Sui Vesan is a Slovak folk singer, instrumentalist, poet and composer. Vesan is from a small village in Czechoslovakia, where she became well-grounded in the area's folk music. At age 14, she took a trip to Syria with her father, where she was exposed to the music of the Middle East, as well as Western pop music, both of which influenced her music greatly. [1] Vesanʻs music sparked some political controversy, leading to career difficulties. She left music for a time to raise her children, returning in 2001 with her move to the Slovak capital, Bratislava, and subsequent recording projects. Vesan often plays the kalimba, an African thumb piano, and flutes. Her husband often accompanies her on percussion instruments.
Hua Mulan is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era of Chinese history.
Judith Marjorie Collins is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, Collins is known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records, for her social activism, and for the clarity of her voice. Her discography consists of 36 studio albums, nine live albums, numerous compilation albums, four holiday albums, and 21 singles.
The music of Slovakia has been influenced both by the county's native Slovak peoples and the music of neighbouring regions. Whilst there are traces of pre-historic musical instruments, the country has a rich heritage of folk music and mediaeval liturgical music, and from the 18th century onwards, in particular, musical life was influenced by that of Austria-Hungary. In the 19th century, composers such as Ján Levoslav Bella began to write romantic music with a Slovak character. In the twentieth century, there were a number of composers who identified with Slovak culture. After the fall of communism in 1989–90 the country also began to develop its own popular music scene in Western style.
The Sui people, also spelled as Shui people, are an ethnic group living mostly in Guizhou Province, China. They are counted as one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.
The morin khuur, also known as the horsehead fiddle, is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. It is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered a symbol of the nation of Mongolia. The morin khuur is one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity identified by UNESCO.
Charly García is an Argentine singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. With a vast and renowned career, he formed and headlined two of the most popular bands in Argentina's rock history: Sui Generis in the 1970s and Serú Girán in the 1980s, plus cult status groups like progressive-rock act La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros and folk rock supergroup PorSuiGieco, both also in the 1970s. Since the 1980s García has worked mostly as a solo musician. His main instrument is the piano, followed by guitar and keyboards. García is also well known for his flamboyant and rebellious personality as well as his bicolor moustache, with one side white due to vitiligo.
Hungarian folk music includes a broad array of Central European styles, including the recruitment dance verbunkos, the csárdás and nóta.
Ján Cikker was a Slovak composer, a leading exponent of modern Slovak classical music. He was awarded the title National Artist in Slovakia, the Herder Prize (1966) and the IMC-UNESCO International Music Prize (1979).
Lisa Moscatiello is an American singer who is part of the Washington, DC area music scene. She is listed in Music Hound's Folk: Essential Album Guide, and is most often categorized as a folk vocalist. Moscatiello is, however, known for her versatility and range, and has appeared on stage singing the music of Scottish fiddler Johnny Cunningham in a production by the avant-garde theatre group Mabou Mines, and is featured on recordings by the Washington, DC-area electronica band, Arthur Loves Plastic.
Brenda Wootton was a Cornish folk singer and poet and was seen as an ambassador for Cornish tradition and culture in all the Celtic nations and as far as Australia and Canada.
Iva Bittová is a Czech avant-garde violinist, singer, and composer. She began her career as an actor in the mid-1970s, appearing in several Czech feature films, but switched to playing violin and singing in the early 1980s. She started recording in 1986 and by 1990 her unique vocal and instrumental technique gained her international recognition. Since then, she has performed regularly throughout Europe, the United States and Japan, and has released over eight solo albums.
The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob Niles, Susan Reed, Paul Robeson, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Cisco Houston had enjoyed a limited general popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. The revival brought forward styles of American folk music that had in earlier times contributed to the development of country and western, blues, jazz, and rock and roll music.
Contemporary folk music refers to a wide variety of genres that emerged in the mid 20th century and afterwards which were associated with traditional folk music. Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This process and period is called the (second) folk revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. The most common name for this new form of music is also "folk music", but is often called "contemporary folk music" or "folk revival music" to make the distinction. The transition was somewhat centered in the US and is also called the American folk music revival. Fusion genres such as folk rock and others also evolved within this phenomenon. While contemporary folk music is a genre generally distinct from traditional folk music, it often shares the same English name, performers and venues as traditional folk music; even individual songs may be a blend of the two.
Mónika Juhász Miczura is a Hungarian Roma singer, also known as Mitsou and Mitsoura. She is a former member of the folk ensemble Ando Drom, and a founding member of the electronic/world music group Mitsoura. She has contributed to film soundtracks; in Tony Gatlif's film Gadjo dilo (1997) she provided the voice of an unseen singer pivotal to the story. She has also sung in the films Kísértések (2002), Swing (2002), Vengo (2000) (uncredited), and Je suis né d'une cigogne (1999). She formed the ensemble Mitsoura that released two albums so far: Mitsoura (2003) and Dura Dura Dura (2008). She has been a guest artist on the albums of other groups, including Fanfare Ciocărlia's Queens and Kings (2007), Bratsch's Rien Dans Les Poches (2000), Besh O Drom's Once I Catch the Devil (2006), GYI! (2005) and Can't Make Me! - Nekemtenemmutogatol (2003). She is a member of the "Global Vocal Meeting" project.
Moravian traditional music or Moravian folk music represents a part of the European musical culture connected with the Moravian region of the Czech Republic. Styles of Moravian traditional music vary by location and subject, but much of it is characterized by a specific melodic and harmonic texture related to the Eastern European musical world. According to Czech musicologist Jiří Plocek, Moravia is the area where the European East musically meets the West.
Kristína Peláková, professionally known as Kristína, is a Slovak singer. She is best known for representing Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song “Horehronie”. The song placed 16th in the semi-final with a total of 24 points. Kristína is one of the most popular female artists in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and has toured both countries on multiple occasions.
Hongfu, is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from imperial China whose birth name was Zhang Chuchen. She was purported to have lived during the Transition from Sui to Tang and was originally described in Biography of the Dragon-Beard Man from the Tang Dynasty. She was a courtesan in the court of Sui Dynasty minister Yang Su and eloped with Li Jing, an ally and future general of future Tang emperor Li Shimin. Hongfu, along with Li Jing and the "Dragon Beard Man," Qiu Ranke, are known as the "Three Heroes of the Wind and Dust" (風塵三俠). She was one of the few female martial arts masters.
Małgorzata Babiarz, professionally known as Megitza, is a Polish singer, double bass player, and composer. She combines Polish and Eastern European folk music, Romani music and gypsy jazz with world music, Latin music, pop, worldbeat, Americana and reggae.
Shanno Khurana is a noted Indian classical vocalist and composer, from the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana of Hindustani classical music. A disciple of the doyen of the gharana, Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan, she is known for performing rare bandish and raag, though her singing style includes genres like khayal, tarana, thumri, dadra, tappa, to chaiti and bhajan. Born and brought up in Jodhpur, she started singing on All India Radio in 1945 in Lahore, later shifted to Delhi, where she continued her singing on All India Radio, Delhi and in concerts and music festivals. She also pursued music education, finally earning her M.Phil. and PhD in music from the Kairagarh University, and has undertakes extensive research on folk music of Rajasthan.
The history and development of jazz in Bulgaria was significantly influenced by the cultural and political changes in the country during the 20th century, which led to the emergence of a genre blending western jazz styles with Bulgarian folk music influences.