The songs all stand up individually, but when you unite them under the collective outcry to LET ME OUT… they fly like air strike.” Mark Marczyk of Balaklava Blues
The seeds of the album ‘LET ME OUT’ were planted “on the thin red line and it is an unhinged reflection on the effects of war on our perceptions, emotions, and fragile concepts of freedom, democracy, and love.” Mark Marczyk. It “is about being inspired by human life experiences - through our personal life challenges - to inspire other people to focus on important things - love and joy.” Marichka Marczyk.
The songs of ‘LET ME OUT’ were largely written during the lockdown period, when everyone was feeling trapped in their homes, so there was a universality of plight about the messages contained within. When Russia launched their full-scale invasion on February 24th this year, they were in rehearsals for Dogs of Europe in London, which is a show exactly “about the rise of the Russian Reich in the face of European apathy. All of a sudden, the songs were not just songs. They were history. They were the truth. February 24th made everything clear.” Mark Marczyk.
Marichka speaks of the detonating shock that the news of the unprovoked invasion was for her and how she was left broken, breathless, voiceless. But gradually, “All the painful and sharp corners of our songs turned into strength. The strength and power of the voice returned. I found a way out. And I want to help, through these songs, find this way for people who cannot help themselves. We can do it together.”
An impressively creative theatricality runs through this album: tracks ‘Gone’, ‘Dogs of Europe’ and ‘Shelter Our Sky’ were all composed and performed for Belarus Free Theatre’s opus DOGS OF EUROPE, which is opening for another run in Paris this December. Of these, ‘Gone’ has become a protest song in Belarus about the tyrannical regime. Tracks ‘Beat Up’ and ‘Broken’ were produced earlier for their immersive multi-award-winning (Edinburgh Fringe, Amnesty International…) guerrilla-folk-opera COUNTING SHEEP which has had successful runs in the US, UK and Germany. The opening track, ‘You Shoot Me’, is an in-your-face response to being invaded, a homage to those that defend rights and freedoms, after which follows ‘Swallow’, a heavy folk-trap anthem with screaming traditional Ukrainian vocals - a glitchy upside-down lullaby for your enemy.
Sounding out as a song for the state of emergency that reflects the current times in Ukraine, comes their single and video ‘GIMME’, whose opening bars and English lyrics are deceptively classic-sounding, belying the originality and strength of the swelling siren sounds and trance-like pleading voices to come, marrying plaintive violin, rhythmic finger-clicking and lullaby-like lyrics in Ukrainian.
In ‘GIMME’, an urgency and acute poignancy are felt through exquisite vocals, inventive electronics and haunting poetry, closing with the clear, quieter yet oh-so-powerful “Gimme shelter / and a meal / Gimme love and / Let me heal”. In those final lines are expressed both an undeniable humility and a recognition of the trauma of war. Mark Marczyk speaks of the song carrying a burden: “The burden is peace and the song is about all that you carry and how we must ensure it survives, and how desperate and manic that can be at times”. ‘GIMME’ is being released on 21st October, a day before Balaklava Blues’ performance at WOMEX 2022 in Lisbon. They have just performed in Ukraine (both with fighters and in city venues) and in Poland.
Balaklava Blues are Mark and Marichka Marczyk, whose already burgeoning creativity came together when they met during the fervour and bloodshed of the February 2014 “Revolution of Dignity” in Kyiv. Their first dates were on burning barricades singing requiems for the first boys shot and killed at the hands of riot cops. Together with millions of Ukrainians, their efforts were successful, but at a high cost - lives lost, Crimea annexed, and now full-blown invasion. Since then, they have dedicated their creative energies to telling the stories of their home country to the world, a world suddenly today, so thirsty to learn and to listen.
Balaklava Blues’ music falls somewhere between staging a traditional song cycle and a full-blown multimedia techno show. The duo fuses Ukrainian polyphony and other folk traditions with EDM, trap, dubstep and more, as a launchpad to explore the seemingly never-ending blues that have long emanated from the Ukrainian steppe. They are also the leaders of the mighty Lemon Bucket Orkestra – Canada’s notorious 12-piece balkan-party-punk-massive band. The “Balaklava” of their name refers to one of the symbols of the EuroMaidan Revolution, the mask worn by some of the protesters. “Balaclavas are meant to conceal the face, but they actually emphasize the eyes — the “windows of the soul.”” Mark Marczyk, in Kyiv Post. ‘LET ME OUT’ releases through Unfit Records on 28th October 2022.
BALAKLAVA BLUES BIOGRAPHY
Marichka Marczyk, nee Kudriavtseva, was born in Soviet-controlled Kyiv in 1976 and earned a degree in ethnomusicology at Ukraine’s National Academy of Music. “When the revolution started, I was not a political person,” she has said, “I am an artist – I didn’t want to be part of that game. Then, of course, the situation changed. Young people started to die for nothing. With my group, we decided to be part of the revolution as musicians. I can see now I’m a revolutionary for sure.” (Irish Times) She recently lost two cousins to the Russian invasion, when Russians shelled their apartment building near Kyiv. Living in Toronto for the past eight years, she draws great inspiration from her country, its people, and the Ukrainian folk songs that they have been singing for over 1500 years. Away from her birthplace, she has felt the connection with her homeland even more acutely “because our ancestors lived through the same life experiences of love and war”.
Likewise Mark Marczyk, a young Canadian with strong Ukrainian heritage, who initially trained as a writer and who has made regular trips to the country of his grandparents, did not start out as an activist. In 2009, after his violin skills had been given a boost whilst in Ukraine, he co-founded the Lemon Bucket Orkestra in Toronto, a "Balkan-Klezmer-Gypsy-Party-Punk Superband". Born on the streets of Toronto as a busking band, the original quartet of guerrilla-folk troubadours quickly amassed a battalion of troops (currently 13 strong) armed with brass and bows and started touring the world. The band has been nominated for several awards, including a Juno, has been heralded as ground-breaking by international media, and has performed at international festivals across the globe.
It was on Independence Square in Kyiv at the height of the Revolution of Dignity that Mark and Marichka met and fell in love. Mark first saw Marichka on a makeshift stage, from which announcements, speeches and performances were delivered, as her folk choir sang an impromptu requiem for the fallen. Her plans to perform a string of gigs in the city had been abruptly interrupted: as the Ukrainian parliament had sought to suppress the political unrest, confrontation with riot police had turned violent, and four young men had died from their injuries. When they married in Toronto, a year later, instead of monetary gifts, guests were asked to donate money towards Patriot Defence, an organization that provides Improved First Aid Kit and Combat Lifesaver Training for soldiers in Ukraine.
These days both Mark and Marichka play with Lemon Bucket, with whom they tell the stories through traditional, mostly forgotten, songs that are sourced by Marichka from the Ukrainian plains: songs of the seasons, wars and weddings. The Maidan Square events were the inspiration behind ‘Counting Sheep’, an immersive folk opera they created. When Russia launched their full-scale invasion on February 24th this year, they were in rehearsals for the newest production, ‘Dogs of Europe’ in London. The show is exactly about the rise of the Russian Reich in the face of European apathy, and its significance suddenly became crystal clear. Balaklava Blues is their relatively recently formed duo project. Vocals are often accompanied by equally compelling documentary footage from the frontlines of the fighting, black and white archival material from the same region, and popular soviet cartoons. They have performed to soldiers on the battlefield in Ukraine, in the Donbas region and elsewhere.
Glasgow-based singer-songwriter Robert Severin has announced his new single, Elena, set for release on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Friday 24th February.
The track is inspired by the story of an older Ukrainian woman who sought refuge in the Netherlands. The song’s lyricist, Dutch poet Linda de Bruijn, was moved to write about Elena’s story after hearing about her experiences from friends that had sponsored Elena’s settlement in the country.
The emotive and thought-provoking track describes how 63-year-old Elena flees her war-torn country with nothing but a plastic bag full of her remaining possessions and a one-way bus ticket.
The experience of Robert’s own family history played a significant role in inspiring Robert to tell this story and sing about the plight of refugees in protest against the war in Ukraine. His own parents fled Hungary in 1956 when the Soviet Union invaded the country. They were granted refuge in the Scottish Borders, where they met and married, before settling in London where Robert was born.
Robert Severin said: “When Linda showed me her lyrics, I knew I had set them to music, and the melody came very quickly. The subject resonates so strongly with me because my parents were also refugees – they fled Hungary when the Soviet Union invaded the country after the uprising in November 1956. They made their separate ways out of Hungary, meeting at a refugee centre in West Linton, in the Scottish Borders, in mid-December 1956 and married three weeks later. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with no justification is indefensible. I wanted to record this single to protest against the tragedy and suffering of the innocent caused by the horrors of war.”
Singer-songwriter Robert names the likes of Nick Drake, Jacques Brel, David Sylvian, Brett Anderson, Steven Wilson, Leonard Cohen and Hungarian balladeer Tamás Cseh among his many influences. He began pursuing a long-held dream of creating an album of original work around five years ago after attending two songwriting courses, the first with Sir Ray Davies and the second with Boo Hewerdine and Findlay Napier.
Robert’s debut album Postcard from Budapest, which was released in February 2020 and named Celtic Music Radio’s Album of the Week, explored the legacy of his Hungarian heritage and its connections to Scotland, his home of twenty-five years.
Robert composed the music for Elena and plays guitar, vocals, clarinet and piano on the track, which he recorded in his home studio in Glasgow. Sought-after instrumentalist Alice Allen features on cello and recorded remotely at her home studio in Gartmore, Stirlingshire. Rick Flahant also plays piano on the track which he recorded at his studio in Bodmin, Cornwall.
The single was mixed and mastered by Andrea Gobbi at GloWorm Recording Studios and CarrierWaves in Glasgow.
Elena will be available to download and stream on all usual platforms on Friday 24th February.