Album of the week: Ga-ga from Inka Mbing on Trees Music.
There's a feel of ancient music in the air. We start the broadcast with Warsaw Village Band who take their inspiration from medieval Mazovian music of central Poland. Our album of the week comes from Ink Mbing born to the Tayal people of Taiwan. Her album GaGa, on Trees Music, is rooted in the Tayal people's beliefs the natural laws of the universe and rhythms of life. We also welcome Chris Nickson, experienced broadcaster and music journalist as our live guest to share his passion for Danish Folk music which encompasses ballads going back to the 17th and 18th centuries, hardly ancient but somehow it all seems to fit.
We continue our focus on artists appearing at Musicport 08 at Bridlington Spa 17th - 19th October and throw in a few new releases finishing with our ClubGondwana track from Samy Redjeb's African Scream Contest.
The Album Ga-ga entered the European World Music charts this month and prior to this I hadn't heard of the artist Inka Mbing nor the label trees music. So when I received the album I couldn't wait to listen to its contents. A full review will be posted shortly but suffice to say here, Inka MBing's story reads a little like the late Andy Palacio. Born into the indigenous Tayal people in Taiwan, Inka has campaigned around land rights for her people and has worked hard to preserve the Tayal language and traditional songs.
The Hut People were the subject of a short mixdown that features an interview and two of their five sample tracks, Asa Branca and G Groove. They were the surprise find and audience hit, at last year's Musicport, a last minute booking on the hot recommendation of a local folk promoter. 
Jim squeezed them in on the last night between Kekele and Courtney Pine.... not bad for only their second gig. The Hut People are two very talented musicians in their own right, Sam Pirt, Accordian, plays with 422 who won the BBC radio 2 young folk awards a few years back. Sam also established the Ethno England summer camps from scratch in 2003. Gary Hammond, on all sorts of percussion, has toured and recorded with the Beautiful South for the last 12 years and has worked with the late great Nina Simone.
We caught up with them in the green room after their gig when they gave a few words to GondwanaSound. They're back at Musicport again this year for a full set and are also supporting Moussu T et Lei Jovents on their national dates.
Chris Nickson, in his own words, " lives the typical life of a freelancer ". He wrote his first review in the 70's, it was about Kate Bush for his local paper in Cincinatti although he goes on to say that he didn't really get going until 1993. Having lived in Seattle for most of his professional life, he transferred his cd collection to a portable hard drive, sold up and relocated to the UK in 2005, where he continus to write for Sing Out!, Global Rhythm, Penguin Eggs, fRoots amongst others.
Chris joins me in the second half, live to share his passion for Danish Folk Music, a subject he writes about whenever he can. Amongst the cds Chris didn't sell were his "Danish" collection and he brings his favourites into the studio to share.
