The Imagined Village

Winner - ‘Best Traditional Song’ BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2008

Nominee - ‘Best Album’- BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2008

‘Englishness is the final frontier of world music.’ – Simon Emmerson, head man of The Imagined Village

The Imagined Village is a stunning project spearheaded by Grammy Award winning musician and producer Simon Emmerson. Simon is also a founding member of the Afro Celt Sound System, a daring fusion of musical cultures and an ensemble that remains a festival favourite to this day.

‘After travelling the world as a producer and musician I thought it was time explore my own roots,’ says Simon, ’to look at the earth under my feet, dig the dirt of the homelands.’
This brings us to The Imagined Village which was formed in 2007 and has gathered together an array of brilliant and challenging voices, and set them in a musical framework that honours the past while updating it with breathtaking confidence.

On stage will be an outstanding cast including Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, and Chris Wood backed by a band featuring Simon Emmerson, Johnny Kalsi, Ali Friend, Andy Gangadeen, Simon Richmond, Sheema Mukherjee and Barney Morse Brown.

“There was a sense of being in on the birth of something new and exciting” The Telegraph review of the WOMAD live show July 2007

“It’s mischievous and tender, wry and wise, sad and surreal, but a folk that could only have been made in the 21st century” Observer Music Magazine

One thing that makes The Imagined Village such a delight, is the way it interweaves such traditional considerations with the sounds and voices of today’s era. Fiddles and squeezebox breathe easily alongside electronica and ambient effects. Simon, no stranger to eclectic fusions, is joined by members of world beat troupe Transglobal Underground and live electronic band, The Bays.

It’s an astonishing new line-up for 2010 and a thrilling live show which had its debut at WOMAD 2007, a successful November tour in 2007 and stormed festivals around the UK and Europe in Summer 2008 and 2009.

The new album, ‘Empire and Love’ will be released on ECC Records in January 2010 to accompany the UK tour.