Topic Records in the pleasant month of May

'twas in the pleasant month of May In the Springtime of the year, Topic Records congratulates the wonderful Norma Waterson on her recent Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and has news of Record Store Day releases available now, along with special offers and details of SimpsonŸCuttingŸKerr tour dates. On April 27th at the Royal Albert Hall, Norma Waterson was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Given a rapturous reception, her stirring speech and spirited performance with The Gift Band stole the show. You can watch her perform ‘Bunch of Thyme’ by clicking on this link  to the BBC iPlayer: Bunch of Thyme Record Store Day 2016 On Saturday 16th April, Topic released an exclusive 7” vinyl single by Martin Simpson and some of his musical friends. Available only in independent record shops on the day, we can now offer this fantastic limited edition record by mail order. A double A-side, the single features Martin with Andy Cutting and Tom A. Wright on a brilliant version of Booker T. and the MGs’ Green Onions, and, on the other side, with Andy Cutting and Nancy Kerr on the classic ballad Willie Taylor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   Also available now is Fledg’ling Records’ exclusive reissue of a rare Shirley Collins 7” EP that originally came out on the Collector label in 1964; English Songs volume 2 comes in a replica flipback sleeve plus a new inner sleeve with rare photographs. Our current vinyl catalogue can be found here: VINYL May 2016 special offers This month we have four titles from Topic’s acclaimed World Series, at the very special mail order price of only £6 each:     TSCD 908  FOLK MUSIC OF TURKEY TSCD 912  MUSIC OF THE TATAR PEOPLE TSCD 919  THE MOKEN – SEA GYPSIES OF THE ANDAMAN SEA TSCD 920  THE YEMEN THIAMA   To celebrate upcoming tour dates by SIMPSON∙CUTTING∙KERR and Andy Cutting's remarkable achievement in winning Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio Folk Awards for the third time, we are offering the superb deluxe edition of their wonderful album Murmurs at the very special price of only £10.00   Reg Hall 'A Few Tunes of Good Music' To coincide with the latest two volumes in the Voice of the People series - "It was mighty!" and "It was great altogether!" - we have published Reg Hall's monumental history of Irish music in London. The result of over twenty years research and a lifetime of playing Irish music, A Few Tunes of Good Music is a comprehensive history of Irish music and dance in London from 1800 - 1980 and beyond. Much of the material is based upon original interviews and historical research. The book runs to over 1000 pages including many illustrations and an extensive discography. A Few Tunes of Good Music may be downloaded for free or viewed online here: Reg Hall 'A Few Tunes of Good Music' May and June sees Martin and Eliza Carthy on the road, beginning at the Cornerstone, Didcot on May 13th. Tour dates are available by clicking the following link: Elephant tour Martin Simpson continues his busy schedule of touring, with solo gigs and then, in June, SimpsonŸ∙CuttingŸ∙Kerr undertake an extensive tour: Simpson tour

A Happy New Year From Topic Records

‘AND WE WISH YOU, SEND YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR.' The New Year starts with 2 nights of wonderful music from the first family of English folk music, as The Scarborough Spa Theatre plays host to NORMAFEST - a celebration of Norma Waterson featuring the great lady herself, with The Gift Band (Norma, Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy, Neil MacColl and Kate St. John), Eddi Reader, The Waterson Family, Boo Hewerdine, and the Marry Waterson Band. This splendid event takes place on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th January, with tickets available for one or both nights, and is a rare opportunity to experience the power and beauty of a live performance by Norma Waterson. January special offers To celebrate NORMAFEST, Topic is offering a selection of seminal albums by Norma, Eliza Carthy and Waterson:Carthy at the very special price of only £6 each:   TSCD 475 ~ WATERSON:CARTHY  Waterson:Carthy TSCD 488 ~ WATERSON:CARTHY  Common Tongue TSCD 489 ~ ELIZA CARTHY  & The Kings of Calicutt TSCD 520 ~ NORMA WATERSON  Bright Shiny Morning TSCD 536 ~ WATERSON:CARTHY  A Dark Light TSCD 542 ~ WATERSON:CARTHY  Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand          Our good friends at Fledg’ling Records are marking the recent anniversary of CHRIS McGREGOR’s birth (on Christmas Eve, 1936), with a special offer on four stunning albums of his music for just £21 the set:      FLED 3059 ~ The CHRIS McGREGOR GROUP  Very Urgent FLED 3069 ~ The CHRIS McGREGOR SEPTET  Up to Earth FLED 3070 ~ The CHRIS McGREGOR TRIO  Our Prayer FLED 3081 ~ CHRIS McGREGOR  Sea Breezes    Celtic Connections 2016 Throughout the second half of January, Glasgow becomes a magnet for music fans, with over 2000 artists performing in 300 events across 20 venues during Celtic Connections 2016. Martin Simpson is one of the headline acts on the bill of  a concert taking place on 2 nights in tribute to Bert Jansch. Entitled ‘Bert Inspired: A Concert for Bert Jansch’, these take place on Sunday 31st January and Monday 1st February. More details on this and many other events can be found by following the link: Celtic Connections As part of the Bert Inspired strand at Celtic Connections 2016, Anne Briggs will make a very rare personal appearance in conversation with Pete Paphides, following a screening of the 1992 documentary film ‘Acoustic Routes’ at The Glasgow Film Theatre on Sunday 31st January. Anne will talk about life in the Scottish and London folk scenes with Bert Jansch in the 1960s. Tickets for this unmissable event are available by clicking this link: Anne Briggs   With all best wishes for 2016 from all at Topic

The Latest News and Special Offers From Topic Records.

You never heard so sweet Following on from our Voice of the People series offer earlier in the year, during November, we have four more volumes at a very special price – edited by Reg Hall and with selections and presentations made by Shirley Collins, Steve Roud and Rod Stradling, the four collections issued in 2012 continued the high standard set by the original 20-volume treasury of traditional songs and music.  This could be your perfect opportunity to catch up with records you are missing from your collection or purchase a gift for a friend. TSCD671   YOU NEVER HEARD SO SWEET TSCD672D   I’M A ROMANY RAI TSCD673T   GOOD PEOPLE, TAKE WARNING TSCD674  SARAH MAKEM ~ The Heart Is True   We have begun to make available free downloads of the transcribed notes for several of the songs from SimpsonŸ∙CuttingŸ∙Kerr’s ‘Murmurs’ album. Click on the following link to access the notes for the banjo transcription of The Lads of Alnwick  and the fingerstyle guitar transcription of The Plains of Waterloo: SCK Transcriptions More songs will be uploaded to this location in the next couple of weeks.   We continue our monthly choice of CDs at a very special price with 4 more great Fledg’ling titles:     FLED 3031  HELEN WATSON ~ Lifesize FLED 3085  HOME SERVICE ~ Live 1986 FLED 3091  The Complete JOHN KIRKPATRICK BAND FLED 3092  IAIN MATTHEWS  & EGBERT DERIX ~ In The Now Also on offer this month for only £10.00 is the limited 180g vinyl LP edition of the classic Bob & Ron Copper album originally released on the EFDSS label, ‘Traditional Songs from Rottingdean’.     * * * STOP PRESS * * * Warehouse find – a few copies available of Davy Graham’s classic EP ¾ AD, the Topic 2013 Record Store Day edition, new and sealed. These will not be repressed, so buy while you can at this price.   Only £7.50 November tour news   In early November Eliza and Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson will join Peggy Seeger and Neill and Calum MacColl, plus a wonderful line-up of musicians, for a few special concerts celebrating the songs of Ewan MacColl, marking 100 years since his birth. Find details of the ‘Blood and Roses’ concerts here: http://www.ewanmaccoll.co.uk/blood-and-roses-live-tour/   (photograph by Phil Carter) After a very successful tour with Dom Flemons, Martin Simpson starts a November/December solo tour on Thursday 12th November at the Hebden Bridge Trades Club. More tour dates here: http://www.martinsimpson.com/gigs/

News from Topic Records

News from Topic

The summer's almost over and we're still recovering from the special 75th Anniversary concert at Towersey Festival. As you might imagine, it was an emotional afternoon and even merited an editorial comment in the Guardian a few days later. Jim Causley, Josienne Clarke, Blair Dunlop, Fay Hield and the gentlemen of Lau all joined with Norma Waterson, Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy and the Gift Band to celebrate the world's oldest independent record label. Our heartfelt thanks are due to them all.

Here is a link to a new short film about the first 75 years of Topic :http://bit.ly/1pRCu1U