Topic Records at 75 - The Full English Project

Seventy Five Years in Ten Minutes

Here's a nice little documentary film from Topic Records. The folk music label celebrates its 75th birthday this year. This makes it the oldest independent record label in the world.



Did you spot dear Anne Briggs amongst the folk musicians immortalised by Topic through the years? What would we have done without Topic? Lost a big chunk of our musical roots that's what.

The Full English Project

Topic continues to provide the best support for British folk musicians, helping them find new audiences and keep the tradition alive. The label is naturally involved in The Full English project initiated by the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

The aim of The Full English is to "unlock the hidden treasures of England's cultural heritage" by creating the "world's biggest free digital archive of English traditional folk music and dance tunes". That's right — free.

The project also has a band — assembled from the enormous folk talent of Seth Lakeman, Martin Simpson, Fay Hield, Nancy Kerr, Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron and Ben Nichols. Their album, inevitably released on Topic, is also called The Full English [Amazon].