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Matthew Frederick : Fragments
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Mared : Y Drefn
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Jenny Sturgeon : The Living Mountain
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The Wilderness Yet : The Wilderness Yet
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Colorama : Chaos Wonderland
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Kirsty Merryn : Our Bright Night
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Cynefin : Dilyn Afon
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Ghostlawns : Motorik
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Tom Kitching : Seasons of Change
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Meilir : In Tune
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Findlay Napier, Gillian Frame & Mike Vass : The Ledger
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Gigspanner Big Band : Natural Invention
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Mhairi Hall : Airs
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Tom Blackwell : Memphis Volume V
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Edgelarks : Henry Martin
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Douglas MacGregor : Songs of Loss & Healing
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Rura : Live
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David Ian Roberts : From the Harbour
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Virginia Kettle : No Place Like Tomorrow
From the Margins : 2020 Albums of the Year
Catalysts
To illustrate the importance of culture in shaping individual's lives we asked writers & musicians to share three key formative moments that have impacted on their own work or politics. The thought-provoking answers they gave can be found below.
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Welsh folk musician Angharad Jenkins, who plays fiddle in Calan and DnA, describes how two youthful cultural experiences shaped her future, and talks about the magic she found in an extraordinary one-man play about the life of one of Wales' towering political figures. [More]
Angharad Jenkins (Calan/DnA) -
Ben Webb’s distinctive voice and songwriting are key elements of Brighton folk collective Bird in the Belly's brooding creative energy. He performs solo and writes as Jinnwoo - under that guise he is also one quarter of the sublime unaccompanied traditional song project, Green Ribbons. He details why Penda's Fen, Bird in the Bush and Sara Kane's Collected Plays are important landmarks in his cultural hinterland. [More]
Ben Webb (Bird in the Belly) -
Co-founder of The Dark Mountain Project, novelist, poet and recovering environmentalist Paul Kingsnorth explains why three writers - Annie Dillard, Jack Gilbert and John Moriarty - have inspired his own work over the last decade. [More]
Paul Kingsnorth -
Edgelarks are one of the British Isles most accomplished folk duos, bringing together exquisite instrumentation and voice, musical inventiveness and a poetic lyrical depth. Hannah Martin outlines why a book that maps the connection between the environment and our own folkloric identity, an experimental folk project and an inspirational Canadian festival are etched in her memory. [More]
Hannah Martin (Edgelarks) -
Bob Kettle sings, plays the mandolin and wears a top hat in England's most vital folk band, Merry Hell. He also writes superb songs. In a fascinating guest post Bob enthuses about Wigan Diggers Festival, author Laura Bates and the Shakespeare North Project. [More]
Bob Kettle (Merry Hell) -
Christina Alden is a third of Norwich based trio Alden,Patterson and Dashwood. A band noted for the humanity and warmth of their fusion of English and American folk, Christina chose a book that inspired a song and two albums that have illuminated her own musical path as key cultural moments. [More]
Christina Alden (Alden, Patterson & Dashwood) -
The hallmark of Welsh folksinger Owen Shiers' music is a connection to place, culture and history - in this interview he details the impact of the mid-winter pagan tradition Mari Lwyd in Dinas Mawddwy, a memorable harvest party and a formative musical trip to West Africa on his work. [More]
Owen Shiers (Cynefin)
