Butterfly (Acoustic)

Subo's Mental Meltdown

Line (Alternate Take 5)

'Gold, Green’ is taken from the 'The Appearance of Colour' out now on Real World Records.

Pre order from iTunes and download 'Gold, Green' instantly:
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/appearanceofcolour
Real World: http://realworldrecords.com/johnmetcalfe
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/vxrbpo


John Metcalfe takes to the road for a series of dates in May 2016. 

For these live shows Metcalfe has assembled an incredible line up of musicians from the worlds of folk, electronica and post-classical; crisp, jazz-influenced beats from Rae Morris’ drummer Daisy Palmer, deeply felt groove from Red Snapper's bassist Ali Friend and the exquisite voice of Rosie Doonan, fresh back from touring with Birdy.

2016
8 May BRISTOL Colston Hall Lantern	
www.colstonhall.org 0844 887 1500

13 May CORK Triskel Arts 
www.triskelartscentre.ie +353 (0)21 427 2022

19 May BRIGHTON Great Escape Festival 	
www.greatescapefestival.com 0870 264 3333

20 May OXFORD The Bullingdon	
www.thebullingdon.co.uk info@thebullingdon.co.uk

21 May STROUD, SVA, Brunel Goods Shed	
www.sva.org.uk 01453 751440

28 May LEICESTER Cookie	
www.thecookieleicester.co.uk 0116 253 1212

29 May LONDON Royal Albert Hall Elgar Room	
www.royalalberthall.com 020 7589 8212
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'It's an effervescent, divinely beautiful moment, packed with Eno-esque passages of ambience and glistening guitar lines worthy of 
Vini Reilly.’ – Clash

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Composer, producer, classical violist, guitarist, and arranger to A-list pop stars, John Metcalfe has always been a name worth seeking out. The Appearance of Colour presents Metcalfe as a recording artist -- as front man, maestro and manipulator of sounds. Moreover it's a 'proper' album, carefully crafted as a listening experience with a beginning, middle and end, in which no two tracks sound or feel the same.

To make the album, Metcalfe enlisted the support of a small 'repertory company' of trusted collaborators, including drummer Andy Gangadeen (The Bays, Chase and Status), bassist Ali Friend (Red Snapper), pianist Tom Cawley (Curios, Peter Gabriel) and singer Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes). Metcalfe then meticulously assembled his arsenal of electronics, strings, guitars and layered vocals in his Oxford garage studio. The Appearance of Colour may share some of the programmed perfection typical of contemporary electronica, yet there's a 'played' feel that animates the tracks -- the sense of musicians giving everything they have in the first take.


http://john-metcalfe.co.uk

Buy on iTunes

John Metcalfe - Gold, Green

Track taken from Toto's forthcoming album 'Tambolero', released 29th June.

Discover more - https://realworldrecords.com/tambolero/

Pre order via:
iTunes - http://smarturl.it/Tambolero-iTunes
Amazon - http://smarturl.it/Tambolero-Amazon
Google Play - http://smarturl.it/Tambolero-Google

Singer, dancer and teacher, Totó La Momposina's entire life has been dedicated to representing the music of Colombia’s Caribbean coastline, where African, Indigenous Indian and Spanish cultures mingle to create a unique musical tradition. ‘Tambolero’, originally released in 1993 as ‘La Candela Viva’, has been re-created and re-imagined for 2015 as part of Real World Records’ Gold series.

El Pescador (Cumbia)

A tribute to the fisherman working the coasts and rivers of Colombia. A sense of respect, affection and appreciation is revealed in the words of the hard, yet humble, task of the fisherman, in touch with nature. El Pescador was composed by José Barros, from El Banco, celebrated creator of many well-loved Colombian songs.

Totó La Momposina y sus Tambores - El Pescador

11 I PLAY THE KORA (Rokia Koné, Mamani Keita, Nneka, Kandia Kouyaté, Mariam Doumbia)

Discover more about Real World 25 - http://realworldrecords.com/25

This 1990 classic was the record that turned on many people to the zero-gravity voice of another of Real World’s most emblematic artists – the Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Mustt Mustt (Real World 25)

Track taken from the album "Moonsung: A Real World Retrospective".  This album is now available as part of the Real World Gold series - http://realworldrecords.com/gold/

Starting off with a reprise of Ever So Lonely, the Top 20 pop hit she had as a teenager with her band Monsoon, Moonsung gathers together the finest moments from the three albums that Anglo-Indian singer Sheila Chandra made for Real World in the 1990s. And this compilation confirms what an under-rated artist she truly is. Singular in vision and open-eared in her musical exploration, Chandra is also in possession of a thing of great wonder – a voice that’s weightless and supremely graceful. 
“Merely a stopping-off point before total world domination” – Q 


Sheila Chandra - Ever so Lonely (Real World Gold)

Track taken from the album "Exile".  This album is now available as part of the Real World Gold series - http://realworldrecords.com/gold/

Another landmark Real World record from 1990, Exile informed the world of the struggles of Ugandan singer-songwriter Geoffrey Oryema. Exiled at a young age after the suspicious death of his government minister father, Geoffrey’s songs are a resilient riposte to a life forced upon him, as well as an unconfined celebration of the culture of his homeland. A statement of poise, gravity and elegance, Exile merges both the personal and the political, all narrated by that gently persuasive voice. Contributors include Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno.
“A quietly startling record, best heard way past midnight when a troubled world seems to offer no quarter” – Entertainment Weekly


Geoffrey Oryema - Makambo (Real World Gold)

Track taken form the album "Rain Of Blessings: Vajra Chants".  This album is now available as part of the Real World Gold series - http://realworldrecords.com/gold/

Lama Gyurme is a Buddhist monk from the Kingdom of Bhutan in south Asia. Jean-Philippe Rykiel is a blind French pianist possibly best-known for his collaborations with high-profile African musicians. Yet, in 2000, this unlikely pairing produced an astonishingly spiritual record that matched the Lama’s guttural incantations with the Frenchman’s sparse and judicious musical backing – a shimmer of African kora here, a mournful violin refrain there. Few records ooze so much purity and serenity.
“The results are wonderful: ambient, soothing, inspiring and spiritual” – Time Out



Lama Gyurme & Jean-Philippe Rykiel - Offering Chant (Real World Gold)

Track taken from their 2012 album 'Knee-Deep in the North Sea' - http://www.realworldrecords.com/catalogue/knee-deep-in-the-north-sea

In 2007 Portico Quartet moved from busking on the South Bank in London to a recording studio and, with the remains of the money from their student grants, created their first album, 'Knee Deep In The North Sea' (released on Babel/Vortex). This was a turning point for the band, the album attracted attention from DJs, bloggers and critics of every stripe, and was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize.

Portico Quartet - Knee-Deep in the North Sea

Peter Gabriel recorded a version of 'Here Comes the Flood' in Hollywood on May 5th 2010 as part of the Guitar Center "Sessions" program, which will debut August 21st on DIRECTV.

Download this track free at http://petergabriel.com/guitarcenter

Peter Gabriel: Here Comes The Flood (Live @ Guitar Center)

"Spirit Of The Century" is part of series 2 of the Real World Gold re-issued albums - released 30th July.

Although 2001’s 'Spirit Of The Century' was the gospel group’s first release for Real World, these men were no spring chickens. They’d been making records and singing live together since before the start of the Second World War, their experience and wisdom making this record something of an instant classic. Backed by something of an all-star band (Ben Harper, Danny Thompson, David Lindley, Charlie Musselwhite, John Hammond), the ‘boys’ spiritedly tackle an imaginative range of material, including Tom Waits’ "Jesus Gonna Be Here" and "Amazing Grace" sung to the melody of "House Of The Rising Sun". 

 “Their talent still holds a carrot far above the heads of today’s pop harmony boy bands.” <b>Village Voice</b>

The Blind Boys of Alabama - Way Down In The Hole (Real World Gold)

"Night Song" is part of series 2 of the Real World Gold re-issued albums - released 30th July.

The great – and ridiculously prolific – Pakistani qawwali singer had already recorded half a dozen albums for Real World when he delivered this peach in 1996. Effectively the sequel to 1990’s classic Mustt Mustt, Nusrat is here reunited with the Canadian musician/producer Michael Brook and once again the partnership tests the emotional boundaries of the human voice. Timeless, state-less and, nearly two decades on, ageless. It wasn’t made in Detroit or Memphis, but this truly is soul music.
“An album for the ages, defying genre and solidifying Khan’s stature as one of the world’s pre-eminent singers” – Billboard


Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Micheal Brook - My Heart, My Life

"Come To Where I'm From" is part of series 2 of the Real World Gold re-issued albums - released 30th July.

In its pursuit of unearthing previously unheard music from the planet’s four corners, Real World has never ignored Western rock and pop. No-one’s disqualified. And in Akron, Ohio, the label (or, rather Peter Gabriel himself) found Joseph Arthur, a singer-songwriter with high-proof creative juices oozing out of every pore. 2000’s Come To Where I’m From was his second album for the label. Produced by the mighty T-Bone Burnett, it’s a dense, attractively claustrophobic record, full of delightful contradictions: unnerving and reassuring, raw and yet meticulously compiled.

Joseph Arthur - In The Sun (Real World Gold)

"Rise Up" is part of series 2 of the Real World Gold re-issued albums - released 30th July.

Thomas Mapfumo was the voice of a revolution, the icon whose music soundtracked the death of Rhodesia and the birth of Zimbabwe. But, by the time he recorded Rise Up in 2006, the tables were turned, the optimism extinguished. The Zimbabwean authorities now hounded Mapfumo, who quietly slipped out of the country to live in the US. The folk hero was now the exile, giving him new reasons to continue singing his chiming songs of freedom. And they’ve never sounded as vital as on Rise Up. 
“Classic laidback Afro-groove, with hints of reggae and Mapfumo’s baritone remains richly defiant” – Observer Music Monthly


Thomas Mapfumo - Marudzi Nemarudzi (Real World Gold)

Peter Gabriel's Shock the Monkey is probably one of the most recognized tracks from his fourth solo album recorded between spring 1981 and summer 1982. This was one of the first tracks to use sampling technology utilizing the ground breaking Fairlight CMI and and other classic machines such as the Linn Drum and the Prophet 5 synth. You can hear these sounds throughout the sample pack.

"...people saw that as a sort of animal rights song, but it wasn't actually it was a song about jealousy."

Peter Gabriel - Shock The Monkey

Discover more about 'Seed' (Out 11th Nov) - http://realworldrecords.com/gold/3/?id=25

2003's Seed marked out some clearly defined territory for one of Real World's totemic outfits. Now less reliant on beats and samples, the team put more stock in real instruments, a move born out of their experiences of playing live together.

Afro Celt Sound System - Deep Channel (Real World Gold)

Discover more about 'Weaving My Ancestors' Voices' (Out 11th Nov) - http://realworldrecords.com/gold/3/?id=58

his was Sheila Chandra's Real World debut, first unveiled back in 1993. For Sheila, it's always been all about the voice. What musical backing there is on Weaving My Ancestors' Voices is kept to a minimum, allowing those vocals to travel largely unaccompanied.

Sheila Chandra - Sacred Stones (Real World Gold)

Discover more about 'Shahen Shah' (Out 11th Nov) - http://realworldrecords.com/gold/3/?id=5

Before the Massive Attack remixes, before the collaborations with Eddie Vedder, before Jeff Buckley described him as "my Elvis", Nusrat had already recorded scores of traditional Qawwali albums. Shahen-Shah was his first Real World recording (as well as being the second-ever release on the label) and was responsible for introducing this extraordinary singer to a new generation.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Allah, Mohammed, Char, Yaar (Real World Gold)

Discover more about 'Weaving My Ancestors' Voices' (Out 11th Nov) - http://realworldrecords.com/gold/3/?id=35

Born in Mauritania and partly raised in Senegal, Daby Touré isn't one for recognising the rigidity of borders, a principle that always informs his music.

Daby Touré - Irus (Real World Gold)

Discover more about 'Molokai' Voices' (Out 11th Nov) - http://realworldrecords.com/gold/3/?id=104

The sweet-voiced Congolese bandleader's third album for Real World found legendary producer John Leckie at the helm - the man who sculpted the sound of the Stones Roses' debut and Radiohead's TheBends.

Papa Wemba - Esclave (Real World Gold)

Discover more about 'Gifted' Voices' (Out 11th Nov) - http://realworldrecords.com/gold/3/?id=121

This album brings together eight extraordinary women singers from around the globe to celebrate and explore the themes of woman's experience - from the contemporary day-to-day to that of the all-powerful goddess.

Women of the World - Baro (Real World Gold)

Double disc out 29th July 2013 as part of the Real World Gold series:
https://realworldrecords.com/release/618/love-and-devotion/

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Love Songs - Yeh Jo Halka Saroor Hae

Buy 'Africa Grooves 1' (Out 18th June) - <a href="http://smarturl.it/RWAfricaGrooves1">Real World</a> / <a href="http://smarturl.it/iTunesAfricaGrooves1">iTunes</a>

<a href="https://realworldrecords.com/release/617/africa-grooves-1/">Discover more about this compilation</a>

Download (MP3 / AL)

Omar Pene & Super Diamono - Diaraf

<a href="https://realworldrecords.com/release/623/film-tv-1/">Pre order 'Film & TV 1' now</a>

The multiple-Grammy-winning gospel stars -- performing together since 1939 -- delivered this riveting rendition of Tom Waits' 1987 original; their version became the theme song for HBO's hit series The Wire in its debut season.

Buy Now (Digital)

The Blind Boys of Alabama - Way Down In The Hole

<a href="https://realworldrecords.com/release/623/film-tv-1/">Pre order 'Film & TV 1' now</a>

This haunting, otherworldly song, heard in the hard-hitting film Gangs of New York, is the lead track from the evocatively atmospheric album UNTOLD THINGS by English composer and viola player Jocelyn Pook.   Pook is renowned for her work with PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Peter Gabriel, and Morrissey, among many others.  

Jocelyn Pook - Dionysus (Gangs of New York)

01 Amjad Ali Khan - Calcutta City

Discover more about <a href="https://realworldrecords.com/release/625/indian-classical/">Real World: Indian Classical</a>.

07 Rahul Sharma - Melody Of Kashmir

Real World Records was founded by WOMAD and Peter Gabriel to provide talented artists from around the world with access to state-of-the-art recording facilities and audiences beyond their geographic region.

Launched in 1989, Real World Records has grown into a label of wide-ranging, world-class music from all corners of the globe.

Popular tracks by Real World Records