Germany - Baden-Würtemberg

 Baden-Würtemberg is another region I have close family ties to.  My mother originally came from Ludwigsburg just north of the regional capital Stuttgart and my parents lived on the northern edge of the Black Forest for many years.  The state is actually made up of 2 regions of distinct tribes, the Badeners who inhabit Baden and the Swabians living in Würtemberg, and God forbid if you were to confuse the two, you'll never hear the end of it.  Historically the state is famous for the Black Forest mountains and cuckoo clocks, pretty timber-framed houses and a distinct cuisine, which is influenced partially by Italian cooking with their own pasta versions.  In more modern times it has become known as an efficient economic powerhouse, home to the likes of Mercedes Benz and Porsche.

Timber-framed house in Endingen

Our first stop is the small town of Münsingen in the Swabian Alp mountains, where singer-songwriter Thomas Felder was born 1953.  He has been active in the peace and protest movement most of his life and sings political songs both in his native Swabian dialect and in standard German.  He is even proud of his criminal record for busking in Stuttgart in the 70's.  Here is a song from his 1984 album Nie Wieder Frieden Kriegen (Never get peace again) called Mutter Kugel (Mother ball or maybe better Mother Earth), which is now as relevant or even more than it was then.  It is sung by Mother Earth and one verse goes:

"My youngest fruit at the moment is an animal with an upright gait, that spreads itself, feeling smart, yet has lived for mere seconds."

Moving on to Stuttgart, where folk-duo Zupfgeigenhansel were active during the folk revival between 1974 and 1986 consisting of Erich Schmeckenbecher and Thomas Fritz.  They brought traditional songs around themes of freedom and resistance against the state and clergy.  Here's a song called 's Wieder März Geworden ('tis March again), a ballad recalling the March revolution of 1848 where liberals fought for human rights and democracy against the aristocracy, but which ultimately was unsuccessful.  The song features on the 1978 album Volkslieder III:

Now for something a bit different, based in Stuttgart, but very much a pan-European collaboration, a new band called Lakvar.  They were so pleased I bought their 2020 debut album Sabotage and Tradition recently that they sent me a personal thank you message.  Here's their short bio in their own words:

Lakvar are a new Contemporary Folk Music group, founded by Hungarian-Bulgarian singer Hajnalka Péter

and Zura Dzagnidze. The band includes an array of talented and diverse musicians:

Hungarian Jazz player Florian Vogel, Italian drummer Santino Scavelli and Lithuanian accordion player 

Aleksejs Maslakovs. Lakvar's sound brings together the band's musical and cultural backgrounds, drawing on roots in traditonal Folk from the East of Europe, Jazz, as well as progressive Rock and experimental rhythms.

Moments of stillness and fragility meet free and fearless improvisation and virtuosity. Hajnalka's vocal character

use different traditional, emerging from the music likea mystical and ancient spell. Not limited by convention, Lakvar take musical risks to break through the borders and boundaries of musical tradition and open new path between them.

 I can highly recommend you buying the album and I dare you not to swing a dancing leg to this song from the album called Dilmano Dilbero:

Heading north from Stuttgart we are arriving in the small town of Waiblingen for something more traditional again.  This is where Angelika Maier and Reinhard Fischer hail from who formed not one, but two folk troupes.  Their first band was called Linnenzworch and was active between 1976 and 1983 singing songs mostly in their Swabian dialects.  In 1990 the founded Saiten, Fell & Firlefanz, which played more instrumental balfolk.  I'm not sure if they still play and their music is hard to get hold off these days.  Here's is a song from their earlier incarnation called Komm Heit Nacht (Come tonight) from their 1979 album Ghupft Wia Gsprunga:

Wikipedia seems a bit contradictory about the birthplace of Turkish/German musician GültekinKaan.  On the side it says Backnang, near Stuttgart, whilst the text says he was born and raised in Remscheid in North-Rhine Westphalia.  We'll stick to Backnang, as we are in the area.  He only recorded 2 albums of Turkish psychedelic rock with his band DiVan in 2011 and 12 respectively and seems to have disappeared from the scene since.  He sings in Turkish telling stories of Turkish history and fables and dresses like a sultan on stage.  Here's a song from his second album Sofra called Avya Cicek Acmis:

Next we are heading into the heart of the Black Forest for some cake perhaps?

The best Black Forest gateau ever!

Folk group Kaikai started as a school project 'Music from self-built instruments' in a school in Simmersfeld in 1980.  Now 40 years later they still build instruments such as harps, guitars, accordions, bass, dulcimers, ocarinas, hurdy-gurdies, etc, and play their own balfolk type music on it based on traditional tunes and own compositions. Here's a song called Bohneneintopf (Bean stew) from their 2004 album Lebenszeichen (Signs of life):

Finally we stop in the pretty university town of Freiburg im Breisgau in the far southwest.  This a photo from a visit a few years ago.

View of Freiburg

This is where Bakan beat quintet Äl Jawala hail from.  They have been combining Balkan rhythms with dance beat and modern klezmer since 2000 and have received numerous awards for their music.  This a live version of their song Satelite from their 2016 album Hypnophonic:

That's it from Germany for the time being.  As I said we'll return to the eastern and northern half of the country on our way back north, but next we'll tour around Switzerland.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual travels on my Tripline map.

England - London Part II

Continuing our exploration of the multi-faceted music scene of London we encounter record producer and guitarist Simon Emmerson.  After a life changing trip to Senegal to produce 3 tracks for Afro pop-star Baaba Maal, he felt similarities between African and Celtic music and went on to found the Afro Celt Sound System in 1995.  This is a track from their 2018 album Flight called Sanctus:

Simon Emmerson was also one of the main organisers of The Imagined Village, a collaborative work from many roots musicians intended to produce modern folk music.  They produced a self-titled album in 2007, from which this song is taken, where Emmerson plays the bouzouki and featuring Billy Bragg on guest vocals: John Barleycorn: 

London based music collective Kefaya based around Giuliano Modarelli and Al MacSween collaborates with musicians from all over the world, including the UK, Italy, Cuba, India, Spain, Kurdistan and Afghanistan.  The result can sometimes be a confusing mix of styles as on their 2016 debut album Radio International, which includes a rendition of Bella Ciao alongside classical Indian, Flamenco, Maghreb sounds and electronica.  Their second album with Afghan pop singer Elaha Soroor called Songs of Our Mothers released in 2019 is a bit more focussed.  Their name means 'enough' in Arabic and is used to describe the grassroots liberation movement in Egypt which lead to the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.  This is a song off the second album called Charsi:

Folk musician and fiddler Peter Knight left Steeleye Span in 2013 to forge a career mostly with his band Gigspanner.  He is way more than just a fiddler, but is a classically trained violin virtuoso as is demonstrated on this tune called The Water is Wide, which features on his 2011 live album Doors at Eight:

Folk band Blowzabella was formed in 1978 in Whitechapel, East London who play bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy and an array of acoustic instruments to produce a driving, drone-based sound influenced by English and European folk.   Here's a song from their 2018 album Two Score called Adam Was A Poacher:

Folk singer/songwriter and fiddler Nancy Kerr was born in Plaistow, East London, but has since moved to Sheffield.  She has been impressively productive both on her own and as part of numerous collaborations since her emergence in the early 1990's.  This a song from her 2016 album Instar called Gingerbread:

I think we'll leave it there for today and spend a 3rd day in London as to not overwhelm you all.  As usual you can follow my virtual trip on my tripline map.