Listen, breathe. The kick drum is thumping in an offset rhythm to your beating heart and the bass is thundering vibrations through your entire body, tuning you into the stage and every other person standing in the crowd. Lightning strikes in your mind as dueling guitar riffs peel away the...

Centering the 11-string long-necked tar, MVF Band draws on polyphonic roots, global rhythms, funk, and jazz's tight grooves and improvisational play. Add to this Miqayel Voskanyan's expressive singing voice and you'll find this dynamic, and ultimately uncategorizable work, at home in clubs, concert halls, and folk festivals.

Georgia troubadour Tinsley Ellis has been immersed in music his whole life. Born in Atlanta in 1957 and raised in southern Florida, he acquired his first guitar at age seven, inspired by seeing The Beatles perform on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Like many kids his age, Ellis discovered the blues...

Eric Johnson has been traveling on a prolific odyssey over the course of more than four decades. Along the way, his creations have encompassed repertoire that cross-pollinate genres which include rock, blues, jazz, fusion, soul, folk, new-age, classical and even country. Inevitably, E.J. says it best himself: "It really boils...

Derek Gripper is a Cape Town based composer, arranger and virtuoso guitarist known for his groundbreaking technique for evoking the West African kora on solo guitar. His work creates an unprecedented meeting point between written and oral traditions, re-writing the language of African and Classical Guitar.

A septet of masterful vocalists and instrumentalists gives renewed voice to Armenia's spiritual lineage in bracing, emotional, and propulsive work rising on the classical scene. "A stunning discovery" (Bayerischer Rundfunk), The Naghash Ensemble combines the earthy spirituality of Armenian folk song, new classical music, and contemporary post-minimalism with the energy...

Named for an ancient Celtic harvest festival in honour of the Irish god Lugh, Lúnasa was formed in 1997 from members of some of the greatest Irish groups of the previous decade, an early review from Folk Roots magazine describing the band as an "Irish music dream team." From the...

Kevin Kaarl is channeling the romanticism of Mexican music into his soulful folk sound. The Chihuahua native broke out in 2018 with his nostalgic love song "Amor Viejo." His breakthrough album, San Lucas, arrived a year later with the winsome title track, an ode to Kaarl's hometown. Earlier this month,...

Fantasy, M83's 9th studio album, proves a towering sensory delight and marks his most personal album to date, an alternate world that Gonzalez has created as an escape from the disconnected world we live in today.

Often referred to as "The Hendrix of the Sahara," Vieux Farka Touré was born in Niafunké, Mali in 1981. He is the son of legendary Malian guitar player Ali Farka Touré, who died in 2006. Ali Farka Touré came from a historical tribe of soldiers, and defied his parents in...

For 40 years, two-time Grammy Award-winning artist Terrance Simien, an 8th generation Louisiana Creole, has been shattering the myths about what his indigenous Zydeco roots music is--and is not. Simien has become one of the most respected and accomplished artists in American roots music today. He and his bandmates have...