March 3 marks Music Freedom Day with concert and album release
Posted on March 2nd, 2010 in World Music.
The freedom to make music – to sing it, play it, record it and distribute it – is something most people take for granted.
On March 3, Freemuse – the global organisation committed to freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide – is celebrating Music Freedom Day with a concert in Stockholm’s Concert Hall. The event will include the presentation of the Freemuse Award – won last year by outspoken Ivorian reggae star Tiken Jah Fakoly – and the launch of Listen to the Banned, an album of music by artists from around the world who are censored in their homeland.
Freemuse has documented cases of music censorship in over 100 countries, and the album, released on the Norwegian Grappa label, features just a few of those voices and is compiled by Pakistani-Norwegian singer, composer and human rights activist Deeyah.
Listen to the Banned features Chiwoniso Maraire, who continues the Zimbabwean mbira traditions of her father Dumisani, and whose latest album Rebel Woman topped the World Music Charts Europe. She has been outspoken in her condemnation of police brutality in her homeland. Ferhat Tunç is a Kurdish singer from the far east of Turkey who has been arrested and imprisoned for his criticism of Turkish government policy towards the Kurdish minority. The album also includes Freemuse Award winner Tiken Jah Fakoly, Afghanistan’s Farhad Darya, Aziza Brahim from Western Sahara – a region claimed by Morocco and occupied by its military, and Kurash Sultan, from the restive far western Chinese province of Xinjiang where the Uighur people face repression and discrimination.
Tha album opens with a track from Iranian singer Mahsa Vardat, for whom the restrictions are more subtle and result from the simple fact of her being a woman. In Iran, a woman is not allowed to sing in public to an audience including men unless accompanied by a male singer. Her few international concerts to mixed audiences are a rare opportunity for her to experience complete freedom as a singer.
African Soul Rebels 2010 tour hits the UK from February 18
Posted on February 14th, 2010 in World Music.
The sixth African Soul Rebels tour of the UK takes place February 18-March 3 with three more diverse acts from across the length and breadth of the continent. The headline act is one of the great women of Malian song, Oumou Sangaré. Her most recent album Seya [reviewed in #58] was nominated for a Grammy award, and she continues to be one of the greatest singers in the musical powerhouse nation of Mali.
She is joined by one of those timeless West African big band ensembles whose music never grows tired. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou from Benin create a vibrant mix of James Brown-inspired funk and soul and voudon sato and sakpata rhythms as contested to on the new release Volume Two Echos Hypnotiques on the Analog Africa label [reviewed in #66].
You have to travel down the length of Africa to find the final member of this year’s African Soul Rebels trio. Kalahari Surfers is Warrick Sony – composer, musician, experimentalist and anti-apartheid activist. Back in 1981, Kalahari Surfers began as a solo project that soon became one of the most politically radical sounds to come out of apartheid South Africa. It was also musically radical – mixing reggae, punk, electronica, hip-hop and avant-garde rock. Sony brings his psychedelic sound to the UK as the African Soul Rebels take in 12 dates…
18 Feb Poole Lighthouse 0844 406 8666 lighthousepoole.co.uk
19 Feb Brighton Dome 01273 709709 brightondome.org
20 Feb London The Barbican 020 7638 8891 barbican.org.uk
21 Feb Northampton Royal & Derngate 01604 624811 royalandderngate.co.uk
22 Feb Bristol Colston Hall 0117 922 3686 colstonhall.org
24 Feb Basingstoke The Anvil 01256 844244 anvilarts.org.uk
25 Feb Coventry Warwick Arts Centre 024 7652 4524 warwickartscentre.co.uk
26 Feb Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 0151 709 3789 liverpoolphil.com
27 Feb Edinburgh Usher Hall 0131 228 1155 usherhall.co.uk
28 Feb Manchester Bridgewater Hall 0161 907 9000 bridgewater-hall.co.uk
02 Mar Leicester De Montfort Hall 0116 233 3111 demontforthall.co.uk
03 Mar Gateshead The Sage Gateshead 0191 443 4661 thesagegateshead.org
The March 2010 Songlines podcast is now available through iTunes
Posted on February 4th, 2010 in Songlines News.
This podcast includes highlights from the March 2010 issue of Songlines (#66) opening with an excerpt from Angélique Kidjo’s new album Oyo (Razor & Tie Direct). Songlines editor in chief, Simon Broughton, plays an extract from the second free CD with this issue, World Music from Hungary 2010 and a bonus track from Gilles Peterson’s playlist.
Features include: Rose Skelton on Angélique Kidjo, our cover star for this issue; Simon Broughton on Orchestre Poly-Rythmo and Nigel Williamson with a special report from Beirut. Nathaniel Handy brings you the latest news with the Official UK World Music Album Chart, as well as music from Tiken Jah Fakoly (Wrasse) and Oumou Sangaré (World Circuit). The podcast ends with an extract from Sierra Maestra’s new album Sonando Ya on World Village.
The next Songlines podcast, featuring highlights from the April/May issue (#67), will be available from March 19 2010.