Honest Jon's, a label renowned for its quality, often genre-transcending catalog, once again unearths a true ruby-like gem from the Hayes Archive of EMI. Originally recorded during the 1920s and 30s, these virtuoso performances have been all but consigned to obscurity in the decades since. Now they've been unearthed by Honest Jon's to introduce a new audience to the supreme talents of Abdul Hussein Khan Shahnazi, Kanoni Artaki and the incredible Nechat Bey - whose hypnotic performances on Open Strings border on the otherworldly.

Beyond just the quality of the recorded selections, Open Strings succeeds as a tightly assembled, conceptual-specific compilation sourced from within a narrow field, both in time and geography, with a corresponding visual art agenda mirroring the musical contents precisely. To expand the conceptual specificity, yet remain coherent, the compilers assembled an exceptional cast of modern-day psychedelic, drone and experimental folk artists to compose 'responses' to the archival recordings, which comprise the second disc of this set. These talents include the likes of Sir Richard Bishop, Charlie Parr, Rick Tomlinson, Michael Flower and Steffen Basho-Junghans, all of which put in outstanding, complimentary performances. It's the remaining interpretations by Six Organs Of Admittance and MV & EE that really harness the true spirit of the originals, the former by sheer passionate channeling force, the latter by exhibiting a particularly resonant understanding of Middle Eastern harmony and duration, as MV & EE do on their own exceptional raga-folk albums.

Reviving lost recordings, from a time, place and culture far removed from our own, connecting their genuinely 'virtuoso' passion with a modern listenership and complimentary underground musical culture - only Honest Jon's could have brought all of these unquantifiable wonders together so elegantly.