This article is about the musical project, not the study of English folk traditions by Georgina Boyes. The Imagined Village is a folk musical project spearheaded by Simon Emmerson of the Afro Celt Sound System. It is designed to produce modern folk music that represents modern multiculturalism in the United Kingdom and as such features musicians from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The project led to the release of an album by various artists on Real World Records. Some of the tracks on it are modern re-interpretations of traditional folk songs. The title of the album comes from the 1993 book The Imagined Village by Georgina Boyes. "The Imagined Village E.P." was released earlier in 2007, and is a remix of the album tracks. The 2008 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards voted "Cold Haily Rainy Night" as best traditional track.

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The Album

# "'Ouses 'Ouses 'Ouses" – John Copper and Sheila Chandra # "John Barleycorn" – Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy and Paul Weller # "Tam Lyn Retold" – Benjamin Zephaniah and Eliza Carthy # "Death And The Maiden Retold" – Tunng # "Cold Hailey Rainy Night" – Eliza Carthy and Chris Wood # "Welcome Sailor" – Sheila Chandra and Chris Wood # "Acres Of Ground" – Eliza Carthy # "Pilsden Pen" – Village Band # "Hard Times Of Old England Retold" – Billy Bragg & Simon Emmerson # "Kit Whites I And II" – The Gloworms # "Sloe On The Uptake" – Tiger Moth

The E.P.

# "England Half English Meets John Barleycorn" – Billy Bragg, Martin Carthy and Eliza Carthy # "Acres of Ground (Beats Mix)" – Eliza Carthy # "Welcome Sailor" – Sheila Chandra and Chris Wood # "Cold Hailey, Rainy Night - It's Turned Out Nice Mix" – Transglobal Underground

The Imagined Village on tour

The Imagined Village live band have been touring since November 2007. On stage were Billy Bragg, Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Sheila Chandra, Chris Wood and The Young Coppers backed by a band featuring Simon Emmerson, Johnny Kalsi, Francis Hylton, Andy Gangadeen, Sheema Mukherjee and Barney Morse Brown. They also appeared on Later with Jools Holland .