The Imagined Village is a
folk music project founded by
Simon Emmerson of
Afro Celt Sound System
Afro Celt Sound System is a British musical group who fuse electronic music with traditional Gaelic and West African music. Afro Celt Sound System was formed in 1995 by producer-guitarist Simon Emmerson, and feature a wide range of guest artists. ...
. It is intended to produce modern folk music that represented modern
multiculturalism in the
United Kingdom and as such, featured musicians from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The name of the project came from the 1993 book ''The Imagined Village'' by
Georgina Boyes.
The project started in 2004, and led to the release of an eponymous album in 2007 by a collective of artists on
Real World Records.
Some of the tracks on it are modern re-interpretations of traditional folk songs.
''The Imagined Village E.P.'' was released earlier in 2007, and is a remix of the album tracks. The 2008
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards voted "Cold, Hailey, Rainy Night" as best traditional track.
In 2009, the project moved to a new record label, ECC Records, and a second album, ''Empire & Love'' was released in January 2010,
followed by ''Bending the Dark'' in May 2012.
Discography
The Imagined Village
The Imagined Village E.P.
Empire & Love
Bending The Dark
Line-ups
The Imagined Village live band have toured since November 2007. The original lineup consisted of
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is ...
,
Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such as ...
,
Eliza Carthy,
Sheila Chandra
Sheila Chandra (born 14 March 1965) is a retired English pop singer of Indian descent. She is no longer able to perform, as the result of burning mouth syndrome which she has had since 2010.
Indian–Western pop fusion period
Sheila Chandra wa ...
,
Chris Wood and The
Young Coppers, backed by a band featuring
Simon Emmerson,
Johnny Kalsi,
Francis Hylton,
Andy Gangadeen
Andy may refer to:
People
*Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds
*Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and piano ...
,
Sheema Mukherjee
Sheema Mukherjee is a British composer and sitar player. She is best known for her work with musical collective Transglobal Underground and The Imagined Village. She is the niece of sitarist Nikhil Banerjee. In 2005, ''Billboard'' referred to he ...
and
Barney Morse Brown. They also appeared on ''
Later with Jools Holland
''Later... with Jools Holland'' (also known as ''Even Later... with Jools Holland'', and previously known as ''Later Live... with Jools Holland'' and ''...Later with Jools Holland'') is a contemporary British music television show hosted by Jo ...
''.
A revised lineup was announced for their 2010 tour, coinciding with the release of ''Empire & Love'': Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, and Chris Wood, backed by a band featuring Simon Emmerson, Johnny Kalsi,
Ali Friend
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
, Andy Gangadeen,
Simon Richmond, Sheema Mukherjee and Barney Morse Brown.
In 2011
Jackie Oates replaced Chris Wood for their live performances including at the
Shrewsbury Folk Festival. The musicians credited on ''Bending the Dark'' (2012) were Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy, Simon Emmerson, Ali Friend, Andy Gangadeen, Johnny Kalsi, Sheema Mukherjee, Barney Morse Brown, Jackie Oates and Simon Richmond.
References
External links
official website (Real World Records)official website (ECC Records)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imagined Village
2007 albums
Folk albums by British artists
Real World Records albums