Traditional  in more  ways  than  one:
586153
The  heroine  is pretty, innocent  and  spunky;  the  hero  is a  hard case, uninterested  in  innocents and  unwilling  to  involve  himself  in others' lives.  Yet he takes  her under his wing, inexplicably  fascinated by  her.  No new ground  is broken  here, but  some  interesting  characters, an unusual  situation, and  very  competent  writing  make  it  an enjoyable  read.
1370128
Because I love traditional musics of the world and lament overly produced, electronically processed Euro Pop style in world music [with some exceptions], I regard Putumayo's latest collection as the new middle way, the great hope for a different international musical style. The music is simply wonderful. Richly melodic with strong but not overbearing rhythms, the underlying traditional root music is now fully blossomed with modern instrumentation and arrangements. Particular favorites are the oud track of Charbel Rouhana & Hani Siblini, the Sudanese song of Jamal Porto, and the Palestinian Arab group Zaman's flamenco exploration. With such examples from Syria and Lebanon across North Africa to the Atlantic coast, with Latin flavors of Spain and Cuba, this readily accessible music can be well received in both concert halls and intimate clubs in Sacramento, California, as well as Damascus, Syria. The Acoustic Arabia collection is relaxed, contemplative, and intimate compared to the danceable but less interesting collecton of Putumayo's North African Groove. I welcome this addition to the Putumayo catalog. It is yet another major contribution to our appreciation and understanding of other musics, other cultures.
3967178
Loved this recording.  Just a little different while staying true to traditional ideals.  Refreshing.
3606234
The Welsh harp hasn't become as well known as its Irish and Breton Celtic cousins, though Wales has as strong a tradition of harp music as any Celtic land. Robin Huw Bowen is generally recognized as the leading performer on the Welsh harp. All both three of his albums I've heard (besides this, Telyn Berseinol fy ngwlad / Sweet Harp of My Land and Y Ffordd I Aberystwyth / The Road To Aberystwyth, both also available on Amazon) are excellent and will appeal both to anyone interested in traditional Celtic music and to newcomers to that type of music -- Huw Bowen's music, while authetically traditional, is also immediately appealing and is by no means just for fans or specialists.  So if you're looking for an introduction to Celtic harp to see if you like it, this would be a good choice.

Of the three albums mentioned, I like this one best.  The selections are a combination of traditional old tunes and more modern compositions, with the latter still having a completely traditional feel to them, and the playing is generally more meditative and less flashy but more deeply felt than on the other albums.  At its best, this collection offers some of the most beautiful music I've heard.
4433371
This book has a lifetime of desserts. Traditional and different.
3873303
I found this book after doing research into Robert Cochrane and 1734.  I was fascinated by the supposed "traditional witchcraft" that it was purporting to represent.

As another reviewer stated, this book is not written by Doreen Valiente but by Evan Jones.  He is a very clear, concise writer however, and I enjoy his style very much.

The small amount of earlier research I did on Robert Cochrane showed him to be an admirer of Robert Graves, author of the White Goddess.  A glance at the bibliography of this book will show the author's admiration for Graves as well as Margaret Murray, the author of the Witch Cult in Western Europe.

Because of his influence from the above authors and what is now debatable material historically, I would approach his statements regarding the history of his strand of the Craft with caution.  I wouldn't throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater however.  He is honest about the rituals he presents being modern but based on older concepts.  He also encourages individual interpretation of the lore and what it means for each person and each coven.

One thing that really struck me is his honesty about cursing.  Evan Jones does not encourage cursing, but he admits to the reality of the need for it at times.  He blatantly refuses to give the reader pointers in how to curse stating that is something that witches need to find their own path to.  He believes as strongly in personal responsibility as he does in doing what needs to be done.

This is not commercialized Wicca.  Robert Cochrane did not appear to have much love loss for Gerald Gardner, so his strand of the Craft differs from Gardner's.  However, I don't know how necessarily "traditional" it is.  It may be closer to British Traditional Wicca (without the strong ceremonial magick aspects), but I am not a practitioner, so I can't state that with certainty.

You will find familiar material such as the wheel of the year and reverence for the Lady over the Lord, mainly represented by the Horned God.  The God is still a very strong part of this path.  He is not as watered down as you might find in other strands of the Craft.  It is a beautiful system of ritual, devotion with shamanic components that Jones presents here.  If you feel called to some Wiccan concepts but cannot make up your mind that is the path for you, this book will give you another perspective to consider.
497362
I have very little patience for most tarot decks.  I've looked at so many that just don't grab me because they're either too traditional or too abstract, and I've ended up with very non-traditional but visually lovely  decks such as Motherpeace and the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot.
The  Alchemical Tarot sticks much closer to the more usual tarot look and feel;  the images are of white people in classical dress/undress.  Swords, Staffs,  Vessels and Coins are the suits, and the Court cards are Lady, Knight, King  and Queen.  The zing in this deck comes from the addition of alchemical  symbols.  Five-petaled roses and astrological glyphs abound, as do the  opposition of the colors red and white.  There are plenty of eagles,  mermaids and lions, and a few salamanders too.
The art is quite  attractive, with chalky pastels in contrast to bright, deep colors.  Everything is carefully arranged and well-composed, with a few tasteful  nudes thrown in for good measure.
The book is fairly heavy reading.  There's a long history of alchemy and short descriptions of the cards.  It's a nice reference, especially when you start wondering what all these  five-petaled roses mean.  Generally you can coast on any tarot knowledge  you have.
This is a great deck for people like me who want a fairly  traditional deck but don't care for the super-traditional look.
2085430
A must for those not into traditional religion.
1006553
This guide explains the very traditional, somewhat stereotypical, aspects of different cultures.  It is a useful guide when dealing with someone from a different culture, since it explains language differences, how people in that culture traditionally interact, differences in gender and age roles, fears or concerns that people have of health care providers, traditional views of medicine and social services, family roles, etc.  The guide is somewhat concrete, using language and examples that make you feel like every single person from each of these cultures feels/believes a certain way, but is still a good basis to get an idea of the cultures.
4973968
Reviews of this book have been a little unkind.  It tries something new using the notion of modern in a loose but useful way.  Washburn's readings of the various texts he examines are thoughtful and careful and these readings constitute the chief value of the book.  His willingness to look at a variety of different texts separated by time and content is the book's greatest surprise.  Sure to appeal to those who do not want to see everything become the province of narrow specialists.
3103963
The recipes offered in this cookbook differ quite a bit from most Mexican cookbooks I have seen - rather than focusing on Tex-Mex cooking or on painstakingly authentic regional dishes, this author has a style of cooking that seems more European-influenced.  The result is a unique collection of dishes - for example, Beef Tempura with Middle Eastern Sauce, small bites of shredded beef battered and fried, served with a spiced tomato sauce, or Pacholes, thin seasoned meat patties.  I have tried several recipes - some of them are quite involved - but the results are worth it, subtly and richly flavored.

I have taken one star off of my review because of some substitutions the author has offered.  I notice that she lived in England, and perhaps as a result of this she lists feta cheese as an ingredient in her recipes - while most Americans can get their hands on authentic Mexican cheeses these days.  Similarly, she recommends using canned corn instead of frozen or even fresh.
3558409
Very interesting album, good to hear the tunes sung in Welsh instead of English. I like many of the songs and the delivery of most of them. I guess that I'm what might be called a traditionalist in that I would like to hear something with a traditional sound, this one is good but very modern. Probably most Enya listeners will find something to like here although I'd say she's closer to the past in her styling.
2822360
This work, a collection of brief pieces in alternating Spanish and Nahuatl, is described as an "etnohistoria de San Miguel Tzinacapan". It was collected and compiled by the "Taller de Tradicion Oral de la Sociedad Agropecuaria del CEPEC" from 1977 to the mid-'80's, in Cuetzalan, Puebla, most of them in the village named above. The compilers note that the stories are presented as they were told, combining, for that reason, personal opinion as well as folkloristic tradition. They cover myth, lore and folkways of agriculture as well as topics more or less historical, such as the attempts by the various colonial powers to control Mexico.

The names of the informants are given. The Spanish is of the standard variety; the Nahuatl is quite different from the type associated with Sahagun and other early texts, both orthographically and in more substantial ways. There is only a little annotation.

Overall, a vivid and enjoyable picture of the lives and thought of a particular group of descendents of a civilization warred upon by many powers, religious, national and technological.
528167
This is one in a series of CDs concentrating on Native American Music with a modern bent.  The diversity of the music and the addition of modern arrangements and instrucmentation removes the music from the 'authentic' sound of Native American music but makes the selection more availale to those with limited exposure to this type of music.  I would suggest that an individual listen to samples of these CDs as many of the selections on the sets are duplicates of each other.  Listening to the selections will give a much richer interpretation of the diversity and quality of Native American music
1919807
I found this book useful but typical - tradional wedding flowers with little bits of baby's breath. Some people like the traditional wedding styles. I like something more modern or Asian. Indeed this book has good instructions - although I always recommend building a prototype before you are put on the spot to make the real thing (I prefer using silk in this stage). If you want a more traditional wedding floral book, this is a good one. If you want unique pizazz then I suggest you try Florist's Review - it's my fave.
784448
This book is a little archaic but I like it anyway. I'm quite a fan of Charlotte Patera and own a couple of other books she's written. Hand applique techniques haven't changed all that much over time and the techniques she has presented in this book are still valid. Some people might be disappointed in the projects and illustrations which definitely 'read' as 70's (I happen to find them nostalgic), and book lacks the contemporary 'gloss' of more current books. Nonetheless, I'm glad I bought it and as I'm a designer myself, I wouldn't want to remake the project designs in the book in the first place, I would prefer to create my own designs with the book mainly serving as inspiration to pursue my own ideas.
609792
This book consists of an interesting assortment of articles all presented in honor of the scholar V.H. Viglielmo. In the preface the editors note that festschrifts such as this are often criticized for being a mixed bag and then argue that this one is different in having a unifying theme. Hmm. Maybe, but as a glance at the article titles below will show, the mixed bag effect is still pretty strong--which is just fine with me anyway. I rather enjoy an eclectic mix. The unifying principle really is the various contributors' deep respect and affection for Viglielmo, which is the way it should be in a work of this nature. Still, Viglielmo's influence as a mentor is apparent in a number of the articles, and the impact of his highly important, pioneering work in the literature of Natsume Soseki and the philosophy of the Kyoto School is especially clear.

Like I said, I don't mind the "mixed bag" effect, but other things did annoy me slightly. The second article is in German, for instance, which seems silly to me in an American publication predominantly in English. What I can make of the title sounds quite intriguing, too, but not so much so that I'm willing to learn a whole language from scratch. I found the other articles generally interesting and full of neat insights, even the ones not dealing with Soseki or Watsuji (my own pet interests), but sometimes the quality was a bit uneven and a few in particular seemed not quite ready for prime time, if you get my drift. A couple of instances of mild Japan-essentializing were rather jarring in this regard, as was an odd scorn for Japan's indigenous poetic tradition and hints of a patronizing attitude on the part of one contributor who otherwise makes some good observations. In the case of a partially informal publication such as this, though, it would be mean-spirited to dwell too much on these lapses, most of which are minor bumps anyway--easily outweighed by the overall fine scholarly quality of the collection as a whole, a fitting tribute to an excellent scholar.

The articles are as follows:

1. "Brief Memoir of a Japan Basher" by Edward Seidensticker

2. "Tariki--Uber Shinrans und Tanabes Verstandnis des 'Wirkins' der 'Anderen Kraft' in der metanoetischen Wandlung des Selbst" by Johannes Laube

3. "Shinran: Religious Consciousness and True Individuality" by Alfred Bloom

4. "The Phenomenology and Logic of Interpresence in Watsuji Tetsuro and Nishida Kitaro" by David A. Dilworth

5. "On Nature" by Nisitani Keiji (translated by Setsuko Aihara and Graham Parkes)

6. "The Influence of William James and Henri Bergson on Natsume Soseki's 'Higan Sugi Made'" by Harue Summersgill

7. "Natsume Soseki's 'Mon' (The Gate) and Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment': Understanding Soseki's Sokuten Kyoshi" by Nakayama Etsuko

8. "Natsume Soseki's 'Nowaki', A Novella" by William Ridgeway

9. "The Twelve-Part Story of Lady Joruri" by Frederick Kavanagh

10. "Higuchi Ichiyo's 'Wakaremichi', Modern Punctuation, and Genbun Itchi" by Kyle Ikeda

11. "Grief and Guilt: A Study of Hagiwara Sakutaro's 'Night Train' (1913)" by Robert Epp

12. "Kawabata Yasunari's Concept of Beauty" by Gladys Nakahara

13. "Nakajima Atsushi's 'Gojo Tan`i': An Intertextual Reading in Relation to 'Faust' and 'Zarathustra'" by Nobuko Miyama Ochner

14. "Oe Kenzaburo and the Fifty-Year Postwar Period" by Nobuko Pugarelli Aoshima

15. "William Faulkner's Visit to Nagano" by Travis Summersgill

16. "Japan and Japanese in Brazil's Literature" by Edgar C. Knowlton, Jr.

17. "'Boku' in Edo Epistolary Texts" by Katsue Akiba Reynolds

18. "Synthesis of Modern Japanese Literature and Philosophy in the Writings of Valdo H. Viglielmo" by Steve Odin

(In addition, the book also includes a good biography of Viglielmo and a useful bibliography of his publications)