African Soul Rebels 2010 tour hits the UK from February 18
Posted on January 7th, 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] has been 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 their 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 in Poole, Brighton, London, Northampton, Bristol, Basingstoke, Coventry, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leicester and Gateshead.
www.musicbeyondmainstream.org.uk