Abu Dhabi to Host Ethnic Music Festival Womad

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

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

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

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

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

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.(....)