A Happy New Year for 2017 From Topic Records.

Happy New Year Welcome to the first Topic Records Newsletter of 2017. We would like to wish you all a happy and peaceful New Year. Our exhibition at the Barbican Music Library - ‘Topic Records & The Art of Folk Music’ - will continue until February 7th, and is free to visit. During this month we have two very special evening events planned: Monday January 16th  - An Audience with Eliza Carthy Eliza will be in conversation with Colin Irwin (Mojo, fRoots, The Guardian) and David Suff (Topic Records) + a very rare solo acoustic performance. Barbican Music Library, 7pm – 9pm (refreshments available) Monday Jan 30th 2017 - An Audience with Martin Carthy and Martin Simpson The two Martins will be in conversation with Colin Irwin and David Suff, and perform some songs in a  unique unplugged acoustic performance. Barbican Music Library, 7pm – 9pm (refreshments available) The Music Library is situated on the 2nd floor of the Barbican Centre: Barbican Music Library, Barbican Centre, Silk Street,  LONDON EC2Y 8DS Opening hours: Monday 9.30am - 5.30pm Tuesday 9.30am - 7.30pm Wednesday 9.30am - 5.30pm Thursday 9.30am - 7.30pm Friday 9.30am - 2pm Saturday 9.30am - 4pm The library is closed on bank holidays. Some exhibition special offers Our monthly special offers are a great way of filling the gaps in your music collection, or to give as splendid gifts for friends. Throughout January we are continuing our selection of very special offers - ten albums from the expansive Topic catalogue at the very special price of only £6 each:   TSCD 126  LOUIS KILLEN ~ BALLADS & BROADSIDES TSCD 411  NIC JONES ~ PENGUIN EGGS TSCD 427  ALISTAIR ANDERSON ~ STEEL SKIES TSCD 449  JUNE TABOR ~ AQABA TSCD 472  The WATERSONS ~ EARLY DAYS TSCD 512  HARRY COX ~ THE BONNY LABOURING BOY TSCD576D  EWAN MacCOLL ~ BALLADS TSCD 602  VARIOUS ARTISTS ~ IRISH DANCE MUSIC TSCD 607  VARIOUS ARTISTS ~ ENGLISH COUNTRY MUSIC TSCD774D  VARIOUS ARTISTS ~ VOICE + VISION   BUTTON BADGES For the splendid NORMAFEST in Whitby last weekend we produced some beautiful new button badges - one set based upon icon photographs of the classic mid-'60s Watersons and one set using images of Waterson:Carthy from 1994:   Limited quantities are now available for mail order. The WATERSON badge set WATERSON:CARTHY badge set BIG MACHINE Pioneering English traditional folk powerhouse, Eliza Carthy, first assembled the Wayward Band in 2013 in order to explore and celebrate her long and varied career in folk music, ‘the last truly underground music scene’. To do this Eliza put together a team of hugely talented musicians from across the UK and together they hit the road to promote her ‘Best Of’ compilation, Wayward Daughter, which coincided with a biography of the same name. Eliza and the Wayward Band loved playing together so much – as well as becoming a festival favourite – that it seemed natural and inevitable, as well as characteristically ambitious, that this 12-piece would set about recording an album. The result is ‘Big Machine’, recorded at the renowned Real World and Rockfield Studios and produced by the multi-talented Jim Sutherland. The Wayward Band line-up is a veritable dream team of musicians comprising Sam Sweeney (Bellowhead), David Delarre (Mawkin), Barn Stradling (Blowzabella), Saul Rose, Beth Porter, Lucy Farrell (Emily Portman Trio), Will Molleson, Andrew Waite (Tyde), Laurence Hunt, Nick Malcolm and Adrien ‘Yen-Yen’ Toulouse. The material on Big Machine represents a healthy slice of everything good that is happening in traditional music now, across a sparkling spectrum of sound. The album features three contemporary songs; Eliza’s own “You Know Me” about the refugee crisis and notions of hospitality (featuring MC Dizraeli), a powerful cover of Ewan Maccoll’s Radio Ballad “The Fitter’s Song” (at the behest of Peggy Seeger – and the song which inspired the album title) and an affectionate reworking of Rory McLeod's “Hug You Like a Mountain”, re-imagined here as a duet with Teddy Thompson. There are also several examples of the Broadside ballad collections housed in Chetham’s Library in Manchester given a new twist with music by Eliza and the band. This follows a programme Eliza presented for BBC Radio 4 about the Manchester Ballads, covering everything from songs about and caused by domestic abuse (“Devil in the Woman”, the sumptuous and searing “Fade and Fall (Love Not)”, to the seafaring life in “The Sea”. Added to that a couple of brilliantly constructed instrumentals, a song about dying from custard poisoning and a heartbreaking traditional ballad “I Wish that the Wars were all Over” (performed live with the band onstage in Real World Studios’ Studio One and featuring Irish superstar Damien Dempsey), and you begin to get the picture. A very big picture, a Big Machine firing on all cylinders. Big Machine is certainly one of Eliza Carthy’s most adventurous and accomplished works to date – and given that Eliza is the most passionate and groundbreaking English traditional singer of her generation, ‘Big Machine’ is an album you really won’t want to miss. BIG MACHINE is released on the 3rd February 2017 and available to pre-order now from: PLEDGE, PROPERMUSIC.COM, AMAZON and ITUNES

Gigs in 2017 Coming Up @ Lincoln Drill Hall - A Home To Great Live Music

Gigs in 2017 Coming Up @ Lincoln Drill Hall - A Home To Great Live Music

Box Office 01522 873894

boxoffice@lincolndrillhall.com

www.lincolndrillhall.com

DH Lawrence Vaudeville Skiffle Show, The Greyhound, Derby, 10th Feb, 2017.

DH Lawrence Vaudeville Skiffle Show, The Greyhound, Derby,

 10th February, 2017

Annual Free Convension, 10th March, 2017

Annual Free Convension, 10th March, 2017

Don’t Miss The Jive Aces @ Lincoln Drill Hall 28 Jan 2017

Don’t Miss The Jive Aces @ Lincoln Drill Hall Saturday 28 January 8 pm

Legendary swing, jive and skiffle group, The Jive Aces, are renowned worldwide for their high-energy music and spectacular stage show. They are joined for this concert by Amy Baker, a sensational young singe whose warm, jazzy vocals invoke such legends as Keely Smith, Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee.

Tickets: £15 (£13 concessions) from 01522 873894 www.lincolndrillhall.com boxoffice@lincolndrillhall.com

Rocket Dogs @ The Granary, Long Sutton, 4 Feb 2017

Rocket Dogs @ The Granary, Long Sutton, 4 Feb 2017

KING KING HIT THE ROAD 2017!   KING KING, Britain's favourite rock/blues band are back on road - again - they will be touring from mid-Jan  till mid-May 2017. Tickets are now on sale from individual venues or The Gig Cartel. Hurry, as these shows will sell out! In footballing terms, King King are the musical equivalent of Real Madrid or Barcelona - supremely talented individuals who come together to produce a compelling performance.  Lancashire Telegraph   GO and see them, tell your friends, they will not be disappointed.  King King Live was the Number One Live album of 2016 according to Blues Rock review's Top 5, which you can see here.

New Album Release - SHISHANI & NAMIBIAN TALES "Itaala"

New album release SHISHANI & NAMIBIAN TALES "Itaala" chosen as the “Best World Music production from the Netherlands of 2016. ” Mixed World Music - NL PRESS ABOUT NAMIBIAN TALES: * Best World Music production from the Netherlands of 2016 - Mixed World Music, NL * Chosen no.5 in world chart of Best World Music of 2016 - Mixed World Music, NL * Promise of 2016 - Dutch Delta Sounds / World Blend Café * Shishani, the crown princess of urban contemporary music - Amsterdam Roots Festival * Very soulful and atmospheric - VPRO Vrije Geluiden * This is worldpop of the highest order - Mixed World Music UPCOMING CONCERTS 20 JAN - KORZO THEATER, DEN HAAG 25 JAN - BEE FLAT, BERN, SWITZERLAND 25 MARCH - PARADISO NOORD, AMSTERDAM 23 APRIL - AMMAN JAZZ FESTIVAL JORDAN 24 APRIL - AMMAN JAZZ FESTIVAL JORDAN 16 JUNE CONCERT WITH THE SAN (BUSHMEN) TSUMKWE, NAMIBIA 17 JUNE CONCERT WITH THE SAN (BUSHMEN) WAREHOUSE AT WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA 18 JUNE CONCERT WITH THE SAN (BUSHMEN) WAREHOUSE AT WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA (INCLUDING LIVE CD RECORDINGS WITH THE SAN - BUSHMEN ) 16 SEP - LINDENCULT, HASSELTBACH, GERMANY SPECIAL PROJECT: COLLABORATION WITH THE SAN PEOPLE, BUSHMEN OF NAMIBIA. On the 5th of November 2016, we embarked on a musical research in the Kalahari Desert of Namibia. Our aim was to find out more about the musical traditions of the San (‘Bushmen’) communities living in the area of Tsumkwe, the largest town in this desolate area. After intensive research we found a group of four grandmothers with a beautiful and diverse repertoire. Their rhythms and polyphony are highly complex and has us left with lots of homework. During the trip we collected audio-recordings and video material. We’ve seen that the elders are in charge of these rich and complex musical traditions, which reflect the world philosophy of the San people. It has been an incredible experience so far and we are proud to announce that we will continue with a full scope research in collaboration with the Museums Association of Namibia. June this year we will return to the Kalahari to collaborate with these four San grandmothers on recordings and performances together. We look forward to sharing this rich and valuable culture with the world. For more info and bookings, please contact: Mundus Productions - Sjahin During Tel: + 31 641 256 366 info@sjahinduring.com www.shishani.nl

D H Lawrence Skiffle Show, at the Green Note Camden, 17 Feb, 2017.

D H Lawrence Skiffle Show, at the Green Note Camden, 17 Feb, 2017.

Keith Luckey @ The Strugglers Lincoln on Sunday 8th January 2017.

Live music with Keith Luckey at The Strugglers Inn, Westgate, Lincoln on Sunday 8th January 2017