RSS feedArchive for April, 2009
June 2009 issue of Songlines (#60) is on sale in the UK from May 1
Posted on April 30th, 2009 in Recent Posts by Songlines.
The June 2009 issue of Songlines is on sale in the UK from May 1. The free CD that comes with the issue includes ten tracks from the finest new releases from around the planet. Tracks include new hip-hop, tango and salsa from Barcelona collective Ojos de Brujo; the return of Pygmy-Celtic fusionists Baka Beyond; the exuberant girl power of Finnish folksters Värttinä; exploratory US duo A Hawk & A Hacksaw; and Justin Adams with Gambian ritti player Juldeh Camara on their second collaborative album. There’s also a selection of five tracks selected by BBC Radio 1 DJ and festival programmer Rob Da Bank.
The main editorial features include:
• The Songlines Music Awards – we announce the four winners of our inaugural awards.
• Cuba – after 50 years of revolution Jan Fairley looks at the music that has shaped the island since 1959.
• Radiokijada – Donkey jaws and electronic beats, the latest Afro-Peruvian sounds.
• Building A Band – How do you market and make a success of bands like Tinariwen and El Tanbura?
• Hanggai – The Chinese-Mongolian band giving the music of the grasslands a modern twist.
• UK Festivals 2009 – Summer’s on its way and there are a wealth of festivals to choose from.
• Sounding Out Glasgow – all the best places to see and hear music in Scotland’s largest city.
• Beginner’s Guide to Greek chanteuse Eleftheria Arvanitaki.
• Postcard from Karnataka, India.
• Art of Music – Austrian zither.
• Backpage from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
• My World – BBC Radio 1 DJ and festival programmer Rob Da Bank.
• News, including the world music highlights of this year’s Proms in London.
• Reviews of the latest CD, DVD and World Cinema releases.
Top world music stars play the Brighton Festival 2009
Posted on April 24th, 2009 in News by Songlines.
From May 2-24, Brighton on the UK’s south coast welcomes the summer with a month of music, arts, theatre and dance, including some of the top names in world and folk music.
One of the biggest world music names on the bill – Sudanese hip-hop artist Emmanuel Jal – is actually appearing in his capacity as an author, having produced a book and film to accompany his latest album War Child. He will also be taking his extraordinary life story of growing up as a child soldier in the Sudanese civil war to local schools where he will deliver a special talk for secondary school students.
Amongst the music on offer over the month is legendary English folk singer June Tabor, Bulgarian clarinetist Ivo Papasov and US Greek singer Diamanda Galas. Two of the most intriguing events are double bills. First the deep musical links between Cuba and the Congo are brought to the fore as 70-year-old Cuban big band Orquesta Aragón play alongside Congolese rumba legend Mose Fan Fan and Bayeke Rumba OK. The second double bill presents two from record label Sublime Frequencies, who are known for their releasing music from the edges of the world map. They present Sahrawi Group Doueh from Western Sahara and Syrian folk-pop artist Omar Souleyman.
Also check out World Sacred Music at the Fringe on May 14, when a bass sitar player, a kora player and a violinist combine with a storyteller to create a new work by composer Baluji Shrivastav inspired by the Bhagavad Gita.
Princes Amongst Men Gypsy Film Festival comes to London in April and May
Posted on April 8th, 2009 in News by Songlines.
Inspired by journalist Garth Cartwright’s book Princes Amongst Men: Journeys With Gypsy Musicians (Serpents Tail), published in 2005, the Princes Amongst Men Gypsy Film Festival takes place at the Ritzy in Brixton on April 24-26 and the Picture House in Greenwich on May 1-3.
The festival includes films, documentaries, live music and DJs alongside a photographic exhibition of an Albanian Roma community by Australian photojournalist Rob Hackman. The films include vintage live footage and footage never before screened in the UK of performers such as Esma Redzepova, Gabby Lunca, Fanfare Ciocarlia and flamboyant Bulgarian Gypsy pop-folk icon Azis and events including Serbia’s legendary Guca Festival where brass bands from across the Balkans vie for top spot in a crescendo of sound.
Following certain screenings there will also be live jazz, blues and Roma songs from French singer-guitarist Florence Joelle with accordionist and keyboard player Lucie Rejchrtova and klezmer music from the Matzoh Boys.
For those inspired by what they see, there is also a Songlines Music Travel trip to the Guca Festival in Serbia on August 6-11 to see the frenzied national competition between top brass players such as Boban Markovic and Ekrem Sajdic. The Songlines Music Travel trip includes three nights of music at the Guca Festival with accommodation in the village itself, plus time to explore Belgrade. The cost is just £495 per person excluding flights to Belgrade. Find more details and a video taster on www.songlines.co.uk/musictravel/tours/serbia-guca.php or call 020 8505 2582
www.picturehouses.co.uk/site/cinemas/ritzy
www.picturehouses.co.uk/site/cinemas/greenwich
La Linea Latin Music Festival hits London and Liverpool in April and May
Posted on April 6th, 2009 in News by Songlines.
London’s La Linea Latin Music Festival 2009 kicks off on April 14 at the Barbican with the UK debut of 12-man Buenos Aires tango orchestra Orquesta Típica Fernandez Fierro, who give traditional tango a roughing up with four accordions and three violins. They are supported by French-Catalan musician Pascal Comelade, also making his UK debut.
This year’s festival showcases some of the greatest legends of Latin music alongside some of the hippest new fusions and mutations of traditional genres.
At the classic end of the spectrum, Peret celebrates 50 years of rumba Catalana on April 18 and Latin punk-alt country legend Alejandro Escovedo plays Bush Hall on April 30. The younger Latin scene is represented by the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in collaboration with Cuban violinist Omar Puente at the South Bank Centre on April 17 and Brazilian singer-songwriter Vanessa da Mata at Koko on April 26.
Two shows will also be extending La Linea to Liverpool Philharmonic Hall this year, with Barcelona flamenco-hip-hop collective Ojos de Brujo at Camden’s Roundhouse on April 27 and Liverpool on May 1 and Spanish Bombs: A Tropical to The Clash at the Barbican on April 28 and in Liverpool on May 2, with tributes offered by the likes of Café Tacuba’s Ruben Albarran, Amaparanoia’s Amparo Sanchez and Sergent Garcia’s Bruno Garcia.
