World / Traditional / India
644 products

Bruno Berle is a singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and figurehead of a contemporary Brazilian music movement. With a quiet mastery of songwriting and an astonishing voice, his music has won hearts around the world. Since the release of his debut album No Reino Dos Afetos (2022), Berle has performed across the UK, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and China, only leaving his home country for the first time in 2023. Shaped by these journeys, Berleβs third studio album, Sem Fronteiras (Without Borders), reflects a utopian vision of a unified world. Recorded across London, SΓ£o Paulo, Minas Gerais, Germany, and MaceiΓ³, the albumβco-produced alongside his longstanding musical partner Batata Boyβis the most expansive canvas Berle has worked on to date. Shot through with the imagery that has always animated his songwriting: open skies, morning light, vivid colours and the magic of human connection, Berleβs carefully crafted poetics and warm, delicate instrumentation drive this vivid body of work. βI came from nothingββBerle doesnβt take his rise to global prominence for granted. Born to a working class family from Brazilβs northeastern Alagoas state, one of Brazilβs most economically deprived, Bruno moved frequently in his youth to follow any job opportunities his parents could find, before eventually settling in the coastal capital of MaceiΓ³. βI used to travel to Caruaru, Santa Cruz, Recife, Garanhuns, Arapiraca, which I loved and feel it made me ready to be in this rhythm iβ, but at the same time I think not having friends from childhood and being in constant change made me a little numb to the constant upheavalβ. On Sem Fronteiras, there is a similar duality at play. The album celebrates the collective joy and human connection that live touring brings, but it also sits with the darker realities of crossing borders. While music moves more freely around the world than ever before, our bodies are not granted the same privilege. Though heβs never lacked self-belief, Berle recognises that talent alone doesnβt guarantee opportunity. βBefore my second album [No Reino Dos Afetos 2] everything I had ever recorded was made with the help and kindness of people who believed in my abilityβ. Determined to pay that kindness forward and help others from the sharp end of Brazilβs desperately unequal society, Berle produced and featured on the recent self-titled albums by his northeast Brazilian compatriots, Nyron Higor and Phylipe Nunes AraΓΊjo (both 2025), helping propel both onto the international stage. In turn, following the successes of Nyron & Phylipeβs albums alongside his own, Bruno finds himself at the forefront of a thriving community of artists now based in SΓ£o Paulo, but primarily originating from northeastern states like Alagoas and Pernambuco. Much like the famed Clube Da Esquina movement that spawned in 1970βs Minas Gerais, they operate with a free-exchange of ideas, writing songs with and for each other, performing on each otherβs albums and on the live circuit together. Lead single βManhaβ flows from this ethos. It was written by Berleβs friend and fellow Alagoan JoΓ£o Menezes (writer of βAte Meu Violaoβ and βTe Amar Eternoβ from Brunoβs previous albums) and Marvin Viera, and originally recorded on their 2018 album Areia e Mar. Sem Fronteiras opens with βVoceΜ JaΜ Sabe Que Eu Te Amoβ, just six beats of one nylon guitar chord ring out before changing key, paving the way for the gentle strike of fender rhodes and the arresting call & response duet between Berle and Higor. On βAmor Inteiroβ, the album reaches a celebratory burst of catharsis, with the punch-packing drums of Pedro Lacerda and Nina Maiaβs joyous backing vocals encapsulating the live energy that Berle and his band bring to the stage. With the abundant talents of this musical community at its heart, Sem Fronteiras releases 10th July 2026 via Far Out Recordings, supported by a summer tour across Europe. Bruno Berle will perform in a four-piece band alongside Nyron Higor, Phylipe Nunes, and Batata Boy, culminating in an appearance at Roskilde festival, Berleβs biggest live show to date. Heβll continue to carry a hopeful vision of a world where artists and musicians can move as freely as their music flows.

Bruno Berle is a singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and figurehead of a contemporary Brazilian music movement. With a quiet mastery of songwriting and an astonishing voice, his music has won hearts around the world. Since the release of his debut album No Reino Dos Afetos (2022), Berle has performed across the UK, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and China, only leaving his home country for the first time in 2023. Shaped by these journeys, Berleβs third studio album, Sem Fronteiras (Without Borders), reflects a utopian vision of a unified world. Recorded across London, SΓ£o Paulo, Minas Gerais, Germany, and MaceiΓ³, the albumβco-produced alongside his longstanding musical partner Batata Boyβis the most expansive canvas Berle has worked on to date. Shot through with the imagery that has always animated his songwriting: open skies, morning light, vivid colours and the magic of human connection, Berleβs carefully crafted poetics and warm, delicate instrumentation drive this vivid body of work. βI came from nothingββBerle doesnβt take his rise to global prominence for granted. Born to a working class family from Brazilβs northeastern Alagoas state, one of Brazilβs most economically deprived, Bruno moved frequently in his youth to follow any job opportunities his parents could find, before eventually settling in the coastal capital of MaceiΓ³. βI used to travel to Caruaru, Santa Cruz, Recife, Garanhuns, Arapiraca, which I loved and feel it made me ready to be in this rhythm iβ, but at the same time I think not having friends from childhood and being in constant change made me a little numb to the constant upheavalβ. On Sem Fronteiras, there is a similar duality at play. The album celebrates the collective joy and human connection that live touring brings, but it also sits with the darker realities of crossing borders. While music moves more freely around the world than ever before, our bodies are not granted the same privilege. Though heβs never lacked self-belief, Berle recognises that talent alone doesnβt guarantee opportunity. βBefore my second album [No Reino Dos Afetos 2] everything I had ever recorded was made with the help and kindness of people who believed in my abilityβ. Determined to pay that kindness forward and help others from the sharp end of Brazilβs desperately unequal society, Berle produced and featured on the recent self-titled albums by his northeast Brazilian compatriots, Nyron Higor and Phylipe Nunes AraΓΊjo (both 2025), helping propel both onto the international stage. In turn, following the successes of Nyron & Phylipeβs albums alongside his own, Bruno finds himself at the forefront of a thriving community of artists now based in SΓ£o Paulo, but primarily originating from northeastern states like Alagoas and Pernambuco. Much like the famed Clube Da Esquina movement that spawned in 1970βs Minas Gerais, they operate with a free-exchange of ideas, writing songs with and for each other, performing on each otherβs albums and on the live circuit together. Lead single βManhaβ flows from this ethos. It was written by Berleβs friend and fellow Alagoan JoΓ£o Menezes (writer of βAte Meu Violaoβ and βTe Amar Eternoβ from Brunoβs previous albums) and Marvin Viera, and originally recorded on their 2018 album Areia e Mar. Sem Fronteiras opens with βVoceΜ JaΜ Sabe Que Eu Te Amoβ, just six beats of one nylon guitar chord ring out before changing key, paving the way for the gentle strike of fender rhodes and the arresting call & response duet between Berle and Higor. On βAmor Inteiroβ, the album reaches a celebratory burst of catharsis, with the punch-packing drums of Pedro Lacerda and Nina Maiaβs joyous backing vocals encapsulating the live energy that Berle and his band bring to the stage. With the abundant talents of this musical community at its heart, Sem Fronteiras releases 10th July 2026 via Far Out Recordings, supported by a summer tour across Europe. Bruno Berle will perform in a four-piece band alongside Nyron Higor, Phylipe Nunes, and Batata Boy, culminating in an appearance at Roskilde festival, Berleβs biggest live show to date. Heβll continue to carry a hopeful vision of a world where artists and musicians can move as freely as their music flows.

Light in the Attic is honored to announce the long-awaited reissue of Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, the revolutionary 1982 album from composer and musician Charanjit Singh. Pairing Indian classical ragas with then-state-of-the-art Roland synthesizers and drum machines, Singh created an electronic masterpiece that was far ahead of its time.
Recording live at Mumbaiβs HMV studios, Singh married the past to the futureβblending the ancient Indian tradition of ragas (a melodic framework, similar to a scale, from which musicians can improvise or compose) with pulsating, electronic dance beats. Released without fanfare, it faded into obscurity and Singh retired from recording to focus on private concerts, but thatβs where the story beginsβ¦
Released in cooperation with Singhβs estate, Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat arrives on June 26th. The 10-track album was remastered by Johanz Westerman at Ballyhoo Studio Mastering and stretched across 2-LPs for the highest quality listening experience. The vinyl was pressed at Optimal Media and housed in a gatefold jacket that replicates the original artwork.
An accompanying 16-page LP booklet features previously-unreleased photos and two new essays: the first from Arshia Fatima Haq and Jeremy Loudenback of Discostanβa multimedia collective and record label focusing on music from South West Asia and North Africaβwhile the other comes from filmmaker and writer Rana Ghose of event and film production entity REProduce Artists, who managed Singh in his final years and documented his triumphant return to the stage. Additionally, fans can find a limited-edition pressing of Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat on βPearlescent Transcendent Futureβ Color Wax, while the album will also be reissued on CD with a 32-page booklet containing all of the above.
More on Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat:
Indian multi-instrumentalist and composer Charanjit Singh (1940β2015) never intended to be an electronic dance music pioneer when he recorded 1982βs Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat. Yet three decades later, his inventive use of state-of-the-art synthesizers and drum machines would prompt some to crown him the βGodfather of Acid House.β The real story, however, runs much deeper.
A native of Mumbai, Singh spent much of his career as a Bollywood session musician, collaborating with renowned composers like RD Burman and ShankarβJaikishan, and appearing on some of the most iconic Hindi film hits of the β60s and β70s. Outside of the film industry, Singh recorded several of his own albums and toured the world alongside the eraβs biggest starsβan opportunity which allowed him to collect new instruments, including synthesizers and other electronic devices. As psychedelia and disco wove their way into Bollywood scores, Singh was at the forefront, integrating a host of electronic textures into his work (his hypnotic Transicord introduction on βDum Maro Dumβ from 1971βs Hare Rama Hare Krishna is among his most recognizable performances).
By the turn of the β80s, however, Singh was disenchanted by the creative limitations of session work and embarked on a solo career. Not long after, on tour in Singapore, he discovered three Roland devices that had just hit the market: the TR-808 drum machine (released 1980), the TB-303 bass synthesizer (released 1981), and the Jupiter 8 synthesizer (released 1981). While this trio would fuel early electronic dance music in the coming years, Singh was among the first known artists to pair them on record when he was inspired to create his next album, Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat.
Using only the three devices and recording live at Mumbaiβs HMV studios, Singh married the past to the futureβblending the ancient Indian tradition of ragas (a melodic framework, similar to a scale, from which musicians can improvise or compose) with pulsating, electronic dance beats, while programming the TB-303 to follow classical Hindustani scales. From the hypnotic drones of βRaga Bhairaviβ to the uplifting jams of βRaga Bairagiβ the album proved perhaps to be a bit too visionary for its time. Released without fanfare, it faded into obscurity and Singh retired from recording to focus on private concerts.
Two decades later, Dutch DJ and record collector Edo Bouman was in New Delhi when he came across an old copy of Ten Ragas. Bouman was astounded by what he heardβelectronic music that had all the hallmarks of acid house, recorded five years before Chicago DJs coined the term. Bouman spent the next few years tracking down Singh and, in 2010, reissued the album on his label, Bombay Connection.
Soon, Ten Ragas became a viral sensation, sparking disbelief and debates about the origins of acid house. But, as Haq and Loudenback explain, those in the conversation βHad little frame of reference for [Singhβs] music outside of the parameters of western club music.β Viewed through the lens of the Hindi film industry, they argue, the albumβs through-line comes into focus. In the β60s, when Western artists were looking to India for inspiration, Bollywood was βA laboratory for discovering sounds, and for harnessing every new technology that could be found or repurposedβ¦. Singhβs album is more fittingly placed within the framework of the expansion of Bollywoodβs experiments in disco, rather than that of acid house.β
βPerhaps this is yet another example of how a public engages with those who are ahead of their time,β adds Rana Ghose. βThis record is a direct consequence of a centuries-old classical music form, rendered through the lens of a visionary who used the vanguard of technology at the time to recast it, resulting in an artefact that, almost 40 years later, is finding entirely new audiences in an era marked by a changing and uncertain global landscape of soft-power assertion. Considering this reassessment is as exciting as it is fascinating. Much like this record.β
While Ten Ragas sparked plenty of conversations within the electronic music community, it also gave a bemused Singh a surge of newfound fame during the final years of his life, allowing him to play with his live collaborator Johanz Westerman (Thee J Johanz) to thousands of fans at packed club shows and festivals in Europe, the U.S., and India. Among those fans are Australian duo Glass Beams (who covered βRaga Bhairavβ), German electronic duo Modeselektor, and Thom Yorke, who ranked βRaga Lalitβ as one of his β6 Tracks You Need to Hearβ via the BBC.
Most importantly, however, Ten Ragas resonated deeply with South Asian artists, who saw electronic music from India being recognized with new reverence. In the words of Vish Matre (of the UK DJ duo Dar Disku), βThis record will be remembered for, not being the predecessor to another genre, but being a precursor to a lot of new music from the diaspora that relied on it as inspiration.β

Light in the Attic is honored to announce the long-awaited reissue of Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, the revolutionary 1982 album from composer and musician Charanjit Singh. Pairing Indian classical ragas with then-state-of-the-art Roland synthesizers and drum machines, Singh created an electronic masterpiece that was far ahead of its time.
Recording live at Mumbaiβs HMV studios, Singh married the past to the futureβblending the ancient Indian tradition of ragas (a melodic framework, similar to a scale, from which musicians can improvise or compose) with pulsating, electronic dance beats. Released without fanfare, it faded into obscurity and Singh retired from recording to focus on private concerts, but thatβs where the story beginsβ¦
Released in cooperation with Singhβs estate, Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat arrives on June 26th. The 10-track album was remastered by Johanz Westerman at Ballyhoo Studio Mastering and stretched across 2-LPs for the highest quality listening experience. The vinyl was pressed at Optimal Media and housed in a gatefold jacket that replicates the original artwork.
An accompanying 16-page LP booklet features previously-unreleased photos and two new essays: the first from Arshia Fatima Haq and Jeremy Loudenback of Discostanβa multimedia collective and record label focusing on music from South West Asia and North Africaβwhile the other comes from filmmaker and writer Rana Ghose of event and film production entity REProduce Artists, who managed Singh in his final years and documented his triumphant return to the stage. Additionally, fans can find a limited-edition pressing of Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat on βPearlescent Transcendent Futureβ Color Wax, while the album will also be reissued on CD with a 32-page booklet containing all of the above.
More on Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat:
Indian multi-instrumentalist and composer Charanjit Singh (1940β2015) never intended to be an electronic dance music pioneer when he recorded 1982βs Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat. Yet three decades later, his inventive use of state-of-the-art synthesizers and drum machines would prompt some to crown him the βGodfather of Acid House.β The real story, however, runs much deeper.
A native of Mumbai, Singh spent much of his career as a Bollywood session musician, collaborating with renowned composers like RD Burman and ShankarβJaikishan, and appearing on some of the most iconic Hindi film hits of the β60s and β70s. Outside of the film industry, Singh recorded several of his own albums and toured the world alongside the eraβs biggest starsβan opportunity which allowed him to collect new instruments, including synthesizers and other electronic devices. As psychedelia and disco wove their way into Bollywood scores, Singh was at the forefront, integrating a host of electronic textures into his work (his hypnotic Transicord introduction on βDum Maro Dumβ from 1971βs Hare Rama Hare Krishna is among his most recognizable performances).
By the turn of the β80s, however, Singh was disenchanted by the creative limitations of session work and embarked on a solo career. Not long after, on tour in Singapore, he discovered three Roland devices that had just hit the market: the TR-808 drum machine (released 1980), the TB-303 bass synthesizer (released 1981), and the Jupiter 8 synthesizer (released 1981). While this trio would fuel early electronic dance music in the coming years, Singh was among the first known artists to pair them on record when he was inspired to create his next album, Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat.
Using only the three devices and recording live at Mumbaiβs HMV studios, Singh married the past to the futureβblending the ancient Indian tradition of ragas (a melodic framework, similar to a scale, from which musicians can improvise or compose) with pulsating, electronic dance beats, while programming the TB-303 to follow classical Hindustani scales. From the hypnotic drones of βRaga Bhairaviβ to the uplifting jams of βRaga Bairagiβ the album proved perhaps to be a bit too visionary for its time. Released without fanfare, it faded into obscurity and Singh retired from recording to focus on private concerts.
Two decades later, Dutch DJ and record collector Edo Bouman was in New Delhi when he came across an old copy of Ten Ragas. Bouman was astounded by what he heardβelectronic music that had all the hallmarks of acid house, recorded five years before Chicago DJs coined the term. Bouman spent the next few years tracking down Singh and, in 2010, reissued the album on his label, Bombay Connection.
Soon, Ten Ragas became a viral sensation, sparking disbelief and debates about the origins of acid house. But, as Haq and Loudenback explain, those in the conversation βHad little frame of reference for [Singhβs] music outside of the parameters of western club music.β Viewed through the lens of the Hindi film industry, they argue, the albumβs through-line comes into focus. In the β60s, when Western artists were looking to India for inspiration, Bollywood was βA laboratory for discovering sounds, and for harnessing every new technology that could be found or repurposedβ¦. Singhβs album is more fittingly placed within the framework of the expansion of Bollywoodβs experiments in disco, rather than that of acid house.β
βPerhaps this is yet another example of how a public engages with those who are ahead of their time,β adds Rana Ghose. βThis record is a direct consequence of a centuries-old classical music form, rendered through the lens of a visionary who used the vanguard of technology at the time to recast it, resulting in an artefact that, almost 40 years later, is finding entirely new audiences in an era marked by a changing and uncertain global landscape of soft-power assertion. Considering this reassessment is as exciting as it is fascinating. Much like this record.β
While Ten Ragas sparked plenty of conversations within the electronic music community, it also gave a bemused Singh a surge of newfound fame during the final years of his life, allowing him to play with his live collaborator Johanz Westerman (Thee J Johanz) to thousands of fans at packed club shows and festivals in Europe, the U.S., and India. Among those fans are Australian duo Glass Beams (who covered βRaga Bhairavβ), German electronic duo Modeselektor, and Thom Yorke, who ranked βRaga Lalitβ as one of his β6 Tracks You Need to Hearβ via the BBC.
Most importantly, however, Ten Ragas resonated deeply with South Asian artists, who saw electronic music from India being recognized with new reverence. In the words of Vish Matre (of the UK DJ duo Dar Disku), βThis record will be remembered for, not being the predecessor to another genre, but being a precursor to a lot of new music from the diaspora that relied on it as inspiration.β

Light in the Attic is honored to announce the long-awaited reissue of Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, the revolutionary 1982 album from composer and musician Charanjit Singh. Pairing Indian classical ragas with then-state-of-the-art Roland synthesizers and drum machines, Singh created an electronic masterpiece that was far ahead of its time.
Recording live at Mumbaiβs HMV studios, Singh married the past to the futureβblending the ancient Indian tradition of ragas (a melodic framework, similar to a scale, from which musicians can improvise or compose) with pulsating, electronic dance beats. Released without fanfare, it faded into obscurity and Singh retired from recording to focus on private concerts, but thatβs where the story beginsβ¦
Released in cooperation with Singhβs estate, Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat arrives on June 26th. The 10-track album was remastered by Johanz Westerman at Ballyhoo Studio Mastering and stretched across 2-LPs for the highest quality listening experience. The vinyl was pressed at Optimal Media and housed in a gatefold jacket that replicates the original artwork.
An accompanying 16-page LP booklet features previously-unreleased photos and two new essays: the first from Arshia Fatima Haq and Jeremy Loudenback of Discostanβa multimedia collective and record label focusing on music from South West Asia and North Africaβwhile the other comes from filmmaker and writer Rana Ghose of event and film production entity REProduce Artists, who managed Singh in his final years and documented his triumphant return to the stage. Additionally, fans can find a limited-edition pressing of Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat on βPearlescent Transcendent Futureβ Color Wax, while the album will also be reissued on CD with a 32-page booklet containing all of the above.
More on Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat:
Indian multi-instrumentalist and composer Charanjit Singh (1940β2015) never intended to be an electronic dance music pioneer when he recorded 1982βs Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat. Yet three decades later, his inventive use of state-of-the-art synthesizers and drum machines would prompt some to crown him the βGodfather of Acid House.β The real story, however, runs much deeper.
A native of Mumbai, Singh spent much of his career as a Bollywood session musician, collaborating with renowned composers like RD Burman and ShankarβJaikishan, and appearing on some of the most iconic Hindi film hits of the β60s and β70s. Outside of the film industry, Singh recorded several of his own albums and toured the world alongside the eraβs biggest starsβan opportunity which allowed him to collect new instruments, including synthesizers and other electronic devices. As psychedelia and disco wove their way into Bollywood scores, Singh was at the forefront, integrating a host of electronic textures into his work (his hypnotic Transicord introduction on βDum Maro Dumβ from 1971βs Hare Rama Hare Krishna is among his most recognizable performances).
By the turn of the β80s, however, Singh was disenchanted by the creative limitations of session work and embarked on a solo career. Not long after, on tour in Singapore, he discovered three Roland devices that had just hit the market: the TR-808 drum machine (released 1980), the TB-303 bass synthesizer (released 1981), and the Jupiter 8 synthesizer (released 1981). While this trio would fuel early electronic dance music in the coming years, Singh was among the first known artists to pair them on record when he was inspired to create his next album, Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat.
Using only the three devices and recording live at Mumbaiβs HMV studios, Singh married the past to the futureβblending the ancient Indian tradition of ragas (a melodic framework, similar to a scale, from which musicians can improvise or compose) with pulsating, electronic dance beats, while programming the TB-303 to follow classical Hindustani scales. From the hypnotic drones of βRaga Bhairaviβ to the uplifting jams of βRaga Bairagiβ the album proved perhaps to be a bit too visionary for its time. Released without fanfare, it faded into obscurity and Singh retired from recording to focus on private concerts.
Two decades later, Dutch DJ and record collector Edo Bouman was in New Delhi when he came across an old copy of Ten Ragas. Bouman was astounded by what he heardβelectronic music that had all the hallmarks of acid house, recorded five years before Chicago DJs coined the term. Bouman spent the next few years tracking down Singh and, in 2010, reissued the album on his label, Bombay Connection.
Soon, Ten Ragas became a viral sensation, sparking disbelief and debates about the origins of acid house. But, as Haq and Loudenback explain, those in the conversation βHad little frame of reference for [Singhβs] music outside of the parameters of western club music.β Viewed through the lens of the Hindi film industry, they argue, the albumβs through-line comes into focus. In the β60s, when Western artists were looking to India for inspiration, Bollywood was βA laboratory for discovering sounds, and for harnessing every new technology that could be found or repurposedβ¦. Singhβs album is more fittingly placed within the framework of the expansion of Bollywoodβs experiments in disco, rather than that of acid house.β
βPerhaps this is yet another example of how a public engages with those who are ahead of their time,β adds Rana Ghose. βThis record is a direct consequence of a centuries-old classical music form, rendered through the lens of a visionary who used the vanguard of technology at the time to recast it, resulting in an artefact that, almost 40 years later, is finding entirely new audiences in an era marked by a changing and uncertain global landscape of soft-power assertion. Considering this reassessment is as exciting as it is fascinating. Much like this record.β
While Ten Ragas sparked plenty of conversations within the electronic music community, it also gave a bemused Singh a surge of newfound fame during the final years of his life, allowing him to play with his live collaborator Johanz Westerman (Thee J Johanz) to thousands of fans at packed club shows and festivals in Europe, the U.S., and India. Among those fans are Australian duo Glass Beams (who covered βRaga Bhairavβ), German electronic duo Modeselektor, and Thom Yorke, who ranked βRaga Lalitβ as one of his β6 Tracks You Need to Hearβ via the BBC.
Most importantly, however, Ten Ragas resonated deeply with South Asian artists, who saw electronic music from India being recognized with new reverence. In the words of Vish Matre (of the UK DJ duo Dar Disku), βThis record will be remembered for, not being the predecessor to another genre, but being a precursor to a lot of new music from the diaspora that relied on it as inspiration.β

Natalie Wildgoose's new work, Rural Hours, recorded deep in the Yorkshire Dales with Chris Brain and Owen Spafford. In a space without heating or electricity, piano and folk ensemble blend with the sounds of the fire and wind, quietly depicting the land's memories and losses.
Born in a Fussa U.S. military house, Minyo Crusaders cut new ground by fusing Japanese folk songs with Latin rhythms, earning high praise both at home and abroad from media like NPR and The Guardian. Now comes From Japan With Love, their first new album in three years.
Although he is still completely unknown to Western audiences, for Ethiopians, Tlahoun Gèssèssè is THE VOICE. The first-ever pan-Ethiopian star, he has embodied such nonstop unanimity since the end of the 1950s that is a role-model and a point of reference.

Born in 1944 on Martinique island, Max Cilla worked his whole life to resurrect the bamboo flute played by his forebears in the fields from the relative oblivion into which it had fallen in the early 20th century. At first, Max Cilla built them. He went up into his native coastal hills to manufacture them according to traditional rules used in India. Using a simple piece of rough wood, he fabricated a noble instrument of great Β« historical Β» significance that showed the way for a younger generation in search of its identity. Β« I came up with the name of the coastal hills flute Β»: the great mystic asserts. Fascinated by Cuban music and Latin rhythms, he composed & played his own songs accompanied by the islandβs traditional percussions. He recorded and released La Flute des Mornes Vol.1 in 1981. Max Cilla played with Archie Shepp in Paris, recorded on Bongaβs album Angola 74, shared the stage with Tito Puente & Machito and keep on playing today.


Straight to the point: Indian classical music is, and will always be, the most complete music in the world. There is Indian classical music that suits all seasons, all times of day, all moods, and all emotions. Holmlia, on the southern side of Oslo, is honored to host one of the most skilled performers of Indian classical music in Europe: Sudeshna Bhattacharya. Sudeshna began learning the art of playing the sarod from her father, Sri Krishna Mohan Bhattacharya, who himself was a student of Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra. She grew up in a home where Indian classical music was deeply rooted, and at the age of four, she started playing. Her grandfather had studied with Ustad Ameer Khan Sarodia from the Senia Vinkaar Gharana, a name and lineage that left a strong imprint on her musical heritage. At the age of eight, Sudeshna began formal training under the renowned master Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. In 2003, she was invited by the French Ministry of Culture to France, where she spent a decade giving concerts both domestically and internationally, conducting courses and workshops, recording music, and participating in cultural celebrations and events. In 2013, Sudeshna moved to Norway, where she has lectured masterβs students at the Norwegian Academy of Music and continued her lifeβs work as a performer, composer, teacher, and recording artist. She plays the sarod. The finest instrument there is?! The sarod, which together with the sitar stands as one of the most revered and well-known carriers of sound in Hindustani tonality, has a unique essence. Unlike the sitar, whose frets guide notes with strict discipline, the sarod embodies naked freedom β a fretless form requiring masterful handling with the left hand. When playing the sarod, the strings are struck with a plectrum made of coconut shell, a touch of nature's own design. Notes are created as the player presses their nails against a cold, gleaming steel fingerboard with remarkable precision. In this humble interplay between hand, nail, and string lies a profound breath, a tone reflecting the eternal itself. Joining her on this album is Mosin Kawa. He was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, on May 3, 1992. At the age of three, he began learning tabla under the guidance of his father, Ustad Shabbir Ahmed. While continuing to learn from his father, Mosin also sought inspiration and new compositions from great masters such as Ustad Munshi Ahmed, Ustad Hidayat Khan, and Ustad Yusuf Khan. At the age of eight, Mosin performed at the Saptak Festival in Ahmedabad with a qawwali group. From then on, he began performing as a tabla soloist across different parts of India. At 18, Mosin travelled to Paris, France, with his older brother Shahid Hussain Kawa, an accomplished santoor player. Together, they performed music across several European countries, including Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy, spreading the musical heritage of Rajasthan to wider circles. About the title: As Sudeshna says: Mohini is the feminine version of Krishna and symbolizes feminine strength β not in war, but in peace, love, and harmony. This goddess could definitely step forward a bit more in the times ahead, thank you very much! Or, she is already present; one just needs to read a book or two or watch an informational film to realize that thereβs much to learn from her and the various gods worshipped around the world. They are often on to something, and thereβs no reason not to emulate them! Isnβt it strange that (at least in the Western world), itβs entirely acceptable to βlook up toβ athletes, actors, and capitalists, while many feel embarrassed to acknowledge a spiritually sound character or two? But yes, Indian music is and will remain the best. Indian classical music, this ancient source of resonant wisdom and spiritual beauty, has two branches that each, in their own way, embrace the mystical in the human spirit: Hindustani and Carnatic music. Sudeshna, this artβs faithful steward, enters the Hindustani tradition with a spirit so profound and an interpretation so masterful that it feels as if the music itself speaks through her as its vessel. Hindustani music is an art form that aims to reach the heart's roots, a painting of the nine primary emotions β the states of being that shape our lives: the burning fire of erotic love, the radiant joy of undisturbed happiness, the depth of empathy that brings solace to another, the power that rises like a spring flood of energy, heroism breaking through like a star in the night, fear rushing through oneβs core, disgust pulling one away from what repels, awe lifting the soul towards the divine, and harmony, the gentle sense of everything in its rightful place. Each of these resonant tones acts as a medicine for the body and mind, reflecting the cosmos itself in every note and interval. In Hindustani music, notes belong to their proper time slots. Each piece, each raga, is tied to a certain time of day or a season. Like the morning light reflecting in the dew or the autumn wind sweeping over leaf-heavy hills, music must follow nature's rhythms to be whole. Before the mighty strikes of percussion enter, each raga opens with a long and exploratory alap, where the notes search outward like roots seeking water β a journey into the soulβs deepest darkness and brightest clarity. And even more beautiful, even deeper, is the play of the 22 microtones β the small, airy rising and falling tones that reveal a world beyond the Westβs familiar scales, a wholeness that opens the door to a different, eternal tonal universe. Hindustani music is not just a listening experience; it is a revelation β a humble prayer, a step toward the heavens, and a resonance between earth and eternity. May more open their eyes and ears to this wondrous, deepening art!

This compilation βPas Un Pas Sansβ¦ The Boleros of O.K. Jazz 1957-77β is a selection of songs from what is one of the most unique and passionate music genres on earth, the Congolese bolero. Of all Congolese bands venturing into the bolero, the O.K. Jazz orchestra is by far the king of this musical style which originated in the late 19th century in Cuba. In its nearly forty years of existence, the illustrious band released dozens of boleros, with beautiful compositions, mainly by Franco and Vicky, and occasionally from Kwamy, Edo, Simaro and Mujos among others. The slow form of the bolero allowed Franco, who said in various interviews that he loved all forms of βslow musicβ, to express his most profound soul stirrings and create a style of his own. With the suave voice of Vicky and the breathtaking and dramatic guitar touch of Franco, O.K. Jazz was able to capture the true essence of the bolero. The favorite theme in the bolero songs of O.K. Jazz was, without doubt, the joy and pain of love, but it also touches on friendship, city life in Kinshasa, laments, politics and even advertising for a shoe brand like the remarkable song βPas Un Pas Sans Bataβ featured on this compilation. All of the songs, except one, were restored and remastered from the original 45 rpm or 78 rpm release. The selection chronologically presented here consists β as always β for a good part of songs never reproduced after their original release.

Planet Ilunga presents, in collaboration with the children of Nico Kasanda alias Docteur Nico, an anthology dedicated to African Fiesta Sukisa, available as a 3LP and a digital release (with bonus songs). This release is the fruit of many years of preparations and was realized in close partnership with Liliane Kasanda, Nicoβs eldest daughter. Marking forty years since his passing, we felt that the year 2025 was the right time to honor Docteur Nicoβs legacy with this original collection.
Almost all of the African Fiesta Sukisa songs were released on Nicoβs Sukisa label which translates in Lingala for βthe final accomplishmentβ. The music on Sukisa, crafted by Nico, Dechaud and legendary vocalists such as Chantal, Sangana, ApΓ΄tre, Lessa Lassan and Josky, embodies the essence of that powerful phrase with genius and class. The label ran between 1966 and 1975 and released approximately 280 songs. Ngoma also issued the group between 1967 and 1971 and, in addition, reissued material from the Sukisa label. Many of the Sukisa songs have become part of the collective memory of Congolese society and are still heard, discussed, and analyzed daily across digital platforms worldwide, as well as on numerous Congolese radio and television stations.
The album we put together features some of African Fiesta Sukisaβs signature songs alongside never before reissued tracks from the Sukisa catalog. It furthermore contains a large booklet with song commentary, testimonial interviews from well-known musicians, journalists, fans and Nicoβs entourage, besides never-before-published photos from the familyβs personal archive, illustrating the life and career of the one and only βdieu de la guitareβ.
Alastair Johnston, author of the book βA Discography of Docteur Nicoβ and longstanding Planet Ilunga collaborator, designed a stylish booklet and cover using all our collected material. Audifax Bemba, longtime admirer, compiler and connoisseur of Nicoβs music, and the author of most of the song commentary in our accompanying and very visual booklet, offers his portrait of Nico Kasanda:
βAfter displaying technical virtuosity with African Jazz, expert and accomplished guitar with African Fiesta, which musicologist Sylvain Bemba described as a dream guitar, Nico Kasanda was consecrated βdieu de la guitareβ by the public in the late sixties. With his band African Fiesta Sukisa, Docteur Nico displays his wide palette of unusual sounds. While exploring the Hawaiian guitar with its clear, airy, plangent, psychedelic effluvia, he continues to replicate the piano comping technique, and adds two missing strings to his bow: a simulation of the sanza (likembΓ© or thumb piano), whose sounds he reproduces right down to the noisemakers of the tiny tin rings on the one hand, and the sounds of the Luba balafon on the other.
The right note, in the right place, at the right time, is the triptych on which Nico Kasandaβs playing is based, a note dressed in the perfect sound. A guitar of pure emotion. With African Fiesta Sukisa, his playing takes a βChopin-esqueβ turn, sending out more notes in a sublime adagio. The true artist is the one who simplifies everything. Docteur Nico is a genius of our time, whose style makes him the supreme exponent of the most important guitar school in Congolese music. He is recognized by his peers as the greatest African solo guitarist of all time. Sculpting sound in a tireless quest for beauty, Nico Kasanda has sublimated the guitar throughout his career.β

A companion mini-album to Heavy Combination, last yearβs career-spanning compilation documenting some of the amazing music recorded over five decades by the late Joseph Kamaru, a towering figure in post-colonial Kenyan culture. This new record presents five more gems from the archives, chosen by Disciples and Joseph Kamaruβs grandson, the sound artist KMRU. Carefully remastered from original tape transfers, with liner notes by Kenyan academic Maina wa MΕ©tonya.

Martin Khanja (aka Lord Spike Heart) and Sam Karugu emerge from Nairobi's flourishing underground metal scene as former members of the bands Lust of a Dying Breed and Seeds of Datura. Together in 2019 they formed Duma (Darkness in Kikuyu) with Sam abandoning bass for production and guitars and Lord Spike Heart providing extreme vocals to the project.
Recorded at Nyege Nyege Studios in Kampala over three months in mid 2019 their self-titled debut album fuses the frenetic euphoria, unrelenting physicality and rebellious attitude of hardcore punk and trash metal with bone-crunching breakcore and raw, nihilist industrial noise through a claustrophobic vortex of visceral screams.
The savant mix of brutally adrenalized drums, caustic industrial trap, shredding grindcore inspired guitars and abrupt speed changes create a darkly atmospheric menace and is lethal on tracks like the opener "Angels and Abysses" , "Omni" or "Uganda with Sam".
The gruelling slow techno dirges and monolithic vocals on "Pembe 666" or "Sin Nature" add a pinch of dramatic inevitability bringing a new sense of theatricality and terrifying fate awaiting into the record's progression.
A sinister sonic aggression of feral intensity with disregard for styles, Duma promises to impact the burgeoning African metal scene moving it into totally new, boundary-challenging experimental territories.

Bulayo gathers extraordinary acoustic guitar performances recorded across Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and DR Congo in 1979β80 by British-Kenyan musician John Low. Travelling as a student rather than a producer, Low sought out masters of regional fingerstyle traditions, visiting and sometimes staying with artists including Jean-Bosco Mwenda, Losta Abelo and Emmanuel Mulemena, while also documenting under-recorded players such as Francis Kitime and Mtonga Wanganangu. Captured in homes, village squares and bars, these recordings are relaxed and immediate, with laughter, conversation and everyday sounds woven into the music. Far removed from studio polish, they offer a rare sense of how this guitar music was actually heard and shared. Some tracks previously surfaced on John Storm Robertsβ long out-of-print Original Music compilations; others appear here for the first time. All have been restored and remastered from Lowβs original tapes by Andrew Walter (Honest Jonβs, Abbey Road). With notes and lyrics by John Low and commentary from Tanzanian scholar John Kitime, Bulayo stands as a vital document of East and Central Africaβs rich guitar traditions.

From beloved composer Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, a revelatory new album of piano pieces, unreleased or virtually inaccessible until now!
Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru is a true original – an Ethiopian nun whose recordings have funded orphanages back home since the early ’60s. Her compositions and unique playing style live somewhere between Erik Satie, Debussy, liturgical music of the Coptic Ethiopian Church, and Ethiopian traditional music. It is some of the most moving piano music you will ever hear.
This is the first archival release of the great composer’s recordings since the Éthiopiques series reintroduced her music to the world in 2006. Drawn from original master tapes and a nearly impossible-to-find vinyl release, Jerusalem unveils profound new facets of Emahoy Gebru’s performance and compositions.
The record picks up where the last two Mississippi releases left off, with tracks from her 1972 album Hymn of Jerusalem, of which only a handful of copies are known to exist. These include “Home of Beethoven,” “Aurora,” and a true masterpiece that stands amongst her greatest compositions, the moving “Jerusalem.” “Quand La Mer Furieuse” is the first release featuring Emahoy’s singing voice, forshadowing a vocal album planned for fall 2023. The B-Side brings us the artist’s home recordings - tracks like “Farewell Eve,” “Woigaye Don’t Cry Anymore,” and “Famine Disaster 1974” mark a bridge from liturgical work to dark and intense classical material, a new mode.
This album is released in celebration of Emahoy Gebru’s 99th birthday on December 12, 2022. Mississippi is honored to work with the Emahoy Tsege Mariam Music Publisher to continue to introduce this visionary composer to the world.
Newly remastered recordings pressed on 160gm black vinyl, heavy jacket with reproduction of 1972 artwork, song notes by the artist.
Black Truffle is pleased to announce Melopea, presenting two new pieces highlighting the incredible voice of Amelia Cuni (1958-2024), the great Italian singer, based in Berlin in later life, whose mastery of the classical Indian dhrupad developed in parallel with a commitment to contemporary experimental approaches. After two stunning archival releases documenting traditional dhrupad performances in India in the 1990s (BT079 and BT092), the two side-long pieces here embody the freedom with which Cuni explored new contexts and settings for her singing. Both make use of a long recording of Cuni singing the pentatonic Raag Bhoop (or Bhopali) made in 2012 by her partner Werner Durand in Berlin. βMelopeaβ began from Cuni and Durandβs superimposition of this recording with violinist Silvia Tarozzi and cellist Deborah Walkerβs performance of Γliane Radigueβs βOccam River IIβ.
Inspired by the beauty of this chance encounter (and other experiments with non-synchronous collaboration during the pandemic years), Tarozzi and Walker recorded independently, without hearing Cuniβs voice but βhaving her present in memoryβ. Tarozzi and Walkerβs bowed strings places Cuniβs magisterial performance in a new context, emphasising, as Radigue commented upon hearing the initial layering of her piece with Cuniβs voice, a shared βsearching toward the partials, overtones, these natural constituents of acoustical sounds in their richnessβ. Beginning with whispered bowed harmonics, the violin and cello swap the stability of dhrupadβs traditional tanpura drone for a slowly evolving, uneasy web of harmonic interactions recalling some of Harley Gaberβs work, sometimes sitting on dissonances for long periods or allowing changing interference patterns to come to the fore. Primarily focusing on her lower register, Cuniβs performance demonstrates her mastery of microtonal pitch subtleties, elegant sweeping glissandi and meditatively unhurried pacing.
The continuation of the same recording by Cuni forms the foundation of βBhoop-Murchanaβ, with Anthea Caddy on cello and Werner Durand on soprano saxophone. In contrast to the randomised layering of the first piece, here Durand and Caddy have carefully selected pitches based on the raag Cuni sings, using the βMurchanaβ form, which uses the constituent notes of the raag as tonics of new raags, retaining the same interval structure. Both players who have developed tones of striking depth and harmonic purity on their instruments, Caddy and Durandβs patient long tones are simultaneously rigorously grounded in the physical properties of sound and possessed of an immaterial, floating quality. Combined with Cuniβs voice and, near the pieceβs end, her contributions on hammered and plucked tanpura, the effect borders on miraculous. To surrender to this music is like slipping into an onsen pool, feeling the instantaneous release of every tension. Accompanied by liner notes from Durand, Tarozzi and Walker, Melopea is both a moving tribute to the profound art of Amelia Cuni and, for the uninitiated, a perfect introduction to it.
