Folksongs for a Nuclear Village

Folksongs for a Nuclear Village
Studio album by Shadowfax
Released	March 30, 1988
Recorded	Powertrax, Hollywood, California
Genre	New-age, jazz
Length	45:23
Label	Capitol
Producer	David Kershenbaum and Harry Andronis
Shadowfax chronology
Too Far to Whisper (1986) Folksongs for a Nuclear Village (1988) The Odd Get Even (1990)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link

Folksongs for a Nuclear Village is the sixth studio album by new-age/jazz group Shadowfax, their first for Capitol Records. It won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in 1989. ^[1]

"Folksong for a Nuclear Village" was a 1982 dance performance choreographed by Louise Durkee of Seattle in that city. ^[2]

The cover artwork is a piece by Michael McMillen ^[3] called Nel Mezzo Del Cammin Di Nostra Vita, which is the opening line from The Divine Comedy, meaning, in English, "In the middle of our life's journey."

Track listing

1. "The Firewalker" (Chuck Greenberg) – 4:54
2. "We Used to Laugh" (Greenberg) – 4:07
3. "Solar Wind" (David C. Lewis) – 5:08
4. "Behind Green Eyes" (Phil Maggini) – 5:17
5. "Lucky Mud" (Stuart Nevitt) – 4:40
6. "Madagascar Cafe" (Nevitt, G. E. Stinson) – 3:06
7. "Against the Grain" (Charles Bisharat) – 3:42
8. "No Society" (Bisharat) – 4:16
9. "Elephant Ego" (Lewis) – 5:00
10. "Folksong for a Nuclear Village" (Maggini, Stinson) – 5:13

Personnel

• Chuck Greenberg – Lyricon, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto, wood and clay flutes, double ocarina
• Stuart Nevitt – cymbals, drums, E-mu SP-12/Pad 8 programming, gongs, timbales, caxixi, shakers, boobams, bamboo zither, shaman rattles, Bushman dance rattles, sampled dundago, clappers, kiwi drums, Moroccan clay drums, tambourines, bendir, gankogui, talking drum, log drums, congas
• G. E. Stinson – electric and acoustic guitars, mbiras, accordion
• Charles Bisharat – electric violin, violin, Yamaha DX7 synthesizer
• David C. Lewis – Yamaha DX-7, Yamaha TX-7, Memorymoog synthesizer, E-mu Emax, sampled grand piano, Yamaha QX-I sequencer, Oberheim DX stretch drum machine
• Phil Maggini – bass, fretless bass, string bass, Roland D-50 synthesizer, baby grand piano, bowed waterfone

Additional personnel

• John Bergamo – tabla (3)
• Emil Richards – marimba (1, 8), flapamba (1, 7), bass marimba (3, 6), jay call (3), E-11 sampled wind chimes (5), marimba (5), boobams (5), gamelan gongs (5), metal angklung (5), dumbeg (6), clappers (6), shekere (6), bamboo stamping tubes (7), angklung (7), primitive toms (7, 8), woodblock marimba (8), E-11 sampled didjeridu (10), bull roar (10), daka di bello (11), whistle (11)
• Haralambi A. - sampled talking drum (9)
• Michael Spiro – percussion (2, 7, 9), conga (2, 7, 9)

Charts

Chart (1988)	Peak position
US Billboard 200 [4]	168
Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums [5]	10
Billboard Top New Age Albums [6]	9

References

1. "Grammy Awards" . Retrieved June 24, 2014.
2. "Louise Durkee - Folksong for a Nuclear Village" . Retrieved June 24, 2014.
3. "Michael C. MicMillenm". netropolitan.org. Archived from the original on June 24, 2014. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
4. Whitburn, Joel (1996). Joel Whitburn's top pop albums, 1955-1996. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 699. ISBN   0898201179 . Retrieved March 6, 2023.
5. "Contemporary Jazz Albums". Billboard. July 9, 1988. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
6. "New Age Albums". Billboard. October 22, 1988. Retrieved April 26, 2025.