WOMAD

The Imagined Village

From United Kingdom

This promises to be something very special indeed. Stewarded by Afro Celt Sound System mainman Simon Emmerson, it's the world premiere of The Imagined Village, a project that re-evaluates the notion of folk music in (and its relevancy to) 21st-century England. Simon's idea was to invite particular musicians to interpret trad folk material in whatever way they saw fit to see exactly what their modern-day minds would do with it. The idea was never to encourage them to perform in an 'authentic' traditional style, nor to create some ill-advised, self-conscious fusion of ancient and modern. Instead, the invited cast were permitted to approach the songs from whatever direction they fancied. The album itself will be out in September, so this is an exclusive opportunity to have the first taste of the wares. Among the performers are Billy Bragg, Martin Carthy, Sheila Chandra, Chris Wood and, via the big screen, Benjamin Zephaniah, backed by musicians reflecting the depth of contemporary British music and including dhol drummer Johnny Kalsi and sitar player Sheema Mukherjee. It promises to be folk music like you never heard before…
http://www.imaginedvillage.com