Posts Tagged ‘Arnaldo Antunes’
The Songlines La Linea 2013 Playlist
Posted on April 12th, 2013 in News, Recent Posts by Edward Craggs.
La Linea 2013 kicks off tonight
La Linea 2013 – The London Latin Music Festival – kicks off tonight in two great London venues. Toumani Diabaté, Arnaldo Antunes & Edgard Scandurra come together to play music from their album A Curva Da Cintura at the Union Chapel. Originally a one-off festival collaboration, the Malian kora legend comes together with both Brazilian musicians on what will be a special night. Click here to buy tickets.
Following on from that, La Linea moves south of the river to the Electric Brixton, where Havana D’Primera team up with a whole host of DJs to get you into the full Latin swing into the early hours. Click here to buy tickets.
Tickets are still available for both events. For more information about all the La Linea concerts please visit www.comono.co.uk/la-linea.
Songlines has created a Deezer playlist featuring acts playing over the festival. Listen below.
La Linea Festival 2013
Posted on March 8th, 2013 in News, Recent Posts by Songlines.
Now in it’s 13th year, La Linea – the London Latin Music festival – returns this April. Brimming with the best contemporary Latin music, it aims to bring contemporary Latin music to a broader audience, to celebrate and champions new artists, collaborations and innovative projects.
BRASS BAND BATTLE – MEXICO vs BALKANS: Banda Estrellas de Sinaloa de Gérman Lizarraga vs Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar (Barbican, April 14)
In the first corner there’s Mexican Banda Estrellas de Sinaloa de Germán Lizarraga, whose career spans over 60 years with an impressive output of 194 records. Starting in his father’s band in Sinaloa, Germán Lizarraga later – in a bid to modernise Latin music – developed a new concept called ‘Sonido Turbo.’ In the process of collecting musicians for his new sound, Banda Estrellas de Sinaloa de Germán Lizarraga was born.
The opposition are Balkan big-guns Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar. The father and son led 13-piece orchestra hail from Southern Serbia, and have existed since the 80s. They remain true to their own gypsy lineage, whilst consistently acknowledging other related cultural and musical traditions within their music.
Perhaps not an obvious choice for a brass band battle, historical context aptly proves the reverse. Yugoslavia in the 50s was no longer shackled to Stalin’s rule and, at a loss for a frame of cultural reference, they strangely turned to Mexico. Imported Mexican films were full of musica ranchera, which perfectly matched the Yugoslavian mind-frame at the time and inspired a multitude of Yugoslavian imitations. Meanwhile, in an act of unconscious symmetry across the world, an ever-increasing love of Balkan music spread into Mexico. In fact, the day before this brass band-off is the Festival Balagan Balkan 2013 in Mexico City.
WIN a pair of tickets to the show. Click here to enter.
A CURVA DA CINTURA: Toumani Diabaté, Arnaldo Antunes & Edgard Scandurra (Union Chapel, April 12)
Originally a one-off festival collaboration, A Curva Da Cintura, composed of Malian kora legend Toumani Diabaté and Brazilian musicians Arnaldo Antunes and Edgard Scandurra, will be performing at Union Chapel, April 12.
Antunes and Scandurra had been playing together for a number of years, touring and performing at various concerts, during one of which – the 2010 Back2Black Festival in Rio de Janiero – they performed with Diabaté. Struck by their achievements, Diabaté invited them to Bamako to record an album. In 2011 the Brazilian musicians arrived in Mali with a collection of new songs and the intention of expanding them under rock’n’roll, African roots and blues influences. The result – recorded primarily on electric and acoustic guitar and kora – is a stunning Afro-Brazilian fusion. A rich complex sound, where Diabaté’s kora provides a mesmerising contrast to the sombre tones of Antunes’ voice.
WIN a pair of tickets to the show PLUS a signed copy of the album from all three artists. Click here to enter.
Full Line-up
HAVANA D’PRIMERA + Cuban salsa DJs Javier La Rosa, Dr Jim & DJ Rich
Friday, April 12, 9pm-3am
Electric Brixton, Town Hall Parade, London SW2 1RJ, http://www.electricbrixton.com
A CURVA DA CINTURA: Toumani Diabaté, Arnaldo Antunes & Edgard Scandurra
Friday, April 12, doors 7pm
Union Chapel, Compton Terrace, London N1 2XD, http://www.unionchapel.org.uk
BRASS BAND BATTLE – MEXICO vs BALKANS: Banda Estrellas de Sinaloa de Gérman Lizarraga vs Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar
Sunday, April 14, 7:30pm
Barbican Hall, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS, http://www.barbican.org.uk
BUIKA + The London Lucumi Choir
Thursday, April 18, doors 7pm
Union Chapel, Compton Terrace, London N1 2XD, http://www.unionchapel.org.uk
MALA RODRIGUEZ + Wara
Thursday, April 18, doors 8pm
Village Underground, 54 Holywell Lane, Shoreditch, London EC2A 3PQ, http://www.villageunderground.co.uk
LA RAZA: London Latin Hip-Hop Festival
Featuring Street Souls + Los Ministros de la Habana + Proyecto Viva Cuba + Indio Lyrico + Sangre Latina and more
Friday, April 19, 8pm-1am
Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA, http://www.richmix.org.uk
ANA MOURA + António Zambujo
Saturday, April 20, 7:30pm
Barbican Hall, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS, http://www.barbican.org.uk, Box office: 020 7638 8891
Click here for tickets
MARCELO BRATKE – Bach and Bachianas + TangOpera
Wednesday, April 24, 7:45pm
Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road London SE1 8XX, http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk
MERIDIAN BROTHERS + Chancha Via Circuito + El G + Tourism DJs
Thursday, April 25, 8pm-1am
Cargo, 83 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3AY, http://www.cargo-london.com
Arnaldo Antunes, Toumani Diabaté & Edgard Scandurra – A Curva Da Cintura (Mali-Brasil)
Posted on June 13th, 2012 in Recent Posts, Reviews by Alexandra Petropoulos.
Words by Nigel Williamson
Afro-Cuban music of the purest kind
After AfroCubism’s Grammy-winning Mali Cuba album, are we about to see a spate of similarly styled cash-ins? Well, no worries, if?they’re all as pleasing as A Curva Da Cintura (Mali-Brasil), which finds several of the Malian musicians from AfroCubism. It features Toumani Diabaté and balafon (xylophone) player Fode Lassana Diabaté, working with two of the biggest names in Brazilian rock music, singer-songwriter Arnaldo Antunes and guitarist Edgard Scandurra. The Brazilians arrived in Bamako to record with local musicians in April 2011 at Toumani’s invitation, after he’d met them at a festival in South America the previous year – and the music that resulted is a pure joy.
On AfroCubism the contributions of the two sides were carefully calibrated to ensure an equal balance; here it’s clearly the Brazilians who take the lead – compositionally at least – as they provide all but one of the 14 songs. The instrumental contribution of the Malians, however, is immense. Toumani’s kora (harp-lute) lends poise and elegance to ballads such as ‘Grao De Chaos’ and ‘Psiu’.
On the more upbeat, rock-inflected numbers, Toumani’s son Sidiki Diabaté takes over, meshing thrillingly with Scandurra’s electric guitar and even modulating his kora with wah-wah on ‘Ce Nao Vai Me Acompanhar’. ‘Ir Mao’ pits the raw sound of the single-stringed soku fiddle against blues slide guitar, while the one Toumani-composed track, ‘Kaira’, boasts a magical arrangement of weaving koras and guitars and a wonderful vocal duet between Antunes’ sombre bass and the high, keening Mande tones of Zoumana Tereta.
