fRoots 298, the April 2008 issue, is at the printers and will head off to subscribers next week. Street date is 20th March.
The main feature of each April issue is our annual Festival Supplement including the diary listing of hundreds of 2008’s UK and European events and lots of tempting adverts. On top of this great resource (our second biggest in more than a decade, indicating the buoyancy of the current scene) we’ve got a cover feature on Britfolk best-seller Seth Lakeman , a preview of Channel 5’s upcoming My Music series of documentaries on UK folk artists, features on Turkey’s Taksim Trio , a re-visit to Ethiopia , US/Cambodian band Dengue Fever , Denmark’s Phønix , the Recapturing The Banjo project, Greece’s Eleftheria Arvanitaki , Cuba’s Martica , Cape Verde’s Mario Lucio , the 21st anniversary of Piranha Records , Sami singer Mari Boine Persen , veteran songwriter Leon Rosselson plus all our usual unrivalled news and reviews coverage.
And in this issue's upfront fRoots Playlist, Melingo Maldito Tango (Manana/ Naive), Various Black Mirror (Dust-to-Digital), Ross Ainslee & Jarlath Henderson Partners In Crime (Vertical), Various Rumba: The Kinshasa-Abidjan Sessions (Marabi), DeVotchKa A Mad And Faithful Telling (Anti-), Xabi Aburruzaga Bizkaiko Trikitixa (Laute), Zegar Zivi Zegar Zivi (Cloud Valley), Piccola Banda Ikona Marea Cu Sarea (Finisterre), Various Umulali (Cumbancha) and King Kora Bundung (RecRec). Tracks from all those plus more from this issue's featured and reviewed artists will be heard on the April fRoots Radio which will hit the e-waves from around 12th March. You can still hear the current and archived editions at www.frootsmag.com/radio