
fRoots 300, the June 2008 issue, is finally at the printers and will head off to subscribers in the middle of next week. Street date is 22nd May. Yes, it's our 300th and thanks to the buoyancy of the current scene it's our biggest ever single issue (excluding special doubles and the annual festival issue - which this year was also our biggest in a decade). There's something happening here but we don't know what it is . . . !
Our cover feature sorts out the Middle East in an exclusive double-headed Arab/Israeli interview with Yasmin Levy & Natacha Atlas. Then we’ve got a big Triple Platinum round-table discussion with some noted pundits about how things have progressed through the fRoots years, a remarkable piece of research on 1920s Greek legend Marika Papagika, a look at the Garifuna women’s Umalali project, interviews with Neill MacColl, Argentina’s Melingo, Turkey’s Baba Zula, England’s Sam Lee, Scotland’s Mary Ann Kennedy, the cross cultural Strings Tradition group, Germany’s Shantel, the USA’s Boiled In Lead, yours truly in a 300th issue Rocket Launcher, a brief return of Borfolk, plus our usual unrivalled news and reviews coverage and much more.
And in this issue's upfront fRoots Playlist, Eliza Carthy Dreams Of Breathing Underwater (Topic), Rupa & The April Fishes Extraordinary Rendition (Cumbancha), Spiers & Boden Vagabond (Navigator), Balla Et Ses Balladins The Syliphone Years (Stern's), Bako Dagnon Titati (Syllart/ Discograph), Various Artists Victrola Favourites (Dust To Digital), Amparanoia Seguire Caminando (Via Lactea), Gabi Lunca Sounds From A Bygone Age Vol 5 (Asphalt Tango), Stelios Petrakis Orion (Sistron) and Seckou Keita SKQ The Silimbo Passage (World Artventures). Tracks from all those plus more from this issue's featured and reviewed artists (including a Marika Pagagika-related special) will be heard on the June fRoots Radio which will hit the e-waves and podcast-sphere from around 14th May. You can still hear the current and archived editions at www.frootsmag.com/radio and get the current podcast from http://froots.podOmatic.com/ or iTunes.
And thanks to June Clowns of this parish for the logo mutation idea.