Gabriel Real World News

Scratch My Back !

2010-02-11T16:00:00.001+01:00

Exclusive album preview – Peter Gabriel: Scratch My Back

Let us know what you make of the first Peter Gabriel record in eight years, which covers Talking Heads, Radiohead and Bowie

For his first studio album in eight years, Peter Gabriel came up with an audacious plan. He decided to cover the work of his favourite artists and, in exchange, they would do the same for him. Scratch My Back is the first instalment of this project, and sees the 59-year-old, ex-Genesis man cover the likes of Radiohead, Talking Heads and David Bowie. The artists whose songs you hear here will be returning the favour by performing Gabriel's songs on a forthcoming album, I'll Scratch Yours.

You can hear Scratch My Back using the widget below. So has Gabriel improved on the originals here? Let us know in the comments section!

Peter Gabriel vu par Franck Buioni

2009-12-17T20:55:00.003+01:00

1977. Les hordes punks ont déboulé dans le paysage rock des seventies. The Sex Pistols, The Clash et The Jam réinstallent l’urgence rock, une notion totalement disparue durant l’époque progressive. Elvis est sur le point de mourir, les Rolling Stones font l’objet de toutes les suspicions et même les Beatles sont voués aux gémonies par les plus radicaux d’entre eux. The Who, The Pink Floyd ou Led Zeppelin donnent l’impression d’avoir perdu toute créativité, toute vitalité, toute énergie. Peter Gabriel, lui, avait pris la tangente dès 1975, disparaissant de l’espace musical britannique par un rejet immodéré du show business. I. L’électronique emplissait les studios, la crise s’installait pour durer et les minauderies tombaient en désuétude. L’avenir s’annonçait incertain, sombre et inquiétant. Mais justement, Peter Gabriel était l’homme de la situation, excellant dans le domaine du mystère, des ténèbres et des interrogations. Le moment semblait propice, et il savait que la décennie à venir serait sienne…

Chez Camion Blanc

Auteur	Franck Buioni
Prix	32 €
Nombre de pages	448
ISBN	9782357790384
Code	CB89

Peter Gabriel soutient Manu Chao passible d'une expulsion

2009-04-05T22:02:00.002+02:00

Le musicien et chanteur britannique Peter Gabriel a défendu vendredi le chanteur franco-espagnol Manu Chao, confronté à une menace d'expulsion du Mexique après des propos dont les autorités examinent actuellement l'éventuel caractère d'ingérence politique.

Peter Gabriel a estimé que Manu Chao avait «absolument» le droit de s'exprimer sur la violente répression d'une manifestation qui s'est déroulée en 2006 dans l'Etat de Mexico (centre).
«Nous sommes tous des citoyens du monde et avons des responsabilités qui nous tiennent à coeur, en relation avec notre conscience et le monde», a affirmé Peter Gabriel, fondateur en outre de l'organisation Witness qui soutient les défenseurs des Droits de l'Homme dans la création de vidéos.

Les autorités mexicaines examinent la possibilité d'expulser du Mexique Manu Chao, lui reprochant des propos pouvant être considérés comme une ingérence dans la politique mexicaine, avait indiqué à l'AFP jeudi le ministère de l'Intérieur.

Peu après, le chanteur, qui participe au Festival International du Film de Guadalajara (ouest), avait annulé «pour des raisons privées», le concert qu'il devait y donner jeudi après la projection du documentaire «LT22 Radio La Colifata», qu'il a soutenu et dont il a composé la musique.

L'auteur de «Clandestino» avait qualifié mardi de «terrorisme d'Etat» une intervention policière en 2006 à San Salvador Atenco, dans la banlieue de Mexico.

Le 4 mai 2006, 2.000 policiers anti-émeutes avaient investi le village pour libérer 11 agents séquestrés par des villageois après des heurts violents, consécutifs à une tentative des policiers de déloger par la force des vendeurs ambulants et qui avait dégénéré en bataille rangée, faisant deux morts.

Lors de l'intervention, plus de 200 personnes avaient été arrêtées et des brutalités policières, ainsi que des agressions sexuelles, avaient été dénoncées.

L'article 33 de la Constitution mexicaine prévoit que «les étrangers ne peuvent en aucune manière s'immiscer dans les affaires politiques du pays» et que le gouvernement a «le pouvoir exclusif de leur faire quitter le territoire national», immédiatement et sans jugement.

Source: AFP

20minutes, Act. 27.03.09

Rockers blancs, cœur noir

2009-04-05T21:54:00.003+02:00

Peter Gabriel, David Byrne, Damon Albarn : trois rockers qui ont voué leur énergie à la scène world. Simple thérapie, besoin d'ailleurs ou volonté militante ? David Byrne sera ce soir à l’Olympia.

Trois stars du rock, Peter Gabriel, David Byrne et Damon Albarn. Leur péché mignon est la world music. Fans subjugués, ils sont devenus les apôtres passionnés des artistes du Sud dont ils se sont entichés. Pour eux-mêmes, ils n'auraient probablement pas osé déployer pareille énergie prosélyte. Mais afin de propager la parole du Pakistanais Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, du Brésilien Tom Zé ou du Nigérian Tony Allen, ils sont allés jusqu'à créer des labels spécifiques. Quel est le moteur qui a poussé ces visages pâles nés de l'autre côté de la Manche à promouvoir les musiques colorées issues de tous les horizons de la planète ? Quelles sont les motivations de ces « passeurs », trop vite suspectés de chercher un coup de pub ou de vouloir s'acheter une bonne conscience ? Trois hommes, trois parcours...

L'enfance et l'histoire personnelle

Né en 1950, Peter Gabriel s'emballe très tôt pour la soul music avec, dès l'adolescence, un coup de foudre pour les rythmes africains via un morceau du bluesman-rocker Bo Didley, imprégné de rumba congolaise... L'engouement hippie pour le peace and love, sitar indien et flower power compris lui fera creuser le même sillon mondialiste.

David Byrne, né deux ans plus tard en Ecosse, est encore un bébé quand sa famille s'installe au Canada, puis à Baltimore, sur la côte Est des Etats-Unis. « Enfant, je voulais que l'on m'accepte, je voulais être un Américain moyen. Plus tard je me suis aperçu qu'avoir deux cultures présentait un avantage », déclare-t-il à Globe en 1987. Voilà qui rappelle le nomadisme de bien des musiciens expatriés. Pas étonnant qu'il ait très tôt appris le violon, l'ukulélé (guitare hawaïenne) et l'accordéon. Ou qu'il ait emprunté quantité de disques « ethniques » à la bibliothèque de son quartier.

Damon Albarn, né en 1968, est d'une autre génération. Il est assez discret sur son enfance londonienne. Mais ses parents, artistes designers, écoutaient des musiques arabes et son père a écrit un livre sur la culture islamique. Le goût de « l'autre » lui est donc forcément venu très tôt.

Le déclic et ses détours

D'abord batteur avant de devenir chanteur, Peter Gabriel quitte Genesis en 1975. Son électro-funk planant en solo culmine au début des années 80. C'est alors qu'a lieu le virage politico-humanitaro-musical qui s'incarne dans les tournées Human Rights Now !, organisées par Amnesty International. Dès lors s'élabore un mini-empire (si l'on peut dire) de la world music naissante. En 1982, il lance le Womad, festival mondial itinérant, avec, à l'affiche, dès la première édition, les Tambours du Burundi et les Musiciens du Nil. En 1989, il crée le label Real World, consacré aux musiques du monde, où se croisent Papa Wemba, Geoffrey Oryema, Toto La Momposina... Dans la foulée, il reconvertit un ancien moulin des environs de Bath en studios high-tech où il organise des rencontres entre musiciens venus de tous les continents.

Beaucoup moins d'activisme du côté de David Byrne, le compositeur-parolier-guitariste et chanteur à la voix gorgée de soul du groupe Talking Heads. En pionnier d'une world music avant la lettre, il avait dès la fin des années 70, avec Brian Eno, puisé dans les polyrythmies africaines avant de sampler du gamelan balinais ou des muezzins arabes. Au début des années 80, Byrne fréquente les soirées Salsa meets jazz, organisées à SoHo, au SOB (Sounds of Brasil). Ses idoles se nomment alors Celia Cruz, Johnny Pacheco, Ray Barretto. Il les invite sur son album Rei Momo et sur la BO du film de Jonathan Demme Dangereuse sous tous rapports. Est-ce un hasard ? Son engagement pour les musiques du monde, comme celui de Peter Gabriel, s'accentue après la rupture avec son groupe, allant de pair avec sa carrière en solo. Premier palier : il réalise des compilations sur cassettes pour des amis. Deuxième étape : il crée le label world Luaka Bop, où il accueille la crème des musiciens latinos, le Brésilien Tom Zé, qu'il sort de l'oubli, la Péruvienne Susana Baca, à qui il offre une production à sa mesure.

Damon Albarn, la voix des groupes Blur (brit pop) et Gorillaz (rock électro virtuel), se familiarise, lui, avec les musiques africaines en fréquentant un disquaire world de Portobello, le repaire bobo où il habite depuis dix ans, dans l'ancien quartier jamaïcain de Londres. A la demande de l'ONG anglaise Oxfam, il se rend pour la première fois au Mali en 2000. Son Mélodica (hybride harmonica-orgue) en bandoulière, il y enregistre, au bénéfice de la scolarisation des enfants des rues, l'album Mali Music, qui allie le son mandingue au dub et à la techno. Mais Albarn ne s'arrête pas là. A partir de 2002, il codirige le label Honest Jon's, où il accueille l'afro-beat atmosphérique de Tony Allen ou le chaâbi enjôleur d'El Gusto. Sans se faire prier, il participe aussi aux enregistrements de figures comme Amadou et Mariam ou U-Cef. Et, révulsé par l'absence de musiciens world au Live 8, organisé par Bob Geldof en 2005 – excepté Youssou N'Dour, appelé à la rescousse en dernière minute –, il se lance dans l'aventure Africa Express : ces concerts, en forme de gigantesques jam sessions itinérantes, associent artistes du Nord et du Sud (Rachid Taha, Femi Kuti, Baaba Maal...), sur les scènes de Londres ou de Lagos, comme celles de Liverpool ou de Kinshasa. Un peu comme le festival Womad de Peter Gabriel, mais loin de tout business et avec un culte revendiqué de la spontanéité.

Le comment et le pourquoi

Damon Albarn semble s'être construit en opposition à Peter Gabriel. Il ne se prive d'ailleurs pas de critiquer la démarche de son aîné. « Dans les studios Real World, on ajoute des effets technologiques aux musiques du monde, on les triture, on les mélange. Donc on les tue, on les dénature. Cela devient de l'ambient music », déclarait-il récemment dans une interview au Monde...

Albarn affiche ainsi une certaine dose de mauvaise foi. Car s'il peut s'enorgueillir d'aller sur le terrain, il ne se prive pas lui non plus de « triturer » ou de « dénaturer », et ce dès le patchwork dévertébré de l'album Mali Music. Le purisme intégriste n'est de toute façon plus à l'ordre du jour, même pour les connaisseurs les plus exigeants, désormais convaincus que les musiques du monde ont toujours évolué avec leur époque – faute de quoi la plupart d'entre elles seraient déjà mortes. Dans le même temps, l'autre injonction, celle de la modernisation à tout prix a, elle aussi, pris un coup de vieux. Personne ne s'en plaindra. Peter Gabriel comme Damon Albarn éditent, sur leurs labels respectifs, aussi bien des hybrides allant jusqu'à l'électro que des albums purement roots. Chez Real World est même paru un des opus « traditionnels » les plus réussis de Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Chez Honest Jon's, les toutes dernières parutions sont consacrées à de superbes archives EMI : les unes, irakiennes, remontent aux années 20, les autres vont du gamelan balinais aux joyaux marocains, soudanais ou trinidadiens enregistrés pendant la première moitié du XXe siècle.

S'il est un terrain sur lequel nos rockers se rejoignent finalement, c'est celui de l'effet que cette rencontre avec les autres musiques a eu sur eux. Damon Albarn : « Le fait d'aller en Afrique a profondément changé ma vie et d'une certaine manière ça a fait de moi tout ce que je suis aujourd'hui.(1) » Peter Gabriel : « Lorsque je suis en Afrique, je deviens le cousin libéré de celui, un peu coincé, que je suis habituellement. » David Byrne : « Je me suis soigné tout seul en dansant le merengué. »

La world comme thérapie ? Comme apprentissage d'un rapport plus physique, moins cérébral à la musique ? Il y a beaucoup de cela chez nos trois zélateurs des musiques du monde, qui disent aussi chercher (et trouver) dans ces télescopages Nord-Sud de nouvelles voies d'exploration pour leur propre cheminement musical. Si l'on devait définir, en forçant le trait, la spécificité de chacun d'entre eux ? Peter Gabriel serait un militant un peu austère qui cherche à s'encanailler tout en se donnant bonne conscience ; David Byrne, un collectionneur impatient de partager ses coups de cœur, quitte à plonger dans la poussière des vieux entrepôts cubains pour dénicher quelques perles ; Damon Albarn, l'hédoniste ravi de voir du pays et de se faire de nouveaux amis.

Certains s'obstinent pourtant à qualifier ces aventuriers de vils opportunistes, d'affairistes, voire de colonialistes ! Pauvres gentils passeurs venus du rock qui avaient pour une fois mis une sourdine à leur ego…

Eliane Azoulay, Télérama n° 3089

Peter Gabriel : « J’espère que ça va bientôt arriver »

2009-03-29T23:39:00.002+02:00

Fondateur du groupe Genesis en 1967, impliqué dans l’action humanitaire et les droits de l’homme, parmi les 100 personnalités au monde les plus influentes (Time Magazine, 2008), Peter Gabriel souligne l’importance de la reconnaissance du Génocide des Arméniens dans un entretien publié dans le magazine Condé Nast Traveler, consacré aux voyages haut de gamme.

« Lorsque j’ai écrit la musique du film ‘La Dernière tentation du Christ ‘(1), j’ai tout de suite pensé au duduk arménien qui est l’un des instruments les plus soul qui soit. J’ai aussi visité le Mémorial du génocide dédié aux 1,5 millions victimes de 1915, à l’occasion de l’anniversaire du joueur de duduk Djivan Gasparyan. Les Turcs nient le génocide, la Grande-Bretagne et les États Unis ne l’ont pas correctement reconnu. J’espère que ça va bientôt arriver. », a-t-il dit. Concluant, « Comme la ‘Commission Vérité et Réconciliation’ (2), en Afrique du Sud, vous avez besoin de clarifier le problème et accepter ce qui est arrivé par le passé avant d’être libre de vos mouvements. »

Jean Eckian

(1) La Dernière tentation du Christ (1988), de Martin Scorsese, dans lequel on entend la complainte du duduk joué par Djivan Gasparyan.

(2) Commission chargée de découvrir et de révéler les fautes commises par un gouvernement. C’est Nelson Mandela qui l’avait mise en place après l’abolition de l’apartheid.

http://www.info.gov.za/otherdocs/2003/trc/

mardi 10 mars 2009,par Stéphane/armenews

Joost Pushes Its Video Through Netlog, Keeping It In The Family

2009-03-08T17:42:00.003+01:00

VOD site Joost and pan-European social network Netlog, have signed a content sharing partnership giving the latter’s 41 million users access to Joost’s 57,000 TV shows, music videos and films. Joost benefits through more exposure and traffic for its catalogue and ads, while Netlog has some extra stickiness to keep its young audience coming back.

The Joost/Netlog connection is not such a shock. The pair have a venture capital backer, Index Ventures, in common. Index has been actively promoting its portfolio companies’ interests of late eg. creating a Twitter feed to blast out their messages. If it was responsible for marrying Joost and Netlog, then it’s a strategy that mirrors a recent link-up between music player We7 and music recommendation service The Filter. Both individually backed by Peter Gabriel’s Real World Group, the companies recently began sharing technology.

In this link-up, all Netlog members will be kept up to date with Joost activity in their main news feed and will be able to show friends their viewing habits and opinions of shows. Joost will be creating or commissioning content specific to Netlog’s key markets of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

This is the second video site to sign a content-sharing deal this week: on Monday US VOD site Hulu signed a deal to syndicate its 40,000 TV show and film videos to French VOD site Dailymotion.com, but unfortunately for Europeans it only extends to America.

By Patrick Smith , Paid content, Thu 05 Mar 2009

Artists announced for Peter Gabriel's WOMAD debut in Abu Dhabi next month

2009-03-08T17:14:00.001+01:00

UAE. Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) and WOMAD (World Of Music Arts & Dance) yesterday announced that the WOMAD Abu Dhabi three-day open-air festival is to be held on the evenings of Thursday 23, Friday 24 and Saturday 25 April on the Abu Dhabi Corniche, with an additional, special one-off concert on Friday 24 April at Al Jahili Fort in Al Ain. Furthermore, entry to both venues will be free of charge.

‘The Corniche, with its backdrop of traditional architecture juxtaposed with modern cosmopolitan towers, provides the perfect stage for ADACH and WOMAD to promote their shared vision of bringing diverse cultures and peoples closer together through the music, arts and dance of many different countries and cultures around the world.

"By hosting this three-day open-air festival, the first of its kind in the Gulf region, Abu Dhabi will bring a whole new cultural experience to the people of the UAE and will attract an audience from across the Gulf region and beyond, as well as offering the world an insight into the proud traditions and culture of the UAE," said HE Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouie, Director General ADACH.

"We are delighted to begin a relationship with ADACH and Abu Dhabi. It is a great opportunity for WOMAD to find a home in the Gulf region. We have taken WOMAD to many places in the world, but this will be our first event in the Middle East, a part of the world whose strong and rich culture has been one of our inspirations. We are excited to be bringing our festival to all of the different peoples who make up modern day Abu Dhabi," said Peter Gabriel, Co-founder of WOMAD.

"ADACH has a very powerful vision for the role of culture in Abu Dhabi and it is a privilege for WOMAD to be able to play a part in delivering that vision of bringing cultures together as we have done successfully all over the world," said Chris Smith, Director, WOMAD.

An exceptional line-up of artists performing at the festival has been selected from around the world and within the Middle East region to provide a truly international experience.

The artists already confirmed for the WOMAD Abu Dhabi festival include: Abdulla Chhadeh & Syriana (Syria/Europe), Dulsori (Korea), Dhafer Youssef (Tunisia), Etran Finatawa (Niger), Paprika Balkanicus (South Europe), Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali (Pakistan). Souad Massi (Algeria), Trilok Gurtu (India).

More artists will be announced over the coming weeks. (....)

Hits of Sunshine

2009-03-08T17:07:00.003+01:00

Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts

There is something inherently immoral about the "shuffle" setting on iPods. Even archaic CD players allowed the listener to jumble tracks of a certain album if he so chose.

Albums weren't meant to do this. The most interference a cassette tape or record got was a swift flip. Now Apple shamelessly allows the mixing of thousands of songs with no qualms about how their redistribution might affect, well, everything. I imagine artists create albums with the idea that they will be listened to in their entirety. Therefore, I abstain from shuffling.

With that said, you will note that I was outside my head the other day, as my iPod was indeed on shuffle. Serving as background noise as meaningless as strangers' conversations, the random selections warranted no particular feelings. I know my music well, so when a song came on that I hadn't instantly recognized, I didn't quite know what to do. A glance at my iPod's display read: Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts, "Faith."

Joseph Arthur began writing music as a teenager. The Ohio-based musician dabbled in electronica before discovering his signature guitar-centric style. In the early 90s, Arthur signed to Peter Gabriel's record label, Real World Records. After five studio albums, Arthur decided to keep his touring band around for albums six and seven, and establish his own label, Lonely Astronaut Records. His latest release, Temporary People, includes musicians Sibyl Buck, Kraig Jarret Johnson, Jennifer Turner, and Greg Wieczorek.

I clumsily paused the song to see if I could compel any more information out of the slight electronic. I had the entire album, but this Joseph Arthur sounded almost nothing like the guy I fell in love with after hearing "In the Sun" off 2000's Come to Where I'm From.

I slipped a little further out of my head listening to Arthur's haunted voice on "Faith." His grainy vocal offsets nearly cheerful guitar riffs and cymbal-thick drums. "Faith comes in little waves," Arthur offers with a bit of optimism, as "the pain is what makes you believe." The Lonely Astronauts' chorus punches through the heavy-handed instrumentation with bright belts of affirmation making the song's mood more buoyant than glum.

Now that my brain is square between my ears, I may confidently propose that to shuffle is to discover. I am in no way convinced that this happy bit of chance absolves any of the aforementioned offenses, but I suppose music's value surfaces when it is listened to rather than heard.

Amy Salisbury, The csusm pride, Issue date: 3/3/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Youssou N'dour ressucite Bob Marley

2009-03-08T16:43:00.003+01:00

LE FESMAN 2009 EN MARCHE… YOUSSOU NDOUR RESSUSCITE BOB MARLEY

Après avoir visité le patrimoine musical européen, américain et oriental, Youssou Ndour investit les racines pures de la musique noire. Le lead vocal du Super Etoile se rend en Jamaïque pour réaliser un «album-hommage» à Bob Marley et Lucky Dube, dans le cadre du Festival mondial des arts nègres de 2009 (Fesman). Tous les deux icônes du reggae, bien que décédés, restent vivants dans le cœur et l’esprit de plusieurs millions de citoyens du monde.

Le déplacement de Youssou Ndour en Jamaïque s’inscrit dans le cadre du programme du Festival mondial des arts nègres de 2009 (Fesman) qui aura lieu à Dakar du 1er au 14 décembre. Un rendez-vous culturel qui va mobiliser des dizaines de pays à travers le monde, sous le parrainage du Brésil. C’est dans cette optique que le lead vocal du Super Etoile va travailler avec des musiciens de reggae, dans les studios de Bob Marley (légende vivante, décédé le 11 mai 1981). Il s’agira, selon le service de communication de l’artiste, de «retourner aux sources» de la musique ; le reggae symbolisant une certaine orthodoxie de la musique noire. Youssou Ndour, lancé par le Fesman dans cette initiative, va non seulement s’inspirer de l’immense répertoire culturel de la Jamaïque, en revisitant l’œuvre de Bob Marley, depuis ses premières expériences musicales, jusqu’à la maturité bien rendue. Une discographie riche que l’enfant de la Médina a, d’ailleurs, commencée à travailler dans le cadre de cet album qui, assurément, promet.

Feu, le rastaman Lucky Philippe Dube, un des héritiers de Bob Marley, tombé un certain 18 octobre 2007 à Rosettenville au cours d’une tentative de vol de sa voiture, sera aussi ressuscité, à travers cet album. Ce chanteur, né le 3 août 1964 à Ermelo, Mpumalanga, en Afrique du Sud et qui repose dans la mythique province de Kwazulu Natal, intéresse les initiateurs du Fesman et Youssou Ndour. L’œuvre de Lucky Dube est riche de 24 albums. Depuis Lengane Ngeyethu (1981), jusqu’à Respect en 2006, en passant par Rastas Never Die (1984), Think About The Children (1985), Together As One (1988), Prisoner (1989), Captured Live (1990), le chanteur sud-africain puise dans sa douloureuse expérience vécue, pour dénoncer le régime raciste dans lequel il a grandi. Des chefs-d’œuvre qui chantent la gloire et la renaissance du peuple noir. Youssou Ndour, initiateur, en 1985, d’un concert pour la libération de Nelson Mandela au Stade de l'Amitié de Dakar (Ndlr : Léopold Sédar Senghor), n’avance pas, en vérité, en terrain inconnu. Lui qui, dans la jeunesse de sa carrière, a eu, comme Lucky Dube, à dénoncer le régime raciste de l’Apartheid, à travers sa musique.

C’est donc un véritable retour aux sources pour le chanteur sénégalais qui a déjà travaillé avec des artistes de renommée internationale comme Peter Gabriel, Paul Frederic Simon. Car, même si Youssou Ndour a déjà joué avec des artistes comme le Camerounais Manu Dubango, le Congolais Koffi Olomidé dans l'album Bord Ezana Kombo ; même s’il a expérimenté les sonorités orientales, récompensé par les Grammy Awards pour son album Egypt dans la catégorie meilleur album de musique du monde, il reste qu’il n’a pas assez flirté avec le reggae, incarné par l’immortel Bob Marley. Un genre musical qui résiste aux assauts du temps.

La production déléguée du FESMAN 2009 envisage aussi de mettre à contribution les talents de Thione SECK et de Coumba Gawlo pour la réalisation du 1er disque de chants traditionnels africains au service des Etats-Unis d’Afrique. Et dans le cadre de ce projet culturel visiblement gigantesque, des noms d’artistes qui devaient être mis à contribution circulent dans la place. Il s’agit de Baaba Maal qui pourrait apporter sa contribution avec sa fibre plutôt blues, d’Omar Pène, de Didier Awadi pour ce qui est du Rap noir, de Coumba Gawlo Seck qui se positionne comme l’héritière africaine de Myriam Makéba, etc.

Article Par MARIA D. T. DIÉDHIOU et M. Wane, L'observateur Senegal, Paru le Samedi 7 Mar 2009

Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts, le 21mars à Brest

2009-03-08T16:36:00.004+01:00

Vingt dates en France, une seule dans l'Ouest... Le Vauban, à Brest, a la chance - le mot est faible - d'accueillir Joseph Arthur, le 21mars. Découvert en 1996 par Peter Gabriel, «adoubé» par Lou Reed, il signe son premier album, «Big city secrets», sur le label Real World. Pas forcément simple d'accès, le disque s'impose petit à petit, à force d'écoute, comme un poison qui s'insinue. Ses autres albums auront, par la suite, la même saveur vénéneuse. Durs à percer, difficiles à définir, mais d'une grâce tout évidente.

Ballades «dylaniennes»

La musique de l'Américain s'apprivoise. Tourmentée, nocturne, son oeuvre est d'une grande singularité. L'homme est un parolier de premier plan, un peintre doué aussi. La période «Real World» offrira des morceaux au calme précaire, intimistes, à la violence sourde, à la puissance évocatrice étonnante, servis par une guitare sèche, un traitement de la voix audacieux et un harmonica «dylanien». Depuis quelques années maintenant, Joseph Arthur la joue collectif. Il se produira sur la scène du Vauban accompagné de ses «Lonely Astronauts», groupe composé de quatre autres musiciens dont deux femmes belles à tomber. Avec ce gang de «tueurs», il signe deux albums plus directs dont le dernier, «Temporary People», chez «Fargo», oscille entre ballades tamisées et rock'n'roll classieux. Joseph Arthur se produira aussi, le même jour et en solo, à 15h, pour un mini-concert à Dialogues Musiques, à Brest.

Pratique : Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts, le 21mars à Brest, au Vauban. Location à Dialogues Musiques, et sur internet: www.digitick.com Renseignements: 02.98.43.20.89

Damien Goret, le Telegramme de Brest, ajouté le 6 mars 2009

JOSEPH ARTHUR + KARKWA

2009-03-03T19:08:00.001+01:00

Sur Culture.fr

JOSEPH ARTHUR & THE LONELY ASTRONAUTS + KARKWA

Spectacle

A la marge des grands courants, élevé par Peter Gabriel, qui révéla au monde le singulier Big City Secrets, Joseph a perdu en chemin le public tout acquis à LA cause folk sophistiquée, et gagné de l'autre côté de l'Atlantique un chœur de louanges inégalé. Poète moderne et héraut d'une Amérique souvent blessée. Les douleurs de l'introspection font place aujourd'hui aux joies du groupe, avec The Lonely Astronauts. Avec Sticky Fingers et Exile On Main Street en ligne de mire, Temporary People jubile et se décontracte, tout de guitares vêtu, d'orgues amples et de jolis chœurs.

Depuis dix ans, les Québécois de Karkwa ont franchi montagnes et tremplins pour affiner un projet artistique audacieux, quelque part entre M.Ward, Steve Reich et Patrick Watson, pour faire court.

Site internet : www.lacoope.com

Date / lieu / horaire :

JOSEPH ARTHUR & THE LONELY ASTRONAUTS + KARKWA - Representation
Le 17/3/2009
Jours d'ouverture : mardi
Horaires : 20h30
Tarifs : 17 euro(s)
COOPÉRATIVE DE MAI
rue Serge Gainsbourg
CLERMONT FERRAND 63100

B&W Music Club offers 24-Bit Versions

2009-03-01T23:16:00.001+01:00

B&W Music Club albums now available in super high quality 24-bit versions. Even better sounding recordings for streaming. Members have more choice than ever before. 16-bit versions still available for burning to CD and uploading to iPods®.

The Peter Gabriel-curated B&W Music Club is expanding its campaign for high-quality music downloads by offering all new albums in 24 bit FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). These incredibly high-quality music files get listeners closer than ever to the sound the artist heard in the studio.

Starting with an exclusive first opportunity to hear the new album from Mercury Music Prize nominated Portico Quartet, all B&W Music Club albums, which are specially recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios, will be available in this format.

This means that subscribers have a choice of three formats for download. The new 24 bit FLAC format, a 16bit FLAC version and a 16bit Apple Lossless version. The new file format is also available for people on a free trial, who can download an EP of 24 bit lossless music.

Even with this improved choice, the decision making process for which format users should download remains a simple one: iTunes users should stick to the 16bit ALC format; people wanting to burn the file to CD but use another music program can choose the 16 bit FLAC file. However, if you want to experience the benefits of 24 bit audio, then you can download the 24 bit FLAC file and listen to it either direct from your computer, stream it wirelessly using a device such as the Sonos system, or burn the file to DVD for playback in a disc player.

Since it's launch in May 2008, B&W Music Club has brought members a wide variety of different musical styles, all from exceptional artists: Gwyneth Herbert; Dub Colossus; former Suede frontman Brett Anderson; guitarist Tom Kerstens; 16-year old piano prodigy Benjamin Grosvenor and an exclusive lossless EP download from Dave Stewart. Future releases include the new album from Dengue Fever, a band that blends Cambodian pop music with West Coast psychedelic rock.

B&W offers free trial memberships via its website, where users can download a four-track EP a month for three months. Full membership of B&W Music Club allows you to download the full album each month, and costs $39.95 for six months or $59.95 for a year, which works out less than $3 an album.

For further information please visit www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/sos.

Posted by Nicoll Public Relations, Inc. on Saturday, February 28, 2009

AR Rahman: "I share my Oscars with Peter Gabriel"

2009-03-01T16:06:00.006+01:00

‘Oscar was like my national award’

CHENNAI: “There are many forces that divide us here from caste to religion. May music be the force that unifies us,” began AR Rahman, in a speech that was marked with characteristic humility and oodles of references to religion. Who better to state that than the musician himself who has left the entire country to collectively celebrate his arrival at the international platform with two Oscars? (...)

AR Rahman says his award was a recognition for World Music, given the nature of his score for the film. “So, I thought I must owe it all to Peter Gabriel, the musician who is seen as one of the forerunners to propagate World Music. He has in fact, inspired many Indians like me and Mandolin U Shrinivas. I’d like to share my award with him,” Rahman said. (...)

Sharadha Narayanan, Express Buzz, 28 Feb 2009

Daniel Lanois Signs With UMPG

2009-03-01T15:49:00.001+01:00

Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) has signed a publishing agreement with producer/songwriter/musician Daniel Lanois covering his catalog and future works.

"We are thrilled to welcome Daniel Lanois, one of the most distinctive and celebrated composers, songwriters, artists, and producers of our time, to our publishing family," said UMPG chairman and CEO David Renzer said in a statement.

Lanois has performed and/or produced albums for U2, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan, the Neville Brothers and many more. He is a co-writer and co-producer on U2’s upcoming “No Line On The Horizon.”

By Ed Christman, Billboard, N.Y., February 24, 2009 - Publishing

Rescuing Pakistan from the Taliban

2009-03-01T15:40:00.003+01:00

In its 60-plus turbulent years as an independent country, Pakistan has been held together by its music, poetry, films, literature and sports. Pakistan is an overwhelmingly Muslim nation, but culture -- not religion -- is the glue that binds people in this critical U.S.-allied country.

But now the Taliban are grafting an alien form of Islam onto Pakistan, with dire consequences for Pakistanis, the region and possibly the world. Earlier this month the Pakistani government and army made a deal with the Taliban and gave them control of the Swat valley. The government ceded this region near the Afghan border after countless suicide attacks resulted in the loss of many military and civilian lives.

President Asif Ali Zardari's ill-conceived appeasement will only embolden the Taliban and may squelch more of Pakistan's voices of peace just when Pakistanis and the world need to hear them most.

In Swat and elsewhere in the North-West Frontier Province, arts and culture are under attack, as are women's rights. The city of Swat used to be a haven for arts, music and tourism. There is now eerie silence. The Taliban have shut down girls' schools, imposed sharia law and destroyed music shops. Cinemas are being locked down. The fanatics' idea is simple: to asphyxiate Pakistan's rich and vibrant culture and replace it with their own.

President Obama has promised to listen to the Muslim world. The president and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistan and Afghanistan envoy Richard Holbrooke can start by listening to Pakistani artists who embody peace, modernity and cross-cultural dialogue.

For the past 20 years Pakistani music and pop culture has built a national and global following. The late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the iconic Qawwali singer, collaborated with Peter Gabriel and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. Pakistani rock bands and singers like Junoon, Strings, Jal and Atif Aslam have been huge draws in India, America and Europe. Last year Pakistani director Shoaib Mansoor's movie In the Name of God was a box office hit in both Pakistan and India. The film portrays the difficulties of being a liberal Muslim in Pakistan after 9/11 -- something that's just getting harder. (...) read more here

"Beyond Our Differences"

2009-03-01T15:18:00.005+01:00

This ambitious 2008 PBS program asks the world's great thinkers and religious and political leaders for solutions to the world's many problems. Hopeful reflections come from such diverse people as Andrew Young, Peter Gabriel, Deepak Chopra, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Noam Chomsky. Unrated, 72 minutes. No DVD extras. shoppbs.org.

http://www.beyondourdifferences.com/

Annie Lennox: 'Shining Light'

2009-02-22T13:25:00.003+01:00

By Nick Levine, Music Editor, digital spy

Released on Monday, March 2 2009

Member of the British rock aristocracy covers decade-old indie anthem for 'Best Of' comp – sounds pretty heinous, right? Imagine Sting taking on 'Last Nite' or Peter Gabriel having a crack at 'Pumping On Your Stereo'. But against the odds, Annie Lennox's cover of 'Shining Light' – an Ivor Novello winner for Ash back in 2001, lest we forget – is the best thing she's done in years.

This is largely because it's filled with something Lennox's own songs have been missing lately – joy. Here she sounds positively radiant, wrapping her still magnificent voice around Tim Wheeler's tender, vaguely spiritual lyrics. The result, flanked by typically gorgeous Lennox harmonies, is really quite life-affirming. Hmm... maybe Sting should think about that Strokes cover after all?

Face-to-face with Youssou N’Dour

2009-02-22T12:20:00.002+01:00

BY MIKE AWOYINFA [ mikeawoyinfa@sunnewsonline.com ] Saturday, February 21, 2009

It was a case of the hunter being hunted as the unique, youthful Youssou N’Dour, the world-acclaimed Senegalese superstar singer sensationally turned the table against me. He took my tape recorder from me and started interviewing me—as you can see in this picture taken at our meeting in Lagos.

I had gone to interview him after his headline performance at the Glo CAF Award night, but he couldn’t believe his ears as I sang to him three of his hit songs—songs like ‘Set’ and ‘Mame Bamba.’ He was particularly impressed by my knowledge of the song ‘Without a Smile’ (same)—a sorrowful, melodious song lamenting the harsh, dry Sahelian terrain of his homeland where the trees stood gaunt and leafless, where the cows and goats were all dying under a severe drought. It is a song that features the jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis playing a beautiful, melancholic solo—a melodic masterpiece that haunts every connoisseur of good music.

“Oh, you know the song?” N’Dour asks me as I hum the opening guitar melody. “You like that song?” Of course, I do.

In Nigeria, a country where he is almost an unknown and unsung prophet, N’Dour is moved and mesmerized by the fact that a journalist knows him in and out, and can even sing some of his songs. He got emotional. I could almost see happy tears of appreciation in his eyes encased in a pair of black glasses.

For my effort, Youssou N’Dour rewarded me with a free a cappella of the song which I recorded and which I will treasure for life. When he opens his mouth to sing, Youssou N’Dour transports you straight to celestial realms. I don’t want to use the word orgasmic, because children could be reading this piece. He is blessed with that special, golden voice that God gave to special people like our very own I.K. Dairo, whose house is just a stone’s throw away from my father’s compound in Ijebu-Jesha.

“Branford is a good friend of mine,” Youssou N’Dour tells me as we engage in this long conversation between a musical idol and a devotee. “Every time I go to the U.S., he came to us and played with us. It was Sting who made the connection between us. Branford is now a really big friend of mine. He is one of most talented musicians in the world.” Youssou, surprisingly speaks good English with a French and pseudo-American twist.

I ask the famous singer what the song ‘Without a Smile’ is about. “It’s about the desert, the countryside,” he explains. “People are expecting water and there is a year where there is drought, no water and all the animals are really dying. The song is about someone who follows the animals to see whether they are alive or dead. He didn’t know exactly if the animals are dead, but he asked. And people tried to help him to go to the area where the water is. It is really something traditional, something really local.

“Branford loved the song, because we did a late show in America and we played together. And we had a little time in the dressing room and I said: ‘Listen, Branford, I have a new song.’ And the guitar player started the melody of the song and Branford said: ‘I love it. When are you gonna record this song?’ I said: ‘Next month.’ He said: ‘Send me a tape. I can follow you on the song.’ And I sent him a tape. Three days after, he sent me back the tape with his own solo input. It blew my mind.”

I have not started this column with an introduction because Youssou N’Dour, is a global superstar who needs no introduction anywhere in the world—except, perhaps in Nigeria.

And over here, I am very proud to announce myself as his No.1 fan. So when he came to Nigeria to perform at the Glo CAF Award, I seized the opportunity to get this world exclusive interview which is one of the most fulfilling interviews of my career as a journalist.

For 45 precious minutes, there he sat face-to-face with me, sipping a bottle of Coca-Cola and munching peanuts as I bombarded him with questions I had always sought answers to. He talked about everything—his musical journey, his musical heroes, his humble beginnings, his stardom, his parentage, his love life and his divorce. Of course, we talked about his friend Dr. Mike Adenuga, whose biography we are writing—how they met at the airport in Mauritania and how they became instant friends, after begging Adenuga for a ride in his plane to Dakar.

One thing you can say of Youssou N’Dour: He is a nice, humble, funny, approachable guy without airs of superstardom around him. Talking about superstardom, he is a star who ranks among the greats like Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Peter Gabriel, Bono, Sting and Stevie Wonder some of whom he has performed with on the world stage for Amnesty International. What stands Youssou N’Dour out is his unique angelic voice. And the beautiful poignant melodies. From our conversation, I got to know Youssou N’Dour as a newspaper publisher and a radio station owner in Senegal.

On why he went into newspaper publishing, he says: “First, what I think is that I am a young African who has had success, who has some money, who can play everywhere around the world. I have some money and I think about putting the money back into my country, supporting my country and helping to develop the economy, helping to support my fans and the people who helped me to be where I am today. I want to help the young people of my country. I have to create jobs for young people. There are a lot of talents in Senegal and all over Africa who don’t have a job. I have over 220 people working in my newspaper and on my radio. And for me, it is really important.

The other thing is that I try to be someone who helps the country to develop. My mission is to give people the opportunity and the voice to say what they want to say. I am not a politician. I am simply someone who wants to help the country and contribute to the flourishing of the institution of democracy in my country.”

It is still like a dream, but for real, I interviewed, Youssou N’Dour, the first African global superstar. If you don’t believe me, turn to the Great Encounter column inside this paper.

Books - War Child: A Child Soldier's Story

2009-02-21T15:43:00.002+01:00

In the mid-1980s, Emmanuel Jal was a seven year old Sudanese boy, living in a small village with his parents, aunts, uncles, and siblings. But as Sudan’s civil war moved closer—with the Islamic government seizing tribal lands for water, oil, and other resources—Jal’s family moved again and again, seeking peace. Then, on one terrible day, Jal was separated from his mother, and later learned she had been killed; his father Simon rose to become a powerful commander in the Christian Sudanese Liberation Army, fighting for the freedom of Sudan. Soon, Jal was conscripted into that army, one of 10,000 child soldiers, and fought through two separate civil wars over nearly a decade.

But, remarkably, Jal survived, and his life began to change when he was adopted by a British aid worker. He began the journey that would lead him to change his name and to music: recording and releasing his own album, which produced the number one hip-hop single in Kenya, and from there went on to perform with Moby, Bono, Peter Gabriel, and other international music stars. Shocking, inspiring, and finally hopeful, War Child is a memoir by a unique young man, who is determined to tell his story and in so doing bring peace to his homeland.

Soweto choir gets Oscar invite

2009-02-21T15:27:00.002+01:00

The Soweto Gospel Choir will perform at the Oscars - the first time a South African act has received such an invitation. The choir has been nominated for an award for its song, Down to Earth.

Joburg's pride, the Grammy-Award winning Soweto Gospel Choir, will be performing at the 81st Academy Awards on Sunday, 22 February.

It's the first time the choir will perform at the Oscars, as the awards are better known, as well as the first time a South African act will perform at the annual red carpet event. The ceremony, taking place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, in the United States, will be broadcast on MNET at 7.30pm on Monday, 23 February.

One of the choir's many songs, a collaboration with songwriters Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. It already has a Grammy Award under its belt, for Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media. Down To Earth is the theme tune for the Disney animated movie, Wall-E, which itself has been nominated for Best Animated Feature Film.(....)

Nightmoves Captured On DVD

2009-02-21T15:07:00.004+01:00

by Paul Cashmere - February 20 2009, photo by Ros O'Gorman

Santana playing Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Australia

Nightmoves, the music TV show hosted by Lee Simon in the 70s and 80s, has been resurrected on DVD.

Nightmoves first aired in Australia on May 13, 1977 on Channel 7. It was originally designed to be an adult version of Countdown.

Simon continued to host the show when he took up the job of Program Director at EON-FM. The show gave birth to the simulcast, a joint radio and television broadcast, giving the audience to chance to hear the show in stereo. (Yes kids, we still had mono television in the early 80s).

Nightmoves attracted the real music stars, as opposed to the pop stars. The DVD features performances from international stars Joe Cocker, Graham Parker, Peter Frampton, Santana and Graham Bonnet. The Aussie line-up features extremely rare to find songs by Billy T, Wendy and the Rockets, Kevin Borich, Mother Goose and The Ferrets.

But wait, there’s more. The 3 disc set also features interviews with Peter Gabriel, Steve Winwood, Phil Collins, Glenn Shorrock and Beeb Birtles, Bill Wyman and more. Nightmoves will be released on March 2.

Dengue Fever's Cambodian Pop Is Perfect Soundtrack for Lost World

2009-02-21T12:24:00.002+01:00

By Scott Thill, February 19, 2009

Los Angeles hybrid groove band Dengue Fever has combined Cambodian pop with surf, ska, psychedelia and funk, winning crossover success and critical acclaim. The group's next move? Playing a live soundtrack for The Lost World, the 1925 film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's dino-sci classic, when it screens this May at the San Francisco Film Festival.

The score will drop in what's shaping up to be a busy season for the sextet, which is led by siren Chhom Nimol. She was already a reputable Khmer singer in Cambodia before she was discovered by brothers Ethan and Zac Holtzman, who founded Dengue Fever in 2001.

For more on the band and its Cambodian musical influences, check out the biopic, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong (trailer below). The movie, which will be released on DVD in April, follows Dengue Fever as its members tour Phnom Penh and explores the roots of Cambodian rock from the '60s and '70s. The band will embark on a lengthy American and European tour in support of the DVD release.

Dengue Fever's third effort, Venus on Earth, was picked up last year by Peter Gabriel's Real World Records for distribution outside of the United States and Canada. As a band out of time and genre, the group seems a perfect fit for the San Francisco Film Festival's screening of a Library of Congress lifer.

"The Lost World is a classic exploration of man's fascination with his own prehistory," explained Film Society programming associate Sean Uyehara. "Like the territory depicted in the film, Dengue Fever's music comes from a time and place that no longer exists. The band and film both evoke the same kind of nostalgia."

Diverse musicians 'Change' their tunes for peace

2009-02-21T12:06:00.003+01:00

By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY

Natural studio: Playing for Change founder Mark Johnson, left, records an Indian musician for the album.

Further proving that music is the universal language, more than 100 musicians across the planet are entwining talents to promote world peace.

Playing for Change — Songs Around the World, a 10-tune CD/seven-track DVD due April 28 on Hear Music, captures mixes of known artists and street musicians from locales as far-flung as Nepal, the Himalayas and the Palestinian territories.

Grammy-winning engineer Mark Johnson spent a decade seeking and sequencing montages, including footage of the late Bob Marley on his War/No More Trouble updated with U2's Bono and players from the Congo, Israel, India, Ireland, South Africa, the USA, Zimbabwe and Ghana.

A video of Stand By Me, with U.S. buskers Roger Ridley and Grandpa Elliott spliced into a single performance with musicians from the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Venezuela, France and Brazil, has drawn 7 million YouTube viewers (also at playingforchange.com).

Others tackle Marley's One Love, U2/Bob Dylan's Love Rescue Me, Peter Gabriel's Biko and Tracy Chapman's Talkin' Bout a Revolution. Some musicians will join a brief tour starting March 20 at South by Southwest in Austin.

TheFilter Gets More Money From Peter Gabriel

2009-02-21T11:30:00.002+01:00

paidContent.org, Rafat Ali Wednesday, February 18, 2009

paidContent.org - Media Recommendation Firm TheFilter Gets More Money From Peter Gabriel

Music and digital media recommendation service and tech firm TheFilter, based in Bath, UK, has received more funding from musician Peter Gabriel, though the amount was not disclosed. The round was led by current investors Gabriel and Eden Ventures, and also attracted new high-profile private investors, including Roderick Banner, chairman of WPP-owned media agency Banner Corp, Michael Brochu, former CEO of LoudEye, as well as John Taysom, founder of We7.com, another Gabriel-backed company. Gabriel also backed OD2, one of the first digital music companies. Gabriel and Eden Ventures started with a $1.8 million investment alongside cofounders Rhett Ryder and Martin Hopkins, then led a $5 million round in 2007.

TheFilter started in the UK in 2007 and expanded to the U.S. last year, evolving from a music-playlist sharing site to other kinds of media, including movies and web video. Competition is from specialized sites such as Last.fm in music and Flixster in movies, as well as general social media sites.

Surviving a Hitch in an Army of Boys

2009-02-21T10:12:00.003+01:00

By HOWARD W. FRENCH, the New York Times, Published: February 16, 2009

Barely pages into Emmanuel Jal’s fast-paced memoir about growing up amid modern African warfare, the reader is brought up short by the following sentence: “There was peace in Sudan for the first three years of my life, but I cannot remember it.” It is the first of many stark, declarative statements about a human condition of cruelty and wretchedness that afflicts the lives of countless young people in distant African lands, people whose stories we are unaccustomed to hearing.

Mr. Jal’s tale, of a lengthy and devastating civil war between northern and southern Sudan (not the conflict in Darfur, more familiar to readers today), begins in the mid-1980s when he is somewhere around the age of 7 — though he is not altogether sure because he inhabits a world where time is marked by seasons, including one for hunger, rather than calendars. At the very outset we are introduced to the boy’s family as they move southward through their country in a convoy of trucks from an area controlled by “African Arabs” to their own ethnic heartland, inhabited by “pure Africans,” in the book’s somewhat overly reductive language of ethnicity.

Four Arab men with angry eyes speak among themselves about a rebellion brewing in the country. It will fail, and the pure Africans who seek to revolt “will remain slaves beneath us just as they are meant to be,” one vows. Moments later, a fight breaks out when the Arabs steal the meager rations of Emmanuel’s family; after they begin to beat his uncle, the boy throws himself onto one of the men’s ankles and bites it.

The scene ends with a fadeout to unconsciousness. Thus started, time rushes past in this recollected tale of appalling violence, “like sand,” in the words of the narrator, “running through my fingers as I look back.” The attack in the truck marks Emmanuel’s loss of innocence, and with it is born a burning hatred for Arabs that will drive his behavior, often with tragic consequences, through most of the story.

Emmanuel is taken by his mother from one village to the next in the south, each time under the pretext that the new destination will be safer. There is little respite, though, as Sudan’s relentless army, bent on ethnic cleansing, unfailingly closes in and attacks anew. At one early stop the boy learns that his father has absented himself from the family to undergo officer training in the rebel southerners’ Sudan People’s Liberation Army (S.P.L.A.).

In quick succession the young boy witnesses the rape of an aunt and then is separated permanently from his mother amid another army onslaught. At the next way station he is taken in with scores of other children who are told they are being moved to Ethiopia to go to school. But once there, he is told he must join the southerners’ rebellion as a fighter. It is his father’s will, the boy is told. For good measure, an elder intones, “The gun does not know who is old or young.” Emmanuel, for the record, is 9.

Despite these grim contours, the story sometimes has the cloying feel of a fairy tale. This, perhaps, is a risk of the “as told to” genre. Mr. Jal, who received little schooling until well into his teens, after he was rescued by an aid worker, immigrated to England and eventually became a successful musician. His co-writer is Megan Lloyd Davies.

The writing is usually sturdy, and in a middle section that relates a long death march through the south it even rises to an urgency that recalls Jerzy Kozinski’s novel “The Painted Bird.” Elsewhere, though, it sometimes feels dreamily like Technicolor when color would do, and admits insufficient room for reflection on many themes, notably fear and hatred.

Some of the book’s most interesting observations seem almost inadvertent, depriving the reader of context that is important to understanding this conflict, and African conflicts in general. From Biafra to Rwanda, and now Darfur itself, the West has a long tradition of reducing them to good-versus-evil stories bereft not just of nuance but also of politics, history and complexity.

There is no gainsaying Mr. Jal’s experience of terror, but amid his frequent loathing for Arabs the book provides only a glimpse of the geopolitics of the war, with Ethiopia hosting hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees near their common border and allowing rebels to train on its territory.

In one recollection, the young Emmanuel, at the time he thinks he is being sent to school, astutely wonders why the Western aid workers are “nowhere to be found except in food lines or the hospital.” A few pages later he says that “while the khawajas” — a local expression for whites — “thought they ran the camp, it was the S.P.L.A. who were really in charge.”
These words amount to a provocative challenge to the myth of the beneficent and powerful Western humanitarian worker whose impact is thought exclusively good. Too often in African conflicts these workers’ presence has amounted to unacknowledged collusion.

Mr. Jal’s narrative makes another important point, but again almost incidentally. As horrible as civil conflicts are, often their collateral damage is worse. After lusting for vengeance against the Arabs, the boys’ first “battle” is a murderous raid against an Ethiopian village. The next combat is against the Ethiopian state, whose army evicts the rebels.

“War Child” ends with its least compelling material, a made-for-Hollywood account of how Mr. Jal succeeds as a antiwar musician, playing concerts around the world and toasted by the likes of Peter Gabriel. “I’m still a soldier,” he writes, “fighting with my pen and paper, for peace till the day I cease.”

Music site We7.com charts success

2009-02-21T09:48:00.009+01:00

How-do.co.uk, Wednesday, 18 February 2009

Online music site, We7.com, the brainchild of Cheshire businessman Steve Purdham and rock star Peter Gabriel is aiming to double users in 2009. The venture allows music fans to listen to music for free, but each track is preceded by an advert. With close to a million users already, they’re aiming to hit 2m by the end of the year. Purdham, the former chief executive of Surfcontrol, told How-Do that the whole thing has proved "irrationally seductive."

"It’s all come together through fate. We [Purdham and Gabriel] first heard of the idea in 2006/2007 and we went in as investors, but I ended up wanting to run it." Describing it as a "work in progress," Purdham admits that it’s been a difficult 18 months to get everything in place. "We had to answer 3 questions. Can you get the music? Would an audience come and would advertisers pay the right rate to sustain it? So far we’ve only answered the first 2. We’ve got increasing numbers of unique hits and subscribers and 3.5m tracks online, so now we can go to advertisers to give them what they want."

As previously reported, one advertiser is Littlewoods. "We tell advertisers to forget the music, just tell us what demographic they’re aiming for and we’ll find the right songs. We can do it by age, location, gender, or jazz, blues and so on. We don’t link ads to specific artists." The majors have also now come on board: Music site We7.com charts success "I was seen as the devil, mentioning the 2 things labels hated the most ‘free music’ and ‘MP3 files!’" Sony signed a deal this time last year, with EMI, Warner and Universal following suit.

We7.com launched on November 11, 2008.

Angelique Kidjo in Hawaii

2009-02-21T09:38:00.005+01:00

mauiweekly, Hawaii, February 19, 2009

Angelique Kidjo’s music celebrates the beauty of diversity, as well as the unity of cultures.

A four-time Grammy-nominated singer and composer, Angelique Kidjo brings her stunning voice and unforgettable stage presence to The MACC’s Castle Theater on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m., as part of “The MACC Presents…” 2008-09 Global Rhythms Series.

Combining African and Western influences, Kidjo’s music celebrates the beauty of diversity, as well as the unity of cultures. Her musical influences include childhood idols James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix, as well as the Afropop, Caribbean zouk, Congolese rumba, jazz, gospel and Latin styles of music.

With her latest album Djin Djin (pronounced “gin gin”), she returns to her musical roots, bringing international artists such as Peter Gabriel, Alicia Keys, Ziggy Marley and Josh Groban to the musical world of Benin, her native country.

Kidjo launched her career at age six in the Beninese port village of Cotonou. The political turmoil in her country led her to relocate to Paris, the capital of world music, and then, ultimately, to New York City, where she now resides.

Fluent in multiple cultures and languages, Kidjo has won respect from her peers and expanded her following across national borders. Her diverse background also earned her access to humanitarians who sensed the passion in the words of her songs, resulting in her long-term dedication to global charity work. As a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, Kidjo has traveled far to mesmerize audiences on countless stages, speaking out on behalf of children for the international organization.

Kidjo recently sang at President Barack Obama’s inauguration, and now will bring her soul-stirring music to the Maui audience. Enjoy a delightful evening of African music, international beats, rhythms and tunes from this award-winning chanteuse.

Tickets are $12, $30 and $47 (half-price for keiki 12 and under), with a discount available to MACC annual donors. Visit The MACC Box Office or call 242-SHOW (7469) to charge by phone Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For patron convenience 24 hours a day, purchase tickets online at www.mauiarts.org.

February 19, 2009

Hector Zazou & Swara: In the House of Mirrors

2009-02-15T11:07:00.003+01:00

Pitchwork, Joshua Klein, February 12, 2009

Hector Zazou & Swara: In the House of Mirrors [Crammed; 2008]

French-Algerian composer Hector Zazou, one of the world's most prominent-- and most prolific-- musical synthesizers, died last September. He spent much of the past 30 years crossing border after border and culture with culture, with sometimes striking results. His was the rare name linking disparate Western avant-pop luminaries (such as Björk, Peter Gabriel, David Sylvian, John Cale, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, and many, many more) with a host of similarly diverse fellow composers and performers gathered from around the globe. He often dealt in concept albums, with inspiration drawn from the Arctic, Africa, and all points in between.

In the House of Mirrors, released just a few weeks after Zazou's death, features the composer's final fusion, bringing together four primary players from India and Uzbekistan-- Toir Kuziyev on tambur and oud, Milind Raykar on violin, Ronu Majumdar on flute, and Manish Pingle on slide guitar-- to record in Mumbai compositions envisioned as modern updates of Indian classic music. But for a man who loved his concept albums, Zazou here keeps the focus woozy and blurry. It's like a Ry Cooder record by way of Fripp & Eno, all over-lapping notes and drones, the melodies often entrancing but also tantalizingly open-ended and prone to meandering

Like similar-minded projects from Cooder (among other well-intentioned culture-vultures) the curiosity factor is one of the primary attractions of In the House of Mirrors, though the link between Uzbekistan and India is less than obvious. The musical traditions of the Central Asia country and the Indian subcontinent may overlap somewhere down the Silk Road, and one way or another the pan-Asian quartet (who call themselves Swara) wound up in Mumbai as eager collaborators. But their roots have less to bear on the results than the way they individually and collectively lend a tactile exoticism to what might have ended up just another mushy of electro-acoustic project à la Bill Laswell.

Which isn't to say tracks such as "Wanna Mako" don't flirt dangerously with new age, like the aural equivalent of burning incense. Or that the nearly 12-minute "Darbari (With Soul Without Rules)" doesn't sound like a film score wandering about in search of some visuals to. But Zazou, like many of his more ambitious fellow travelers, at least understood the importance of discord and darkness to his music, with mystery and ambiguity undercutting the more smoothed over surfaces. Certainly "Sisyphe" hums with a spooky sense of dread, while "Twice as Good as We Are" mines the collision of jazz, traditional Asian music, and the evocative echo of empty space with results worthy of the best of the ECM label.

Taken as a whole, however, Zazou's swan song is ironically hurt by one of its most prominent attributes. Zazou is such a seamless synthesist that he neglected to leave more of those aforementioned rough edges intact. For all its shadowy turns, In the House of Mirrors still remains simply too placid to make the most of its various and varied ingredients. After all, one of the most exciting things about fusion of this sort is the sense of recognition, parsing where all the pieces of the musical puzzle meet and how they may have mutated. In the House of Mirrors, on the other hand, is tour-brochure slick. While the collision of centuries old traditions with contemporary sounds has produced countless curiosities in the past, this particular one is ultimately missing the dirt and feet-on-the-ground grit needed to help it transcend the sterile bounds of the studio and achieve something more affecting rather than merely effective.

Peter Gabriel Won't Perform At Academy Awards

2009-02-14T11:12:00.003+01:00

By Nikki Finke on Thu, Feb 12th, 2009

Peter Gabriel Pissed At Oscar Producers And Won't Perform At Academy Awards

EXCLUSIVE: I'm told that Peter Gabriel just pulled out of performing at the Academy Awards show. In a letter to the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences, the co-writer and performer of Wall-E's "Down To Earth" says he doesn't think the nominated songs, and their writers and performers, are getting enough respect during this year's Oscars telecast. That's because the show's producers, Larry Mark and Bill Condon, have reduced the song segment to a medley of the three songs nominated for "achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original Song)" -- "Down to Earth” from WALL-E (Walt Disney), with music by Gabriel and Thomas Newman and lyric by Gabriel;

“Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) with music by A.R. Rahman nd lyric by Gulzar; and “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) with music and lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam.

I'm told the producers have slotted 90 seconds in the medley for each song sung by its original performer. But Gabriel said in his letter that he was only being offered 65 seconds for his song. "I don't feel that is sufficient time to do the song justice, and I have decided to withdraw from performing," Gabriel informed AMPAS. "I fully respect and look forward to the producers' right to revamp the show. Even though song writers are small players in the filmmmaking process, they are just as committed and work just as hard as the rest of the team, and I regret that this new version of the ceremony is being created in part at their expense." I'm told that the medley is the brainchild of the producers in their attempt to get the Oscar show's running time down to 3 hours -- which, frankly, would be a miracle given that it usually runs more than 4 hours. No word yet on whom the producers will choose to sing in place of Gabriel.

UPDATE: Here is the text of Peter Gabriel's letter:

"I was delighted when "Down to Earth" was nominated for an Oscar. I was also pleased to have been asked to perform the song in the Oscar ceremony. However, in recent discussions with the Producers, it became clear that despite there being only three nominees, only 60-65 seconds was being offered, and that was also in a medley of the three songs. I don't feel that is sufficient time to do the song justice, and have decided to withdraw from performing.

I fully respect and look forward to the Producers' right to revamp the show. Even though song writers are small players in the film making process, they are just as committed and work just as hard as the rest of the team and I regret that this new version of the ceremony is being created, in part, at their expense."

I still very much look forward to attending the ceremony."

Trumpeter Jon Hassell strives to unite North and South

2009-02-14T11:04:00.002+01:00

By Alexander Varty, Staraigh.com, February 12, 2009

Jon Hassell's résumé makes him sound like a charter member of music's Mensa club—and for good reason. The trumpeter's early mentor was the German visionary Karlheinz Stockhausen, and he later studied with Pandit Pran Nath, the North Indian guru to such pioneering minimalists as Terry Riley and La Monte Young.

He's also performed with Brian Eno, David Byrne, Ry Cooder, and Peter Gabriel—a who's who of the smartest people in popular music. And then there's the fact that it only takes a couple of minutes, once I reach him at home in Los Angeles, before we sail off into a discussion of polytonality versus atonality. For the record, Hassell prefers the former, although he has made close examination of pioneering serialist Anton Webern's scores.

Still, he stresses that he is an “untheoretical” musician. “For me the proof is in the sound,” he says. “And that's all that really matters.”

That sound—a digitally harmonized trumpet, blowing sweetly over shimmering clouds of electronics and deep, dublike bass lines—is one of the most gorgeous things going. You can pick it apart in terms of how his melodic lines derive from Hindu devotional singing, or how his rhythms have been impacted by West African drumming, but for Hassell it all comes down to reconciling North and South—which happens to be the topic of a book he's been working on for more than a decade.
“It's called The North and South of You, and the subtitle is Making the World Safe for Pleasure,” he explains. “Briefly put, if you project the body onto the globe or the globe onto the body, the northern situation of the body is intellectual or abstract, while the southern is sensual. In the global situation, it's like ‘developed' versus ‘underdeveloped'. And included in the underdeveloped category, of course, is just about all the music that we love.”

With his slow, dreamy, and often intricately patterned music, Hassell hopes to offer his listeners an experience that combines intellectual stimulation with sensual delight. And he delivers just that on his latest release, Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street, which takes its title from a Rumi poem and its inspiration from a little-known Norwegian festival.

“The hook, if you will, is that it's a remix festival,” he says of Punkt, which takes place in the seaside town of Kristiansand. “What happens is that a group is invited to perform in the big hall, and then simultaneously there's a remix going on in a smaller room.”

In concert with his quintet, Maarifa Street, Hassell explores similar terrain. He and Tunisian violinist Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche contribute melodies, bassist Peter Freeman provides the pulse, and laptop jockeys J. A. Deane and Jan Bang create live electronic soundscapes by sampling and processing the others' work.
“I'm trying to encourage everybody in this band to go places that are surprising,” he comments. And, more often than not, they do.

Jon Hassell and Maarifa Street play the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on Saturday (February 14).

Peter Gabriel refuse de chanter seulement une minute aux Oscars, s'en retire

2009-02-13T23:25:00.003+01:00

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Le musicien britannique Peter Gabriel, sélectionné aux Oscars pour une chanson du film d'animation "Wall-E", a annoncé vendredi qu'il refusait de chanter seulement une minute sur scène, comme demandé par les organisateurs, et qu'il préférait ne pas se produire.

Dans une vidéo visible sur son site officiel, le chanteur qui fête vendredi ses 59 ans explique que les organisateurs de la grande soirée du 7e art lui ont demandé de se limiter à "65 secondes" de "Down to earth", qui concourt dans la catégorie de la chanson originale.

"Nous pensions que les chansons seraient chantées en entier. Mais les producteurs (des Oscars) ont changé la formule en raison de la chute des taux d'audience télévisée. Alors j'ai décidé de me retirer de la cérémonie", a ajouté l'interprète de "Sledgehammer".

"Je pense que c'est un peu dommage, parce que nous les auteurs-compositeurs, même si nous ne représentons qu'une petite partie du processus d'élaboration des films, nous travaillons toujours sacrément dur et méritons, je pense, une place au sein de la cérémonie", a-t-il ajouté.

"Je suis un vieux type et cette petite protestation ne va pas m'être dommageable, mais je pense que ce n'est pas aussi facile pour les autres artistes", se justifie Peter Gabriel.

Deux autres titres sont sélectionnés dans la catégorie de la meilleure chanson originale: "Jai Ho" et "O Saya", tous deux représentant "Slumdog Millionaire", favori de la cérémonie dans la catégorie reine du meilleur film.

Contactée par l'AFP, l'Académie des arts et des sciences du cinéma, organisatrice de la cérémonie, n'a pas réagi dans l'immédiat à la décision de Peter Gabriel, qui a dit qu'il avait toujours l'intention d'assister aux Oscars le 22 février depuis une place dans le public.

Peter Gabriel dit non aux Oscars

2009-02-13T23:19:00.002+01:00

Canoë 13-02-2009

Peter Gabriel a renoncé à la prestation qu’il prévoyait offrir lors de la prochaine cérémonie des Oscars, qui aura lieu le 22 février au Hollywood Kodak Theater.

La chanson de Gabriel intitulée Down To Earth, tirée du film Wall-E, est en lice pour le prix de la meilleure chanson. Il espérait l’interpréter en entier, mais s’est ravisé quand il a appris qu’il ne disposerait que de 65 secondes pour la mettre en valeur, dans un pot-pourri.

Sur son blogue vidéo, que l’on peut lire sur son site officiel Petergabriel.com, Gabriel mentionne que cette décision de ne pas diffuser la chanson en entier est «déplorable», mais qu’il assistera quand même à la cérémonie.

«Nous souhaitions offrir une prestation, dit-il. Nous avions présumé, parce que seules trois chansons étaient sélectionnées, que ces dernières seraient interprétées en entier. Mais les producteurs ont décidé de modifier le scénario de la soirée pour revamper leurs cotes d’écoute».

«L’une de leurs décisions fut d’écourter les chansons. Ils ont restreint à 65 secondes, au sein d’un pot-pourri, le temps nous disposions. Nous avons donc choisi de ne pas monter sur scène, mais je serai dans la salle.»

«À mon avis, c’est un tantinet déplorable. Je crois que les auteurs-compositeurs, même si leur travail ne représente qu'une petite partie du processus de production d'un film, travaillent très fort. Nous méritons une place à la cérémonie.»

«Suis-je un vieux crouton? Oui, et ça ne me fera aucun mal de protester un peu. Mais je suis certain que la cérémonie sera très agréable et je suis enthousiaste à l’idée d’y assister.»

Jai Ho et O Sava sont les deux autres pièces en lice pour le prix de la meilleure chanson. Elles sont toutes deux tirées du film Slumdog Millionnaire.

Down to Earth - Best Original Song Nominee

2009-02-11T21:17:00.001+01:00

Singing for their Oscar.

Beginning today, I'll be spotlighting the Academy Award nominees for Best Original Song. I must tell you upfront that showcasing these songs is a bittersweet task for me.

As I've mentioned, no less that 342 times, Bruce Springsteen was not nominated for his Golden Globe winning song, "The Wrestler." Nevertheless, I will leave the tears on my pillow and soldier on to present to you the first of the three songs up for an Oscar on February 22.

Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman (Finding Nemo, American Beauty, Road to Perdition) teamed up to produce "Down to Earth" for Disney/Pixar's Wall-E. If you've seen the wonderful film - and really, you should - you'll recognize the song from end credits.

"Down to Earth" has that very Academy-friendly sound; it's impressive fare, but feels similar to something you've probably sample before. Thomas Newman is also an Academy favorite, having been nominated for 10 Oscars.

Check out "Down to Earth," (and a little bit of Wall-E - so cute!) and see if you think it achieves blast-off.

Peter's February update

2009-02-10T23:21:00.004+01:00

10-Feb-2009

Peter Gabriel talks about a spate of award nominations and ceremonies including the Golden Globe Awards, the Grammy Awards and the Oscars's, all of which have 'Down To Earth' from Wall e in ther short lists. Enriching 'brain food' is recounted, having been eaten both at The World Economic forum and TED in the last couple of weeks. There is news of music from Charlie Winston and Spiro, whose track 'Antrobus' features in this months video. If that and the details missing from this description were not news a plenty, Peter also has an update on the forthcoming tour dates, 'Games Without Frontiers' on Real World Remixed and his work on the 'Scratch My Back' covers project in the studio. watch the video

Review: "Book of Love" pulses to the rhythmic beats of an amorous heart

2009-02-10T23:12:00.003+01:00

by Brad Richason, Twin Cities Performance Art Examiner, February 9

Two dancers stand close to one another, familiar and at ease. As they exchange affectionate glances, more couples enter the stage. The gentle melody of Peter Gabriel's Book of Love begins to rise while the dancers respond in kind, drifting gracefully across the floor, their black and red attire swirling together into vibrant ever-shifting Valentines. So begins The Book of Love, an enchanting new production from the Beyond Ballroom Dance Company, now playing at the Southern Theater, in which every movement strikingly conveys another aspect of amorous captivation (...)

'Slumdog' vs. 'Wall-E' for best song

2009-02-10T22:57:00.002+01:00

By Jon Burlingame, Variety, Mon., Feb. 9, 2009

No clear frontrunner among Oscar nominees

For the third time in the past 20 years, music-branch voters chose only three tunes as best song nominees. Two are from the same movie, and two of the singers are world-class world-music recording artists.

"Slumdog's" competition is the song from the end of the Disney-Pixar movie "Wall-E," co-written by Thomas Newman (also nominated for his score) and Peter Gabriel. The nom is Gabriel's first despite having composed scores for such films as "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "Rabbit-Proof Fence."

Eight of the past 20 song statuettes have gone to tunes from animated movies (all Disney pics but one). And nine of the past 20 have gone to popular artists (including Gabriel's ex-Genesis bandmate Phil Collins, for "Tarzan," another Disney toon). Also, Gabriel's human-rights and environmental activism would seem to coincide with the politics of many Acad voters.

And, in recent years, voters have spread the Oscar wealth among multiple pics. A "Slumdog" score win could translate into a "Wall-E" song win.

B&W Music Club offers a 24-bit more

2009-02-09T22:53:00.002+01:00

Submitted by: Bowers & Wilkins, Monday, 09 February 2009

The Peter Gabriel-curated B&W Music Club is expanding its campaign for high-quality music downloads by offering all new albums in 24-bit FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). These incredibly high-quality music files get listeners closer than ever to the sound the artist heard in the studio.

Starting with an exclusive first opportunity to hear the new album from Mercury Music Prize nominated Portico Quartet, all B&W Music Club albums, which are specially recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, will be available in this format. This means that subscribers have a choice of three formats for download. The new 24-bit FLAC format, a 16-bit FLAC version and a 16-bit Apple Lossless version. The new file format is also available for people on a free trial, who can download an EP of 24-bit lossless music.

Even with this improved choice, the decision making process for which format users should download remains a simple one: iTunes users should stick to the 16-bit ALC format; people wanting to burn the file to CD but use another music program can choose the 16-bit FLAC file. However, if you want to experience the benefits of 24-bit audio, then you can download the 24-bit FLAC file and listen to it either direct from your computer, stream it wirelessly using a device such as the Sonos system, or burn the file to DVD for playback in a disc player.

Since it’s launch in May 2008, B&W Music Club has brought members a wide variety of different musical styles, all from exceptional artists: Gwyneth Herbert; Dub Colossus; former Suede frontman Brett Anderson; guitarist Tom Kerstens; 16-year old piano prodigy Benjamin Grosvenor and an exclusive lossless EP download from Dave Stewart. Future releases include the new album from Dengue Fever, a band that blends Cambodian pop music with West Coast psychedelic rock.

B&W offers free trial memberships via its website, where users can download a four-track EP a month for three months. Full membership of B&W Music Club allows you to download the full album each month, and costs £23.95 for six months or £33.95 for a year, which works out less than £3 an album.

For further information please visit www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/sos

Early Grammys Honor Film

2009-02-09T22:28:00.002+01:00

Ayala Ben-Yehuda, L.A., February 08, 200

The soundtrack for "Juno" was the first winner at the 51st annual Grammy Awards, taking home the trophy for best compilation soundtrack. Meanwhile, James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer won best score soundtrack for "The Dark Knight." The Grammy for best motion picture song went to "Down To Earth" from the Disney/Pixar film "Wall-E." Thomas Newman, who co-wrote the song with singer Peter Gabriel, accepted the award. The song is also nominated for an Oscar. "Define Dancing," another collaboration by Gabriel and Newman from "Wall-E," won a Grammy for best instrumental arrangement. The film music Grammys were handed out today during the pre-telecast awards at Los Angeles' Staples Center. For Billboard.com's Grammy microsite, please click here.

Rocker Plant raises Grammys roof

2009-02-09T21:54:00.003+01:00

Page last updated at 10:05 GMT, Monday, 9 February 2009

Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant was the big winner at the Grammys, taking home five prizes for his collaboration with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss.

The duo took the showpiece album of the year prize for Raising Sand along with record of the year for their single Please Read The Letter. Plant led aarray of British winners at the Los Angeles ceremony. Coldplay, Adele, Duffy, Radiohead and Peter Gabriel were among other UK stars to see success in Los Angeles.

Plant and Krauss also won best contemporary folk/Americana album, best country collaboration with vocals and best pop collaboration with vocals. "I'd like to say I'm bewildered," Plant told the audience "In the old days we would have called this selling out. But it's a good way to spend a Sunday."

Plant, 60, scotched rumours of a Led Zeppelin reunion last year to tour with Krauss, who at 37, now has 26 Grammys to her name. "It's been a wonderful time," Krauss said as she collected the album of the year award.(...)

Down to Earth remporte un Grammy

2009-02-09T09:58:00.003+01:00

Par Kevin Laforet, Voir.ca, le 8 fevreir 2009

The Dark Knight, WALL-E et Juno remportent des Grammys

Lors de la 51e cérémonie des Grammy Awards, trois prix reliés au cinéma ont été remis. James Newton Howard et Hans Zimmer ont reçu le prix de la Meilleure musique de film pour The Dark Knight. Le Grammy de la Meilleure chanson composée pour un film est allé à Thomas Newman et Peter Gabriel pour Down to Earth, tirée de WALL-E. Enfin, la trame sonore de Juno, qui inclue des pièces de Kimya Dawson et de ses projets Moldy Peaches et Ansty Pants, a été récompensée dans la catégorie de la Meilleure compilation.

World Music Icon Angelique Kidjo visits Oahu

2009-02-08T21:55:00.003+01:00

Honolulu advisor, Posted on: Thursday, February 5, 2009

Angelique Kidjo is one of the hottest names in World Music today attracting the admiration of audiences and other renown musicians alike. Her last album, Djin Djin featured guest appearances by Josh Groban, Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, Joss Stone, Peter Gabriel, Ziggy Marley and Branford Marsalis. Angelique Kidjo will be performing at LCC Theatre on Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 7 pm. Given that such a wide variety of notable musicians welcome the opportunity to collaborate with her, it should come as no surprise that Kidjo is backed by highly skilled musicians who support her in performances of original compositions as well as renditions of the songs of Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, George Gershwin and others. Kidjo is fluent in Fon and Yoruba, languages of her birthplace of Benin, and father and mother, respectively. She is also fluent in English and French and performs in each of these languages.

Kidjo is a voracious consumer of music. She started out performing with her family as a child. When she got older, she moved to Paris where she studied progressively more advanced music and vocal techniques with various teachers while performing with different musical groups. As her career grew from supporting greats like Nina Simone and personal idol Miriam Makeba, to being recognized as a headliner in her own right, her cultural repertoire likewise grew. Over the years her albums have included rock, jazz, funk, Caribbean and Brazilian flavors and techniques mixed with her rich Beninese heritage.

While Kidjo's name may not be familiar to people, her music just might be via its appearance in pop culture. Her songs have appeared in episodes of the Simpsons, Six Feet Under, Without A Trace and on the big screen in Ace Ventura, Streetfighter, Krippendorf's Tribe, The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Sahara, and Blood Diamond. Just as her songs are representative of different parts of the world, Kidjo is also a fervent advocate for improving the lives of peoples around the globe. She has been UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2002. She created a foundation that supports and promotes secondary and higher education for girls in Africa. The number of occasions she has lent her talent to benefit or promote causes are legion.

Jon Hassell returns to Tennessee for first U.S. tour in two decades

2009-02-08T21:41:00.002+01:00

By Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times Staff, February 05. 2009

Jon Hassell may have roots deep into the West Tennessee soil, but his musical branches stretch toward stages and fans around the world.

Today, the Memphis-born trumpet player returns to his home state, playing only his second concert on U.S. soil in two decades (the first was on Thursday night). He has a new album -- "Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street" -- that continues the lifelong dedication he has for pushing the boundaries of composition and performance.

"My aim has always been to do something that pleases myself, and after having gone through the sort of intellectual side of things and the abstract side of things, I came up with this idea of 'Fourth World,'" Hassell told The Daily Times during a recent interview. "It was supposed to be a quickie logo that said something about First World technology and Third World spirituality and tradition. I've always felt as though I was doing something that was completely accessible -- something that had this sensuality to it that was immediately appealing, yet something that had some kind of clockwork and structure inside of it that was different than classical music or popular music or jazz.

"It was kind of my attempt to create a fictional village, if you will, where there's a return to tradition for our time using the technology we have today. It's a bit like sampling is used in hip-hop -- futuristic music with all of these samples, like taking something that happened in a studio in the 1950s and throwing it into this other atmosphere and making little mosaics out of it.
"Instead of having a tambura background, I have this background of tiny little one-second excerpts put together into this mosaic," he added. "If you look at it closely with a microscope internally, it's an abstraction, but on the surface, I'm going for beauty and sensuality."

Hassell's divergent career began at the Eastman School of Music, where he became more and more interested in experimental expression and the relatively new genre of music known as avant-garde. In the mid-1960s, he studied in Germany; upon returning to New York, he performed with both Terry Riley and La Monte Young before studying with Indian singer Pandit Pran Nath.

"They had brought him over to do concerts in New York, and that was a big revelation for me," Hassell said. "I was exposed to this whole pedagogical teaching process -- he would sing a phrase, and you would sing it back; if you didn't get it right, he would sing it again; if you still didn't get it right, he would simplify it for you. I was so blessed to have that way of learning something after going through the traditional Western educational system.

"Raga, to me, sounds like calligraphy in the air. It exposed me to a completely different way of looking at things. If you look at it in Western notations, it seems like a Western scale, but with all of the curves and the way the pitches are connected and formed, you wouldn't even relate it to a major scale.
"That became like a mirror, a lens, through which I saw everything else," Hassell added.

Hassell's education with Pran Nath led him to incorporate the vocal inflections of raga -- melodic modes used in Indian classical music -- into his trumpet playing, which developed an entirely new style for both his instrument and his music. His 1977 album, "Vernal Equinox," was the beginning of a lifelong quest to create music so integrated that any particular moment lifted from a specific composition could not be tied to a particular genre or nation.

Over the years, his music caught the ear of such producers, composers and musicians as Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Ry Cooder and U2's Bono. His playing has been featured in such films as "The Last Temptation of Christ," "Million Dollar Hotel" and "Angel Eyes," among others.

His new album, which returns Hassell to the ECM label on which he last recorded in 1984, takes its title from a 13th century poem. It's sublime in its beauty; atmospheric and haunting and futuristic, a record that wouldn't be out of place as the soundtrack to the classic sci-fi flick "Blade Runner" Ridley Scott. Hassell has described the record as a "continuous piece, almost symphonic, with a cinematic construction," and its genesis can be traced to the first step in Hassell's creative process -- sitting in a metaphorical dark room, purging himself of outside input, searching for the seed of a new creation that piques his interest.

"I've been working on a book for a long time called 'The North and South of You: Making the World Safe for Pleasure,'" Hassell said. "It's not a conventional book; it's more of a lot of headline pages with a lot of little sample quotations. It's almost structured from the point of view of sampling, and one of the pages is called, 'What is it I really like?'"

A return to Ethiopia's musical greatness

2009-02-08T21:18:00.003+01:00

February 4th, 2009, By PRI's The World

Politics and music have not always mixed well in Ethiopia. But governments change — and the music survives, and evolves. A fine example is a new project that highlights the work of Ethiopian musicians today.

Before we get to the big thing out of Ethiopia today, first a quick rewind to the origins of Ethio-funk. Sure, some of Ethiopia's super-cool pop music in the 60s was a bit derivative. But there were also some great jazz players in Addis Abeba who were wholly original.

When Mengistu Haile Mariam took over in 1974, his Derg military government imposed an all-night curfew that lasted for years. It effectively killed the nightclubs in the Ethiopian capital. But singers and bands managed to keep their chops alive — not with audiences. But for each other in small, secretive recording studios.

By the time Mengistu was pushed from power in 1991, Ethiopia's music scene found itself basically starting from scratch. The traditional azmari singers — wandering troubadours — the artist you're hearing now for example, had never gone away.

Azmari gathering places began to come alive again in the mid-90s. Younger up-and-coming musicians made themselves known, and began gigging and recording again. Today, between the artists who kept active in the Mengistu years and the newer ones, Addis has begun to recapture some of its former musical prowess.

This track "Azmari Dub" shows a new face of Ethiopian popular music. It's part of a new music project titled A Town Called Addis. Nick Page is the producer. He's from the UK and is a frequent traveller to Ethiopia. For this project, Page goes by the name Dub Colossus. And the CD logically is titled "Dub Colossus in a Town Called Addis."

That's Ethiopian vocalist Sintayehu Zenebe.

Dub Colossus brought her and four other rising Ethiopian singers and instrumentalists into Peter Gabriel's Realworld studio in Britain. Dub Colossus comes from a reggae background, but he's also had interest in all manner of global musical idioms over the years. In a recent promotional video, Nick Page (aka Dub Colossus) explained why he was a champion of Ethiopian music.

“Addis is a very vibrant and exciting musical scene that has an awful lot to offer and needs some kind of exposure.”

With "Dub Colossus in a Town Called Addis," Nick Page is doing his part to re-elevate Ethiopian music. And it taps into that time-tested tradition in Ethiopia of fusing local sounds with those of the outside world.

Youssou N’Dour inspired musicians to retrace the steps of the slaves. He tells our correspondent why

2009-02-08T21:07:00.002+01:00

by Ed Potton, From The Times, February 5, 2009

Youssou N’Dour was once described by Rolling Stone as “perhaps the most famous singer alive” for his popularity across Africa and beyond. In 2007, Time named the Senegalese man with the undulating voice among the world’s 100 most influential people. When I meet him in Paris, his sometime home, Franco-African crowds follow him wherever he goes. Men in the street shout “Yous!” Women in brightly coloured dresses queue for his autograph. Babies are held up to be kissed.

On this side of the Channel his star burns less brightly. Although he popularised the pulsating mbalax sound — which melds the musical storytelling of his country’s griot caste with Afro-Caribbean influences — he is still best known here for his crossover collaborations with Peter Gabriel (Shaking the Tree) and Neneh Cherry (Seven Seconds). When he performed at Live 8 , the only African artist to be invited, he was paired on stage, not with an Annie Lennox or a Bono, but with Dido. And the last time he visited the UK, they wouldn’t even let him in.

Our interview was meant to happen last spring, as N’Dour visited London to publicise his new documentary, Return to Gorée. But on the appointed morning, his PR people called to cancel, because their client was sitting in a UK immigration cell.

I finally track him down a few months later in the Parisian suburb of Noisy le Grand. Cymbals fill the summer air: N’Dour’s band are sound-checking for an open-air performance in the town square. “It was difficult,” he says of the ordeal. Still lithe at 49, he speaks pungently accented English, occasionally erupting into his native French. “The police asked why I was going to London. I said I was going to see some journalists. They were asking for a work permit. In the end I said: ‘I’m so tired — let’s go home’.”

In another sign of N’Dour’s shamefully low standing in this country, the cinema release of Return to Gorée was shelved; it arrives here only on DVD. Which is a shame because it tells a potent story that will have added bite for N’Dour after his incarceration. Gorée is an island off the Senegalese coast where African slaves were held before the westward voyage to the Americas. Now a museum, it’s a sad place, and a natural home for N’Dour’s exquisitely mournful voice, which a critic once said had “the history of Africa locked inside it”.

N’Dour’s plan was to celebrate the links between the black music of Africa and America by assembling a team of international musicians to perform a concert on the island. The film follows him to Atlanta, New Orleans and New York, where he recruits jazz, soul and gospel artists to make the trip. He had a particular affinity with the jazz men. “Maybe when the slaves left, they left with jazz and that’s why I’m so comfortable with the arrangements.”

It won’t be spoiling things to say that he pulls it off, and triumphantly so, performing in the courtyard of the building that once held his ancestors, as local children look on rapt. But it’s the Atlanta gospel singers, once they have been gently persuaded to replace their Jesus references with more universal sentiments, who provide the most unifying scene. Their close harmonies leave the museum’s wizened old curator visibly touched. For N’Dour — like the curator, a devout Muslim — it was “a very special moment. The music helped us to talk about the slaves’ difficulties”, while the movie “helped me forget a little bit”. But can he forgive? “Yes. If people are ready to talk about it then we can move forward.”

It’s not N’Dour’s first film about slavery. In 2007 he made his acting debut in the William Wilberforce biopic Amazing Grace as Olaudah Equiano, an African slave-turned-businessman who joins Wilberforce’s cause. Some saw him as a token black face in a sea of white ones, but he shrugs: “I played my role and didn’t think whether Africans were involved or not. My character did something amazing: he left behind his bad conditions, he joined a movement. It was important for me.”

He is more scathing about Live8, another Africa-orientated happening at which he was virtually the sole representative from his continent: “Next time, Live8 have to invite more people from Africa. I understand that to make people watch TV you need superstars, but the superstars can share the stage. You can’t do something for Africa and not invite Africans.”

He and his wife Aida still spend much of their time in Senegal’s capital. Dakar, where he was born, one of ten children. His father wanted him to go to school, but his maternal grandmother’s griot tradition took hold and music became his life. Now his domestic empire — studio, label, newspaper, club — employs more than 300 and he is a Unicef ambassador.

But this charismatic, diplomatic soul, so often co-opted as a figurehead for his country and his continent, refuses to take the next step. “Politics? I don’t think so,” he smiles, turning towards his band. “What I’m doing today is more than politics.”

Return to Gorée is out on DVD

Gary Go: Take That's top tip

2009-02-08T17:41:00.002+01:00

By Mark Savage, BBC News entertainment reporter

Take That have hand picked up-and-coming pop star Gary Go as the opening act on their summer stadium tour. The London-born singer spoke to the BBC News website about his concert plans, his debut album and the patronage of the world's biggest "boy" band. (...)

His debut single, Wonderful, is a shimmering slice of sing-along songcraft. If you can imagine a more uplifting version of Coldplay's Yellow, you'll know exactly what it sounds like.

The lyrics: "You've got to look yourself in the eye and say, 'I am wonderful'", were the singer's personal pep talk after he flunked a job interview at Peter Gabriel's Real World recording studios in Bath.

"I went in to speak with the man himself," he explains, "and I made the mistake of saying I wanted to write my own songs. He looked me in the eye like Yoda and said: 'You should concentrate on your own music.' Afterwards, I was like, 'I've blown this amazing, world-class opportunity'. I was so distraught that I went home, got a little drum machine and just started recording tracks."

Can Documentaries Influence Public Opinion

2009-02-08T17:26:00.002+01:00

February 5: Can Documentaries Influence Public Opinion, a NYWIFT Panel

It's 2009 and change is in the air. What role do documentaries play when it comes to influencing public awareness?

New York Women in Film and Television has assembled a panel of filmmakers known for telling stories that expose controversial subjects and difficult points of view. Katy Chevigny, Almudena Carracedo, Sarah Gibson, Tia Lessin, Meg Mclagan and Daria Sommers will show clips from their award-winning films and discuss how to craft documentaries with strong messages -- from the treatment stage through distribution.

Panelists include:

Arts Engine's own Executive Director, Katy Chevigny, is a documentary filmmaker, entrepreneur and nonprofit manager. Chevigny founded Arts Engine and its predecessor Big Mouth Productions. In 2000, she launched MediaRights.org, a "knowledge commons" for filmmakers, activists, educators, and the general public, hosting info on over 7,000 films and the Media That Matters Film Festival, now in its eighth year. Chevigny recently directed the film Election Day (2007). She also co-directed the Emmy-nominated documentary Deadline (2004). Chevigny has produced many award-winning documentaries at Arts Engine, including: Arctic Son, Journey to the West: Chinese Medicine Today, Nuyorican Dream, Innocent Until Proven Guilty and Outside Looking In: Transracial Adoption in America.
Tia Lessin is director and producer of Trouble the Water, her feature debut about two self-described street hustlers who survive Hurricane Katrina and seize a chance for a new beginning. (www.troublethewaterfilm.com). Lessin also directed and produced the documentary short Behind the Labels in partnership with Peter Gabriel's human rights group Witness. She was awarded the Sidney Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism for the film, which is about labor trafficking of Chinese and Filipina women garment workers. She was a producer of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine, and worked as a producer of the series, The Awful Truth, which earned her two Emmy nominations and one arrest.

Almudena Carracedo (appearing via Skype) is the Emmy Award-winning director and producer of Made in L.A., which follows the story of Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections (www.madeinla.com). Funded by ITVS, POV and the Sundance Documentary Fund, the film premiered on POV in 2007 and was praised by The New York Times as "an excellent documentary... about basic human dignity". Her previous film Welcome, A Docu-Journey of Impressions received the Sterling Award for Best Short at Silverdocs. Almudena, who was born in Spain, is the 2008 recipient of NALIP's ESTELA Award.

Critic's pick: Jon Hassell

2009-02-08T16:54:00.004+01:00

By Walter Tunis Contributing Music Writer

Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street

The primary exposure pop audiences have received to the immensely impressionistic but entirely modern music of trumpeter Jon Hassell has come through brief, sustained bursts.

In 1980, he was part of the dense funk turbulence that circulated around Talking Heads' masterful Remain in Light (that's Hassell sounding the muted trumpet call during Houses in Motion). That same year, he teamed with Remain in Light producer Brian Eno for an ambient worldbeat blend that Hassell has referred to as Fourth World music. But the resulting album's title speaks directly to Hassell's sense of artistic mischief: Possible Music.

Nearly a decade later he became part of a similarly ambient but more decidedly Eastern musical collage that Peter Gabriel designed as a soundtrack for Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, an album subsequently released as Passion.

There is considerably more to Hassell's career than those run-ins with the art rock elite. But because the trumpeter records infrequently and will tour (briefly) this winter in the United States for the first time in 20 years, it is easy to allow his daring atmospherics to slip into the ether. Indeed, many of Hassell's recordings could be graphed in ways that reflect his artistic and commercial visibility. One minute, his trumpet rings through a spacious portrait of broken grooves and darkly woven sonic backdrops. The next, it disappears into that fabric entirely.

On a new album with the luxuriant title of Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street, Hassell modernizes further the ambient world around him. It is dominated by spacious music where trumpet, violin and strains of echoing guitar rise from, and fade into, a sea of sample-laden musical shorelines.

The album's 11-minute title tune reflects much of the album's sense of mystery. A two-note chorus seemingly filtered through processed strings (there's no telling how it was really created) is repeated like a mantra. Over a calming center, Hassell and his cohorts add electronic gurgles, glowing shards of keyboards and fragments of trumpet that alternately seek to sooth and puncture the otherworldly music.

The slow-motion montage Courtrais works from a similar makeup. Hassell's muted horn has a more sustained presence here, but he favors coloring a surface populated by chimelike keyboards and modest sampled drones — much in the way Miles Davis did on In a Silent Way, only without such direct grooves — than play conventional, compositional phrases.

Such moments are both warm and wintry. The album-opening Aurora suggests a return to Hassell's Fourth World concept with a faint air of Eastern percussion (that we can only assume was constructed by samples as no drummer of percussionist is credited) before the tune quietly implodes into a contemplative wash of keyboards that trumpet and guitar subtly augment.

On the closing Light on Water, with mock percussion again summoning a steady but synthetic rhythm, Hassell once more evokes the spirit and cool of Davis in a tune that sings a haunting, wordless melody. How apt. The album takes its lengthy title from a 13th-century Sufi poem by Jalaluddin Rumi. Its next line: “I took it as a sign to start singing.” And sing Last night does, in its own wondrously ethereal and indefinable fashion.

Davos: Peter Gabriel Sings Biko

2009-02-08T16:26:00.002+01:00

Thomas Crampton, Hong Kong-based digital strategist, Posted February 1, 2009

The most amazing session I attended this year in Davos was a 2-hour Dignity Day event in a local school auditorium. Speakers included the schoolchildren, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Richard Branson and Peter Gabriel, who sang Biko a capella. Hearing Desmond Tutu speak was an incredible experience. I have rarely seen someone captivate and hold an audience with such simplicity, humility and light heartedness. At the end of the event Peter Gabriel led the entire room in singing his tribute to Steve Biko.

A world of music

2009-02-08T16:05:00.002+01:00

Philippa Kennedy, The National.ae , February 01. 2009

Along with acclaimed acts from across the globe, Womad’s festival director, Chris Smith, hopes to highlight Arabic music. Jaime Puebla for The National

The unmistakable sound of Peter Gabriel’s Steinway grand piano reverberated through the floors of the studios of Real World Records, in the English village of Box, Wiltshire. Staff returning from lunch were intrigued and followed the music to the “big room”, as they call it. There, sitting at the piano, totally absorbed, was a young musician from a reggae group comprised of the British producer Nick Page and a troupe of musicians from the Ethiopian city of Addis Ababa.
“He was in awe of the sound and oblivious to everyone else. About five or six people stood there in amazement, listening to him playing. Luckily, an engineer had the presence of mind to flick the switch and it was all recorded,” says Chris Smith, the 46-year-old festival director of Womad, the world music event co-founded by Real World’s boss, Peter Gabriel.

As he relates the story of Samuel Yirga from Dub Colossus, Smith’s joy is clear to see. This is exactly the kind of moment for which Womad and Real World exist. Already holding annual festivals in various locations around the globe – including the UK, Spain, New Zealand and Australia – Womad has set its sights on the UAE. In fact, Smith is here in connection with the organisation’s plans to hold an event in the capital in conjunction with the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach).

“So many people have remarkable talents and we are able to give them a platform. That’s what makes Womad unique,” he says. “If you go to see George Michael in a football stadium you kind of know what you’re going to get, but if you come to a Womad festival you may be familiar with some of the artists, but most of them you will not have heard of before. You get the chance to learn something about music.”

Scheduled for the end of April, headline acts for the Abu Dhabi Womad have not yet been named, but Smith reveals that he is already in talks with major international artists and a list of regional favourites for what promises to be a “magical” first concert at the Jahili Fort in Al Ain.

From the way he talks, it is obvious that Smith is taken with the region. “The first time we walked in to the Jahili Fort, the call to prayer started and it was incredible,” he recalls. “When you hear that in a place like Al Ain it’s just amazing.”

He then moves on to talk of the music that drives Womad events. “We are a multi-stage festival but we will open in Abu Dhabi with a single stage and a big-name headline performer. That is what we always do because we need names that people are familiar with to draw audiences in. Then we programme those well-known artists with people that nobody has heard of before. The plan is that we draw people in with the main acts but that they will leave talking about the others.”

Previous Womads have included artists as diverse as the Touareg guitar group Tinariwen, Egypt’s Bedouin Jerrycan Band, Konono No1 from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Algerian-born rai artist Rachid Taha and the acclaimed Jamaican reggae producer Lee “Scratch” Perry. However, says Smith: “It is important that we also get other artists from the Middle East, especially the Emirates.”

Unfortunately, thanks to touring commitments, Peter Gabriel, the former Genesis singer and solo artist, is unlikely to perform in Abu Dhabi. However, his initial vision for the festival will remain an inspiration.

“Womad came about through a shared passion for music from other cultures,” Smith says. “There is still an international obsession with western music, but Womad’s founders knew that there were thousands of artists around the world who were performing work of enormously high quality but who weren’t getting the audiences and recognition they deserved. The idea was to give them a platform and, following on from that, to provide an opportunity for them to collaborate with western artists. Real World Records was set up to record this music and its primary catalogue is of world artists. Very often an artist who plays at Womad will go on to record for Real World,” says Smith.

For instance, the label’s output includes Soul Science, a CD by Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara. Adams is a UK-based guitarist, while Camara is a ritti (African fiddle) player and vocalist from the Gambia. Both artists met while performing for Womad and now record and tour together.

Gabriel’s idea for Womad – along with co-founders Thomas Brooman and Bob Hooton – was to give audiences an insight into different cultures through the enjoyment of music. Since the first festival in the UK in 1982, the organisation has held more than 160 events in 27 countries.

Over the years Womad line-ups have featured a wealth of global artists, many of whom have gone on to achieve significant international success. Among its most famous performers are the Senegalese vocalist Youssou N’Dour and the late Pakistani qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Talks between Adach and Womad started just over a year ago. By way of research Abdulla Salim al Amri, the director of arts and culture at Adach, attended Womad’s concert in the Spanish city of Cáceres in May, where he met Smith.

“What I tuned into in my conversations with Abdulla was that Abu Dhabi wanted to celebrate culture,” says Smith. “That’s what developments such as the Guggenheim and Louvre museums are all about. It’s not about entertainment for its own sake, but the depth and richness of world culture. That’s a very good fit for what we do.
“We discussed the role of world music in Abu Dhabi and its ambitions, as a cultural centre, to celebrate Arabic music. We also talked about another important aspect: the role of the festival in developing indigenous culture as opposed to the commercial aspect of some of the events that have happened in the Gulf in the past. Now we have a date in the diary and a great deal of excitement for the project.”

Following the Jahili Fort concert will come two free beach shows on the Abu Dhabi Corniche. Two massive stages will be built, interlinked by a structure containing areas where children’s workshops will be held. Both sites will be decorated with more than 1,000 distinctive Womad flags and animated projections will be beamed onto the surrounding buildings.

The next few weeks will be a frenetic round of activity as organisers begin to source fencing, Portakabins, lighting and sound equipment, air-conditioning units, generators and plan the festival’s logistics.

“One of my staff will be based here for the next month, identifying what needs to be done and getting the infrastructure in place,” Smith explains. “It’s a bit like the proverbial swan that glides along the river, but under the water its feet are paddling like mad. This visit has been very reassuring as there is much more here than we thought. The events industry is growing and we will source as much as we can here.”

In between shuttling between Abu Dhabi and the UK, Smith is also masterminding Womad’s other events: Australia and New Zealand in March, Spain in May, Sicily in June and the organisation’s biggest date, held in Wiltshire’s Charlton Park in July.
“We’re also doing the Tower of London in September and Las Palmas in the Canary Islands in November. I may well be divorced by then,” he jokes.

Organisers are expecting the Abu Dhabi Womad to bring a number of visitors to the city, many of whom will be drawn by the music on offer. However, Smith emphasises that Womad is about much more than just sound.

“Womad stands for World of Music and Dance and the focus is very much on the music, but we are keen to reclaim the art and dance elements in the future. Because of the time scale, it is unlikely that a massive amount of dance or art will be commissioned for Abu Dhabi this year, but next year we will be in a position where we can do something truly unique.

“We would look to work with artists from the region. Events are only successful when you have strong partners in the place where you are working. You can’t just land from the UK and produce a festival of the type that we do. We want access to schools and the community and to make sure that the audience is representative of the population – not just the population that can afford to buy tickets. We also expect our featured artists to get involved with projects and workshops involving local children.”

The issue of involving children is of key importance to Smith. Indeed, his own family – daughters Olivia, 13, Imogen, nine, Tara, seven, and their mother Arleen – are all looking forward to visiting Abu Dhabi. “They don’t come to every Womad festival but they are definitely coming to this one,” he says.

A novel aspect of recent festivals has been the introduction of onstage cooking by the musicians performing at the festivals. Billed as Taste the World, in this Womad event artists talk the audience through the process of cooking a dish from their native country. In Cáceres, Miriam Hassan, a Sahrawi singer from western Sahara prepared a meal that required camel meat.

“She cooked the sort of dish you would have at desert camp. The ingredients gave us a few problems in Spain. We hope to bring her here, where it won’t be an issue at all,” says Smith. “It’s a great part of the festival. We get the artists on stage and they talk and share aspects of their own cultures. Food, like all other parts of a culture, is central to what society is about. We like to think that this is representative of what we do as well.”

Elders call on Zimbabweans to unite to end suffering / International donors should support transition efforts

2009-02-08T15:56:00.002+01:00

HARARE, Zimbabwe, January 31, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Elders have called on Zimbabweans to unite to end the terrible suffering in their country and urge international donors to support the latest step towards the formation of a new government.

In Harare on Friday, the MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai announced that it will join a government of national unity, allowing the Global Political Agreement signed last September to be implemented.

“This is an important step towards ending the political impasse in Zimbabwe,” said former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, “but it is not a guarantee that Zimbabwe’s distress is over. Rebuilding the economy and ending the peoples’ terrible suffering will take much more work on the part of all Zimbabweans, regional leaders and the international community.”

Chairman of the Elders, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said, “We will be watching closely to ensure that the agreement between the political parties is implemented fairly. But the people of Zimbabwe can no longer be held hostage by politics. Their urgent needs must be met.”

President Carter said: “This political agreement is far from perfect - but political life involves taking risks. The international community should now do what it can to give this agreement the best chance of success. Talking it down will not improve the situation for Zimbabweans - it will only prolong their agony.”

Three members of the Elders, Mr Annan, former US President Jimmy Carter and Mrs Graça Machel travelled to southern Africa in November to assess the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe. Informed that they would not be welcome in Harare, they arranged to meet heads of UN agencies, donors, regional political leaders and Zimbabwean civil society representatives over three days in Johannesburg. They were shocked by what they learned in November, and say that since their visit the crisis has escalated.

“Conditions since we visited are even worse”, said Graça Machel. “We should now respect the decisions made by Zimbabweans about their future and do all we can to ease the suffering of the people. It is essential that hospitals and schools reopen and water supplies are made safe. But we must also monitor what is happening very closely at the political level and encourage all parties to work in good faith to implement the terms of the Global Political Agreement.”

About The Elders:

The Elders is a group of eminent global leaders convened by Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel to bring their experience and independent voices to the resolution of conflict and to support innovative, cooperative efforts to address great global challenges of our time. Based on an initiative by Richard Branson and Peter Gabriel, Nelson Mandela announced the formation of The Elders in July 2007 in Johannesburg on the occasion of his 89th birthday.

The Elders are: Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi, Gro Brundtland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Graça Machel, Mary Robinson, Desmond Tutu and Muhammad Yunus. Aung San Suu Kyi is an honorary Elder.

SOURCE : The Elders

Dignity Day

2009-02-08T15:43:00.003+01:00

Archbishop Tutu Joins Young Global Leader and Global Dignity Co-Founder John Hope Bryant to Promote the Right to Live a Dignified Life During the Annual World Economic Forum

DAVOS-KLOSTERS, SWITZERLAND -- 01/31/09 -- John Hope Bryant, Operation HOPE (HOPE) CEO and founder, traveled this week to meet with world leaders and corporate chiefs to participate in the 2009 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Bryant, along with fellow YGLs and Global Dignity (GD) co-founders, will join Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others in a special teaching session aimed at helping to solve world problems, while connecting with every person's common need for respect and dignity.

Global Dignity co-founders H.R.H Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Professor Pekka Himanen, a leading philosopher and author, and "silver rights" entrepreneur John Bryant empowered and inspired more than 250 youth at the Swiss Alpine School, shaping their futures through dignity during the 39th Annual World Economic Forum. Dignity Day, Davos also featured global leaders Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Finnish President Tarja Halonen, business mogul Richard Branson, and Miss Universe South Africa 2008, Tansey Coetzee, and 40 YGLs. The session was further enhanced by a performance from music icon and international humanitarian, Peter Gabriel. (...)

http://www.younggloballeaders.org/

http://www.operationhope.org

Gabriel’s Music Sites Share Technology

2009-02-08T15:24:00.004+01:00

By Patrick Smith, PaidContent, Fri 30 Jan 2009

Gabriel’s Music Sites Share Technology; Are They Just Digging In The Dirt?

Two music ventures backed by Peter Gabriel have done the sensible thing in an ever-crowded online music space and teamed up to share technology and make the most of the Gabriel association: ad-funded music player We7 is supplying tracks to music recommendation site The Filter for a online radio player on thefilter.com.

There are no plans for the radio service to be hosted on We7 at the moment. Both firms are venture backed by Gabriel’s Real World company and this latest deal is an extension of an existing relationship that gives We7 use of The Filter’s recommendation technology. So We7 has the tracks, The Filter has the tech and the sharing is now mutual.

Recommendation music sites aren’t anything new—Las.tfm has a large and growing UK audience and such sites have to contend with iTune’s Genius—but We7 says its stats have demonstrably gone up since it started using The Filter’s technology, which was developed by British tech firm Exabre. So with all this cooperation between We7 and The Filter, and their shared benefactors in the shape of Gabriel’s Real World Group, might one could gently suggest that a more formal merger would be the natural next step…

TheFilter.com teams up with We7 to bring personalised radio stations to the web

2009-02-08T15:15:00.005+01:00

Monument PR Worldwid, Thursday, 29 January 2009

Peter-Gabriel backed website launches unique new personalised radio player

January 29, 2009 - In challenging economic times, it is always the businesses that work smarter that prosper and Bath-based entertainment recommendation and discovery service, TheFilter.com, is leading the way in innovative commercial thinking. The Peter Gabriel-backed website, which launched last year, has partnered up with ad-funded music service, We7, to provide free, personalized online radio stations to its growing user base.

Last year, The Filter provided We7 with its market-leading recommendation technology; this partnership has been expanded to cover radio fulfillment from We7. We7 already has agreements with the music labels in the UK, as well as a strong ad-supported infrastructure to cover streaming costs. The Filter has used this opportunity to develop a fantastically high value feature which fills a current void in the UK market.

“By partnering with We7 we have created a radio player based on our unique recommendation technology. This is another new feature which will help our users with their entertainment discovery journey. As a result we have already seen dwell time and page views on the website increase substantially, and we will build on this during the rest of the year with a number of new features and further changes to TheFilter.com” said CEO, David Maher Roberts.

The new radio stations on The Filter are powered by advanced recommendations technology, meaning that UK users will get a personalised radio station based on their individual music tastes. The stations are set up so that each user will hear songs they are familiar with as well as specially selected songs that are outside of their current taste-circle, so that they can discover new artists. The users can also choose to listen to their friends’ stations, or play from over thirteen genre stations.

About The Filter

The Filter is a personalised content filtering system that aggregates entertainment and information and connects users to content that reflects their tastes and moods. The developers behind The Filter are world leading British software company Exabre. They are backed by high profile investors, including Peter Gabriel's Real World Group and Eden Ventures.

The Filter has been downloaded in 164 countries. Its database currently includes over 5m songs, 330k movies and more than 50m individual purchases and playlists. The Filter works by using Bayesian mathematics. It was developed by Martin Hopkins, a physicist who was struggling to manage his growing digital music collection. The Filter currently has partnerships with Nokia Music Store (beta), Ministry of Sound and MSN Music

Contact:
Marc Ambasna-Jones

Monument PR Worldwide
t: +44 (0)1225 747214
m: +44 (0)7966 510702
e: marc@monumentpr.com
w: www.monumentpr.com

Allie Fisher
THE FILTER
T: +44(0)1225 788000
F: +44(0)1225 481824
e: allie.fisher@thefilter.com
w: www.thefilter.com

Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan Talks New Album

2009-02-08T15:01:00.002+01:00

By Joseph Patel, Published by MTV News on Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan Talks New Album While I Try To Work Up The Courage To Propose To Her

Yesterday, things on our floor came to a standstill as we welcomed the lovely and talented Natasha Khan to the MTV News offices. Some of you may know the half-British, half-Pakistani Khan by her nom de guerre, Bat for Lashes, or by her lesser-known standing as my future wife. Either way, we were all sort of transfixed because she makes beautiful, dystopian pop music and carries herself with this whimsical-but-thoughtful abandon, and she’s pretty gorgeous all the way around. Win/win/win.

Anyway, the Bat for Lashes song, “What’s a Girl to Do,” and its “Donnie Darko”-inspired music video, is what got me hooked on Khan and her music a couple of years ago, and she’ll be releasing her second album, Two Suns, in April. She was stopping by New York for a week, on her way to Brazil to shoot a video for a new song called “Daniel.” We took some time to talk about Two Suns.

Khan says she was inspired a lot by the eclectic range of 1980s pop, and artists like Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and the Cure, who we look back on and remember fondly. She also admitted to us that she channeled a little bit of Beyoncé and her alter-ego Sasha Fierce on this album, in that she too created a character — in this case, Pearl — in which to sing her new songs through. We’ll let Natasha explain more thoroughly.

We’ll have more from this Bat for Lashes interview coming to you in the next few days. I’ll also let you know where we will be registering for our wedding.

Joseph Arthur & The Lonely Astronauts Enter the S.S.

2009-02-02T22:10:00.003+01:00

[Video: Pete Maiden/Eric Helton; Editing by Pete Maiden]

RollingStone, January 27, 2009 :

Joseph Arthur & The Lonely Astonauts - "Temporary People"

One of our favorite singer-songwriters, Joseph Arthur, was kind enough to drop by the S.S. to play a few songs, and he brought his band the Lonely Astronauts with him.

One of the most prolific writers around, Arthur was discovered in the early '90s by Peter Gabriel, and signed to Gabriel's label, Real World Records. His debut album, Big City Secrets, was released in 1997 and was followed by the Grammy-nominated EP, Vacancy, in 2000. Since then, Arthur hasn't slowed down. He's released 11 EPs and has just cut his seventh full-lengh album, Temporary People. He's loved by contemporaries like Ryan Adams, Lou Reed and Michael Stipe, who covered Arthur's "In the Sun" for Hurricane Katrina victims. Also a talented painter, Arthur had his own art gallery in Brooklyn before being evicted in September '08.

Arthur is playing a couple of shows this weekend at the Bell House in his current hometown, Brooklyn, with Harper Simon opening, before shipping off for a mini-tour of France in March.

JA&LA were nice enough to play four tracks off their latest release, Temporary People. Check out the title track above, and click the jump for "Dead Savior," "Turn You On" and "Faith." (...)

Amadou and Mariam : Welcome to Mali

2009-02-02T21:58:00.003+01:00

By Jonathan Rothman, Exclaim.ca

The funkiest blind, married, French-speaking Afro-pop couple around, Amadou and Mariam return after 2005's Manu Chao-produced Dimanche à Bamako with a potent blend of electronic twists and guests spots for Welcome to Mali. While feature artist turns include guest producer and knob-twiddler Damon Albarn (leadoff track "Sabali," with Mariam's piercing vocals), K'naan and Keziah Jones on the rousing "Africa," and Amadou's desert blues guitar with Toumani Diabaté's sublime kora ("Djuru"), none can outshine the main attraction here.

Playful call and responses, impassioned stories and meditations and wailing Malian violins over slow, bluesy jams — almost to the effect of a cuica over a slow samba canção — keep the focus on the world music duo now embraced by everyone from World Cup soccer fans to Scissor Sisters devotees. Yes, like mid-career Peter Gabriel, Amadou and Mariam are a safe world music act you can admit enjoying but that's also because they're brilliant, dynamic and passionate. (Because)

Totó la Momposina to take Afrocolombia to Bogotá

2009-02-02T21:51:00.003+01:00

Colombia reports

Totó la Momposina, the world's best known representative of Colombia's traditional music, will perform in Bogotá on both February 6 and 7.

The 61-year old singer from Mompox, Bolivár has released albums since 1983 and has garnered increasing international acclaim since Peter Gabriel decided to put her album 'La Candela Viva' out on his RealWorld label.

Totó la Momposina, whose real name is Sonia Bazanta Vides, comes from a family that's been involved in traditional Colombian music for generations. Her children also are musicians.

The diva of traditional music will perform in Bogotá's Roberto Arias Pérez theater. Tickets can be purchased online.

Les chants mystiques soufis et ceux des tribus pakistanaises vivent encore

2009-02-02T21:33:00.003+01:00

Véronique Mortaigne, LE MONDE, Article paru dans l'édition du 03.02.09

Mis à mal par les graves turbulences politiques qui traversent la région, le Pakistan demeure un pays où la musique est reine. Cet art y est au carrefour entre les influences de l'ancien empire perse, des traditions tribales, notamment celles des zones qui font frontière avec l'Afghanistan, et des raffinements hérités de l'Inde, à laquelle le Pakistan appartenait avant la partition en 1947.

Terre musulmane, le Pakistan a perpétué les rituels mystiques soufis du nord de l'Inde et de l'Asie mineure, célébrant un dieu souverain par des chants dévotionnels débridés et des poésies enivrées. A cela, on ajoutera les allers-retours entre ceux qui sont restés au pays et la jeune communauté indo-pakistanaise du Royaume-Uni, friande de musiques électroniques rythmées et de cinéma Bollywood.

Le programme est passionnant, et le Théâtre de la Ville le suit depuis plus de vingt-cinq ans. On ne saura jamais assez gré à l'établissement parisien d'y avoir fait découvrir l'immense chanteur Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, en 1985, avant que ce soufi pur sucre né près de Faisalabad, au Pendjab, n'aille s'encanailler en 1990 avec le chanteur de rock Peter Gabriel et les précurseurs du trip-hop de Bristol Massive Attack pour un génial tube planétaire, Mustt, Mustt.

Icône du chant mystique qawwal - le chant dévotionnel soufi du sous-continent indien, 700 ans d'âge -, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan est mort prématurément en 1997, à 49 ans. Avec son physique de bouddha, sa voix hors du commun, sa bande de joueurs d'harmonium et de claqueurs de main, Nusrat a été au qawwal ce que Glenn Gould fut à une génération de pianistes désireux de jouer Bach : paralysant.

Au rayon de la foire aux spectacles, Nusrat avait des concurrents : les délirants frères Sabri Brothers, de Karachi : cheveux longs et teints en roux, bagues à tous les étages, yeux maquillés au khôl. L'un des frères, Ghulam Farid, trépassa en 1994, et le groupe disparut.

Samedi 31 janvier, dans l'un de ces concerts de fin d'après-midi du Théâtre de la Ville qui ne cessent d'être des havres de paix dans le bruit parisien, c'est un jeune chanteur, Javed Bashir, et son groupe qui se risquent à la succession. Ils choisissent une troisième voie, un qawwal fervent, mains déployées, yeux au ciel, mais plus discret. L'emballement rythmique du qawwal de la génération Nusrat, et son empressement à atteindre Dieu par l'extase, est refréné par des éléments d'un chant classique très maîtrisé, très intériorisé, proche de l'ancienne Perse. Javed Bashir n'en travaille pas moins son physique, taillé à la serpe, par des allures de chevalier noir dans un costume d'ébène avec paillettes, car il a aussi des accointances cinématographiques - il a chanté pour le film Khuda Kay Liye (In the Name of God), de Shoaib Mansoor (2007), un film à succès sur l'après-11-Septembre.

La voix de Javed Bashir s'enfonce profondément dans les graves, dans des contrées sonores d'où il faut revenir par paliers, sauf à vouloir s'y perdre à jamais. A ses côtés, son frère Ali Akbar, en blanc, voix aérienne, plus haute, modulations de gorge en dentelle. Des tablas, une flûte, et des harmoniums portatifs (héritage des missionnaires portugais), et le tour est joué. Les voici chantant des poèmes de Bullhe Shah (XVIIe siècle), d'Amir Khusro (1253-1325), des hymnes à Ali, le guide des musulmans sunnites.

ZARSANGA, LA BRANCHE D'OR

Dire qu'il fait bon vivre au Pakistan serait osé. A Peshawar, où habite la chanteuse Zarsanga, attendue au Théâtre des Abbesses, autre salle du Théâtre de la Ville, le 7 février, les musiciens aussi craignent la violence, et évitent de s'aventurer vers le col de Khyber qui mène à l'Afghanistan. Dans des temps moins rigoureux, Radio Peshawar diffusait de la musique et les chants de Zarsanga ("branche d'or"), née il y a cinquante-cinq ans à Bannu.

Elle fut bergère, nomade, fille d'une tribu pachtoune, célèbres gardiens de ces montagnes, infiltrés aujourd'hui par la drogue, la CIA et Al-Qaida - pour résumer. Hier illettrée, elle a élargi ses compétences en chantant des ghazal classiques, posés au milieu de la complexe tradition pachtoune. Sa qualité de Pachtoune lui permet de se faufiler encore en Afghanistan pour y chanter. Zarsanga est venue en France pour la première fois en 1989, au Festival d'Avignon. Depuis, elle fume toujours des cigarettes, elle porte toujours des voiles brodés, et chante dans un souffle discret.

Zarsanga, le 7 février à 17 heures, Théâtre des Abesses, 31, rue des Abbesses Paris-18e, M° Abbesses. Tél. : 01-42-74-22-77. De 12 à 17 euros. Disques : Zarsanga, songs of the Pashtu, 1 CD Long Distance. A consulter : www.mondomix.com.

Gilles Peterson a "terrible wedding DJ"

2009-02-01T23:12:00.003+01:00

Created On January 27th, 2009 by skrufff, inthemix.com.au

Acid jazz/rare groove/eclectic dance pioneer Gilles Peterson chatted to Skrufff this week about his upcoming tenth anniversary show on Britain’s Radio 1 and revealed that he once got bumped off the decks after just ten minutes for playing Fela Kuti at a celebrity wedding. “I’m a terrible wedding DJ, I’m probably the worst DJ to invite to play at weddings; I’m just too serious,” Gilles confessed. “I remember playing at Peter Gabriel’s wedding in Sardinia for just a couple of hundred people. He had a private beach, Richard Branson was there and Phil Collins was performing and they had African music and so on. Then I had to DJ.”

“I lasted something like ten minutes, when I suddenly heard different music than the record I was playing coming out of the speakers, they’d literally cut me off. The bride’s family, who were regular working class Irish people, had put their own cassette into the master mixer then faded me out – they ended up playing tracks like the ‘Birdie Song’. I still had a good time,” Gilles added. “Though Peter Gabriel was very, very embarrassed. And then I went home. It was fine,” he laughed.

The wedding playlist would have proved no problem for Gilles’ French experimentalist counterpart Laurent Garnier who in 2001 boasted of owning not one but two copies of The Tweets’ early 80s classic. “When I’m really drunk with a few of my friends I love playing that shit,” Garnier told the London Standard. “Hey, I’m not embarrassed,” he added. “I’m proud of my ‘Grease’ and ‘Saturday Night Fever’ albums too.”

Gilles had more wedding grief courtesy of fellow Londoner Norman Jay over the duo’s football rivalry. “Norman Jay is a good friend though he supports Tottenham Hotspur and I support Arsenal and we’re both quite well known for supporting these two teams and we both hate each other,” Gilles laughed. “I remember one day I found out that he had been DJing at (then Arsenal star) Thierry Henry’s wedding. I phoned Norman up and I nearly fell out with him after that. He hates Arsenal so much, but he still played at Thierry Henry’s wedding. That was the one party I would have died to play at. A big regret,” he chuckled.

Womad's horizon expands

2009-02-01T23:03:00.002+01:00

Monday, January 26, 2009

Rock legend Peter Gabriel's world music festival is expanding into a new location – Abu Dhabi.

Womad, based at Gabriel's studios in Box, is to team up with the oil-rich sheiks of the United Arab Emirates to stage a world music festival in the Arabian desert.

The event, which is to take place in April, will be the first Womad festival in Asia.

The name is already well-established in Spain, the Canary Islands and Adelaide in Australia, with other Womad festivals recently springing up in New Zealand and Italy.

Two years ago, the team brought the original version of the festival back to the West Country with a move to Charlton Park in north Wiltshire.

The new event will be held for three days in the open air at several locations in Abu Dhabi, and Womad is working with the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage.

Womad director Chris Smith said: "The event will bring a whole new cultural experience to the people of Abu Dhabi and will attract an audience from across the Gulf region and beyond."

Jon Hassell and Maarifa Street

2009-02-01T22:49:00.002+01:00

Walker Art Center Presents Visionary Composer/Trumpeter Jon Hassell and Maarifa Street

MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- Björk, Bono, DiFranco, Townsend, Basquiat, and Glass have raved about Jon Hassell, the master innovator and visionary creator of what he calls “worldly music”—a mysterious hybrid of ancient and digital, composed and improvised, Eastern and Western. On his first U.S. tour in 20 years, composer/trumpeter Hassell, with his band Maarifa Street, performs at the Walker Art Center’s William and Nadine McGuire Theater at 8 pm Thursday, February 12. Joining Hassel for this concert are musicians Peter Freeman (bass, laptop), Jan Bang (live sampling), Helge Norbakken (drums), and Kheir-Eddine M’Kachiche (violin).

Early in his career, Hassell worked with Karlheinz Stockhausen, La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and raga master Pandit Pran Nath, whose Hindustani vocal style was transmuted by him into a new trumpet sound. Rock innovators Brian Eno and Peter Gabriel collaborated with Hassell, then steered his ideas into the avant-pop sphere, where they have since evolved into post-jazz and rock forms. His 1999 album, Fascinoma, produced by Ry Cooder, opened a surprising new chapter in his recording career, creating a glorious acoustic sound that reaped critical acclaim. Hassell began touring with Maarifa Street in 2005, playing to European audiences from Norway and Madrid to Rome and Berlin astonished at the discovery of an atmospheric music which defies category: in France, Playboy wrote, “this celestial jazz is amazing”; about his performance at the Vienna Kunsthalle, the cathedral of classical, Der Standard raved, “the concert of the year.”

In the last two decades, Hassell’s connoisseur recordings, built around a completely unique "vocal" trumpet style (developed in studies with Pran Nath), have inspired a generation of collaborators. His trumpet performances show up on records of world stars like Björk, Baaba Maal, and Ibrahim Ferrer. Film and theater credits include scores for Wim Wenders (Million Dollar Hotel, with Bono), The Netherlands Dance Theater (Lurch), Peter Sellars (Zangezi), and the theme for the hit TV show The Practice.

Fascinoma, with bansri flute master Ronu Majumdar and jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson, inspired a new generation of European trumpet players like Arve Henriksen, Erik Truffaz, Paolo Fresu, and Nils Petter Molvaer, who have all acknowledged Hassell’s influence as leading beyond the gravitational pull of Miles Davis.

Montreal, Milan, and Paris concerts became the raw material for magical transformation in the 2005 release Maarifa Street/Magic Realism 2—another difficult-to-define musical fantasy stretched across geography and time, as was its 1983 namesake ka-Darbari-Java/Magic Realism.

In Tsegihi, a choral work for 100 voices and chamber group, premiered in the 11th century Norwich Cathedral in May 2008. This year, a reconnection with the prestigious ECM label has resulted in the just-released Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street and the Return to USA tour—from New York’s Zankel Hall to Royce Hall in Los Angeles—signalling the growing awareness of a master musician and a music without borders whose freshness comes increasingly into focus as time passes.

Congolese warlord to go on trial at int'l court

2009-01-25T16:22:00.003+01:00

The Associated Press, Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Hague, Netherlands: The International Criminal Court's first trial will bring hope to Africa's child soldiers and send a warning to the warlords who recruit them a Congolese activist who helped demobilize young fighters believes.

The world's first permanent war crimes tribunal begins its first trial Monday with Congolese rebel leader Thomas Lubanga facing six charges of recruiting children some as young as 10 years old and sending them to fight and die in battle.
"What gives hope is that this is something that has never happened before," said Bukeni Tete Waruzi, an activist who has helped demobilize hundreds of children from brutal militias in the east of Congo.

"This will be a great lesson. Warlords back in (Congo) will learn that no one is untouchable."

The case is finally getting under way more than six years after the treaty creating the court came into force. While Lubanga is relatively unknown outside Congo, judges at the court are expected to decide soon whether to issue an arrest warrant for a far bigger fish Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, accused by the court's prosecutor of genocide in Darfur.

The U.N. estimates there are 250,000 child soldiers fighting in more than a dozen countries around the world.

A special U.N.-backed court prosecuting atrocities in Sierra Leone's bloody civil war has convicted rebels for using child soldiers, but Monday's trial will be the first international criminal case to focus solely on that crime.

"This first ICC trial makes it clear that the use of children in armed combat is a war crime that can and will be prosecuted at the international level," said Param-Preet Singh, counsel in Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program.

Lubanga, who is expected to enter not-guilty pleas to the charges on Monday morning, insists he was trying to bring peace to Ituri, a region in eastern Congo wracked by years of conflict between rival groups seeking to control its vast mineral wealth.

He was leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots and its armed wing during the time of the alleged crimes in 2002-2003, and he still has strong support among his Hema tribe in Ituri.

Among Hema people, "he is seen ... as someone who has tried to protect his ethnic group," said Waruzi, who now works for Witness, a human rights group founded by musician Peter Gabriel. (...)

The Secret Policeman's Balls DVD

2009-01-25T11:45:00.003+01:00

John Cleese / Shout Factory

In 1975, Monty Python's Cleese instigated the first of a series of benefit concerts that turned little-known Amnesty International into a major human rights organization. The late-night shows featured an all-star lineup of British comedians and musicians, from Peter Cook to Pete Townshend and Peter Gabriel. They also inspired Live Aid. This superb three-disc set has five shows and a documentary. 510 minutes.

Hear the World Magazine Special Issue Celebrates "The Voice"

2009-01-25T11:25:00.004+01:00

Elle Macpherson, Peter Gabriel, Takahashi Murakami and Frank Sinatra are highlighted in special edition focused on the unique and myriad ways we make ourselves heard

Stäfa, Switzerland (PRWEB) January 23, 2009 -- The latest issue of Hear the World magazine takes an in-depth look at what it means to have (and hear) a voice. From appreciating an artist's unique perspective to appreciating the science that allows each of us to sound unique, the special issue addresses a variety of ways in which our individual "voices" resonate in our daily lives.

Hear the World, the magazine for the culture of hearing, is supported by the global Hear the World initiative, which is dedicated to raising awareness about the topics of hearing and hearing loss - a problem that affects 10% of the world's population. It utilizes a culture and lifestyle platform to address the topic of hearing. Always linking content to the subject of hearing and sound, the magazine's features focus on a broad range of topics, from music, to art, to nature, to anything else that makes life more beautiful.

Recent Golden Globe-nominee Peter Gabriel is on the cover of the issue. Inside, Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, artist Takahashi Murakami, crooner Frank Sinatra, architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and German actor Sky du Mont are featured, among others.

The latest issue of Hear the World also features a new series of photographs taken by musician and photographer Bryan Adams in his role as official photographer for Hear the World. Images of Elle Macpherson, Lenny Kravitz, Jude Law, John Legend, Emilia Fox, and Charlie Siem are all captured in a pose of conscious hearing. And for the first time, Adams has contributed a portrait he shot of himself in the signature Hear the World pose.

Adams has photographed more than 30 international ambassadors for the initiative. Each of these artists lends his or her name to the initiative to help raise awareness about the importance of hearing as a global issue.

Hear the World is published quarterly and is available at select newsstands, such as Hudson News, and at airports internationally for $8 per issue. A free copy of the magazine can be ordered at www.hear-the-world.com. Net proceeds of the magazine benefit the Hear the World Foundation.

About Hear the World

Hear the World is a global initiative by hearing device manufacturer Phonak created to raise awareness about the importance of hearing. The initiative calls attention to the social and emotional impact of hearing loss and addresses prevention of and solutions to a problem that affects more than 10% of the world's population. In the context of the Hear the World initiative, Phonak has established the non-profit Hear the World Foundation to improve the quality of life of people with hearing loss through financial and technical assistance. The foundation is committed to the prevention of hearing loss as well as the support of people with hearing loss and their families.

About Phonak

Headquartered near Zurich, Switzerland, Phonak has developed, produced and globally distributed state-of-the-art hearing systems and wireless devices for more than 50 years. The combination of expertise in hearing technology, mastery in acoustics and strong cooperation with hearing care professionals allows Phonak to significantly improve people's hearing ability and speech understanding and therefore their quality of life. Phonak offers a complete range of digital hearing instruments, along with complementary wireless communication systems. With 2,500 employees worldwide, Phonak drives innovation and sets new industry benchmarks regarding miniaturization and performance. For more information please visit www.hear-the-world.com or www.phonak.com.

Gary Go - Wonderful Video

2009-01-25T11:09:00.003+01:00

On Contactmusic.com :

Video for Wonderful from Gary Go.

Gary Go releases his new single 'Wonderful' on February 16 2009 through Decca Records. When Gary applied for a job at Peter Gabriel's recording studio 'Real World' in Bath, Peter told him he should concentrate at working on his writing. Those words stuck with Gary and quickly he was picked up by a record label. Gary Go will release his self-titled, self-produced album in early 2009. Gary will also be playing a few dates throughout February.
7 Feb Glasgow O2 Academy Glasgow
8 Feb Manchester Apollo Manchester
9 Feb Bristol Academy Bristol
11 Feb Wolverhampton Civic Hall Wolverhampton
12 Feb Roundhouse, London London
13 Feb Roundhouse, London London
17 Feb Luminaire, London (HEADLINE SHOW)

Gary Go - Wonderful

Click Here for all you need to know about: Gary Go

'Superman' on a crusade to find justice

2009-01-25T10:32:00.004+01:00

by FIONA MACDONALD, Metro.co.uk, Friday, January 23, 2009

Carne Ross doesn't dress in a pants-over-tights combo - not in public, anyway - but there's more than a whiff of the Caped Crusader about the former Foreign Office diplomat.

Since resigning in 2004 (after 15 years), Ross has offered his services to marginalised groups around the globe, helping governments in exile, states seeking independence and divided countries attempting to re-unify. Think Ghostbusters but with a suitcase full of UN resolutions instead of a proton pack.

Ross set up his not-for-profit consultancy Independent Diplomat four years ago. Responsible for Britain's Middle East policy at the UN Security Council from 1998 to 2002, he left the Foreign Office after giving evidence to the Butler inquiry into intelligence on Iraq.
'According to what I'd seen in the many years I'd been reading intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, there was no way it could sustain the claims the government was making,' says Ross speaking in New York, where he's now based.

'Also, I didn't think the war was legal in terms of the UN resolutions - and I felt the government had ignored available alternatives to war, such as a tougher stance on Iraq's illegal oil exports. Blair and Bush claimed that sanctions were falling apart, and this was simply not true.'

On secondment to the UN in Kosovo at the time of his resignation, Ross soon picked up his first client as a freelance diplomat. 'The Kosovan government had to deal with a highly complicated international diplomatic process to determine its final status,' he says.

'They weren't allowed a diplomatic service of their own and yet were required to navigate this obscure process.' After launching Independent Diplomat, Ross advised the Kosovars until independence early last year.

Other clients include a government in Eastern Europe trying to get into the EU; the government of Somaliland (a democratic state in the north of Somalia seeking international recognition); the government in exile of the Burmese opposition; the Polisario front in Western Sahara; and the government of Northern Cyprus which is recognised only by Turkey and is currently going through a UN talks process about re-unification.

Working on a freelance basis has convinced Ross of the need for a cultural shift in diplomacy. 'Many diplomats are operating in a kind of bubble, in real isolation from the problems they're grappling with,' he says. 'I felt that acutely as a British diplomat. Somehow, discussion in the Security Council was bloodless and boring, and yet we were dealing with genocide and invasions, issues of incredible human drama. That always bothered me.'

Bridging the gap

International Diplomat (the first of its kind) is a way of bridging that gap. 'When I was a British diplomat, I always liked to think what a nice guy I was and how helpful I was to the poor benighted people on the other side of the table - whether it was the PLO, the Polisario or the Kosovars - but at the end of the day, I was always working for London. That's what I was paid to do, but it meant that if I was giving them supposedly neutral advice about how to advance their cause, it was always coloured by what was best for us.'

Now, Ross is on the other side of the table. 'I'm not just a Western diplomat patronisingly telling them the way things work; I'm working for them. It's a different world view if you're a liberation movement based in tented refugee camps in the Sahara desert.'

Yet his former experience can be invaluable. 'One of the primary values of what we do is that people will tell us things that they won't tell our clients to their faces. It's just something about human nature, that humans will say what they really think to others rather than directly to people.'

Carne Ross is also pressing for UN reform, after arranging for the Kosovan prime minister to attend a meeting of the UN Security Council (SC) for the first time. 'I noticed that all too often the places we were discussing weren't actually present. I felt that people were getting a raw deal because they weren't properly involved in the diplomatic process about their country.'

New initiative

He's now working on an initiative called the Universal Right of Address. 'It would mean any party to a dispute being discussed by the UNSC would have the right to address the council,' he says. 'It makes obvious, logical sense, and would be easy to implement, but that doesn't mean they'll do it - because the UN is not really about making fair, just and right decisions; it's about status and power.

'For instance, as a big Serbia ally, Russia had major objections to Kosovo attending the meetings. But Russia is now keen to put other non-state actors in front of the SC, such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia, because of events in Georgia. 'Meanwhile, the Americans wanted the Kosovars there because they could support Kosovan independence, but they don't want South Ossetia. China doesn't like anybody. They don't want Tibet or the Xinjiang Province to get the right to speak.'

If Carne Ross is the Caped Crusader, there's one organisation that could lay claim to being an Avengers-style league of superheros. Informally created in 2001, after Peter Gabriel and Richard Branson discussed the need for a gathering of world leaders to tackle seemingly intractable problems, The Elders is a roving team of Nobel Prize-winners and national heroes aiming to spread peace wherever they go.

Powerful line-up

With a line-up including former South African president Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US President Jimmy Carter, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Burmese human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi, it's based on the traditional model of village elders, who resolve conflicts in their local communities.

Except these conflicts are slightly bigger than the usual stolen goat: in the past year, various Elders have gone on missions to Sudan, Cyprus and the Middle East. A planned visit to Zimbabwe had to be cancelled after they were denied visas by president Robert Mugabe. They insisted they weren't planning to get involved in any political negotiations, though - something they view as an advantage.

At the official launch of the Elders in 2007, Mandela argued they were free from the external pressures typically associated with international bodies. 'The structures we have for dealing with these problems are often tied down by political, economic and geographic constraints,' he said.

And, in a line suggesting he could also see the superhero connection, Mandela added: 'The Elders can become a fiercely independent and positive force for good.' Now they just need a few special powers.

www.theelders.org

Reactions from Oscar nominees

2009-01-25T00:23:00.001+01:00

Reuters, Fri Jan 23, 2009

(...) Peter Gabriel had never received an Oscar nomination before Thursday, though he has been nominated three times for a Golden Globe. His "WALL-E" songwriting partner and the movie's score composer, Thomas Newman, has now been nominated 10 times, engendering comparisons to Susan Lucci among his friends. "It never gets tired, and it's every bit as thrilling," Newman said. Gabriel, however, noted that they needed to shake off their bad luck, and told of a woman in Paris who tried to get married for 20 years, to no avail. On the counsel of a friend, she threw herself a fake wedding, inviting all her friends and drafted a fake husband. "Within four months, she met her man and had a real marriage. And they are still together. So what we have to do is get fake Oscars on both of our mantelpieces and visualize (the win)." Gabriel also said he didn't know how he was going to celebrate the news, " but it will involve alcohol."

Oscar nominee reactions

2009-01-25T00:05:00.005+01:00

By ANGELA DAWSON, The Hour, Posted on 01/22/2009

(...) "It's always exciting and particularly with 'Wall-E,' because I worked on it for so many years. I think I started in late 2005, so it's kind of satisfying to see there's some recognition to that end. We sensed from the beginning that this animated movie was going to be different, but you never know how it's going to turn out. It always was a risky thing. Along the way, there were moments of doubt and moments of great pride. Ultimately, as it got close to being completed, all of us realized it was working. By the end of the movie you were just so involved with these two robots who were in love with each other. I went to England to meet with (co-writer) Peter Gabriel for a short period of time and we kind of hammered out the basic form of a song in about a day and a half. We talked from time to time and shared ideas from time to time digitally, and we kind of worked from there. We played the song for Andrew Stanton and the other people at Pixar and they approved it and liked it, and Peter did some additional work and we backed and forthed it and the song was kind of born." -- Thomas Newman, Best Song nominee for "Down to Earth" (with Peter Gabriel) and Best Score nominee for "Wall-E"

Abu Dhabi to Host  Ethnic Music Festival Womad

2009-01-24T23:56:00.005+01:00

Silvia Radan, Khaleej Times, 23 January 2009

ABU DHABI - One of the largest ethnic music festivals in the world will be held in Abu Dhabi in April. The three-day presentation will mark the festival’s debut in the Middle East.

Spectators enjoy one of the WOMAD concerts.—Supplied PhotoAn agreement to this effect was recently signed by the World of Music Arts and Dance (WOMAD) and the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH). According to the ADACH, the dates and list of musicians have not been finalised, but the festival will take place in the open, most likely in three locations in Abu Dhabi. “There will be performances from North Africa, ME, India, Pakistan, as well as other parts of the world,” said Isadora Papadrakakis, from the Arts and Culture Department of ADACH.

Founded as an organisation in 1980 in England to promote music of other cultures, the first WOMAD festival took place in 1982 and saw the reunion of Rock star Peter Gabriel, founder and chairman of WOMAD with Genesis, his former band in order to raise additional funds for the first 1982 festival.

Libel Arts: Wayne White

2009-01-24T23:43:00.003+01:00

Filter Magazine, Thursday, January 22, 2009

Having worked on “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” in 1986 as a set and puppet designer (winning three Emmy awards for his work) and also art directing Peter Gabriel’s smash-hit video, Big Time, Wayne White’s career has been both prolific and evolving.

These days, however, White is turning heads with his novel, though some say trendy, re-workings of cheap landscape paintings found in thrift stores and yard sales across the U.S. Taking banal landscape paintings and then overlaying his own phrases and lettering onto the work, White creates new art from old—and in many cases—unremarkable paintings. White’s work is lately getting placed in not only galleries, but fine art museums as well. And if you get the chance, definitely make a trip to see the work with your own two eyes.

And if you have never seen White’s glossy 3-D paintings, perhaps you’re familiar with another one of his works…the album cover for Lambchop ’s 2000 Nixon LP, featuring White’s painting of the same name.

And just for old time’s sake, how about a little Big Time for good measure? Long live Peter Gabriel:

Concert du Hadouk Trio au Mail de Soissons

2009-01-22T22:34:00.002+01:00

Hadouk : mot valise composé de : Hajouj ou gumbri basse africaine et de Doudouk hautbois arménien.

Bien plus qu'un concept fédérateur, l'utopie est l'essence même du trio Hadouk, sa nature profonde, sa force vive depuis plus de dix ans, son âme insaisissable aussi. Car Hadouk est un monde par lui-même, fait de racines aériennes et de terres rêvées, un continent imprévu qui pointe entre l'Afrique et l'Orient, un rivage improbable qui s'avance entre jazz et world, une véritable rose des vents qui se dessine sur le portulan des musiques du monde. Bref, Hadouk c'est une cosmologie en soi, avec ses constellations et ses horizons libres, ses lignes de grande transhumance et ses astres de première magnitude.

Charmeur de vents, Didier Malherbe attrape de son phrasé inimitable, les mélodies que zéphyrs et alizés lui apportent de toutes les latitudes. Cofondateur du mythique Gong avec Daevid Allen, il défend ensuite bec et anche la trille alerte et le slap éolien auprès de Jacques Higelin et de Brigitte Fontaine, de Robert Wyatt et de Pierre Bensusan. Depuis longtemps, à côté du saxophone et de la flûte, Didier apprivoise la bourrasque et cisèle la volute dans ces exquis réceptacles à turbulences que sont le bansouri, les ocarinas, et bien sûr le doudouk, hautbois arménien en bois d'abricotier au son doux et pensif. Grand connaisseur du roseau et infatigable babilleur, il a également publié un recueil de sonnets intitulé L'Anche des Métamorphoses.

Méhariste éclairé, Loy Ehrlich a été de toutes les équipées trans-sahariennes, aux côtés de Youssou N'Dour, Touré Kunda, Geoffrey Oryema, mais aussi de Peter Gabriel. Poly-instrumentiste, fin joueur de kora et de sanza, spécialiste du hajouj, la basse des gnawas, Loy a également mis dans ses claviers toutes les épices des marchés du monde. On le connaît aussi comme arrangeur et producteur, ainsi que programmateur du festival d'Essaouira.

Bourlingueur invétéré, Steve Shehan promène quant à lui son grand sac à rythmes sur toutes les coutures de la planète, pour en capter les forces sismiques. On l'a entendu avec Paul Simon, John McLaughlin, Paul McCartney, Christian Vander, Brian Eno et tant d'autres... Bois et argiles, cuirs et métaux n'ont plus de secret pour lui. Car Steve joue avec le temps comme avec la matière, et c'est le diaphragme du monde qui bat entre ses peaux. Il a par ailleurs à son actif plus d'une douzaine d'albums.

Après avoir célébré la chimère totémique (Shamanimal) et s'être hissé au sommet du perpétuel présent (Now), Hadouk emprunte désormais l'orbe altière du gyroscope cosmique. Après l'amble du désert et le groove végétal, voici le swing météorique ! Placé sous les auspices de la toupie céleste, ce cinquième album fait ainsi la part belle aux élans tourbillonnants, valse, pulse ternaire, danse spiralée et autres envolées giratoires.

De nouveaux instruments ont rejoint la panoplie de nos chasseurs de sons : khen, orgue à bouche du Laos, gumbass assemblant la caisse du guimbri et le manche de la basse électrique, hang au croisement chatoyant du steeldrum et du gamelan . Autant de territoires sonores qui s'inventent dans la distance prise depuis le terroir d'origine...

Hommage de trois navigateurs au long cours, à celui qui fut le pionnier de la world music à travers son concept de Quatrième Monde, Hadouk invite le trompettiste américain Jon Hassell sur trois morceaux : dans un ultime envoi, l'utopie rejoint alors l'orbite des grands empires imaginaires. Entre toupies et utopies, voici donc une nouvelle série de belles tourneries et de rêveries nomades, qui enlacent et emportent sur l'autre face du monde.

Bruno Heuzé?source : happy aisne

Green business in full blossom on Mare Island

2009-01-20T23:36:00.002+01:00

By RACHEL RASKIN-ZRIHEN/Times-Herald staff writer, Posted: 01/19/2009

Besides being international musical superstars, what do Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney and Madonna have in common?

They've all been clients of Vallejo's Suite Treatments owner Jacqueline Barsotti of Vallejo, who provides "green" event and dressing room decor for entertainers and others. Suite Treatments is in The Coal Shed artist's studio on Mare Island, which serves as Barsotti's home base, though much of her work involves travel, she said. Originally from the Concord-Pleasant Hill area, Barsotti, 41, said she moved to Vallejo by way of Yosemite in 2005. "I chose Vallejo to start my business because Mare Island is a great place to have a business," she said.

Divorced and with no children, Barsotti said she got her start pampering rock stars when she worked for Bill Graham Presents. Her office is lined with in-concert photos of superstars like Sting, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Matthews and the Judds, which Barsotti said she shot herself in her Bill Graham days.

"I started as a runner and worked my way up to producer and then I decided to go out on my own," she said. "I learned that many entertainers want plants in their dressing rooms, and I knew that was a business I could do." Now, she and her team create "green," relaxing spaces for special events and dressing rooms and has more than 150 clients, she said. She's handling decorations for Willie Nelson's event at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium in honor of Barack Obama's presidential inauguration, she said.

Barsotti said she's not star-struck, is rarely interested in meeting the clients and never asks for autographs. She's much more interested in subtly sending "green" messages wherever she goes "I'm a green business," Barsotti said. "I run my vehicles on bio-diesel, and if someone wants me to advertise, I ask a few questions, like do they print on recycled paper. This can sometimes create a chain reaction."

Though unwilling to disclose any really juicy stories, Barsotti said when working with stars and other important people, one can't help but learn things. "Peter Gabriel was awesome, a very nice person," she said. "The Rolling Stones are easier to work with than you'd think." One of her anecdotes involves rap artist Snoop Dog's six-foot bong. "Snoop Dog has his candy, and (last year) we made this huge bong to hold it," she said. "He loved it, and now it's on tour with him."

Some stars are notorious for making what seem to be strange, unreasonable demands, but often there's a method to that madness, Barsotti said. "Sometimes they ask for difficult-to-find things to see if the promoter cares enough to read the rider," she said, adding that her firm is most often hired by promoters seeking to pamper a favored client. The world's water has been among Barsotti's main focuses since her only brother drowned in the Napa River after a solo vehicle accident in 2005. He was 31. "I took his ashes to the Ganges River - the holiest river in India - and that started me thinking about the state of our water," she said. "I needed to get people to do things differently, and if artists do things differently, people will pay attention."

Another defining moment in Barsotti's life was seeing her grandparents lose everything in the Oakland Hills fire. "It helped me realize that you don't really need anything," she said. In addition to her Suite Treatments work, Barsotti hopes to join Valcore Recycling's board of directors and is involved in a planned bio-diesel manufacturing business coming to Vallejo, she said. "That's the future. It's very exciting," she said. Valcore's Jane Bogner is equally excited about Barsotti. "She has a wonderful green company and an incredible green spirit and such energy, it's really exciting to be around her," Bogner said.

Though she works with the rich and famous, Barsotti said she also does private parties and events and would love to find more work locally. No budget is too small, she said. "The rock 'n' roll industry taught me the concept of 'cheap and cheerful,' " she said. Even as a child, Barsotti said, she knew she was meant to be involved with the music industry."I had boyfriends who were in bands, and I just always liked the atmosphere," she said. "I think it's the vibration from the crowd. They give off more joy than anything."

Winners announced at Independent Music Awards

2009-01-20T23:22:00.003+01:00

by Larry Rodgers - Jan. 16, 2009, The Arizona Republic

Folk-rocker Martin Sexton, late blues master Jeff Healey, British crooner Jamie Lidell and banjo wizard Tony Trischka are among this year's winners in the eighth annual Independent Music Awards.

The awards were handed out this week in 50 album, song and design categories. Judges included recording stars Peter Gabriel, Roger Daltrey, Suzanne Vega, Buddy Guy, Keith Urban and George Jones.

Sexton's career-spanning Solo CD won in the Live Performance Album category.

Healey, who died in March, won Best Blues Album for his 2008 release, Mess of Blues.

Trischka won Best Americana Album for Territory, and Lidell won Best Pop/Rock album with Jim.

Denmark's A Kid Hereafter won for Best Punk Album with Defenders of the Faith, and Rebecca Martin won the Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter category with her latest CD, The Growing Season.

The IMAs are produced by Music Resource Group, publisher of The Musician's Atlas and the AtlasOnline Web site.

Full list of winners: independentmusicawards.com.

A Column About African Pop Music

2009-01-20T23:14:00.003+01:00

John Doran, The Quietus, January 16th, 2009

A Column About African Pop Music: First Up, Nigeria And Mali

The Quietus starts a new regular column on the music of Africa with a look at the sounds coming out of Nigeria and Mali

In order to kickstart this irregular column about pop music either from or directly inspired by the African continent, it's necessary to cover some of the amazing reissues and new albums that have been out in the last few months - if only to convey something of the Kanutian task at hand.

Or perhaps this should be described as Sisyphean - as in pushing a boulder up a hill for all eternity. If someone asks you what sort of music that you're into and you say 'African', it's pretty much like being asked what you want to eat in a restaurant and saying: “Oh, you know, some food." It is this bewildering panoply of taxonomically confusing sub genres and categories that probably allowed the survival of the understandable but totally useless category 'World Music' for so long. As much as the manic culture of album reissues might be keen to ignore the saturation of the market in music; the Foppification of record collections and the disastrous cultural strip mining effected by peer to peer file sharing, in this arena it is creating sizeable waves of interest in wider pop and rock fans.

This would have been unlikely ten years ago and unthinkable twenty years ago. Mainstream perceptions of Africa as a sonic continent are no longer seen as a beam of light blasted out of Jon Hassell's trumpet, filtered through Peter Gabriel's goatee beard, refracted through Paul Simon's spectacles and bounced off Brian Eno's big shiny head.

This internet/reissue culture has allowed the vast African landmass to slowly fragment and shatter - in front of our eyes, not just into composite countries, but into cities and towns and across class and religious divides. Again, I've got to stress that if you're a specialist consumer, you'll probably find this tedious to say the least but for the rest of us, seeing these new musical vistas, suggesting themselves, slowly feathering into view, then finally achieving crystal clarity is magnificent to say the least.(....)

Thoughts from The Golden Globes Red Carpet

2009-01-12T22:14:00.003+01:00

My favorite pre-show moment: Peter Gabriel quipped:"This is my favorite awards show: it's short, there's food and plenty of alcohol," then just when I'm thinking why am I watching interviews about party insights, he goes ahead and talks about "The Elders," a project he's doing with Nelson Mandela and others: "If they can connect people on the ground who are suffering with people who can make a phone call to anyone and get it picked up, maybe we can get something done"...

Peter Gabriel Talks About The Elders

2009-01-12T22:08:00.001+01:00

January 12, 2009 by Tim Saunders

Rock star and humanitarian Peter Gabriel has commented on the inspiration behind forming The Elders, the group of public figures he established with Richard Branson to solve global figures.

“People have lost trust in a lot of institutions around the world, but they still have faith in certain of key individuals,“ said the 58-year-old. “We felt that if we could get a group of elder statesmen and women together, they could have an influence and leverage and help on a few situations. We went to Nelson Mandela and he set it up a couple of years ago. We have Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan. They can connect people on the ground who are suffering with people who can make a phone call.”

The Global Elders group was set up in 2007 to bring “almost 1,000 years of collective experience” to work on solutions for seemingly insurmountable problems like climate change, HIV/AIDS, and poverty, and “use their political independence to help resolve some of the world’s most intractable conflicts.” There are currently 12 active members, including Jimmy Carter and Aung San Suu Kyi. They have launched peace missions in Darfur, the Middle East, and Zimbabwe.

More information about the work of the Global Elders can be found at their official website.

The music behind movies

2009-01-12T21:46:00.002+01:00

By A. ASOHAN,thestaronline ,Monday January 12, 2009

(...)The Last Temptation of Christ (Peter Gabriel)

Speaking of what idiots we critics can be at times ....

Okay, I know there was a great hullabaloo over what Entertainment Weekly ranked as No.6 of the 25 most controversial movies of all time. Yes, it was an ambitious and contentious movie, with Willem Dafoe as a very human Jesus who has a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey). Yes, the religious folk were mightily irritated, and it was banned in many countries, including Malaysia.

I really wanted to watch it in 1988, but only managed to do so more than a decade later. I was mightily unimpressed.

Indeed, the fact that it was originally envisioned as a US$14mil movie but was finally shot with a US$7mil budget shows ... very badly. The sets were horrible.

The acting? We’re talking a stellar cast here, some of the finest actors of their generation, directed by a maestro, Martin Scorsese. So what if in true Hollywood fashion, the bad guys (the Romans) had British accents (including one David Bowie in a Pontius Pilate role originally slated for Sting) and the good guys spoke like Americans?

But when did Jews of olden days speak like modern New Yorkers ... what were you thinking, Martin?

Never mind. The Last Temptation of Christ had great music, composed by former Genesis frontman and creative force Peter Gabriel, who was deep in his “world music” phase. It was so good that he worked further on the music to release an album about a year later called Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ.

Some say it’s his best work ever, drawing from inspirations and influences from all over the world, but especially from the Middle-East and Africa. It introduced the greater world at large to such artistes as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Youssou N’Dour, and should be in the personal collection of anybody who calls himself or herself a fan of world music.

And as any role-playing gamer will tell you, it’s perfect for a Dark Sun campaign. (No, I’m not going to bother explaining the allusion to non-RPGers – it would take too long.) (...)

il est court,il y a de la bouffe et de l'alcool

2009-01-12T21:33:00.002+01:00

PHOTO: AP

Paul Journet, La Presse, Le lundi 12 janvier 2009

Slumdog Millionaire et Winslet brillent aux Golden Globes

L'équipe de Slumdog Millionaire est repartie avec les trophées du meilleur drame, du meilleur réalisateur et du meilleur scénario. On voit ici, tout sourire, le réalisateur Danny Boyle et les acteurs Freida Pinto et Dev Patel.

Les 66es Golden Globes auront été ceux de Slumdog Millionaire et de Kate Winslet. Le film a gagné les prestigieux prix de meilleur drame, de la meilleure réalisation et du meilleur scénario. Quant à l'actrice anglaise, elle a réussi un rare doublé?: meilleur premier rôle (Revolutionary Road) et meilleur rôle de soutien (The Reader), catégorie drame.

«Pourquoi c'est mon gala préféré? Parce qu'il est court et parce qu'il y a de la bouffe et de l'alcool», a dit Peter Gabriel, dimanche, en direct du tapis rouge des Golden Globes, décernés par l'Association de la presse étrangère de Hollywood. (...)

Miley Cyrus: Golden Globes Pre-Party Girl

2009-01-11T23:30:00.002+01:00

Mingling with fellow guests, Miss Cyrus chatted it up with Peter Gabriel and Golden Globe nominee Jeff Steele, also joining her parents for a portrait family photo.

Thousands to march through London over Middle East conflict

2009-01-11T23:14:00.002+01:00

Rashid Razaq and Jack Lefley, Evening Standard ,09.01.09

Thousands of protesters will take to the streets this weekend in demonstrations over Israel's assault on Gaza. A national demonstration against the attack will march from Speakers' Corner at Hyde Park tomorrow. It will be followed on Sunday by a pro-Israel rally in Trafalgar Square and march. The protests follow a series of demonstrations outside the Israeli Embassy in Kensington which have led to small businesses in the area losing thousands of pounds.

The pro-Palestinian demonstration is expected to be joined by stars including singers Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel, actors Corin and Vanessa Redgrave, and Children's Laureate Michael Rosen. Their march will end near the Israeli Embassy in Palace Green. The Board of Deputies of British Jews has planned a rally to call for peace from 11am to 12pm on Sunday in Trafalgar Square. Half an hour later protesters will congregate at Marble Arch and walk to Belgrave Square.

Last night, hundreds gathered at the Friends Meeting House in central London. Speakers condemned the Israeli and British governments, with former Labour Cabinet minister Tony Benn calling for the Israeli ambassador to the UK to be expelled. The protests, which have seen up to 2,000 pro-Palestinian supporters bring Kensington High Street to a standstill, have affected independent traders who have reported takings down by more than 50 per cent. Many have struggled to pay staff and cover overheads.

Residents want the protests moved to Kensington Gardens or Hyde Park. Maryam Taghavi, owner of Foubert's Café, said: "We couldn't open on Saturday or Sunday." Craig Teasdale, manager of Brasserie Gerard, said his restaurant had had virtually no bookings since the protests began on 28 December. Police said they have had talks with organisers, but there are no plans to relocate the demonstrations.

Activists protesting invasion put best foot forward

2009-01-11T23:02:00.001+01:00

By Alice Johnson, Staff Reporter, Published: January 08, 2009

Dubai: A collection of old shoes is due to be delivered to the Israeli embassy in London this weekend as part of an organised protest against the invasion of Gaza.

The organisers of the protest, who call themselves the 'Stop the War Coalition', say they are inspired by "the spirit of Iraqi journalist Muntadar Al Zaidi, who used his shoes to protest George Bush's war crimes".

Organisers are encouraging protesters to bring along old shoes, which will be delivered to the embassy at the conclusion of the march that begins at Speaker's Corner (London's dedicated protest platform) in Hyde Park at 12.30pm tomorrow.

Shoes were also collected after a January 4 protest march, with the aim of delivering them to Downing Street. However, after being prevented from "delivering" the items, protesters flung the footwear in the general direction of Downing Street.

A host of British actors, musicians, politicians and writers have added their names to the forthcoming demonstration, including politician George Galloway, who was reportedly injured when a previous protest against the Gaza attacks on January 4 led to clashes with police.

Other famous names being associated with the action include singers Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel; politician Tony Benn; musicians Michael Nyman and Nigel Kennedy; actress Vanessa Redgrave; and comedians Alexei Sayle, Mark Thomas and Billy Bailey.

The Stop the War Coalition has organised daily protests outside the Israeli Embassy since January 5.

PM briefed

Community warning

A group of prominent Muslims who advise the government on security issues have written to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warning that Israel's invasion of Gaza could fuel violent Islamist extremism. Anger within Britain's Muslim communities had reached "acute levels of intensity", the letter said, calling for pressure on the US to change its approach to the crisis. "The Israeli government's use of disproportionate force to combat threats to its security has revived extremist groups and empowered their message of violence," it said.

momix goes tropical at warner

2009-01-11T17:46:00.004+01:00

BY BRYNN MANDEL REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN, Thursday, January 8, 2009

Dancing dinosaurs and fluttering human-sized flowers invade Torrington's Warner Theatre Friday night when the Washington, Conn.-based dance troupe Momix debuts its latest, fantastical and nature-inspired piece.

"Botanica" flits through the seasons and the natural world, as envisioned through the prism of artistic director and founder Moses Pendleton's imagination.

Partial to illusionist imagery, the inventive Pendleton employs props paired with his dancers' grace and near-superhuman strength to create otherworldly scenes. PVC craftily helps a dancer contort into impossible shapes. A beaded curtain-cum-headdress spins with a dancer's momentum into a glinting cobweb.

Set to a score that ranges from birdsong to Peter Gabriel, the dancers embody earthworms beneath winter's hard shell and birds and bees doing a dance of pollination and procreation.

As creators of several recent "green-themed" projects, including a commission by Mercedes-Benz, Momix adopted a green concept for "Botanica" by reusing props and items used in previous shows.

The 28-year-old dance company that resembles a moving cross between Cirque du Soleil, David Copperfield and a Rene Magritte painting tours internationally, and will bring "Botanica" to Italy after its local run.

Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets, $29.50 to $50, available online at www.warnertheatre.org, by calling (860) 489-7180 or by visiting the Warner's box office, 68 Main St., Torrington.

Robert Lepage : Le Trident accueille Le Dragon bleu

2009-01-11T17:15:00.002+01:00

Photo LE JOURNAL DE QUÉBEC – DIDIER DEBUSSCHERE

Robert Lepage et Marie Michaud se retrouvent pour Le Dragon bleu, présenté au Trident à compter de jeudi.

Serge Drouin, Le journal de Québec, le 11-01-2009

Après le méga-succès de ses pièces La Face cachée de la Lune et Le Projet Andersen, Robert Lepage revient au Trident pour présenter sa nouvelle création, Le Dragon Bleu, qui prendra l’affiche ce jeudi à la salle Octave-Crémazie du Grand Théâtre de Québec.

Pour ce retour dans nos murs, Robert Lepage retrouve Marie Michaud, sa complice de longue date. En effet, il y a quelque 25 ans, le duo avait proposé au public La Trilogie des dragons. Les compères se retrouvent comme auteurs et acteurs pour cette prochaine production du Trident. «Plus de 20 ans après La Trilogie, on avait envie de refaire quelque chose ensemble pour voir où l’histoire nous amènerait et où nous sommes rendus comme artistes», confiait récemment Lepage au Journal de Québec.

De toute évidence, le public est heureux des retrouvailles du duo puisque les représentations du 13 janvier au 7 février affichent toutes complet, même la supplémentaire du 14 février, en après-midi, en plein coeur du Carnaval de Québec, est à guichets fermés. (...)

Peter Gabriel Would Have 'No Objection' To Full Genesis Reunion

2009-01-10T11:27:00.004+01:00

Photo by: WENN, atricle by Jason Gregory, Gigwise, Wednesday, January 07, 2009

He speaks about old band...Former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel has said he would have “no real objection” to a full reunion of the band. Gabriel didn't take part in the group's 2007 tour, which included 20 dates around the world. At the time, he said he was “happy” that drummer Phil Collins, bassist Mike Rutherford and guitarist Tony Banks were touring, but wanted to concentrate on his own material. However, in a new interview with Word, Gabriel said: "In principle I have no real objection to playing with Genesis at some point in the future." Gabriel hasn't performed with his former band since he left the group in 1975.

Un retour de Genesis au complet?

2009-01-10T10:41:00.006+01:00

Photographer: Insidefoto / PR Photos
Scoop People le 09/01/09

C'est en tout cas ce que Peter Gabriel a laissé sous-entendre à ses fans! En effet, le chanteur originel qui avait quitté le groupe en 1975, cédant sa place au batteur Phil Collins, a récemment déclaré "Il se peut qu'on se reforme avec le groupe Genesis." Le groupe s'était déjà reformé en 2007 pour une tournée mondiale avec Tony Banks, Phil Collins, et Mike Rutherford mais sans Peter Gabriel, qui n'en avait pas eu la possibilité. Tout comme AC/DC, il se pourrait que le groupe de rock se reforme donc complètement, puisqu'il a ajouté "Je n'ai aucune objection à rejoindre Genesis à l'avenir." Et tout comme les fans de AC/DC, les fans de Genesis risquent d'exploser de joie à l'annonce officielle de ce retour tant attendu!

Gabriel : "full Genesis reunion is still possible"

2009-01-07T12:02:00.005+01:00

Peter Gabriel has fuelled reports of a full Genesis reunion after telling a British music magazine he has "no real objection" to touring with his former bandmates.

Gabriel insists other commitments forced him to step back from a 2007 Genesis reunion, which became a 20-city world tour, but he remains interested in a get together.

The Sledgehammer hitmaker tells Mojo magazine, "In principle I have no real objection to playing with Genesis at some point in the future."

If he does take part in a reunion, it will be the first time he has officially performed with his bandmates since he quit the group in the mid-1970s.

Contactmusic.com 07/01/2009

B&W Music Club Offers Lossless Audio Downloads

2009-01-02T15:25:00.003+01:00

Posted by Admin on Thursday, January 01, 2009

Bowers & Wilkins and Peter Gabriel lead the fight for high-quality downloads with lossless music service.

Bowers & Wilkins has teamed up with Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios to offer the world's first music download service that is about quality rather than quantity. Music Club members can download a specially recorded album each month. The album is DRM-free and delivered in either the Apple Lossless or FLAC formats, providing members with a true CD-quality recording.

The B&W Music Club is a unique partnership between Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios and Bowers & Wilkins. Part of B&W's Society of Sound (http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/sos) an online community for audiophiles and music fans, the B&W Music Club offers exclusive monthly albums to its members, which are downloadable in the Apple Lossless or FLAC formats to provide CD-quality sound.

For a small annual or six-monthly subscription fee, B&W Music Club offers one specially commissioned album each month, recorded in dedicated live sessions at Real World Studios near Bath in the UK. Albums are available to download for one month only and are provided without Digital Rights Management (DRM) to enable use across a variety of playback media.

Alongside B&W Music Club, B&W's radically updated and expanded Society of Sound website is created for people with a passion for sound. As well as blogs and feature articles, Society of Sound features regular podcasts hosted by Martyn Ware (Heaven 17, Human League) and video interviews with its Fellows including; Real World's Peter Gabriel, composer James Newton Howard, jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and the seminal British designer Kenneth Grange, amongst others.

Dan Haikin, Brand Director, B&W said at the launch: "B&W's business is built on being passionate about music and sound quality. In Society of Sound we have created a meeting place for people who share our passions. The B&W Music Club takes this a step further by providing exclusive opportunities for people to hear an eclectic mix of new music from a diverse range of artists at super-high fidelity."

"For many people today, music has become a background noise or commodity. The MP3 revolution has placed convenience over quality. B&W Music Club redresses this by creating exclusive live albums from a hand-picked selection of leading musicians as high quality downloads."

The music offered on B&W Music Club spans many different genres and styles from new and established artists from all across the world. Two months after the live sessions are first offered to B&W Music Club members, B&W returns the rights for the albums to the artists.

By providing free studio time, mixing sessions and eventually returning the rights to artists, B&W Music Club provides a great opportunity for new bands to professionally record new material, as well as offering more well-known artists a chance to experiment or collaborate on interesting side projects.

Peter Gabriel said: "This collaboration with B&W is unique as far as I know and it's going to allow a lot of interesting projects to happen. For artists, B&W Music Club is a dream proposition because they get some great time in the studio, access to really good recording facilities and can experiment without being committed to anything or anyone beyond a month with B&W."
Since it's launch in May 2008, B&W Music Club has brought members a wide variety of different musical styles, all from exceptional artists: Little Axe, featuring legendary blues guitarist Skip McDonald; Grindhouse (mondo cane) a new collaboration from Dominic Greensmith (Reef) and Gareth Hale; Gwyneth Herbert; Dub Colossus; former Suede frontman Brett Anderson; guitarist Tom Kerstens; LA's Julianna Raye; and 16-year old piano prodigy Benjamin Grosvenor.

Future releases include offerings from UK Jazz four-piece Portico Quartet and Dengue Fever, a Los Angeles band that blends Cambodian pop music with West Coast psychedelic rock.

Membership of B&W Music Club costs $39.95 for six months or $59.95 for a year. Based on a yearly membership, this means B&W Music Club members receive 12 albums for less than $5 per album. B&W also offers free trial memberships via its website, where users can download a four-track EP a month for three months. Each download will be supplied DRM-free in lossless format, at around half the file size of a CD recording and will include printable color sleeve artwork to enable members to create CD albums from the downloaded files.

For further information please visit http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/sos.

About Bowers & Wilkins

Bowers & Wilkins is Britain's leading exporter of loudspeakers and the number one imported brand in North America. Since 1966, Bowers & Wilkins' "Quest for Perfection" has resulted in a succession of technical loudspeaker innovations that have satisfied the world's most demanding listeners. Its products' rave reviews and universal acceptance as monitors for classical music recording have helped Bowers & Wilkins become the dominant premium loudspeaker company throughout the world.

Byrne baby Byrne

2008-12-31T16:44:00.002+01:00

by Kevin Krieger, Weekender Correspondent

By the tail end of the late ’70s, real music lovers may have had enough of the snotty three-chord attitude of the punk movement. This reaction to the original punk backlash allowed artists like David Byrne’s Talking Heads to bring some overdue intelligence to the table. By joining up with Roxy Music alum and famed producer Brian Eno on “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today,” Byrne continues his pursuit of melodic intellectual rock, and somewhere along the way, he has created his strongest post-Heads release to date.

The last collaboration between these two respected musicians was 1981’s “My Life With The Bush Ghosts,” an ambient/electronica excursion that still stands as a classic. The pair has obviously matured since then, and the overall mood of “Everything That Happens” is very relaxed with a focus on the melody, similar to the offbeat work of XTC’s Andy Partridge. Throughout the CD’s 11 tracks, the duo concentrates on songs that Byrne describes as “electronic gospel.”

Fresh off of producing Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida,” Eno’s otherworldly stamp is all over the backing tracks of “Home,” the Peter Gabriel-like “I Feel My Stuff” and the percolating bass of “Wanted For Life.” The offbeat “My Big Nurse” brings out a comic country twang that would be unexpected from either artist if it weren’t for the experimental nature of many of their earlier projects.

The basic tracks on “Everything” were recorded at home by Byrne and e-mailed to Eno. After stripping down the rough demos, a host of musical friends stepped in to lend their talents to the songs, with the final product sounding cohesive and uplifting at the same time. Both artists can’t help but note the passage of time and trend since their moment in the spotlight, and the topic is addressed head-on in the tongue-in-cheek lyrics of “Strange Overtones,” the album’s beat-heavy first single: “This groove is out of fashion / These beats are twenty years old.”

A few tracks on “Everything That Happens” may fit into the mediocre category (“Poor Boy,” “Lighthouse”), but the songs certainly don’t end up in the junk bin. Even less-than-stellar Byrne/Eno compositions are still pretty good.

Celebrities send get-well messages to new Liverpool hospital unit for mentally ill

2008-12-30T19:02:00.005+01:00

Dec 30 2008 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

A HOSPITAL unit to treat men with severe mental health problems has opened for the first time in Liverpool. The Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Rathbone Hospital, Old Swan, will offer an eight-bed in-patient facility for men whose levels of mental distress are so acute they need intensive care. Previously patients needing such treatment were sent out of the area and into private sector establishments.

It is the latest phase of mental health trust Mersey Care’s multi-million pound regeneration of the Rathbone Hospital site, a former Victorian fever hospital now offering several specialist mental health services in modern buildings. The unit has now been filled with get-well messages from some top celebrities who have sent signed photographs, posters, and words of encouragement to the unit.

Among the famous names are musician and singer Peter Gabriel, comedian and Harry Potter actor Robbie Coltrane, Absolutely Fabulous actress Julia Sawalha, Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor, spin-doctor Alastair Campbell, and Dr Who star David Tennant. Liverpool poet Roger McGough has written some prose for the unit too, based around its initials PICU.

Unit manager Nick Wade said: “In the same way that general hospitals have intensive care units for people who are most seriously physically ill, this unit will be for people who are in crisis and need much more intensive intervention than is normally provided in an acute ward.”
The unit was officially opened by chairman of Mersey Care, Stephen Hawkins, at his last official duty on retiring from an eight-year term of office. The incoming chairman Beatrice Fraenkel was also present, along with Liverpool’s Mayor and Mayoress Steve and Sandra Rotheram, and trust service user representative Anne Evans, who wrote to the stars for their words of encouragement.

The unit is already accepting appropriate referrals and should be fully operational and occupied by spring. A spokesman added: “The messages of hope have been put on walls in an area called the hub, in the heart of the unit. The self-contained unit will have a high ratio of staff, as well as recreational and occupational therapy areas for patients.”

Mersey Care NHS Trust provides specialist mental health and learning disability services for adults in Liverpool, Sefton and Kirkby, while also offering medium secure services for Merseyside and Cheshire, and high secure services covering England and Wales.