News

Legendary veteran record producer Joe Boyd (The Incredible String Band, Richard Thompson, John Martyn, R.E.M. Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, etc.) recently announced a new Kickstarter Project you should be aware of.

Boyd's now defunct Hannibal record label had long been involved in the ethnic music of Bulgaria, Hungary and Africa. Now with recording engineer Jerry Boys (Buena Vista Social Club, etc.), he's launched the above linked Kickstarter project to record the Saze music of Southern Albania, which the project describes as "...having flourished for over a century in the beautiful cities of Korce, Permet and Berat. The aching blues of the „Kaba“ clarinet and violin, the intricate rhythms of the dances, the polyphonic melodies and the soulful singing deserve a global audience."

Yet the music is not well-known and is under-recorded. To learn more please go to the above hyper-link. Boyd writes "Albania is the New Mali!". You can see and hear why on that link. If it piques your curiosity you can listen to Boyd being interviewed about the project on the BBC or on his own podcast.

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