The Imagined Village is a project led by Grammy Award winning musician and producer Simon Emmerson. Simon is also a founding member of the groundbreaking Afro Celt Sound System.
‘After travelling the world as a producer and musician I thought it was time explore my own roots,’ said Simon, ’to look at the earth under my feet, dig the dirt of the homelands.’
The Imagined Village was created in 2007 and brought together a set of remarkable voices, and set them in a musical framework that honors the past while updating it with splendid new arrangements. The Imagined Village intertwines fiddles and accordion with electronica and ambient effects.
The line-up on the first album, The Imagined Village, included Benjamin Zephaniah, Billy Bragg, Chris Wood, Eliza Carthy, Johnny Kalsi, Martin Carthy, Paul Weller, Sheila Chandra, Simon Emmerson, The Copper Family, The Gloworms, Tiger Moth, Transglobal Underground, and Tunng.
‘Cold Haily Rainy Night’ from the The Imagined Village album won the ‘Best Traditional Song’ category at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2008.
The band’s second album, Empire & Love was released on ECC Records in January 2010.
‘Englishness is the final frontier of world music,’ said Simon Emmerson about this project.
Discography
* The Imagined Village (Real World Records, 2008)
* Empire & Love (ECC Records, 2010)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
