Here’s what’s in fRoots, No. 300, June 2008

THE EDITOR’S BOX

Ian Anderson’s comment column.

fROOTS PLAYLIST

Recent stuff we like.

CHARTS & LISTS

Specialist and general roots music album sales and airplay charts.

REVIEWS

Our key section reviewing all the latest CDs and more - loads bite the dust. No punches pulled!

ROOTING ABOUT

What’s happening: packed pages of festivals, gigs, tours, radio, CDs and all kinds of roots-related stuff. The most you’ll find anywhere…

ROOT SALAD

A cross-section of featurettes: English folk activist Sam Lee; musical protests in Henoko, Okinawa; the Afro-Indian Strings Tradition project in Ital; Scotland's musician/presenter Mary Ann Kennedy; film maker Alex Reuben; Germany's DJ Shantel; US folk rock veterans Boiled In Lead, editor Ian Anderson in the Rocket Launcher questionnaire.

THE ISRAEL-EGYPT SUMMIT

Sharing stages and collaborating on record reveals deep issues for Yasmin Levy and Natacha Atlas, as Jamie Renton finds when we get them together for a 300th issue special.

TRIPLE PLATINUM!

As fRoots hits its 300th issue, a little gang of veteran pundits gets together to figure out how we got from there to here and where it’s going now. Maybe. Elizabeth Kinder makes some sort of sense of it all.

BORFOLK!

Our original folkist cartoon returns from a wormhole in space for one issue only.

SEEKING MARIKA

Obsessed by the 1918-29 US recordings of Greek singer Marika Papagika, our editor set early ethnic shellac expert Paul Vernon on accumulating all the currently available information on her. One thing led to another…

ANOTHER MACCOLL

Neill MacColl hasn’t felt too inclined to follow his celebrated parents into the folk music business, but it creeps up on him just the same. Colin Irwin hears about musical life with baggage, and his new record with Kathryn Williams.

TANGO TERRITORY

It’s hardly surprising that the Argentinian maverick who is often called the Tom Waits of tango has ancestral roots in Greek rebetiko and Italian opera. Jon Lusk digs out all this and more as Melingo hits the UK.

UMALALI ONWARDS

Even the tragic death of Andy Palacio can’t mask the triumph of producer Ivan Duran’s latest Umalali project showcasing Garifuna women. Peter Culshaw visited their homeland of Belize.

ISTANBUL GROOVES

Baba Zula’s latest album mixes Anatolian folk with psychedelia. Nick Hobbs gets on their trail.

BIFF!

Our exclusive cartoon celebrates 300 issues.

CELEBRITY CORNER

Sir Alan Sugar watches My Music: Eliza Carthy, as told to Gordon Neill. Maybe.