Web Recording Site Draws Top Music Talent

By K.C. Jones, TechWeb News

Recording artists will soon have a place on the Internet to record and scout for people who have worked with Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney and other big names in music.

“People who have always aspired to work with these musicians, but didn’t know how to contact them, or didn’t know that they could get them, will gain access to players they’ve always admired,” co-founder Kevin Killen said in an interview Friday. “It may be the catalyst for their careers. The next John Mayer is out there. There are a lot of up-and-coming artists, who don’t know -- with the way the industry has changed over the past few years -- which way to turn.”

Killen, an engineer and producer whose long list of collaborators includes U2, Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, will launch eSession.com with Gina Fant-Saez in October. Fant-Saez has been praised in Billboard Magazine for her role in bringing musicians in Austin, Texas into the digital age.

World-renowned bass player Tony Levin, who has worked with John Lennon and Peter Gabriel, will be one of the featured session artists.

“I think this is a superb move in the direction that recording is going,” Levin said in an interview. “More and more albums are being done by passing files around the world and this site seems to be the first serious attempt to organize that technique and open it up to the general public.”

The site will debut at the Audio Engineering Society Convention, which begins Oct. 7, in New York City. With the mere outline of a song, an artist in London will be able to work with a musician anywhere in the world. Killen and Fant-Saez compared their site to the glass partition in a traditional studio.

eSession.com will allow musicians to research each others’ histories, negotiate deals and record new albums. Though other sites bring players together, what sets eSession apart is the level of talent it has attracted and its broad reach. The pair, which worked with New York City-based Coolbirth to create the site, is targeting accomplished artists and those who are just getting started. The site is under construction and has already drawn more than 100 musicians who play a wide variety of instruments.

In order to register, the musicians must have 15 credits with major record labels. Discographies, biographies and samples will be available for those seeking instrumentalists.

The site will charge $25 for work request submissions. The session musicians do not pay a fee and can exempt clients by placing them on a preferred customer list. Once a work request has been submitted, rates will be negotiated. The musicians agree on a fee and eSession will charge a percentage. If the performers can’t agree, they’re not under any obligation.

Players can record their parts at their home studios. eSession, with a proprietary plug-in, will transfer the files across a variety of platforms, including ProTools and Logic. The musicians will need a high-speed connection, a workstation that meets professional standards and computer skills.

“They won’t be limited to any program,” Fant-Saez said. “As long as they can put their songs on the website, it doesn’t matter.”

Genesis Platinum Collection

09/02/05

(Press Release) On September 13th, Rhino Records will release the 3 CD career-spanning 'Genesis Platinum Collection' and 'Genesis Video Show' as well as a new album and a hits collection from the side project Mike + The Mechanics.

'Genesis Platinum Collection' is the first and only retrospective to cover both Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins eras. The four hours of music on three CDS is the most comprehensive collection to date featuring everything from earlier Gabriel-era favorites like "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" to Top 40 hits like "Hold On My Heart" and Billboard Top 10 chart smashes "Invisible Touch". "Follow You Follow Me" and "Counting Out Time" are a few of the 24 newly remixed tracks. A twenty page booklet with liner notes by Hugh Fielder accompany the discs.

Founded in the late '60s in Surrey, England, Genesis rose out of the ashes of earlier bands formed by schoolmates Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Michael Rutherford, and Anthony Phillips (who departed after 1969's Trespass, the album providing the final track on this stellar retrospective). Guitarist Steve Hackett soon signed on, as did drummer/vocalist Phil Collins, who'd later emerge (as would Gabriel) as a solo superstar. Following Gabriel's 1975 departure, Genesis grew from a progressive art-rock outfit into one of the biggest arena rock acts ever, with a long string of platinum-sellers and chart smashes.

Additionally, all of the Genesis promo videos will be released for the first time on DVD with 'Genesis Video Show'. The digitally remastered videos include MTV staples "Land of Confusion", "Invisible Touch", and "I Can't Dance" as well as the 1999 version of "Carpet Crawlers" featuring Gabriel. Rare BBC footage of "Paperlate" is also included.

Simultaneously, Genesis bassist/guitarist Rutherford reunites with Paul Carrack for the first Mike + The Mechanics album since 1999, 'Rewired'. 'Rewired' finds Mike + The Mechanics in top form with nine powerful new original songs including the driving electronic track "One Left Standing (Version A)," the sublime ballad "If I Were You," and the adventurous title track. Re-mastered versions of Top 10 singles "Silent Running" and "All I Need Is A Miracle" are two of the 13 favorite tracks on another new disc 'Hits'.

'Genesis Platinum Collection' Track Listing:

DISC 1
No Son Of Mine
I Can't Dance
Jesus He Knows Me
Hold On My Heart
Invisible Touch
Throwing It All Away
Tonight Tonight Tonight (Edit)
Land Of Confusion
In Too Deep
Mama
That's All
Home By The Sea
Second Home By The Sea I
llegal Alien *
Paperlate *
Calling All Stations

DISC 2
Abacab *
Keep It Dark *
Turn It On Again *
Behind The Lines Duchess *
Misunderstanding *
Many Too Many *
Follow You Follow Me *
Undertow *
In That Quiet Earth *
Afterglow *
Your Own Special Way
A Trick Of The Tail *
Ripples *
Los Endos *


DISC 3
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway *
Counting Out Time *
Carpet Crawlers *
Firth Of Fifth *
The Cinema Show *
I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) *
Supper's Ready
The Musical Box *
The Knife *

Starter Kit For Activists

Wednesday August 31, 2005 @ 10:30 AM

By: ChartAttack.com Staff

I first learned about Greenpeace when I saw a clip of U2 performing to protest against the Sellafield nuclear plant and it's potential to be a worse catastrophe than Chernobyl.

I learned about Stephen Biko, Africa and his crusade against apartheid from Peter Gabriel and the song by the same name. I wasn't an alter boy, but I did spend eight catholic years at All Saints elementary school in Toronto and I praised Sinead O'Connor when she ripped up the picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live.

Taking a stand for change is nothing new. Social and political activism is healthy in these paranoid times and it seems logical to want to be a part of this counter-culture, however, the membership card does not come without criticism.

Our Lady Peace

During the Seattle riots in 1999 one of the protesters responsible for kicking in the windows of the massive Niketown was caught on tape wearing, what else, Nikes. The peace-loving hippies from the 1960s ultimately became the yuppies in the 1990s and are considered the driving force behind the environmentally unfriendly SUV craze. Many think U2's outspoken frontman Bono needs to shut his rich ass the F#@$ up.

Roger & Me and Fahrenheit 911 director Michael Moore has been criticized for being as big a bully as the corporate CEOs he chases. World-renowned "culture jamming" magazine Adbusters aren't always as anti-consumerism and anti-capitalism as they lead to believe.

Their line of foreign-made blackspot anti-sneakers is growing and poised to become a "brand," no different than all the sneaker brands they beat up on.

Interestingly enough, I was a huge fan and supporter of Adbusters and approached them to be a part of Our Lady Peace's Summersault Festival in 2000. Adbuster president Kalle Lasn wouldn't do it. He said he needed to get paid. Strange? Greenpeace, Amnesty and all the local charities didn't want money. They welcomed the opportunity to set up booths in our "cultural stimuli village" and reach out to the over quarter of a million Canadian kids who came to the concerts that summer.

I guess the bottom line is that in the gigantic task of trying to right the wrongs of society, we are all hypocrites to some degree. I'm sure I've been guilty of crossing that fine line between activist and asshole more than once.

The risk of self-righteousness and social elitism are more than worth it though. There is an entire movement of people fed up with everything from the growth hormones put in our food to the bias and propaganda within our news sources to the amount of ritalin prescribed to children to the illegal wars being waged overseas. I can see how some people may be intimidated by the seriousness of such stands against society. It is understandable that they may need some easing into the culture.

I've found just the thing and it targets society at it's most evil. It's a kind of "social activist starter kit." The TV BeGone remote. It costs only $15 and is available, ironically enough, on the Adbuster's website. The TV BeGone remote can turn off television sets in bars, airports, homes and offices. This genius device takes all the pretense and seriousness out of social and political activism. It's selling point is that it "reclaim's public space."

When you're feeling like society has turned into one giant live plasmascreen advertisement, TV BeGone to the rescue. It can free you from the mind-numbing obsession with celebrity. It has the power to aggravate all the sociopath corporate whores who meet at your local bar after work reveling in their greed.

It can even spare you from having to sit through another 30 second news piece on some self-consumed actor or singer promoting his or her latest cause. The TV BeGone remote is the perfect unbiased starter kit for the counter-culture. It takes the serious out of the seriousness of our world if only until someone reaches up and turns the damn TV back on.

— Raine Maida

Bush Breaking 12-Year Album Drought

By Jonathan Cohen, N.Y. and Lars Brandle, N.Y.

Pianist/songwriter Kate Bush will break a 12-year album drought this fall with the double-disc set "Aerial." The album will arrive Nov. 7 in Europe via EMI and a day later in North America via Columbia. First single "King of the Mountain" will be available Sept. 27 at a host of digital download sites.

The artist, now 47, exploded onto the British singles chart with her debut 1978 hit "Wuthering Heights," which held the top spot for four weeks and went on to become an international breakthrough. She went on to have a string of hits with "Babooshka," "Running Up That Hill" and "Don't Give Up", a duet with Peter Gabriel.

But she disappeared from the spotlight following her 1993 album "The Red Shoes," which debuted at No. 2 in the United Kingdom and No. 28 on The Billboard 200. Since then, the next phase of Bush's recording career has been the focus of routine speculation, while her influence was clearly heard in the music of Tori Amos, PJ Harvey and Bjork.

In October 2001, the artist whet the appetite of her devoted fanbase during a presentation at the annual Q Awards in London. While delivering her acceptance speech after winning the publication's accolade in the classic songwriter category, she told the audience, "I am actually making an album, [but] it's just taking longer than I thought," she said.

Three of the artist’s albums -- "Never For Ever," "Hounds Of Love" and "The Whole Story" -- have reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom.

Midnight Oil

Peter Gabriel 'Still Growing Up Live and Unwrapped', the new double DVD is beginning to form an exciting whole in front of our eyes...or is that a hole... Anyway, it's late and we've seen it on Amazon already, which is somewhere between exciting and worrying when your still trying to make the thing...Can these two tracklistings be correct....what does it all mean?

STILL GROWING UP LIVE

1. The Feeling Begins
2. Red Rain
3. Secret World
4. White Ashes
5. Games Without Frontiers
6. Burn You Up, Burn You Down
7. The Tower That Ate People
8. San Jacinto
9. Digging In The Dirt
10. Solsbury Hill
11. Sledgehammer
12. Come Talk To Me
13. Biko

STILL GROWING UP UNWRAPPED

1. The Feeling Begins
2. Red Rain
3. Secret World
4. White Ashes
5. Burn You Up, Burn You Down
6. San Jacinto
7. Digging In The Dirt
8. Solsbury Hill
9. Sledgehammer
10. The Tower That Ate People
11. Come Talk To Me
12. Biko

Peter Gabriel, Sons sans Frontières

Livre Italien

Alfredo Marziano
Peter Gabriel Sons sans Frontières
(Auditorium, 160 pagg. - 8.00 euro) mise à jour 2005

Ce Peter Gabriel une des figures les plus polyédriques de la musique contemporaine : transformiste des loges, expérimentateur dans les disques et dans les usages des media, activiste politique, importateur en occident des musiques ethniques et, de fait, fondateur du world music avec son label Real World.

Le livre d'Alfredo Marziano reconstruit l'histoire de cet artiste qui semble insaisissable, depuis les exordes avec Genesis jusqu'aux dévelopements de sa carrière solo. Il ferme le volume une description détaillée de la production de Gabriel, sur disque mais aussi en video et sur ordinateur, au-delà de la bibliographie et des rapports des principaux témoins sur lui.


Alfredo Marziano
Peter Gabriel. Suoni senza Frontiere
(Auditorium, 160 pagg. – 8,00 euro)

Quella di Peter Gabriel è una delle figure più poliedriche della musica contemporanea: trasformista sul palco, sperimentatore nei dischi e nell’uso dei media, attivista politico, importatore in occidente delle musiche etniche e, di fatto, fondatore della world music con la sua etichetta Real World.

Il volume di Alfredo Marziano ricostruisce la storia di questo artista che pare inafferrabile, fin dagli esordi con i Genesis fino agli sviluppi della carriera solista. Chiude il volume una dettagliata descrizione della produzione di Gabriel, su disco ma anche in Video e su computer, oltre ad una bibliografia che riporta i principali testi scritti su di lui.

Peter, Elvis, the hamster and Womad

Elvis powered mobile phone gains recognition

Helps British lad pass exam

By Tony Dennis: samedi 27 août 2005, 12:03

A British youth, Peter Ash, has been able to pass his science exams with a little help from Elvis. The lad, from Lawford in Somerset spent 13 months perfecting a way for Elvis to recharge the batteries in a couple of mobile phones.

The project formed part of Ash's GSCE science exam which he finally passed last week. Elvis is, of course, a hamster belonging to Peter's sister. What Peter was able to prove is that energy expended by the hamster pounding his treadmill can be successfully harnessed to replenish the batteries in standard Motorola and Nokia mobile phones.

Ash has, of course, discovered a renewable energy source which could be deployed at 'green' music festivals such as Womad and Glastonbury where large numbers of attendees seek alternative ways to recharge their handsets.

So will Michael Eavis book Elvis to appear at the next Glastonbury in 2007, the INQ wonders?

Peter Gabriel - Still Growing Up - Live And Unwrapped

Peter Gabriel - Still Growing Up - Live And Unwrapped

Release date: October 31, 2005. Not yet available.

Edition Details:

• Region 2 encoding (Europe, Japan, South Africa and the Middle East including Egypt). Read more about DVD formats.
• PAL
• ASIN: B000AYQJ38

Come … to the Casbah

Diane Patterson & Quawwali Music play along with the Fanna-Fi-Allah Quawwali and Sufi Ensemble Sept. 2 at the Teahouse festival at the Wellsprings.

Come … to the Casbah

Teahouse caravan settles at the Jackson Wellsprings through Sept. 5, bringing exotic food, music, dance and atmosphere

The Casbah Teahouse will adorn the Garden Stage at Jackson Wellsprings (formerly Jackson Hot Springs) with its open-air Bedouin tent, Persian carpets, savory chai tea and world beat music between this Friday and Sept. 5.

Concluding its summer Pacific Northwest food and music tour, members of the Casbah caravan will recuperate in the healing waters of the Wellsprings before making the long migration south to their winter home in Tucson. For almost two decades the Tucson Casbah Teahouse has been an anchor and magnet to musicians, rising superstars and recording artists alike. Over the last eight years the summer gypsy caravan stage has traveled the Pacific Northwest, lending color to venues including Trinity Tribal Stomp, Hornings Hideout, Vashon Island Earth Fair, Seattle Hemp Fest, Health and Harmony, and Faerie World Fest.

I Will Presents has invited musicians from the magical state of Jefferson, Hawaii and Figi to perform at the Wellsprings’ two-weekend extravaganza. Shimshai will open the Casbah music series on Friday evening with his eclectic blend of heart-and-soul reggae and jazz, with a world beat influence. Shimshai is known for his solid, rhytmic grooves layered with angelic harmonies and uplifting, spirited lyrics. Over the last four years Shimshai and the Natural Mystiquensemble have established a devoted following from Seattle to San Diego to Hawaii, and in Europe from London to Amsterdam. Shimshai has appeared on stage with Jai Uttal and the Pagan Love Orchestra, Ram Dass, and Cannon and the Lion of Judah Band.

Jah Levi and the Higher Reasoning will light up the Casbah on Sunday evening. With more than 20 albums and 25 years of worldwide performances, Jah Levi will deliver to the Wellsprings Garden Stage his charismatic blend of heart-and-soul reggae and spiritually uplifting world fusion. Jah Levi has shared the same stage with reggae, folk and popular superstars including Ziggy Marley, Israel Vibration, The Itals, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Andrew Tosh, The Wailers, and Lost at Last.

The Bedouin tent will come alive with the heartfelt, penetrating sound of Human and the Evolution on Tuesday, Kirtan Music led by Prema Mayi and friends, on Wednesday, and Devine Names Zikr and Sufi Heart Circle, led by Kalil Elliot, on Sept. 1.

Casbah’s Magic Carpet Ride will continue into the Labor Day weekend with another three enjoyable days of music, swimming and hot-water soaking. Sept. 2 will witness the mesmerizing harmonies of Fanna-Fi-Allah Quawwali Ensemble presenting ecstatic sufi devotional music. Scott Huckabay will close the Wellsprings Casbah Music Fest on Sept. 4. Saturday’s events to be announced.

Block rocking beats

Friday August 26, 2005

Block rocking beats

Bhangra has leapt to mainstream imagination in the recent past. NANTHA KUMAR finds out from Dhol Foundation’s Johnny Kalsi whether the beat will go on or slip away again.

When bhangra moved away from its origins as music of the field workers in the northwest state of Punjab in India right into the nightclubs in England, it spawned a thriving industry along the way.

The bhangra of popular entertainment – at least on British soil – has been transformed into a genre that has adopted various others: Reggae, rave, garage, house, hip-hop and pop, and assumed the symbolic music of the second and third generations British-Indians.

Alaap, the band that propelled bhangra into popular conscience in England almost 30 years ago, is credited with the popularisation of the music and defining the famed “Southall Sound” (the west London suburbia of yore preferred by Indian immigrants). Eversince then, it has moved away from its roots and pushed itself up the mainstream as bhangra mania hit in the mid-1990s, but it gradually cooled off after it lost its momentum.

However, now, the talk is again of bhangra being the next big thing.

Missy Elliot’s runaway hit single, Get Yr Freak On, pulsated with bhangra energy while Britney Spears and Craig David hopped on the bhangra bandwagon for their remixes through producer Rishi Rich. Juggy D, Jay Sean and Panjabi MCs have followed the path blazed by Bally Sagoo and Apache Indian and become the principal “bhangra” figureheads.

In this illustrious company is Dhol Foundation – a much more serious proposition in the appreciation of bhangra and the most vocal in the preservation and promotion of the music.

Dhol’s main man Johnny Kalsi, also the snarling face of Afro-Celt Sound System and whose music has been featured in the soundtracks of Gangs of New York and The Hulk, has been part of the bhangra industry in England for years now and is aware of the fleeting nature of bhangra’s popular existence. He is the founder-leader of the Dhol Foundation institute and band.

The Dhol Foundation appears at the annual three-day Womad Festival at Fort Canning Park in Singapore, starting today. It performs tonight as the festival’s headlining act, and will also be a part of the workshop activities scheduled over the next three days.

Kalsi has strong opinions about why the music must be kept pure.

“Most of the good bhangra artistes have built their own personal fan bases but I think there is a great deal to be said about DJs who don’t know an ‘A’ note to a ‘C’ note and their coarse re-mixes. Some of these albums, however, are very well done and put together in very high-class studios. Productions from bands such as Alaap will not cut corners or compromise in any form to hinder the sound and result.

“Any album is in danger of over production but I think in their case, the formula was just right. This was mainly due to the fact that the band did the production on it and Inder Kalsi, the sound engineer for Dhol Foundation as well, did an immaculate job of refining and finishing all of Alaap’s previous work – and that was before the wonderful ‘cut and paste’ days of Atari 1040,” he said in an e-mail interview.

Kalsi is not alone in believing that the many permutations of music that had threatened to swamp bhangra have not managed to remove its longevity and have only made it resilient. If proof is required, Alaap – the band of which Kalsi was a member – is still the rear-kicking group that it was when it started out in the 1970s and passed over record deals to remain independent.

“Bhangra has always been a keen style of music for the Asian dance scene. It’s just that occasionally it comes up to surface and gets noticed then a follow-up is needed to hold the attention but never quite makes the same impact as the first. Back in (those) days, Alaap was one of two bands that was offered a real record deal by Island Records.

“Island had plans, new ideas and conditions. One of those conditions was that the band stop performing at weddings. The band members refused and the deal was off. They knew that by doing the weddings they could earn far more money in the band than by having a record deal.

“I guess in that sense it was the right move. They stood their ground and Alaap is still the live bhangra band ? tight and still sounding the way it did before.”

Dhol Foundation will be supplying their rocking dose of bhangra at Womad Singapore 2005. Other acts to appear include Mali’s Tinariwen, Apache Indian, Sheila Majid, Billy Cobham and more.

For details on gig schedules, browse www.womadsingapore.com. Tickets and travel packages are also available from Holiday Tours & Travel at 03-2273 2200.

Darkness, Tina and the Full moon

Moon Club News : 19-Aug-2005

Greetings lunatics,

We must apologise for the relatively sparse nature of posts on the site of late. It's been all hands to the pumps here as we work on two new double DVD sets - "Africa Calling - Live 8 at Eden" and 'Peter Gabriel Still Growing Up, Live and Unwrapped" - watch this space for more on these DVDs. All I can say is that we are pumping hard, but the water's still up around our necks.
We have however found a moment to mark the the full ripeness of the moon which should be sailing overhead some time this evening, and it should be noted that this months choice of a 'Darkness' demo is no reflection on the generally light and summery mood at Real World. This rendering of the track dates from 1996 and is relatively early in it's life-cycle, coming before the band have played a note on the track.

Tina has also made an update to her pages, so why not download some Darkness and ponder the origins and meaning of lines like “…did I dream this belief? Or did I believe this dream?

Download Darkness

Tina's Update

Concert FM Radio Broadcast Peter Gabriel

Concert FM Radio Broadcast Peter Gabriel - Composer of the Week. Presented by Kate Mead

Why do I feel justified to talk about Peter Gabriel? Is it because I've played cello at his studio, the Real World, in Box, a village outside Bath? Or because I've run around at night, naked, on Solsbury Hill (it's a Bath tradition)? Or because I've been to WOMAD Festivals on the beach in St Austell, Cornwall, and in the Bowl of Brooklands, Pukekura Park, New Plymouth?

All of the above and more. It's because I'm a fan, a dyed in the wool early-Genesis, WOMAD, Real World, Peter Gabriel fan and my ambition is that in six hours of Composer of the Week, Sunday 4 - Friday 9 September I can show you the various facets to this musical, social and political human being. For more information, click on the link above.

------------

Concert FM

Concert FM is Radio New Zealand's fine music network, broadcasting the best in classical music and contemporary music and spoken features about the music world.

Concert FM broadcasts via 33 FM transmitters around the country. Concert FM reaches about 92% of the population via these transmitters (although, like National Radio, it is also available on the Sky Television satellite service - Sky Channel 102 - which means than it is available to 100% of the population).

http://www.nzonair.govt.nz/radio_detail.php?pid=405&sid=400&hid=403

Sunday 4 September 9am

Composer of the Week: Peter Gabriel

Presented by Kate Mead CFM

This week’s composer is Peter Gabriel - original and reluctant, pre-Phil Collins, frontman of Genesis, inventor of Stage Dive, solo artist, driving force behind WOMAD, film score composer and founder of the Real World studio and record label.

As the leader of Genesis in the early 1970s, Peter Gabriel helped move progressive rock to new levels of theatricality. In his solo career, Gabriel was no less ambitious but he was more subtle in his methods.

He reached international stardom with a series of groundbreaking videos and the number one single Sledgehammer. Instead of capitalising on his sudden success he began to explore other interests, including recording soundtracks and running his company Real World.

His commitment to promoting political messages through his music came to a head with Biko a song about a murdered anti-apartheid activist which became one of the 1980s biggest protest anthems.

However, just as his solo career was taking off Gabriel participated in a one-off reunion with his former band Genesis to finance his WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) Festival.

Designed to bring various world musics and customs to a Western audience, WOMAD soon turned out to be one of today’s most successful international music festivals.

In this week’s Composer of the Week, Kate Mead looks at one of today’s most diverse musicians.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/index.php?id=154&nav=2&section=c_highlights

Festival de Womad : Voix du monde

Comme lors des festivals précédents, ils étaient venus en force, quelque 30 000 personnes, en quête de nouveaux sons, de nouvelles sensations, passions et vibrations venues des tropiques, de l’Afrique, berceau de la civilisation, de l’Asie de la sagesse et des philosophes, et de l’Amérique latine des poètes et des mouvements révolutionnaires.

Ces humains que l’on croit à jamais disparus réapparaissent le temps d’un festival, avec toute la panoplie des t-shirts, tracts, livres et autres signes qui dénoncent les effets dévastateurs de la mondialisation qui « permet aux riches de devenir plus riches et enfoncent les pauvres un peu plus dans leur misère », pouvait-on lire sur une banderole. Leurs enfants, adultes précoces, semblent prêts à reprendre le flambeau et à perpétuer les rêves, les idéaux et l’étendard politique de leurs parents.

Petites filles et garçonnets copient maman et papa en portant des sarouels indiens ou pakistanais et des tuniques africaines aux couleurs chatoyantes. Ils arborent des coiffures rasta avec tresses africaines et se trémoussent aux sons de la musique gnawa, rap, raï, funk, punk ou hard rock comme de vrais danseurs professionnels. «

On ne les voit jamais, ou alors très rarement, pleurer, rechigner ou se plaindre. Ils passent leur temps à jouer comme des fous et ne sont jamais fatigués », fait remarquer un ami. Womad a été une fois de plus à la hauteur de sa réputation avec des dizaines de chanteurs, de groupes et de musiciens venus des quatre coins du monde.

L’Algérie, cette année, n’a pas été représentée par les poids lourds habituels que sont Khaled, Mami, Souaâd Massi, l’Orchestre national de Barbès et autres « monstres » des divers genres musicaux du terroir. L’honneur est donc revenu au chanteur et joueur de kamancha, Akim El Sikameya, qui a comblé le vide avec brio. Ce jeune natif d’Oran s’est choisi un nom de chanteur qui est un croisement de sika et de meya, deux des noubas les plus interprétées de la musique arabo-andalouse.

Sa performance samedi soir sous la tente géante de Siam a déclenché une véritable tornade de la part d’un public qui le découvre pour la première fois à Womad. « More, more, more » scandaient les milliers de festivaliers qui l’applaudirent pendant plusieurs minutes à la fin de son concert. Akim s’exécute et revient sur scène pour « enivrer » le public avec sa voix douce et mélodieuse, exprimant aussi bien le grave que le léger dans une musique qui mélange l’andalou, le flamenco, les cadences afro-hispaniques, les ballades sereines, le tout pimenté de couleurs celtiques, tziganes et bossa.

Lors du grand finale, dimanche soir, Akim, à la demande du public, a rejoint un géant de la folk music américaine, Ritchie Heaven, qui avait fait le festival de Woodstock, dans une performance où la voix grave et rythmée du chanteur Noir américain s’est mêlée à celle langoureuse et chaude du chanteur algérien dans un duo qui rappelle celui de Sting et Mami dans Desert Rose.

Même mélange de l’Orient et de l’Occident. A vous couper le souffle ! L’Afrique noire est toujours présente à Womad, avec cette fois-ci l’Ethiopien Mahmoud Ahmed, qui a fait sensation avec son style de musique soul ; l’étoile montante Jaojoby venue de Madagascar, ainsi que la belle Cap Verdienne Lura, qui chante accompagnée d’une simple guitare et de percussions.

Cependant, la palme est revenue samedi soir à la vedette mondiale, une des fiertés de l’Afrique, le Sénégalais Youssou N’dour et son groupe Super Etoile. Quel accueil ! Quelle popularité ! N’dour, égal à lui-même, a enthousiasmé le public avec une performance où se mélangent le style griot, l’African pop-rock-folk et la musique traditionnelle sénégalaise, le tout ponctué de ses longues envolées vocales. Une voix d’or que les mordus de Womad adorent.

Dans le registre international, les festivaliers se sont délectés des sons féroces de l’Asie avec les batteurs sud-coréens Kiki Dee et Dulsori, un ensemble de percussions composé de trois hommes et de deux femmes, aux style jazz à la Nouvelle Orléans, et jazz-funk exécutés par les jeunes Américains du Youngblood Brass Band.

Il y avait également le Renegade Steel Orchestra, un groupe très très « hot » de Trinidade, de la salsa dans la pure tradition argentino-uruguayenne avec le Bajofondo Tango Club, et d’autres chanteurs et groupes qui font que le festival mérite son nom de World of Music, Art and Dance. Les amoureux de cette « orgie » des musiques du monde aiment encore plus l’ambiance du festival, ses stands qui permettent de découvrir les plats aux sauces épicées et piquantes, les arômes et les boissons du monde entier et le formidable esprit de fraternité, de camaraderie et de convivialité qui y règnent.

Il faut voir ces bébés qui dorment dans leur poussette fleurie et peinte aux couleurs de l’Afrique, tandis que leurs parents se joignent à d’autres pères et mères pour partager le pain, le vin et le joint. Il faut voir cet esprit de tolérance, ces échanges de mots doux et de gentillesse entre gens qui partagent le même amour pour leur prochain, sans distinction de race, de sexe ou de religion. Merci Peter Gabriel d’avoir créé ce festival il y a 26 ans.

Merci de nous donner l’immense sentiment d’un bonheur profond de savoir que dans ce monde de terrorisme et de mondialisation, des gens humbles, chaleureux et foncièrement bons continuent de rêver, de vivre en paix et de transmettre leurs rêves et leurs idéaux à leurs enfants. La relève est assurée. We love you Womad.

M. Afroukh

"La musique me portait, c'était ma seule langue"

Article paru dans l'édition du monde du 13.08.05, Propos recueillis par Véronique Mortaigne

Un soir de sa tournée estivale, Youssou N'Dour, dîne avant un concert au Palais des festivals de Cannes. Le surlendemain, vers 1 h 30, il chantera dans la banlieue de Dakar ; la veille, il était avec Bono au G8 près d'Edimbourg pour réclamer l'annulation de la dette. Chaussures de sport américaines, tee-shirt rouge estampillé du nom de sa boîte dakaroise, le Thiossane, chic, souriant. Après son récital, le service de sécurité lui demandera de sortir par une porte dérobée pour éviter les centaines de fans ­ - boubous colorés, complets blanc cassé ­ - descendus de Grasse ou de Nice. Scrupuleux et attentif, Youssou N'Dour demandera à la voiture de faire demi-tour vers la Croisette afin de venir à la rencontre des siens, "pour ne pas les décevoir".

VM: Vous aimiez, enfant, aller à la plage de Soumbédioune de Dakar cueillir les takgaal, petits poissons à ventouse, et les griller sur la plage. Mais vous êtes un enfant de la Médina, dont la pâtisserie demeure votre quartier général après concert, au petit matin...

La Médina, c'est magnifique. Elle n'est ni fermée ni ouverte, on s'y sent bien, les gens y viennent par sympathie. Ce n'est ni le Plateau -le quartier européen de Dakar- ni le côté paumé où l'on baisse les bras. La Médina, c'est comme New York, avec ses rues 2e, 4e, 6e, 8e, 10e, pairs et impairs. Pour l'adresse, on dit rue 15, angle 6. La médina, c'est incroyable. Imaginez : une télévision qu'on regarde devant la porte ; une marmite entr'aperçue, qui signifie que la famille peut vous inviter à manger. Dans la Médina, la création est cachée. Et puis, c'est le son pour tout le monde. Malheureusement, ma mère n'y habite plus. La maison où j'ai grandi est aujourd'hui le siège d'une radio. Et j'ai beau en avoir créé une moi-même - Radio-Futur Meilleur -, la Médina a été ma première radio, sans antenne, avec les jeunes qui parlaient.

VM: En 1986, le rocker anglais Peter Gabriel vous entend et tombe en admiration, découvrant, dira-t-il, "le mariage de rythmes puissants et de cette passionnante innovation musicale provenant des accents islamiques de sa voix".

Peter Gabriel sait écouter. Enfant, j'entendais les muezzins, le matin très tôt, et les prières quand j'allais me coucher, des sons extraordinaires, qui prennent entièrement. Et Oum Kalsoum à l'époque du ramadan. Alors, aujourd'hui, le link, le lien entre tous ces sons, c'est Youssou : l'Afrique noire des griots, l'islam, l'Afrique urbaine. Je viens de gagner un Grammy Award aux Etats-Unis pour Egypte. Je ne pensais pas que ce disque allait sortir du ghetto des amateurs éclairés.

Sur la forme, j'ai adoré l'enregistrer : je n'ai jamais eu autant d'espace pour ma voix. Le contenu de cet album n'est pas lié au 11-Septembre, mais il est cependant sorti après, et a beaucoup apaisé ceux qui craignaient l'islam en ignorant tout de l'Afrique musulmane. Pour cet album, j'ai travaillé avec des Egyptiens, dont le chef d'orchestre Fateh Salama, qui ne connaissait rien à l'islam noir.

Même si je danse, si j'organise le grand bal de Bercy depuis cinq ans ­ 18 000 personnes en un soir de fête dédiée à toute l'Afrique, du nord au sud ­, la religion a toujours été contenue dans ma musique, ainsi que le message de cheikh Amadou Bamba -leader des Mourides-.

Au Maroc, les barbus sont aux portes, au Sénégal nous défendons un modèle libéral. Nous avons eu longtemps un chef d'Etat chrétien, le poète Léopold Senghor. Moi, à Dakar, je vois le vendredi des jeunes qui font la prière avant d'aller s'éclater en boîte. Par ailleurs, les musulmans radicaux ­ il y a des extrémistes dans toutes les religions ­ sont une minorité dans le monde.

VM: Quel est votre plus grand souvenir de concert ?

Le premier, à Saint-Louis. J'avais 14 ans, j'avais composé avec un de mes oncles musiciens une chanson en hommage à Mba, un grand musicien de là-bas qui venait de mourir. Dans le stade où tout le monde pleurait encore, moi, j'ai donné de la joie, j'ai vibré, j'ai senti que Mba, c'était comme une étoile qui partait. La radio nationale était là. A la fin de la chanson, quelqu'un m'a porté. En réalité, ma vie professionnelle a débuté très tôt : je n'ai pas profité de la vie en tant que gamin.

VM: On dit que Youssou N'Dour est le produit du Sénégal, façonné par son public. Est-ce vrai ?

Sincèrement, oui. Je suis un produit du Sénégal, je suis comme les gens voulaient que je sois.

VM: Dans le livre qu'elle vous consacre, Michelle Lahana, votre manageuse, écrit que quand elle vous a rencontré pour la première fois, alors qu'elle travaillait pour Radio France Internationale, elle vous a trouvé insupportable parce que vous aviez demandé un traducteur français-wolof.

J'en avais besoin. Je n'étais pas confiant, je ne voulais pas faire d'erreur. J'étais sûr de ce que je disais en wolof, pas en français. Gazelle -nom attribué dans toute l'Afrique occidentale à Michelle Lahana- a pris cela pour de la frime, j'avais des lunettes noires, j'étais timide. J'ai arrêté l'école en CM2, la musique me portait, c'était ma seule langue. Ensuite, j'ai compris qu'il fallait convaincre, comme sur un marché.

VM: Vous avez fait des progrès depuis. On vous a vu en juillet à Gleneagles, près d'Edimbourg, au coeur du dernier G8, en petit comité.

Il y avait avec moi Wangari Maathaï -ministre kényane, Prix Nobel de la paix-, George Clooney, Bono et Bob Geldof, les organisateurs du Live 8 -dix concerts planétaires le 2 juillet pour l'effacement de la dette africaine-. Nous sommes allés dans ce lieu magnifique et sécuritaire, pour communiquer, et non pas pour jouer au golf. Il fallait atteindre ces gens qui dirigent le monde, qui ont fait tellement d'erreurs, tellement tardé à régler les problèmes.

Je suis pour l'annulation généralisée de la dette, parce que les générations passées l'ont déjà payée. Cette annulation sans contre-partie n'est qu'une première étape. Nous demandons aux Occidentaux de cesser de subventionner leurs agriculteurs, empêchant ainsi l'Afrique de vendre et d'exporter. Sinon, je dis : les Africains, réveillez-vous ! La Chine offre des solutions moins coûteuses pour les pays émergents. Si nous achetons chinois, nos enfants porteront peut-être des tee-shirts de qualité médiocre, mais ils seront habillés. C'est une question de dignité. Il faut que nous soyons mis en condition de parler et non de nous taire.

VM: En 1985, vous êtes dans le Band Aid pour l'Ethiopie ; en 1988, vous chantez à Wembley pour la libération de Nelson Mandela ; puis aux côtés de Sting, Tracy Chapman, Bruce Springsteen, pour Amnesty International. Depuis, vous n'arrêtez jamais. Ambassadeur de l'Unicef, ami de Peter Gabriel, vous avez écrit des chansons sur la femme, les déchets toxiques, les enfants des rues, les immigrés. Pourquoi ne pas vous lancer directement dans la politique ?

Ce que je fais est plus fort, je vis et j'utilise ma musique. Et tant pis si, comme on dit en wolof, tout ce qui aboutit trouve son propriétaire, l'important est d'avancer. Nous disons à l'Occident : ne faites pas tout pour nous, nous le ferons pour nous. Dans cette optique, je me suis engagé à lutter contre le paludisme, notamment par le biais d'un concert, Africa Live, organisé au profit de la lutte contre le paludisme en mars à Dakar.

Comme beaucoup d'Africains, j'ai pris le palu comme un petit truc gênant parce que les moustiques te piquent, on a la fièvre, et c'est normal, mais jamais comme une maladie grave qui peut faire perdre la vie. Et puis, invité à chanter lors de la Journée mondiale contre le paludisme, à Matam au Sénégal en 2004, j'ai appris que le paludisme tuait deux millions de personnes par an, trois mille par jour, surtout des enfants de moins de cinq ans, des femmes enceintes.

Tout de suite, ma fondation - la Fondation Youssou N'Dour, créée il y a six ans, axée sur les jeunes - a contacté à Genève le programme des Nations unies Roll Back Malaria. Nous avons trouvé des moustiquaires, expliqué aux gens les précautions à prendre. Lors d'un dîner donné à Dakar par le président Wadé, où j'étais invité avec d'autres artistes sénégalais, dont le sculpteur Ousman Sow et la romancière Fatou Diome, Jacques Chirac nous a assurés du soutien de la France, après le Japon qui vient de nous promettre le don de dix millions de moustiquaires et les Etats-Unis qui ont annoncé 1 milliard de dollars pour lutter contre le paludisme. C'est bien, mais nous n'acceptons plus qu'on fasse des choses pour l'Afrique sans l'Afrique.

VM: Est-ce difficile d'être Africain en Occident ?

Ce qui est insupportable, gênant, c'est d'entendre le commentaire journalier des Européens sur l'Afrique, sans aucun regard positif. Quand je regarde la télévision française, je suis halluciné, je ne vois pas de Noirs. C'est le signe d'une non-volonté d'ouvrir le débat, dans une France impliquée en Afrique depuis très longtemps, et qui a participé massivement à la traite esclavagiste. Mais les dirigeants de la France médiatique, les acteurs des débats d'opinion, n'ouvrent toujours pas la porte.

Or je crois en l'Afrique, qui est une, du Cap à Alger et au Caire. Les jeunes sont en train de mettre en place un réseau qui dépasse les contraintes de langues, les clivages de micro-Etats, grâce aux nouvelles technologies, aux associations, aux médias, à la musique, au sport, ­ lors de la dernière Coupe du monde de football, l'équipe des Lions sénégalais a réalisé en quatre-vingt-dix minutes ce qui m'imposera vingt ans de travail. L'Afrique de ce réseau-là veut des autoroutes et des cases, mais avec l'air conditionné. J'essaie d'être l'un de leurs porte-parole.

VM: Vous avez commencé sous le signe des étoiles, plutôt américanisées : le premier club où vous avez joué ne s'appelait-il pas le Miami, et votre groupe le Star Band ?

Le Star Band était détenu par un vieux, Ibra Kasse, patron d'un club appelé le Miami, qui engageait des musiciens payés à la semaine. Quand j'ai atterri au Miami, j'avais 15 ans. Puis je suis parti, et j'ai francisé le nom du Star Band en Etoiles de Dakar. Ensuite, en solo, j'ai retenu la suggestion d'un animateur de radio : le Super Etoile. Cela étant dit, c'est bien qu'il y ait des Américains en Afrique, ça équilibre.

VM: Vous avez eu une période Spike Lee, enregistrant sur son label, 4 Acre and A Mule ­ - ce qui était donné aux esclaves libérés aux Etats-Unis ­-, portant la casquette marquée du X de Malcolm X, qui est aussi celui de votre studio d'enregistrement, Xippi.

Cette période est lointaine. Spike voulait ouvrir l'Amérique à l'Afrique avec une vision très personnelle, intelligente, et très américaine. Mais je ne pense pas qu'il aille au magasin acheter des disques africains.

VM: Pourquoi vous voit-on si peu dans les magazines ?

Je suis discret, la presse me laisse tranquille. Je me suis marié en 1990 avec Mami, j'ai six enfants. Je vis à Dakar. On m'a laissé en paix. Jamais de photos, du respect. Mon épouse n'aime pas ce système médiatique. Si jamais on me prenait ces moments de solitude et d'intimité à Dakar, avec ma famille, mes amis, je serais beaucoup moins productif. Je me sens parfois prisonnier d'un système ; mais je me remets, je me calme en revenant au Sénégal.

VM: N'êtes-vous pas pourtant le "beau sexy" de 7 Seconds, que vous chantez avec Neneh Cherry sur l'album The Guide, où figurait aussi une reprise sahélienne de Chimes of Freedom de Bob Dylan ?

7 Seconds est une magnifique chanson, très éloignée de ce que je fais par ailleurs, magique, parce qu'elle a une relation à la tradition, notamment par Neneh Cherry qui est africaine par son père.

Moi, je suis un artiste "album", et j'ai toujours fonctionné par rencontres : Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Jacques Higelin, qui m'a appris qu'en scène on devait improviser, plus tard Wycleff Jean, Pascal Obispo. Je souhaite à tout le monde de faire un tube, mais ce qui est grave, c'est l'obligation d'en faire sans arrêt.

Pour la musique africaine, ce sont les Touré Kunda qui ont commencé, avec les rythmes du sud du Sénégal, de la Casamance, proche de la Guinée-Bissau. J'étais fan des Touré Kunda. J'étais fan de Mory Kanté. Je l'ai écouté avec les Ambassadeurs quand il chantait Soundiata. Je suis wolof, bien que mon père ait des origines sérères. Musicalement, le rythme wolof, le mblax, est complexe, difficile à comprendre pour le reste de l'Afrique, contrairement à ceux de la Casamance.

VM:Etre wolof, cela veut dire quoi ?

Etre au centre.

VM: Pourquoi votre club s'appelle-t-il le Thiossane ?

Thiossane, ça veut dire notre histoire, la réalité, celle des lignées que le griot savait et racontait. Ma grand-mère et ma mère, Sokhna, étaient griottes, toucouleurs. Les griots sont là pour les circoncisions, les baptêmes, les nuits de noces, ils ordonnent le cours des fêtes.

Mais au quotidien, ils s'invitent chez les uns et les autres, passent leur journée à raconter des histoires, à fredonner des récits du pays, des ancêtres, avec le khalam, une guitare à quatre cordes. On reconnaît les griots à ce qu'ils ont toutes les parties du corps qui parlent : les yeux, les mains, les fesses... Le Thiossane est devenu un lieu mythique du mblax, qui n'est pas seulement un rythme, mais ce que l'on incarne.

Au Thiossane, il nous arrive d'apercevoir quelqu'un dans la salle et de chanter ses louanges. Je fais le griot moderne, insoumis aux princes qui le nourrissaient, et qui conteste. Le griot est celui qui te prête les yeux. La musique est la seule manière de toucher l'invisible. Le son prend les gens ­ ils sont dès lors une seule personne et je m'oublie. Je joue depuis vingt-cinq ans avec eux. Je crois sincèrement que le Super Etoile est le groupe qui a la plus grande longévité du monde, parce que nous ne nous séparons jamais, ni en tournée ni à Dakar.

VM: Et comment faites-vous pour conserver intacte une telle voix ?

Je dors huit heures par jour. Le reste est naturel en moi. La voix c'est d'abord un don, puis on arrive à sortir un timbre. Le talent ne suffit pas. Je fume quelquefois, mais j'évite de manger la soupe kandja, mon plat préféré, qui fatigue la voix à cause de l'huile de palme et du gombo, un légume gélatineux qui a tendance à s'installer sur les cordes vocales et à s'endormir dessus.

Freedom Fighter

J. Poet, Sunday, August 14, 2005

Johnny Clegg's music was the unofficial soundtrack of the anti- apartheid movement. In 1976, Clegg and his friend and musical partner, Sipho Mchunu, a member of the Zulu nation, made an album of Zulu ethnic songs under the name Juluka. Since even radio in South Africa was segregated at that time, the album created problems.
...
"I'm recording with Tchad Blake at Peter Gabriel's studios in Bath," Clegg says. "He's a good chap with a good sense of space and an ability to get down to the best basic sound for a song. I'm using my band and some invited guests; it's about 40 percent Zulu with some interesting new directions. I'm concentrating on doing two or three good videos -- which I haven't done in 10 years -- finishing the album, shopping it around and touring.

"I want people to see the live show and see the energy we put out. The bottom line is always the live show and exchanging energy with the audience."

Baaba Maal: New Release from Palm World Voices

Palm World Voices: Baaba Maal

Baaba Maal

Music from Palm Pictures (Audio)
Release date: 09 August, 2005

Senegal sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean on the tip of the round curve of Western Africa. For as long as people have lived there, it has been a stop on the trading and migration roots. With the coming of the European nations, it became an instrumental port in the slave trade.

When the last colonial rulers, the French, banned slavery in 1857, the country reverted to its traditional role of safe haven for political refugees and centre for trade. The majority of nations in North West Africa and Arabia relied on Senegal for salt. This intermingling of cultures and nations has played a major role in the development of Senegalese music.

In Senegal, like other West African nations, there exists a type of caste system. Though not as rigid as others, it still can dictate a person’s choice of career. Musicians, especially singers, are drawn from those who are members of a griot family.

More then just a singer, a griot serves as the repository of local history, knowing the stories of all the local families and able to recount their deeds in poems or song. They have been advisors to kings, teachers who instruct people in the right way to live, and what role they play in society as they grow up.

To aspire to be a singer when not from a griot family is to dream the unthinkable. To actually succeed in that dream is the sign of a unique individual. Not only do they have to be a person of singular talent, but display some characteristic that allows them to transcend traditional cultural boundaries.

Baaba Maal is one such man. Born the son of a fisherman, and destined, at best, for the professional class, he developed a love of singing at an early age. Discouraged by his parents and the griot form pursuing this hopeless dream, he nevertheless did not give up hope. His faith was rewarded when he began to receive assistance from the son of his family’s griot.

Mansour Seck has since become Baaba Maal’s closest friend and musical companion. Without him, he would have never learned learn the different styles of music and singing that are practiced throughout West Africa.

“...if a griot didn’t want Baaba Maal to sing...the music of the griots, they couldn’t say no to Mansour Seck, because Mansour Seck was from one of the best families of the griots...” Baaba Maal talking about learning music

Palm World Voices’ third collection in their series of world music focuses on this remarkable man from Senegal. Simply titled Baaba Maal we are told the story of his rise from the son of a fisherman to that of an international music star who now shares the stage with the likes of Peter Gabriel and Sting.

The story of his music is also the story of Senegal. For music is the lifeblood of Senegalese society. From the griot’s songs of history and learning to the calling of the faithful to prayer in the mosques, music permeates all aspects of their culture.

Like Africa and Vedic Path before it, Baaba Maal contains a CD of music, a documentary DVD, an illustrated information booklet, and a detailed National Geographic map. Each component enhances our appreciation of the man and the musician. Just as importantly, they place his music into the cultural context of Senegal.

The music is magnificent. He lives up to his billing as being one of the most exciting musical talents in Africa. Not only does he integrate traditional Senegalese instruments with contemporary, the music seamlessly combines elements from all over the world. Pop, jazz, and reggae meld with African rhythms and sounds to create a true world music.

Baaba Maal may sing in his native tongue, but the listener loses little of the emotional impact. His voice is one more musical instrument being played in harmony with the rest of the band. Soaring from the bottom of the scale to its heights, he takes one on a roller coaster ride not easily forgotten.

The DVD is split into two parts. The first is a documentary that recreates Baaba Maal’s story. Acting as our guide, he retraces the path he took from his fisherman roots to his current position of international performer. Combined with the information booklet, this section of the disc gives the viewer insight into the cultural world of Senegal.

The concert footage included in the DVD allows one a tantalizing glimpse of Baaba Maal’s incredible power on stage. From frenetic up-tempo dance numbers to a slow ballad we see his complete range as a performer. African dance parties can continue for hours on end, some of that energy and exuberance are captured in these performance clips.

Baaba Maal is Palm World Voice’s third release in their initial six part series of explorations into World Music. Once again, they have created a package that takes one beneath the surface of the music to show the heart beating behind the exterior. These box sets are a wonderful addition to any music lover’s library.

Baaba Maal will be in stores everywhere on August 9th 2005.

Lo'Jo

Sakifo (île de la Reunion), c’est parti pour trois jours

Coup d’envoi, ce midi, de trois jours et trois nuits de fête musicale.

Les nomades sont de retour Ils ont été repérés par Baguett’ du temps de Komela et des premières scènes de rue avec Jo Bitume. “C’était en 1991”, racontent les piliers de Lo’Jo, Denis Péan et Richard Bourreau. “On a joué un peu partout dans l’île pendant un mois et on en garde un vrai bon souvenir. Ça nous a permis de connaître non seulement un pays mais aussi sa musique, avec, en particulier, un kabar mémorable chez Firmin Viry. Et depuis, on n’a pas cessé de transmettre notre amour pour cette musique”.

Comme eux, elle voyage, se marie à toutes les autres traces musicales d’ailleurs tout aussi féconds et nourrit des chansons, ou des échanges voire des retrouvailles avec des dalons comme René Lacaille. “Il a participé à la bonne franquette à l’enregistrement de notre dernier disque et nous a même mitonné de bons caris !”, ajoute Denis avec l’approbation gourmande de ses compagnons. Six musiciens et musiciennes angevins aux racines différentes, aux goûts et aux choix de vie originaux. “Pour faire notre chemin, comme une famille avec la diversité en guise de richesse”.

“On ne fait rien de conventionnel ”

Et l’esprit grand ouvert, comme leur maison communautaire, sur le reste de la planète. “On accueille des artistes de partout, des Indiens Navajos, des nomades du Sahara, en résidence. Il y a toujours un mouvement d’échanges autour de nous avec de la musique et des artistes à la maison”. Les différences, c’est leur souffle, leur respiration. “Le groupe a germé autour de ça. Un alliage de senteurs. On ne fait rien de conventionnel, on a dit non au conformisme. En réalité on a inventé une sorte de créole musical, poétique, n’ayant pas de limite dans nos sentiments. On raconte la vie, on tisse des liens, on dessine des lignes...”

En évitant comme la peste la tendance au produit formaté pour plaire au plus grand nombre, note encore Denis Péan. “Je reviens de Rodrigue où j’ai été sidéré de découvrir qu’à la radio, on passe les mêmes disques que partout ailleurs. Pourtant, il existe tant de musiciens là-bas comme dans tous les pays qui ont des secrets dans leur musique et qui n’ont pas d’audience...” Lo’Jo, si. “Sans sacrifier un pouce à ses goûts, ses ambitions L’obsession de créer notre propre musique, notre image sonore. Il a fallu du temps pour faire ce groupe”. Un groupe dont Philippe Ducayron a écrit que la musique est l’une des plus lumineuses qui soit.

Rien d’étonnant à ce que le Billboard américain ait flashé sur leur dernier enregistrement en studio, le consacrant “meilleur album world de l’année”. Un bel hommage pour ces étonnants voyageurs qui ont leur place au Womad. “Le genre de festival sans stars mais avec que des gens intéressants. Il nous a conduit cette année en Australie et en Nouvelle-Zélande”. De quoi ajouter d’autres sonorités à leurs échappées musicales pour l’album à venir en janvier “Bazar Savant”. En attendant, rendez-vous tout à l’heure à 18 h sous le Chapitô. “On donnera le meilleur, forcément on a envie d’être aimés !” C’est à notre avis l’un des concerts à ne pas manquer.

Textes et photos Marine Dusigne

Africa Calling 2

Eden's hopes for Africa Calling 2

The spectacular biomes of Cornwall's Eden Project may ring to the sounds of African music again in 2006. The attraction has confirmed that talks are taking place about hosting Africa Calling 2 next year.

More than 4,000 people attended the Africa Calling concert in July as part of Make Poverty History's Live 8. Artists on this year's bill included Angelique Kidjo, Coco Mbassi and Youssou N'Dour who performed a duet with Dido.

"There's a real desire to make it happen" Bryher Scudamore, Eden Project.

Bryher Scudamore, Eden's director of communications, told BBC News its success had prompted the idea of another. She said: "It was a fantastic thing and there was a massive response afterwards. "I can confirm talks have started and there's a real desire to make it happen. It's very early days though and nothing is set in stone."

Senegalese star Youssou N'Dour said Africa Calling was the most important concert of Live 8. It was compered by Peter Gabriel, the co-founder of World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD), and set up after criticism over the lack of black artists at the Live 8 show. More than 35,000 people applied for the 4,200 tickets available for the Eden show.

Console for Womad

Ampco chooses Midas for WOMAD

UK - For a record twelfth consecutive year, Holland's Ampco Pro Rent (APR) has supplied the complete audio production for the WOMAD Festival at the Rivermead in Reading, where nine stages present an eclectic blend of tunes, poetry, dance and arts workshops, all featuring performers from around the globe. APR's primary console brand of choice for WOMAD is Midas, with around 80% of the Reading event's 25 desks being Midas Heritage Series or XL3 consoles.

"We rarely have time for sound-checks and of course there are a lot of visiting engineers around all the stages who need to be able to jump on a desk and be ready to mix instantly," says APR production manager Dieter van Denzel. "Midas gives us the familiarity, the reliability and of course the essential audio quality."

All in all, APR oversaw the action at the main (Open Air) stage, the ever-popular Siam Tent, the Village Stage, Rivermead Club WOMAD, Spiegeltent, Green Room workshops Thames Suite dance studio and the One World Platform. "The festival has grown again since last year," says van Denzel, who also mixed many of the bands. "This year they added a ninth stage - the BBC Radio 3 World On Your Street Stage, to one side of the main arena. This was planned to be a little booth for 200 people but ended up being a club-sized sound system that drew up to 2000 people."

In the past 12 months, Ampco has also worked on WOMAD festivals in Singapore, Cáceres and Madrid in Spain, Grand Canaria, New Zealand, Australia and Sicily. These locations are being added to this autumn by the first WOMAD Sri Lanka. All operate as a joint partnership in each country between WOMAD, co-founded by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Brooman, and local site production, with APR in charge of the audio and Stage Miracles providing stage management.

"Consistency is a huge part of it," says van Denzel. "Artists love to know that at every WOMAD they'll find the same team, the same technical crew, the same stage setup, the same sound." Among the artistic highlights of the Reading event were Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour, Bill Cobham, Nitin Sawhney, Richie Havens, the Fatback Band, Yasmin Levy and Robert Plant.

(Lee Baldock)

Brit-Asian Stars Rock Womad

British Asian stars including Apache Indian & The Dhol Foundation rocked the WOMAD festival over the weekend....

[ClickPress, Wed Aug 03 2005]

The WOMAD festival rocked across the UK on Sunday July 31st August when reggae superstar Apache Indian took to the main stage and entertained over 50 000 to probably one of his finest ever performances and too make WOMAD even hotter when The Dhol Foundation made a surprise appearance with the main man, Johnny Kalsi at the helm. A 15 000 audience watched the king of Dhol go wild on stage and at one point, fans were asked to not make so much noise as they we’re drowning out the main stage audience of about 50 000.

Apache Indian headlined the Sunday festival and gave workshops for the younger fans of Womad generation. Apache performed live alongside his now legendary musicians, The Reggae Revolution Band. Ten tracks were played, starting off with classics such as Movie Over India and Chok There and then taking people through various songs from his new album “Time For Change”.

As part of his live set, Apache also spoke to the audience about the world we lived in and how we must all work together to end racism and violence which immediately led to a rapturous applause from the WOMAD crowd. He finished his set with three classics including his new single Israelites, followed by two of his former chart hits Boom Shak-alak and Ruggermuffin Girl.

Johnny Kalsi of the Dhol Foundation hosted the BBC Radio 3 Village stage over the three days. The stage featured live acoustic sets of acts from all over the globe including Syria, Palestine Argentina, Korea, Uganda, France and Iraq with a live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 each night. Johnny introduced each act over the three days and acted as an ambassador for WOMAD, which meant running around the festival to give various interviews for radio, tv and press in between introducing all the Village stage to crowds of 15 000 plus.

Over the three days the Dhol Foundation new album sold out at the WOMAD store and after various requests and constant demands by fans who had seen Johnny perform over the years, he decided to bow down to pressure and gave a live performance towards the end of Village stage line up. Performing tracks from Drum-believable drove the crowd to scenes of mass cheers and shouts of Johnny. As a finale to his set, he finished off with a track taken from this current album, which is a cross between traditional Punjabi dhol beats and Celtic sounds of the fiddle

Notes to Editors:

• WOMAD is now in its 15th year and held in Reading, UK

• WOMAD has over 100 festivals held in 21 countries

• WOMAD 2005 featured artists from 30 countries

• Apache Indian will be performing at WOMAD Singapore

• DHOL FOUNDATION will be performing at WOMAD Singapore and Sri Lanka

• Apache Indians latest album is titled “Time For Change”,for more info go to: www.karmasound.com

• Dhol Foundation’s latest album is titled “Drum-Believable”, for more info visit www.dholfoundation.com