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Protest singers targeted by desperate Middle Eastern regimes
Posted on August 25th, 2011 in World Music by Songlines.
With the death toll rising from the ongoing Syrian uprising, one of the voices of the movement, 42-year-old singer Ibrahim Qashoush, has met a gruesome end at the hands of the regime’s security forces. Qashoush, a fireman and poet from the city of Hama in central Syria, had written and sung verses that had become popular features of the uprising in his city, calling on Bashar al-Assad to leave.
On July 3, he disappeared and according to reports, his body was found in the city’s river with its throat cut and vocal cords ripped out. It suggests the brutality of the regime in the face of open articulation of dissent by protest singers and poets, though all reports from within Syria are impossible to verify due to the regime’s media blackout.
Hear Qashoush leading the crowds in Hama on this YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH57lRemXtw&feature=player_embedded
Meanwhile, across the border in Lebanon, where Syria has for so long had a political as well as military presence, the uprising is building tensions. Beirut hipster Zeid Hamdan was jailed temporarily in July over slander charges he faces for defamation of the Lebanese president Suleiman in a song he posted on YouTube in August 2010. The track, ‘General Suleiman’, calls on not only the president, but also the country’s militiamen, corrupt politicians, arms dealers and foreign intelligence operatives to, ‘go home’.
The 35-year-old musician is a veteran of Beirut’s outspoken independent music scene and used to be one half of the electronica fusion duo Soap Kills. Prosecutors will now decide whether to press formal charges in a Middle East climate of increasing discontent towards those in power.
Judge the song for yourself at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L83n4zhg8Jw
Django Reinhardt festival accused of excluding Gypsy musicians and their jazz
Posted on July 19th, 2011 in World Music by Songlines.
With the 2011 edition of the Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois-sur-Seine on June 22-26, the great inventor of Gypsy jazz’s final resting place, there have been angry reactions among Gypsy musicians to the direction the festival is taking.
A petition has been launched calling for a greater representation for Gypsy jazz musicians at the festival honouring the Gypsy inventor of the genre. It is claimed that the festival has become steadily taken over by more straightforward jazz music – though a look at this year’s star-studded programme reveals a far wider musical representation than pure jazz alone, with headline performances by Serbian brass band leader Goran Bregovic and US soul legend George Benson.
It is claimed that this year’s event sees not one Gypsy swing band, and that the ticketing has made the event – on an island in the Seine – so exclusive as to detach it from the local area and the Gypsy musicians who flock to Reinhardt’s resting place to hear Gypsy jazz.
See for yourself this weekend at the Django Reinhardt Festival 2011 in Samois-sur-Seine. If you agree, sign their petition:
http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/djangosamois
10 things not to miss at Shubbak festival of Arab culture in London
Posted on June 22nd, 2011 in World Music by Songlines.
Shubbak: A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture is the first festival of its kind in Europe, bringing Arab composers, musicians, writers, photographers, painters and directors to London over three weeks in July.
The festival – running from July 4-24 – was initiated by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, as a celebration of the London Arab community and British cultural ties with the Arab world. It is also conceived as an opportunity for audiences to gain a shubbak – window – onto this rich and diverse culture. Here are Songlines’ top 10 must-sees from the more than 70 events happening around the capital…
1 A Musical Revolution into the Arab World
The crème of Lebanon’s electro scene open Shubbak in style with DJ sets and live underground acts.
July 4; The Scoop
2 Inauguration
Concert to celebrate the opening of Brunel University’s Institute for Contemporary Middle Eastern Music.
July 6; LSO St Luke’s
3 The Dash Café
Screenings of music videos ‘Phatwa’ and ‘Slingshot Hiphop’, plus live North African music.
July 6; Rich Mix
4 Lyrical Easternisms
Middle Eastern hip-hop from Behrang Miri and Eslam Jawad celebrates the power of the word.
July 12; Ginglik
5 Easternisms
Acoustic and electronic music from Palestinian pianist-composer John Kameel Farah, Iran’s Brenda and Resonance DJ Fari B.
July 15; Café Oto
6 A Day of Contemporary Arab Culture
A one-day mini festival with live music, talks, workshops, an exhibition and Arabic food.
July 16; Rich Mix
7 Amina Annabi & Simo Lagnawi
Tunisian singer-songwriter Annabi mixes rai, chaabi, reggae, jungle and jazz while Lagnawi is a master of gnawa music.
July 21; Leighton House
8 Concert for the Children of Egypt
Pianist Amira Fouad plays David Heath’s new concerto ‘El Hedeiya’ with the English Chamber Orchestra.
July 22; Cadogan Hall
9 A Night in Tahrir Square
Music from those who set the soundtrack to the Egyptian revolution, including Port Said’s El Tanbura, oud player Mustafa Said and singer-songwriter Ramy Essam.
July 22; Barbican Hall
10 The Bidoun Library Park Night
A Shaabi Wedding Dance Party of readings set to loud music.
July 22; Serpentine Gallery
Find out more at www.london.gov.uk/shubbak
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo Franz Ferdinand love affair continues at Glasgow debut
Posted on June 17th, 2011 in World Music by Songlines.
Paul Thomson, drummer with the Glaswegian rockers Franz Ferdinand, will play a DJ set at the Glasgow debut of legendary Beninois big band Orchestre Poly-Ryhtmo de Cotonou at the Old Fruitmarket on June 28.
It continues a long-running Franz Ferdinand love affair with the West African orchestra. Formed in the 1960s in the heady days of Benin’s early independence, they fused Afro-beat, highlife, voudou traditions and funk, jazz and soul in an infectious mix.
Longtime fans, the Franz Ferdinand boys revealed their love of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo to French journalist Elodie Maillot, who brought the orchestra fresh fave with recent European tours.
Thomson and guitarist Nick McCarthy have since joined the orchestra on tour and in the studio for their last album, Cotonou Club.
