England - London Part I

London is such a big place that it is practically a country in itself also boasting a huge ethnic diversity and therefore a lot of different musical influences.  I'm just going to pick a few bits over two blog posts, highlighting some folk, but also a few other international musical styles.  We are starting in the southwestern suburb of New Malden, where John Martyn was born, whose music blurred the boundaries between folk, jazz, rock and blues.  Sadly he died prematurely aged 60 in 2009 after a life marred by substance abuse and addiction.  He left behind an impressive discography.  Here's a live performance from early in his career, Couldn't Love You More.  A version of that song features on his 2008 album Glorious Fool:

Driving up the A3 dual carriageway, which believe me is some kind of hellish nightmare, having commuted up and down there myself for many years, we arrive in Putney, southwest London, where folk singer Naomi Bedford hails from.  In recent years she has been collaborating with mandolin player and guitarist Paul Simmonds, who used to play with folk rock institution The Men They Couldn't Hang.  Their latest album from 2019 Singing It All Home: Appalachian Ballads of English and Scottish Origin, does just what it says on the tin.  This is the opening track from that album called I Must and Will Be Married:

Singer/songwriter and fiddle player Lisa Knapp was born in Balham in South London and grew up in nearby Tooting.  Her 3 albums to date all have received much praise around the folk scene.  Her 2017 album Till April Is Dead - A Garland of May, is a celebration of the month of May and the ancient rituals surrounding spring celebrations.  This is the title song from the album:

Now London is a hotchpotch of multiple cultures, but South Asians are prevalent in many parts with parts of Hounslow, Tooting or Brick Lane having a distinct Indian feel, with restaurants and ethnic shops wafting smells of curries and blaring out sounds that transport you to Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai.  Unnati Dasgupta was born and raised in London being the daughter of late Indian classical vocalist Nitai Dasgupta, with whom she toured in her teens.  Now she is forging a musical career of her own with the recent release of her debut album Indigo Soul, where she blends Jazz influences with classical Indian sounds.  This is a song from the album called Teri Yaad Aati Hain:

Folk Rock band Steeleye Span started off in London way back in 1969 and have been going strong ever since (with a few changes in personnel of course...).  With a back catalogue spanning 50 years, it's difficult to pick just one or two songs from their repertoire.  Here's one from their 2009 album Cogs, Wheels and Lovers called Thornaby Woods:

String duo Francesca Ter-Berg and Flora Curzon (cello and violin), known simply as Fran & Flora, combine Eastern European music with original compositions and experimental electronics, making for a fascinating and haunting blend.  Their debut album from 2019 is entitled Unfurl.  This is a song sung in Yiddish and is called Mayn Rue Platz, which translates as my resting place:

London based band Vula Viel was founded in 2011 by Bex Burch, a percussionist from Yorkshire, who spent 3 years with the Dagaaba People of the Upper West Region of Ghana learning the gyil, a type of wooden xylophone.  They blend jazz with electronic and minimal music.  Their latest album released this year is called What's Not Enough About That and this is the title track:

[Later edit April 2022]: I now saw them live at the Black Box in Belfast.  Here's an extract from that gig:

Stayin on an African theme a brand new international collective just released an album this month called Keleketla.  This is how they describe themselves:

Keleketla! is an expansive collaborative project, reaching outward from Johannesburg to London, Lagos, L.A. and West Papua, “Keleketla!” started as a musical meeting ground between Ninja Tune cofounders Coldcut and a cadre of South African musicians (introduced by the charity In Place Of War), including the raw, South African-accented jazz styles of Sibusile Xaba, and rapper Yugen Blakrok (Black Panther OST). From those initial sessions, the record grew to encompass a wider web of musical luminaries, including Afrobeat architects, the late pioneer Tony Allen and Dele Sosimi, legendary L.A. spoken word pioneers The Watts Prophets, and West Papuan activist Benny Wenda.

Here's the opening track to their album called Future Toyi Toyi:

As I am off travelling for real next week, I better finish here, continuing with more music from London next week.  As usual you can follow my virtual journey on my tripline map.  

England - Cheshire & Manchester

From the Cheshire side of the Peak District hails Rowan Rheingans.  She is an award winning fiddler, banjoist and songwriter who has worked with Lady Maisery, Songs of Separation and together with her sister Anna in the Rheingans Sisters.  Here is the title track of her 2019 album The Lines We Draw Together, called simply Lines:

And here she is with her sister from their 2018 album Bright Field with a song called Green Unstopping:

English folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer Jim Moray was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire.  Here's a song from his 2016 album Upcetera called Sounds of the Earth:

From Stockport in Greater Manchester hails Accordionist Amy Thatcher, although she now resides in the northeast, where she collaborates with Kathryn Tickell and electro folk outfit The Monster Ceilidh Band.  She describes her genre as neo-folk.  She released one solo album last year, appropriately entitled Solo.  This is a tune is the opening track from that album called The Laburnum Tree:

Formed in Manchester in 2014 genre defying band Kabantu, whose members hail from South Africa, France, Scotland and England, play an electrifying fusion of folk, African rhythms, Balkan, Jazz, Brazilian and classical influences.  They are a truly global band, refusing to be assigned to any boxes.  Their name means Of the People, from The South African philosophy of Ubuntu - "I am what I am because of who we all are".  Of the People is also the title of their first album.  Her's a gypsy jazz tune called Skubeks Delight:

And here is something all together more African sounding and shot on the streets of Manchester, the opening track to their album, Ulidzile!

Pete Coe was born in Northwich, West Cheshire and has been big in the British folk scene since the 1970's and is described as a "One-Man Folk Industry".  Here's a song from his 2007 album Previous called Jackdaw:

That's it for today.  Next we'll be leaving England for a while and head into Wales.  As usual you can follow my imaginary rovering on my tripline map.