''fRoots'' (pronounced "eff-Roots", originally ''Folk Roots'') was a specialist music

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

published in the UK between 1979 and 2019. It specialised in

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

and

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

, and featured regular compilation downloadable albums, with occasional specials. In 2006, the circulation of the magazine was 12,000 worldwide. (the year is matched from th
"fRoots Advertising Information"
that provides the same "readership of 40,000" data for their "2006 readership survey" as the main "around 12,000 worldwide (giving a readership of around 40,000)" claim). The magazine was also involved in live music production, as well as the

BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music The BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music was an award given to world music artists between 2002 and 2008, sponsored by BBC Radio 3. The award was thought up by '' fRoots'' magazine's editor Ian Anderson, inspired by the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. U ...

and the Europe in Union concert series.

Overview

In 1979, ''Southern Rag'' was founded by folk musician Ian A. Anderson with Caroline Hurrell and Lawrence Heath. It was renamed as ''Folk Roots'' in 1985, and in 1998 it became ''fRoots''. The headquarters was initially in

Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and later moved to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. Anderson remained the editor for the magazine's entire forty-year lifespan. Since 1985, the magazine was published on a monthly basis, with compilation albums twice-yearly. After a 2017

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign, it was re-launched in April 2018 as a larger quarterly magazine, including a compilation album with every issue. On 2 July 2019, the editor announced that the magazine was suspending publication due to lack of funding, and that the Summer 2019 issue (issue 425) would be its last.

Albums of the year

The ''fRoots'' Critics Poll Album of the Year was determined by a panel of "hundreds of experts" in the UK and internationally: * 1986 '' Graceland'' by

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

* 1987 '' Soro'' by Salif Keita * 1988 ''

Amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be temporarily caused by t ...

'' by Richard Thompson * 1989 '' Djam Leelii'' by Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck * 1990 '' The Complete Recordings'' by

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...

* 1991 ''Barking Mad'' by Four Men and a Dog * 1992 ''Lam Toro'' by Baaba Maal * 1993 '' A Meeting by the River'' by

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...

and V.M. Bhatt * 1994 ''Waterson:Carthy'' by Waterson–Carthy * 1995 ''Kate Rusby and Kathryn Roberts'' by

Kate Rusby Kate Anna Rusby (born 4 December 1973) is an English folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the "Barnsley Nightingale", she has headlined various British folk festivals, and is one of the be ...

and Kathryn Roberts * 1996 '' Norma Waterson'' by Norma Waterson * 1997 '' Buena Vista Social Club'' by Buena Vista Social Club * 1998 ''Red Rice'' by

Eliza Carthy Eliza Amy Forbes Carthy, MBE (born 23 August 1975) is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson. Life and career Carthy was born i ...

* 1999 '' Kulanjan'' by

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

and Toumani Diabaté * 2000 ''Wanita'' by Rokia Traoré * 2001 ''Missing You / Mee Yeewnii'' by Baaba Maal * 2002 ''Specialist in All Styles'' by Orchestra Baobab * 2003 ''Bowmboi'' by Rokia Traoré * 2004 ''

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

'' by

Youssou N'Dour Youssou N'Dour (, ; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' described him as, "perhaps the m ...

* 2005 '' Dimanche à Bamako'' by Amadou & Mariam * 2006 '' Savane'' by Ali Farka Touré * 2007 ''Segu Blue'' by Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba * 2008 ''Low Culture'' by

Jim Moray Jim Moray (born ''Douglas Oates''; 20 August 1981) is an English folk music, English folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Recording artist While studying classical composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire, Moray release ...

* 2009 ''Très Très Fort'' by Staff Benda Bilili * 2010 ''

Hedonism Hedonism is a family of Philosophy, philosophical views that prioritize pleasure. Psychological hedonism is the theory that all human behavior is Motivation, motivated by the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. As a form of Psycholo ...

'' by

Bellowhead Bellowhead is an English contemporary folk band, active from 2004 to 2016, reforming in 2020. The eleven-piece act played traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties, with arrangements drawing inspiration from a wide range of musical sty ...

* 2011 ''

Ragged Kingdom ''Ragged Kingdom'' is a 2011 album by June Tabor and Oysterband. Tabor and Oysterband had collaborated previously on the 1990 album ''Freedom and Rain''. The majority of the tracks are interpretations of traditional folk songs but also includes co ...

'' by

June Tabor June Tabor (born 31 December 1947 in Warwick, England) is an English folk singer known for her solo work and her earlier collaborations with Maddy Prior and with Oysterband. Early life June Tabor was born and grew up in Warwick, England. ...

Oysterband Oysterband (originally The Oyster Band) is a British folk rock and folk punk band formed in Canterbury around 1976. History Early history The band formed in parallel to Fiddler's Dram, and under the name "Oyster Ceilidh Band" played purely as ...

* 2012 ''Ground of Its Own'' by Sam Lee * 2013 ''Clychau Dybon'' by

Catrin Finch Catrin Ana Finch is a Welsh people, Welsh harpist, arranger and composer. She was the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2000 to 2004 and is visiting professor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Royal Academy of Music ...

& Seckou Keita * 2014 ''The Moral of the Elephant'' by

Martin Carthy Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in English folk music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, as well as later ar ...

* 2015 '' From Here'' by

Stick in the Wheel Stick, sticks or the stick may refer to: Thin elongated objects * Twig or branch * Walking stick, a device to facilitate balancing while walking * Shepherd's crook * Shillelagh * Swagger stick * Digging stick * Swizzle stick, used to stir drin ...

* 2016 '' Lodestar'' by

Shirley Collins Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the British Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on ...

* 2017 ''Ladilikan'' by Trio Da Kali &

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical musi ...

* 2018 ''SOAR'' by Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita Between 2002 and 2008 the award was incorporated into the

References

Sources

External links

Official website
* Rogers, Jude (8 July 2019)
"'A big tree has fallen': the sad demise of fRoots, bible of British folk"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. {{Authority control 1979 establishments in England 2019 disestablishments in England British music awards Folk music magazines Magazines established in 1979 Mass media in Surrey Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Music magazines published in the United Kingdom World music awards