Singer-model Chyna Gordon's hot touch

Chyna Gordon

(...) Convinced about her future and secure about her identity, Chyna hit the London club scene, gigging wherever the opportunity arose and doing guest vocals on the albums of other musicians.In what must be one of the most powerful affirmations for word-of-mouth promotion, Chyna entered what could only be described as her 'golden phone call' phase.

The first call was from Peter Gabriel, who asked her to sing on the recording of his then breakthrough album, So (specifically on the smash single, Sledgehammer). "At the time, I really didn't even know who he was, but all the people I told were just gasping, 'oh! you're working with Peter Gabriel!' (...)

Real World Celebrates in Style!

Everyone on site at Real World had their fingers crossed on the morning of Wednesday 28 June and were looking skyward for signs of ominous black clouds! We were all hoping that it wasn't going rain! This was the day of the Real World Summer Party - our biggest celebration in the last 7 years- and we were relying on the sunshine to make it a perfect day.

The big event was to celebrate 20 Years of Real World Studios, its investment in a future of recording and the unique relationship with Real World Records. The refit and relaunch of two of the main studios - the famous Big Control Room and smaller Production Room - were the motivation to crack open a bottle of wine. It then seemed a good idea to invite a number of Real World artists to the studio and put on a concert in the grounds of the studio.

During the afternoon the invited media took part in a press conference where Peter Gabriel talked about the illustrious history of the studio, played some tasters of forthcoming music to be released on the label and introduced a number of musicians and producers.

Following a wonderful barbeque from resident Real World chief Geraldine, lashings of Pimms, fine wines, delicious deserts and west country cheeses the invited audience of friends and business associates enjoyed an evening of music.

Adrian Sherwood opened proceedings with a mellow 'dub lite' DJ set followed by new comer singer song writer Charlie Winston. Chinese flutist Guo Yue provided a magical moment of solo performance followed by the wonderful Daby Touré who got the crowd in party mood. Sevara Nazarkhan, the beautiful Uzbek diva, was outstanding. LIttle Axe brought the house down (even though we were all outside on the lawn) with a fantastic set of 21st century blues featuring the legendary Skip Mcdonald, Keith Le Blanc, Doug Wimbish and original Tackhead vocalist Bernard Fowler. Quite unexpectedly the band were joined on stage by Robert Plant (who was unable to resist the temptation to get up there with like-minded musicians!) followed by Peter and Sevara. What a finale! The whole evening was brought to a fabulous conclusion with a specially designed firework display - the scale of which has never been seen before in the skies above the village of Box!

And we didn't even have a light shower.....

Life's a beach at Womad

Revellers at this year’s Womad festival will get the chance to ditch their tents for a plush beach hut or stunning teepee. Music fans can say goodbye to the ground sheets and camping tables for a foam sofa bed, table and table lamp in the two-man huts or cosy down in one of the towering wigwams. The facilities are just some of a host of changes to be announced by the organisers of the World of Music, Arts and Dance extravaganza to make the increasingly popular festival bigger and better than ever.

More than 27,000 world music fans are expected to turn up to the Richfield Avenue site at the end of July for the 17th annual family-friendly event. This year will also boast a giant stage in three sections, which will host cinema and cabaret shows as well as scores of workshops. Revellers will also get a chance to try out a silent disco – where people get boogying to music via headphones – over the three-day event.

For the first time, there will also be comedy, with performances by political stand-up act Mark Thomas and children’s comic James Campbell, among the star turns due to make an appearance. Bobby Lonergan, of festival partner organisation, Reading Arts, said the site – traditionally the field outside Rivermead – would also be bigger this year. A deal has been done with Mean Fiddler, which organises the Reading Rock Festival and owns Little John’s Farm, land adjacent to the Rivermead site, to use part of Little John’s Farm for the new initiatives.

He also said the licensing application for the revamped festival was still on the drawing board but once approved by Reading Borough Council, it would be valid for several years. More showers and toilets – the lack of which last year resulted in an unpleasant whiff across the site – will also be brought in, Mr Lonergan added.

And to the delight of the festival’s aficionados, the beautiful handmade flags symbolising peace and friendship will make a return. Each year the festival, which is the brainchild of rock legend Peter Gabriel and is organised by the Womad Festival Organisation, brings more than 80 artists from 40 different countries to the town. This year, artists including Anoushka Shankar of India and American folk singer Nanci Griffith will appear.

Weekend tickets priced at £110 as well as day passes, with prices ranging from £35 to £55, are still available. For information and ticket bookings, please call the Womad hotline on (0118) 939 0930. For details about the beach huts and teepees, visit www.womad.org/reading and click on the ‘location’ link. You can hire a traditional beach hut for two for £450 and the traditional Native American teepees, which can sleep up to 10 people, will also be on offer at prices ranging from £290 to £690.

Origine des Gnaoua et Gnaoua des origines

Perçus il y a quelques années encore comme des "mendiants" ou des amuseurs publics, les gnaoua sont aujourd'hui considérés, à juste titre, comme des artistes à part entière voire des stars que réclament et s'arrachent les scènes nationales et internationales les plus prestigieuses. (...)

Avec des différents styles qui puisent dans une même source, les maâlems gnaoua se prêtent bien à toutes les fusions et arrivent facilement à établir une complicité avec les plus grands virtuoses et musiques du monde. Jazz, blues, pop, techno ou percussions africaines se marie à merveille avec les jams, tant il est vrai que les Gnaoua sont des passeurs de musique et d'émotions.

Ils ont en donné la preuve en partageant avec brio la scène avec les Carlos Santana, les Peter Gabriel, les Led Zeppelin, les Robert Plant, les Randy Weston, les Pink Floyd, les Cat Stevens, les Jimmy Hendrix, les Henri Salvador, les Sapho, les Rita Mitsouko, et la liste est longue.

Télévision, cinéma et sociétés de communication aidant, la musique gnaouie est sortie de l'ombre pour investir les plus grandes scènes mondiales et ébahir leurs publics.

Mais pour ce genre de musique original, l'événement le plus marquant reste le festival d'Essaouira, ce boom gnaoui qui a profité à plusieurs artistes qui se sont trouvés propulsés hors des circuits traditionnels des laylats, drainant à eux seuls plus de 500.000 personnes du monde entier au titre de la 9ème édition du festival 2006.

Mohamed Chennouni

Charles to meet families of soldiers killed in Iraq

Malcolm Kendall-Smith, The RAF doctor is serving an eight-month prison term for refusing to return to Iraq. His supporters, who include the musician Peter Gabriel, claim he is a prisoner of conscience.

Prince of Wales to hear demands of bereaved relatives for British troops to be brought home

The Prince of Wales will be asked to support demands for British troops to leave Iraq when he meets the parents of soldiers killed in the Gulf war in private this week. Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall have invited several of the most prominent critics of Tony Blair's policy on Iraq to Highgrove this Thursday, including Reg Keys, who stood against the Prime Minister in his Sedgefield constituency at last year's general election.

Palace officials insist his meeting is non-political and based on his honorary position as a senior commander of the armed forces, but Mr Keys and other campaigning relatives, including Rose Gentle, believe he is privately sympathetic to their complaints. The event takes place the day after more than a dozen prominent celebrities, including the actor Simon Callow, the designer Vivienne Westwood and director Ken Loach, host a fund-raising event for the Iraq "refusenik" Fl-Lt Malcolm Kendall-Smith in London. The RAF doctor is serving an eight-month prison term for refusing to return to Iraq. His supporters, who include the musician Peter Gabriel, claim he is a prisoner of conscience.

The Highgrove reception is understood to include relatives who do not criticise Britain's role in the Iraq conflict, but Prince Charles's decision to meet parents such as Mr Keys and Mrs Gentle, whose son Gordon died in 2004, risks alarming military commanders. Mr Keys, who lost his son Thomas, a military policeman, in June 2003, said this meeting also contrasted markedly with Mr Blair's repeated refusal to meet the families. "It just shows that these two men are poles apart in integrity and compassion," he said.

"If I did get the opportunity to talk to him, I would have to say it's clearly a catastrophic strategic failure; that it has cost far too many lives and needs to be brought to a close." Peter Brierley, whose son Shaun died in March 2003, added: "Prince Charles is being a good national leader, isn't he? It seems a bit strange that the man elected by the people to be their leader refuses to meet us, but the bloke born into it is voluntarily doing so."

By Severin Carrell

Remix Competition

We're pleased to announce the first Real World Remixed competition in association with Peter Gabriel, who's given us Shock The Monkey to remix and Solid State Logic, who are donating a great prize.

We're celebrating twenty years of Real World Studios and the installation of a new SSL XL 9000 console in our flagship studio 'The Big Room' along with a lovely AWS 900+ in our metamorphosed 'Production Room'. To spread the joy we're making available a sample pack; including all the vocals, from Peter's original multitracks of Shock The Monkey. Recorded between spring 1981 and summer 1982 this track was one of the first to use sampling technology. Peter utilizied the ground breaking Fairlight CMI and you can hear it and other classic machines such as the Linn Drum and the Prophet 5 synth throughout the sample pack.

"I'd been dreaming for some time of an instrument that could sample stuff from the real world and then turn it, make it available on a keyboard. Larry Fast told me that he thought he'd heard rumours of such an instrument. It was £10,000 which seemed an unearthly amount of money, got very excited with this thing, it's called the FairLight, and spent a lot of time then collecting sounds going to factories to the university, getting interesting samples that were then used on that record and the ones after, it was really one of the key things that gave that record a different sound." Peter Gabriel

Download the pack when it becomes available on the 28th of June, remix, then upload your finished mix back to this site - we're going to be keeping an eye on the peer reviews and ratings, then we'll sit down with Peter and listen to the pick of the mixes here in the first week of October. The winner will be announced on September 7th.

The winner will get to experience the quality of sound processing SSL tecnology can bring to their work in the form of the amazing Duende. Five runners up can hear some of Peter's other recordings given new life in the 5.1 mixes by Dan Lanois and Richard Chappel on signed copies of Peter's Play: The Videos DVD.

Peter Gabriel: Welcome to my Real World

Peter Gabriel tells how, 20 years ago, he set up his pioneering label and studio dedicated to recording and releasing music from all over the globe

Next Wednesday, 28 June, we're having a party to celebrate 20 years of Real World with a wonderful mixed bill of Little Axe, Daby Toure, Sevara Nazarkhan, Guo Yue, Charlie Winston and the DJ Adrian Sherwood.

Since the band Traffic announced they were going to "get it together in the country" in 1967, musicians have been trying to escape the temptations of city life to focus on their writing and recording in greener pastures. I emigrated to the West Country in 1974, tired of the regular evening rumble of my neighbours' fists on the walls of our Notting Hill bedsit as my songs crawled out of the piano. The first location was an old farm-shed in the southernmost valley of the Cotswolds. It was warm, well insulated and we managed to stick in a couple of picture windows, looking up the valley. The cows would sometimes come and lick the window panes while we were making music. This we would take as a sign of good fortune and good taste. I always wanted to buy more stuff, so the idea of renting the place out as a studio started to look like a fine thing to do.

I was very excited when artists such as Joni Mitchell and Robbie Robertson started to use the place, and the idea of turning it into a proper studio seemed like the next step. We spent some time looking for a new site until a friend introduced us to our present site, Box Mill, seven miles away.

At the time, most studios were cramped, disco-lit, underground padded cells as isolated as possible from the outside world. My vision was to set up a series of writing and recording rooms, all with windows overlooking water, fully connected to and serviced by a large hub that could house the brains and the enormous main control room. Our slogan was "handmade and high-tech' and the studio was built around both approaches. Great technical recording is worth nothing without a great performance. The studio was designed to create an open and free environment in which people from other cultures might feel comfortable enough to give great performances. The largest studio had two or three stages inside the control room so that the zoo-like separation between engineer, producer, and artist was eliminated.

The angst of the creative process manifested in different ways. Some would arrive with prayer mats, others with hookers. But, like hotelkeepers, a studio should not be in the business of preaching to its clients, and we were there to facilitate the creative process.

Today the costs of recording can be very low, and every major record company has its boutique "world" label, but at the beginning it wasn't like that. We could only fund Real World as a record company if it was really tightly managed. Simon Draper of Virgin had offered us 10 grand to make each record, covering advances to artists, recording costs, album art and the running of the label.

The first release on Real World was Passion - the soundtrack for the film The Last Temptation of Christ. It was also the first time I had recorded with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and perhaps the most extraordinary sessions to this day were when we were in the attic studio, which had a raised balcony at the back. The Indian violinist L Shankar stood up on the balcony and Nusrat was standing just behind the desk on the main floor. I think everyone had hairs standing on the backs of their necks as the music started. Both of them took the melody and made it their own. It was like tennis when you think the rally can't get any better but each player raises their game and it just goes up and up. Amazingly emotional: it was India and Pakistan working together for a film about Christ.

No music has gone out that we are not proud of in one way or another, but I've been particularly moved by some of the stuff Nusrat has done. Being part of the process that introduced him to a non-Asian audience is something we all feel good about. We've put out so much great stuff - Maryam Mursal, Yungchen Lhamo, the AfroCelts, Ozomatli, and Papa Wemba all come to mind. Sheila Chandra is another. Sheila's album ABoneCroneDrone is based around the idea that when you look at a rock all you see is a rock, until it starts revealing itself - a bit like lying on your back and looking up at the clouds. To me it's quite a new approach to music-making, and I don't think it got the recognition it deserved. I love Charlie Musselwhite's new record, Delta Hardware. He's an extraordinary harmonica player. On the first album he was a bit shy of taking the front spot as a singer, but I think he's like Johnny Cash in his approach to music.

Part of what I didn't like about how some music had been approached was this slightly fascistic attitude towards ethnic purity and that the "ethnic artists" had to be kept in their traditional, folk, ways. Our approach was that artists were artists and should be allowed to explore and experiment and follow whatever directions inspire them.

Many of the Womad festival artists loved hanging around the festivals and playing and writing. Partly as a result of this, we set up a recording week, usually around the time of Womad. They were some of the most incredible recording experiences of my life. It was like a giant dating agency. Quite a lot of people met up and then later went on to do their own recordings together. Everyone agrees it's just the best experience; it changes you and you learn so much. Not everything works, but when it catches fire it's extraordinary. It's a very commonplace idea now but it certainly wasn't then.

'Africa Calling: Live 8 At Eden', featuring Youssou N'Dour, Angélique Kidjo, Mariza, and many others, is out on EMI/Real World on Monday

UN Security Council must act on Burma

When Argentina was ruled by a brutal military junta, thousands of people and organisations around the world rallied to the cause, demanding human rights and democracy without delay.

Compassionate individuals housed many activists in exile in the United States, United Kingdom and elsewhere, while artists around the world lent their support to help us begin to come to terms with the aftermath of the disappearance of 30,000 people. Support from around the world and within the United Nations was critical. Yet, many thousands of lives could have been saved had the international community acted sooner.

Today, the world finds itself at odds with another brutal military junta in the Southeast Asian country of Burma, which continues to incarcerate Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

Suu Kyi's "crime" is being loved by the people of Burma. Her political party won 82 per cent of the seats in parliament in Burma's last democratic election, only to have the results annulled by the ruling military junta. She has remained locked up for 10 of the past 17 years. Many people of Burma fare much worse, suffering the most severe forms of torture.

The situation for ethnic minorities in the country is even worse. The military regime rules by brute force, oppressing and relocating hundreds of thousands of ethnic minorities who stand in opposition to its rule. Two thousand eight hundred villages have been burned down or otherwise destroyed in eastern Burma alone, some repeatedly, to force ethnic minorities to move to military-controlled areas. As a result, there are over one million Burmese refugees, and over half a million internally displaced people (IDPs). The situation for both groups is dire. For example, refugees like Naanh Hla (not her real name), a Shan woman, who was 16 years old and seven months pregnant when 10 Burmese soldiers kidnapped and killed her husband and gang-raped her to the point that she gave birth prematurely alone in the jungle, or Naw Paw Paw, who recounted to Burma Issues - a group working with the human-rights organisation WITNESS - how she lost four of her six children, two on the same day, over the course of many years fleeing through the jungle.

In the past four months, the worst attacks in a decade have displaced almost 20,000 people. Yet the junta continues to cut off international access to areas of ongoing conflict, which has precluded aid to IDPs, a violation of international humanitarian law. Even in Sudan, humanitarian agencies are permitted access; not so in eastern Burma.

If caught by the military, IDPs are often either killed on the spot or forced to become porters or labourers with little or no pay. Female porters are often systematically raped at night by officers and soldiers. Forced labourers are often required to build roads for the military, making it near impossible for them to grow their own crops.

The junta military also targets children. According to Human Rights Watch, there are up to 70,000 children conscripted into the army, more than any other country in the world. Some conscripted "soldiers" are as young as eleven.

The United Nations has tried in good faith to bring change to Burma but these efforts have failed. The military junta has ignored 28 consecutive non-binding UN Resolutions, four special envoys from the UN Commission on Human Rights, and two special envoys from Secretary-General Kofi Annan himself. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has called for the release of Suu Kyi and others, to no avail. Bilateral initiatives from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore have also been rebuffed by the military junta, and several missions by the European Union have failed to elicit reform. These failures are not the fault of the United Nations. They have failed due to the intransigence of the military junta, which continues to make empty promises about transitioning to democratic government. The junta's words have lost all credibility.

This situation won't fix itself. The UN Security Council should address the situation in Burma and pass a legally binding resolution calling for peaceful change. Unlike other UN efforts, the Security Council has the power to compel its members to take action. A positive proposal was articulately spelled out in a recent report by South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Czech president Vaclav Havel in which they made it abundantly clear that the Council has the responsibility to act on Burma. The report articulated how the effects of brutal military rule in Burma are spilling over the country's borders and destabilising the region, and rightfully pointed out there is ample precedent for action - the Security Council has acted in less severe situations in the past. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others are calling for the Security Council to act.

Members of the Security Council, including Argentina and the United Kingdom, should step forward and publicly lead the effort for a peaceful, binding Security Council resolution on Burma. If they refuse to act, many more people will die.

Adolfo Perez Esquivel is the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize recipient from Argentina and founder of the Service, Peace and Justice Foundation.

Peter Gabriel, acclaimed musician and activist, is the co-founder of the international organisation WITNESS, currently partnered with the human rights group Burma Issues.

Adolfo Perez Esquivel,

Peter Gabriel

Special to The Nation

Daby Touré à Genève

Genève

SPECTACLES ONÉSIENS - Découvertes et redécouvertes coloreront la saison prochaine.

Le programme 2006-2007 des Spectacles onésiens a été présenté hier par Cyrille Schnyder, directrice de programmation[1]. Concerts et spectacles humoristiques se succéderont pour cette dix-neuvième saison qui s'étend d'octobre à mai. (...)

Sous l'étiquette World music, on retrouve le chanteur d'origine mauritanienne Daby Touré, révélé par Peter Gabriel lors de sa dernière tournée. Grand maître de gaïta –cornemuse galicienne–, Carlos Nuñes se produira avec ses musiciens au mois de janvier. Enfin, le choeur ukrainien Kalena, composé de 80 chanteurs et musiciens, promet une soirée forte en émotions.(...)

[1]Le programme complet sera disponible dès vendredi sur le site: www.spectaclesonesiens.ch

Maurane “au milieu 2” nous

Elle ne s’attendait pas à revenir si vite. Et puis, tout compte fait, cela l’arrange bien. Voilà qui tombe à pic, pour nous aussi. Maurane sera sur scène ce soir à 19 h 30 au Mahatma Gandhi Institute, deux ans après nous avoir quitté l’heureux tour.

L’humaine qui danse est au milieu de nous avec une “petite tournée entre deux grosses”. Un tour de chant qui promet d’être intimiste, entre deux instrumentistes : guitare et piano. Une formule qui laissera la place, à la fin, à une carte des désirs. Petit quart d’heure (on espère que ce sera plus) où le public pourra commander ses chansons préférées. “L’idée c’est que le public soit dans son salon.”

Endiablées ou mélancoliques, celles que Maurane préfèrent ce sont les chansons tristes. Pas à pleurer, mais marquantes. De celles qui vous prennent aux tripes comme les chansons que Brel savait concocter. Nougaro, l’idole, sera là aussi. Mais pas le titre avec Lara Fabian, “parce que je ne l’ai pas emmenée dans mes valises” ni Pa gaie la pagaille, ou alors juste un refrain.

Au milieu 2, c’est “le spectacle des possibles”. Voilà comment Maurane nous l’a présenté hier au Dinarobin, au Morne. Tout comme il est possible que la chanteuse vous raconte ( comme elle l’a fait avec nous) la fois où elle était pompette ( son péché mignon c’est le champagne, elle en avait une coupe, il y a deux ans, au Plaza, nous gratifiera-t-elle de bulles ce soir ?). Un peu d’alcool dans le sang, pour mieux Boire dans le même rêve.

De quoi voguer jusqu’au Toi du monde. Elle en a fait du chemin avant d’arriver à Maurice. Des dates à Madagascar, pas assez à son goût, “parce que ce sont les officiels qui ont été privilégiés. On est toujours déboussolé par la richesse d’un côté et la pauvreté de l’autre”. Quatre concerts à la Réunion, dont elle retient sa rencontre avec Emilie Minatchy, ex-star-académicienne.

Non, Maurane n’affiche ni rejet ni mépris pour les noms issus des émissions de télé-réalité. Elle est de ceux qui ont été “explosés” par la version de Bagdad Café de Dominique de La nouvelle star. Elle est de ceux qui “ont hâte que Christophe sorte de la grosse machine pour se créer une identité”.

Et quand on lui parle de ses débuts, des années de galère, Maurane préfère dire que c’est “l’école, l’apprentissage”. Elle en a gardé un côté cool, une “indolence qui fait partie de mon rythme”. Avec en prime, ses entrées dans de prestigieuses “familles” d’artistes. Des noms ? Sans prétention, elle cite Cabrel, Goldman, Nougaro, Fugain.
A l’automne, il faudra y ajouter le nom de Daran. Celui qui écrit son nouvel album. Elle aime bien être à plusieurs, Maurane. Après des duos avec Céline Dion, Lara Fabian et tout ce que le showbiz français compte comme Enfoirés, c’est avec Sting, Peter Gabriel ou Youssou N’Dour qu’elle aimerait chanter. Mais bon, “il faut parfois rester avec ses rêves”. C’est bien ce que nous nous attendons à vivre ce soir.

Wings Over Boston

BOSTON -(...) Last year, Skywalk celebrated its 40th anniversary by installing the Dreams of Freedom Immigration Museum. Formerly located in downtown Boston's International Institute of Boston, the museum highlights immigration's role in building Boston's identity. In one multimedia exhibit, two rap emcees appear on separate television sets and ask viewers sample questions from the U.S. citizenship test. Siblings Fernando and Jennifer Pena laughed while they watched the video. "If you ask Americans, some of them wouldn't even know the answers to those questions," said Jennifer Pena, who was born in the Dominican Republic.

Among the nearly 30 interactive displays are a short film about refugees narrated by singer Peter Gabriel and the "Wings Over Boston" aerial video tour.

DailyCD Official Selection Honors Best Albums Past & Present

DailyCD (www.DailyCD.com), the free e-newsletter that features the world's best albums, has created the DailyCD Official Selection to bestow on the albums selected for the newsletter and Web site. The musicologists and journalists who write the reviews on DailyCD choose only one album a day from the thousands that are released weekly and those released in past decades. More than 60,000 albums were released in 2005 alone, according to Neilson SoundScan. So, when the DailyCD Official Selection is granted, enormous musical value is placed upon that title.

"We created the DailyCD Official Selection to give consumers confidence in making their music purchases," said Scott Blum, co-founder and CEO of DailyCD. "Our goal is to help people identify the greatest albums among a sea of records, similar to the way the Sundance Film Festival helps guide people to great films."

The albums that receive the DailyCD Official Selection are chosen for their quality and individuality. They have ranged from Herbie Hancock's classic "Inventions and Dimensions" (1963) to Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" (1976) to "The Rain" (2003) by lesser-known artist Ghazal, which experienced a rankings jump on Amazon.com, going from 9,333 to 351 the day the album was featured on DailyCD. This type of sales spike is common for albums featured on DailyCD, whether they are by known or obscure artists.

The main goal of the DailyCD Official Selection is to recognize great albums and give often overlooked artists the accolades they deserve. The resulting jump in sales simply reflects the coming together of the artist and the consumer, according to Blum.

"We select albums that are excellent and that people will enjoy listening to even if they are not well-versed in all genres of music," said Blum. DailyCD covers indie rock, jazz, world, soul, folk, singer-songwriter, blues, rock, instrumental and several other types of music.

Blum is a pioneer in the Interactive music industry and founded iMusic, one of the first music Web sites ever. He is a record producer who produced Peter Gabriel's award-winning CD-ROM, "Eve," and he has worked with many chart-topping bands, including Soundgarden and Smashing Pumpkins. DailyCD's influence continues to gain momentum and is expected to reach a subscriber base well into the millions by 2008.

For a free subscription to DailyCD or for more information, visit www.DailyCD.com.

Silverdocs Announces Festival Slate

SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival announced its full slate of films for the 2006 Festival, taking place June 13-18, 2006 in the Washington, DC area. SILVERDOCS 2006 will present 100 films from 22 countries selected from 1,687 submissions with 13 World, 12 North American, six US and four East Coast premieres. These numbers represent an increase from 2005 when 89 films were selected from 1,300 submissions. Created through an alliance between the American Film Institute and Discovery Channel, SILVERDOCS takes place at the state-of-the-art AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. In 2005, the Festival screened sold out shows to more than 19,000 participants who viewed the best in documentary film and experienced free mid-day shorts, outdoor screenings, live music, panel discussions and special events. (...)

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY AWARD

(...) Best Music Doc Jury: Peter Gabriel, musician and WITNESS founder; Tracy McKnight, co-founder and president of Commotion Records; and Keven McAlester whose first feature, YOU’RE GONNA MISS ME, won SILVERDOCS’ 2005 music award.

Wedding time

2002 - Peter Gabriel marries longtime companion Meah Flynn at the Li Capanni hotel he owns near Sardinia`s Emerald Coast.

Arquette Got Gabriel Song in movie

Rosanna Arquette loved the film Say Anything so much, she begged boyfriend Peter Gabriel to put the song he wrote about her, In Your Eyes, in the movie. Gabriel had been approached by director Cameron Crowe, who wasn't well known at the time, to use the track in a pivotal scene where character Lloyd Dobler stands outside his true love's window blasting the song from a boom box.

Arquette explains, ""That is a beautiful song, it's a beautiful song." Cameron Crowe had wanted that in his movie Say Anything and a long time ago I remember Peter had had that tape of the movie on top of the TV for a couple of months. "I said, 'What is this?' and he said, 'Oh, this guy wants to use the song' and he hadn't seen the movie yet." The actress popped in the video and immediately convinced her boyfriend that the film was fantastic.Arquette says she has told Crowe about the incident and he has thanked her profusely.

Pride supplement celebrates 101 great citizens

The Bath Chronicle campaign to make its readers feel good about their city has taken another step forward with the publication of a free 32-page supplement of 101 great Bathonians. The supplement is part of the Pride in Bath campaign which has been running since October to encourage people to salute the achievements of their community.

The supplement includes people like King Edgar – the first King of England who was crowned at Bath Abbey – through to modern day stars such as jazz singer Jamie Cullum and England rugby hero Jeremy Guscott. The supplement features academics, scientists, business people, writers and many more people have been associated with Bath over the centuries. It was compiled by the Bath editorial team spearheaded by features editor Georgette McCready and design editor Liz Burcher with input from the Chronicle’s own readers who were asked to nominate their favourite Bathonians for the supplement.

Editor Sam Holliday said he was delighted with the supplement which was part of his continuing campaign to try and increase civic pride amongst the Chronicle’s readers. He said: "Bath really does have an amazing history and has produced many famous people. "We have tried to cover all the bases and included people who everyone will have heard of such as Jane Austen, Roger Bannister, Peter Gabriel and the scourge of young journalists everywhere - shorthand king Isaac Pitman. Just as importantly, however, we have also featured those who just work really hard in Bath on a day to day basis to ensure the city is as successful as it is."

The Pride in Bath campaign is one which the editor says should never actually have an end point. He said: "With many other campaigns I have been involved in, you start something off, you hopefully get the result you want and then you close it down. This one is different though. I think it is the duty of a newspaper to not only reflect the bad news in its community but also to look for, and then cheer, the achievements. Pride in Bath focuses all our minds on trying to look on the brighter side of life. "This latest supplement is just another example of how you can find things to applaud in every community - if you just take the trouble to look for them."

It Was 20 Years Ago Today: Remembering the Conspiracy of Hope Tour

Former Amnesty International USA Executive Director Jack Healey shares his memories (and photos) with @U2

Don't be surprised if a few years from now you find the Universal Declaration of Human Rights printed in your passport. That's Jack Healey's latest project, and what Healey wants -- at least when it comes to human rights efforts -- he often gets. Or, more accurately, he makes happen.

In 1981, Healey set out to organize a concert tour on behalf of Amnesty International. Five years later, and 20 years ago today, the "Conspiracy of Hope" tour began; two weeks later, it was a stunning success. With performers such as U2, Sting and The Police, Peter Gabriel, Joan Baez and others on board, the tour visited six cities between June 4 and June 15, 1986. Talk about making things happen: In the immediate aftermath of the tour, four of the six prisoners of conscience the artists had adopted were released, Amnesty's membership nearly tripled within a matter of weeks, and the concerts raised $3 million -- an amount equal to Amnesty's U.S. section's annual budget. (...)

With U2 on board, Healey set out to get more artists to join the tour.

"I had lunch with Sting at his apartment in New York. It was really neat," Healey remembers. "I said to him, 'Would you reunite The Police?' And he said that would be difficult to do, but he was very like ... you know ... he was very cool. He told me, 'If you keep it a secret, Jack, I'll try and do that and I think I'll be able to. I'm not positive, but I think I'll be able to.'"

Sting was the second artist on the Conspiracy of Hope tour roster, and others soon followed. Graham's recruits included Lou Reed, Joan Baez, and the Neville Brothers. Bono brought Peter Gabriel on board. They had the artists, they had the tour itinerary, and perhaps most importantly, they convinced MTV to give them 11 hours of programming for the final show at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, as well as the revenue from all the advertising Amnesty could sell.

Putting the tour together was only half the battle. No one involved in the effort had any idea if the Conspiracy of Hope tour would succeed. How would the artists get along? Would everyone -- artists and audience -- understand the message Amnesty was pitching? Healey admits to being nervous before the opening night show, but all his fears soon disappeared.

"I was a bit terrified in San Francisco at the opening, and what happened was -- I had never heard the song 'Biko' before," Healey recalls, referring to the Peter Gabriel song about Stephen Biko, a black leader who died in 1977 from brain injuries suffered while in the custody of South African police. "I was not knowledgeable about Peter Gabriel at all. It wasn't Peter's fault, it was my fault. But when he sang 'Biko' that night, I knew the show was gonna work." (...)

And once the air was cleared, the rest of the tour ran smoothly. Except for the flight from Chicago to New York, that is.

The artists and crew were in a great mood. Days earlier in Atlanta they had celebrated with an impromptu jam session at the hotel lounge, everybody getting on stage and playing together into the early morning hours (until they were stopped -- no kidding -- by a bartender who wanted to close up and go home). Healey says everyone felt the tour was working; the audiences were responding to their message.

Spirits were so high that the flight from Chicago to New York was "one big pillow fight," Healey says. And then, a near disaster: When the plane landed in New York, it blew two tires.

"I probably was one of the only ones that knew it," Healey says. "When it hit, it bounced too high, coming back down. It went 'boomp' [makes a sound effect] and up. I thought, 'Holy shit, we're in trouble.' All that talent was almost lost." (...)

Stars join our fight to free web

Coldplay, Geldof and Tutu are among 20,000 supporting the Observer/Amnesty campaign

David Smith, Sunday June 4, 2006, Observer

Chris Martin, Martha Lane Fox, Bob Geldof and Archbishop Desmond Tutu are among nearly 20,000 people who have backed the Observer and Amnesty International campaign to end repression on the internet. This remarkable response to the launch of irrepressible.info last week included support from around the world.

The campaign - 45 years after a powerful article in this newspaper led to the founding of Amnesty International - recognises the internet as a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. It demands that governments stop censoring websites, blocking emails and persecuting and imprisoning bloggers. It also calls for major corporations to stop making it easier for them to do so. A remarkable 18,790 people have pledged their support so far. Among them is Martha Lane Fox, who became a star of the first 'dotcom boom' when she co-founded the online retailer lastminute.com. She said: 'I was lucky enough to have my horizons expanded and my business life transformed by the web - I wholeheartedly support The Observer's Irrepressible campaign.'

More than 1,000 blogs are already linked to the irrepressible.info website, and the campaign has been welcomed by bloggers who have suffered under oppressive regimes. Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian now living in Canada, whose blog Hoder.com has been censored in Iran, said: 'By censoring the internet and specifically blogs, governments are depriving themselves of amazing sources of information about what their population thinks of them and what they are are up to.'If blogs were around at the time of the Islamic Revolution [in Iran] in 1979, the former Shah would have probably predicted the massive uprising and could have changed his attitude towards running the state. Reading blogs for an official now is like when kings used to go out at night in disguise to see the ordinary lives of ordinary people. I am pleased to support the irrepressible.info campaign.'

In an article to launch the campaign last week, Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty International, highlighted the case of Shi Tao. The Chinese journalist was sentenced to 10 years' hard labour for using the web to reveal that his country's newspapers were being restricted in their coverage of the anniversary of the democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. Information from Yahoo was used as evidence for his conviction. As well as inviting people to sign the campaign pledge for freedom of speech, the irrepressible.info website - which has had 81,563 unique visitors, almost half from America - encourages people to write to the Chinese authorities and Yahoo to urge Shi Tao's release. In the past week 3,128 emails have been sent.

There was a further blow to Yahoo when the National Union of Journalists advised its 40,000 members to boycott the firm's products and services, accusing it of providing 'information to Chinese authorities that helped identify and prosecute several journalists and pro-democracy writers'. The union cited the case of Shi Tao as well as those of Jiang Lijun, jailed for four years for articles calling the Beijing government 'autocratic', and Li Zhi, sentenced to eight years for discussing democracy in a web forum and emailing pro-democracy campaigners. 'The Chinese government has an atrocious record of censorship and free expression,' said Jeremy Dear, the union's general secretary. 'The NUJ regards Yahoo's actions as a completely unacceptable endorsement of the Chinese authorities. The NUJ will be cancelling all Yahoo-operated services and advising members to boycott Yahoo until the company changes its irresponsible and unethical policy.' Mary Osako of Yahoo said: 'The facts of the Shi Tao case are distressing to our company, our employees and our leadership. We condemn punishment of any activity internationally recognised as free expression, in China or anywhere else. We have made our views clearly known to the Chinese government.'

Amnesty International has uncovered internet repression in countries such as Iran, Israel, the Maldives, Tunisia and Vietnam. In Egypt last month at least six bloggers were among about 300 people jailed during anti-government protests. Founding supporters of the campaign :

Bryan Adams musician ; Margaret Atwood writer ; Lord Avebury campaigner; Norman Baker MP ; Joan Bakewell broadcaster ; Beryl Bainbridge writer ; Honor Blackman actor ; Melvyn Bragg broadcaster ; Michael Brandon actor ; Rory Bremner satirist ; Shami Chakrabarti director of Liberty ; Eric Clapton musician ; Baroness Frances D'Souza ; Dr Shirin Ebadi Nobel Peace Prize winner ; Peter Gabriel musician ; Paul Gambaccini broadcaster ; Bob Geldof musician and campaigner ; Richard E Grant actor ; Lord (Raymond) Hylton ; John Kampfner editor, New Statesman ; Charles Kennedy MP ; Baroness (Helena) Kennedy QC ; Glenys Kinnock MEP ; Lord (Neil) Kinnock ; Peter Kosminsky film director and writer ; Martha Lane Fox internet entrepreneur ; Simon Le Bon singer ; Helen Lederer comedian ; Maureen Lipman actor ; Roger Lloyd Pack actor ; Joanna Lumley actor ; Art Malik actor ; Chris Martin and Coldplay musicians ; Robert Ménard secretary-general, Reporters Without Borders ; Henderson Mullin managing director, Index on Censorship ; Lembit Opik MP ; Gordon Prentice MP ; Dave Stewart musician ; Desmond Tutu archbishop ; Xu Wenli head, overseas exiles branch, Chinese Democratic party ; Ken Wiwa campaigner ; Derek Wyatt MP

Yacht tax forces wealthy to steer clear of Sardinia

(...) The new taxes were introduced by Sardinia's regional government to capitalise on the stream of billionaires that party every year on the Emerald Coast. The luxury tax applies to second homes, yachts and private aircraft and is expected to raise as much as £551 million.

Roman Abramovich anchored his 340ft yacht, Pelorus, in Porto Cervo, the multi-millionaires' favourite, last year. Princess Caroline of Monaco is another regular visitor. The rock star Peter Gabriel and Sheikh Yamani, the former Saudi oil minister, have villas in the region.

Renato Soru, the island's president, is determined to "tax the rich". He said: "In most cases, these rich tourists do not even spend a euro in Sardinia."

The new law taxes yachts and houses according to their size. A yacht bigger than 98ft will have to pay £7,150. Houses up to 2,153 sq ft within two miles of the shore will have to pay £2,070 a year (...)

20e Festival international Nuits d'Afrique à Montréal

photo : Daby Touré

Deux décennies de tambours parlants

Parrainé pour la deuxième fois par Youssou N'Dour qui offrira le concert d'ouverture, dirigé depuis 20 ans par le valeureux Touré Lamine, le Festival international Nuits d'Afrique (FINA) se promet, du 13 au 23 juillet prochain, de faire la fête aux musiques de l'Afrique et de sa diaspora. Tout ça en se rappelant plusieurs des artistes qui ont marqué son histoire, y compris des Montréalais qui l'ont accompagné depuis les débuts.

Vingt ans à porter le flambeau d'un art qui a atteint ses lettres de noblesse en dépit d'une évidente sous-diffusion. Une série entière consacrée à cet anniversaire : une vingtaine de concerts en salle, tout autant à l'extérieur, deux nouveaux sites, des retours attendus, plus d'artistes sénégalais que jamais en hommage au 100e anniversaire de Léopold Sedar Senghor. Visiblement, l'organisation veut marquer le coup pour plusieurs années encore.

Deux spectacles de pré-ouverture donneront le ton. D'abord, le koriste Zal Sissokho fera la paire avec le multi-instrumentiste brésilien Celso Machado, avant que Sarah Tavares ne porte pour la première fois ici les pièces de Balancê, superbe album de musique capverdienne matinée de couleurs africaines, brésiliennes et portugaises. De son côté, la série Grands Événements propose des prestations de Kékélé, attachants crooners de la rumba congolaise, des Amazones de Guinée, spectaculaires maîtres perçus au féminin, et de Daara J, groupe de pointe du rap de Dakar. Parmi les autres retours attendus, signalons Daby Touré, Sénégalais d'origine, né d'une célèbre famille qui surfera dans ses douceurs poétiques, et Sénaya, vagabonde de notre île à l'âme créole et à la voix gorgée de soul, dont le disque Garde la tête haute sera lancé en Europe en septembre.

La série «20 ans», exclusive à la présente mouture, est consacrée aux créateurs qui ont marqué le FINA. Lorraine Klaasen et Paulo Ramos, deux artistes locaux qui célèbrent également leurs 20 ans de carrière, seront à l'honneur. En plus, le guitariste de jazz créole Harold Faustin accompagnera la chanteuse Samina, qui lance un nouvel album, et Saïd Mesnaoui, qui revient s'installer chez nous après un séjour de huit ans à Paris, offrira son répertoire teinté de transe gnawa. De bons moments sont également à prévoir lors du passage de Sierra Maestra, l'un des plus importants groupes de son cubain des 30 dernières années.

Des découvertes ? M'Toro Chamou, peut-être le premier chanteur de Mayotte à se produire chez nous; Aurelio Martinez, un spécialiste du punta rock du Honduras et du Belize; Bandjo, un big band local de compa fusion haïtien, qui est précédé d'une excellente réputation. Pour terminer, trois jours de célébrations extérieures gratuites à la place Émilie-Gamelin du 21 au 23 juillet. Plus que jamais, les tambours parleront !

FINA, du 13 au 23 juillet au Metropolis, au Kola Note, au National, à La Tulipe, au Lion d'Or et au Balattou.