Peter Gabriel vu par Franck Buioni

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

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

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 »

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

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

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. (....)

Read more here

Hits of Sunshine

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

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

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

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

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"

‘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

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

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"

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'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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."