Un système français veut détrôner le MP3

Jérôme Colombain, France Info, lundi 8 septembre

Une nouvelle technologie pour remplacer le MP3 ? C’est l’ambition d’une jeune société française, Musinaut, qui a mis au point le MXP4.

On connaît le format MP3 qui a révolutionné l’écoute de la musique en permettant de compresser les chansons pour les écouter sur un baladeur ou sur un ordinateur. Problème, cependant : le MP3 n’offre pas une très grande qualité sonore et on peut sans doute mieux faire.

Le MXP4, qui est lancé officiellement aujourd’hui, se veut de meilleure qualité et surtout il apporte une dimension créative nouvelle aux artistes avec en plus de l’interactivité.

Concrètement : on peut, par exemple, écouter plusieurs versions d’un même morceau si l’artiste a décidé de diffuser toutes les prises réalisées en studio… Pour la musique classique, il devient possible de s’approcher virtuellement des cuivres ou des cordes comme si l’on se déplaçait dans la salle de concert… D’autres applications sont également possibles comme la diffusion des partitions en même temps qu’une chanson avec les notes qui s’affichent sur l’écran de votre ordinateur ou de votre téléphone portable pour vous permettre de jouer vous-même si vous êtes musicien… Pour cela, le MXP4 utilise des pistes sonores jusque là inexploitées sur les fichiers musicaux traditionnels.

Des artistes comme Passi ou Peter Gabriel ont essayé ce MXP4 mis au point par trois français : Sylvain Huet, Gilles Babinet et Philippe Ulrich.

Philippe Ulrich est lui-même musicien. C’est aussi un homme du jeu vidéo. Il avait contribué au début des années 90 à la réalisation Deuxième Monde, sorte de Second Life avant l’heure.

Cela dit, pas facile d’imposer une nouvelle technologie aussi bonne soit elle. Il existe déjà de nombreux formats concurrents du MP3 qui n’ont pas réussi à déloger ce puissant système.

On peut découvrir et tester le MXP4 sur le site www.mxp4.com.

Nomads unite in Etran Finatawa

By Siddhartha Mitter, Globe Correspondent | September 7, 2008

Banding together

Their name means "Stars of Tradition," but the members of Etran Finatawa are just as much cultural pioneers, melding long-separate ethnic traditions of their native Niger in the service of nationhood - and in the process, producing one of the most fascinating recent hybrids on the African music scene.

The band, which visits the MFA on Oct. 8, has successfully merged the trancey guitar-driven "desert blues" of the Tuareg ethnic group with the polyphonic vocals and spare percussion of the Wodaabé. It features three members from each community. Their new CD, "Desert Crossroads," is an exciting record of songs in both Tuareg and Wodaabé languages that possesses a deep feeling of roots while never feeling obscure or monotonous.

Etran Finatawa formed only recently, joining members of two separate traditional groups that were invited to perform at the 2004 edition of the Festival in the Desert - a key event on the world-music circuit, held in Timbuktu, Mali, and crucially, an outlet for musicians from impoverished nations of the Sahara desert region.

The idea of playing a song or two together germinated at the home of Sandra van Edig, a German expatriate and onetime anthropologist who was living with her husband, a development worker, in Niamey, Niger's capital.

As van Edig, who became Etran Finatawa's manager, recalls on the phone from Bujumbura, Burundi, where she now lives, the success of the joint finale at the festival revealed the potential for something that had never been done before: combining the music of these two nomadic cultures, ones that shared a broad swath of grazing lands but virtually no cultural collaboration.

"Nomads are very proud of their culture, and very individual," van Edig says. "And the Wodaabé were never very instrument oriented. It's totally new to find a guitar melody for a Wodaabé song. It had never been done before."

Nor was there much precedent for professional musicians other than griots, the traditional praise singers. "Maybe people would stick some money on their forehead, but they were not really paid," van Edig says. Indeed, until recently the Etran Finatawa members maintained a semi-nomadic life. "They'd just stay in the capital for a few months of the year, doing small jobs. Then the rainy season starts and they're off with their cattle in the grasslands."
In just four years, the band members have become a different type of nomad - full-time musicians who tour worldwide. A demo tape recorded on the terrace of van Edig's house under primitive conditions turned into a first album on the World Music Network label. Then came an invitation to the prestigious WOMAD festival in the UK. "Things really started to speed up then," van Edig says.

In separate phone conversations from Niamey, Alhousseini Anivolla and Bagui Bouga, de facto spokesmen for the Tuareg and Wodaabé sides of the band respectively, describe the challenge the band faced at the beginning.

"It was very complicated because we don't speak the same language and we don't have the same traditional rhythms," says Bouga. "We had Wodaabé songs and it was difficult to match them with the Tuareg scales."
"We're all nomads, yes, but from very different cultures," says Anivolla. "But everyone understood that even though we could do things alone, it was better to do it together, because we are people who live in the same country and share experiences."

In Niger, a country with a small and dispersed population, and a small and poorly funded cultural infrastructure, the opportunity to convey through music a sense of nationhood and shared struggle was one that the members of Etran Finatawa felt they had to seize - even at the risk of alienating traditionalists by crossing ethnic and stylistic barriers. As Bouga puts it, all they are doing is expressing what's happening in people's lives.

"We're not changing Wodaabé culture," he says. "We dress Wodaabé, we sing Wodaabé. But we're modernizing it by singing with the Tuaregs and their guitars. We're composing songs to talk about the way life is changing. That's reality."

Etran Finatawa performs at the Museum of Fine Arts Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets $25; members, seniors, and students $20. 617-369-3306, www.mfa.org

Peter Gabriel’s speaks up

After Hours Correspondent, Sunday, September 07, 2008

The musician wrote a song and performed for WALL-E. He also explained why he hopes WALL•E will be a big hit.

You’ve been associated with film music before, but WALL•E is the first animated film you have worked on. Why’s that?

I do get asked to do quite a lot of stuff, but it’s not my full-time job and so I really only get involved with film work when you have a director who really gets music and respects it and a film that’s interesting in one way or another. When you have all that it can be a lot of fun, and that was certainly the case here.

And how did your involvement with WALL•E begin?

From knowing [WALL•E director] Andrew Stanton. I went to visit Pixar quite a few years ago when I was working on the idea of an independent theme park. I did what we called a tech tour of America, just trying to talk to people who were doing interesting work, and that led me to Pixar and meeting Andrew. I met him a few more times at concerts and he mentioned WALL•E to me three or four years ago and asked if I’d be interested in contributing something, which ended up as Down to Earth.

Did Andrew Stanton give you an idea of what he wanted from the song?

He gave me some references in terms of my own songs. Secret World was one of them. He wanted something that had some melody and some muscle and still retained some of the quirkiness of the film, which is what I tried to achieve. I mean, that’s really the job when you write a song like this: you’re trying to help someone else realise their vision, which is sort of the reverse of what I do the rest of the time.

How much of WALL•E were you able to see before you began work and what was your reaction to the film?

It was some 30 odd sketches, rough animation and fully realised sections of the film. I thought it was very brave because there isn’t much dialogue at the beginning of the film. I also loved the references to films like 2001 and Alien and I liked the humor of the story. I also thought it was quite timely, though it’s done with a light touch, so it isn’t as if the moral of the story is thrust down your throat. I mean, WALL•E is an environmental film in many ways, but it really doesn’t say anything more strident than that looking after the planet is a good idea.

You wrote the lyrics for “Down to Earth”, but the music is a collaboration with Thomas Newman, who also composed WALL•E’s score. Is that a different sort of process for you?

Yes, because I usually work on my own, but Andrew was very keen that I should try working with Tom because Tom had created this musical world in which the film resided and he thought we ought to at least collaborate on a bridge going from “Thomasworld” to “Peterworld” [laughs]. I was hesitant about it to begin with.

But it worked...

Part of it was that I’ve always enjoyed Thomas Newman’s music, especially what he did on American Beauty and the theme for Six Feet Under. In fact I nearly wrote to him having heard Six Feet Under because I thought that was the best TV theme I had ever heard: it was very original, very evocative and just a beautiful composition with lovely colors and textures and choice of sounds, and deceptively simple too.

So did the two of you get together in a studio somewhere?

Tom flew over here to England and we sat around and we played around on the keyboards until we came up with something we liked. It was pretty fast.

The New York International Independent Film And Video Festival Announces The Dates For Its Fall Film Showcase

New Yorkers in need of an indie film fix will be happy to hear that The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYIIFVF) has announced their slate of films, parties, and red carpet premieres. NYIIFVF runs from September 18 - 25 in Manhattan and will showcase a diverse range of features, shorts, documentaries and animations from all over the globe. The opening night kick-off party takes place at the new 1930's themed Hollywood club, Mansion (530 W28th Street) on Sep 18th from 6-10pm. Film screenings begin Sep 19 on 2 screens at City Cinemas Village East (181 2nd Avenue at 12th Street). Legendary actor entertainer Dick Van Dyke is among the high profile names confirmed to attend the eight-day film extravaganza. (...)

Beyond Our Differences: With all of the problems facing the world today, people are longing for meaning. Many seek answers in spirituality, but often faith and religion are hijacked by a fundamentalist few who use the name of God to promote their own ends. With this dichotomy in mind, we call upon key religious leaders, politicians, and luminaries in their fields to tackle the most complex issues in the modern age, and we ask what inspires them to affect positive change. "One" portrays experiences that provide a new perspective on how non-violent activism and compassion can be effectively used in resolving even the most difficult disputes.

Principal Cast: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Author Deepak Chopra, Ela Gandhi (grand-daughter of Mahatma Gandhi) Andrew Young top aid to Martin Luther King Jr. former president of Iran Mohammad Khatami Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Musician/Activist Peter Gabriel.

Directed by Peter Bisanz 74min, Documentary

**EAST COAST PREMIERE Screening Tuesday Sep 23 at 8pm (...)

Cirque du Soleil: Kā

Written by BRAD AUERBACH,Friday, September 05, 2008

Amidst all the recent Olympics excitement were a few articles describing the melding of athletics and the arts. Most intriguing was the American chap who one two medals in 1912, one in sculpture and one in shooting.

When the Olympics were in Los Angeles in 1984, I was awash in the variety of international cultural presentations on offer. The most exciting was on a parking lot in little Tokyo where a blue and yellow tent was erected for a French Canadian circus troupe. Promising no animals and a fresh take on the circus, the production became the talk of the town. Tickets were suddenly impossible to get. When all the athletes left town, the tent sprang up a few weeks later on the parking lot next to the Santa Monica Pier, and so began America’s awe with Cirque du Soleil.

Over the years, the productions have grown more ambitious. Extending beyond jaw-dropping gymnastics, various site-specific productions have been launched. LOVE is the stunning blending of the Beatles music with the energy and grace of the Cirque’s motifs.

One of the few Cirque du Soleil productions I managed to miss was Kā. Presented in a comfortable and impressive theatre at the MGM in Vegas, I attended the same night Michael Jackson was celebrating his birthday. But for the ushers hustling to get tubs of popcorn, he somehow managed unobtrusively to enjoy the show with his family.

As with most Cirque shows, the loose plot involves an innocent stranger in a strange land. We the audience see most of the thrills, chills and laughs through the eyes of our everyman-child onstage, in this case a pair of young lovers. Kā opens with pirates kidnapping our hero and heroine, swooping in from the rafters. Soon they are aboard a rocking seaship, with a twisting mast and no sails hoisted. Like a playground seesaw gone astray, the pirates rock the ship back and forth, and soon the ship is pivoting out of control. The sense of seasickness was nearly contagious.

The cast of 80 is comprised of performers from 16 countries. Between feats of strength and balance, small moments of humor act as connective tissue. Much like the Japanese knee plays (“noh”) these interstitial moments allow the audience to catch their breath. For instance, a spry tortoise and starfish delight the hero and heroine with their antics, playing in the now sand-covered stage. Soon, the stage begins to slant toward the audience. The sand (actually Portugese cork) slips toward the audience off the edge into the darkness below, and the heroine and her guardians crawl to the far upper side of the tilting stage. The bad guys return, launching arrows from the aisles of the theatre. Soon the bad guys are chasing the good guys on the severely slanted stage. Pegs pop out from the severely slanted stage, allowing the performers to climb, fall, slide and swoop.

The perspective has totally changed from the horizontal to the vertical, and the sudden realization is disorienting and typically Cirque-like.

Toward the end of the 90 minute production, performers are flying back and forth, bouncing off the vertically-inclined stage. It is reminiscent of the gravity-defying sequences in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

Most of the creative kudos go to Robert Lepage, whose stage direction I first saw at an astounding Italian Peter Gabriel concert (later captured on his Secret World DVD and CD).

It remains difficult to choose among the various astounding Cirque du Soleil productions, but for me the top three are LOVE, Kā and O.

Your Cameraphone: a Harbinger of a Massive Social Transformation

WorldChanging Team, September 4, 2008

This article was written by Jamais Cascio in May of 2005. We're republishing it here as part of our month-long editorial retrospective.

This week, I spoke at the first MeshForum conference, held in Chicago. The following is an adaptation of my talk, which adapts some earlier material with some new observations. Fair warning: it's a long piece. I look forward to your comments. (...)

Even if the term sousveillance is recent, the action isn't. An early well-known sousveillance effort -- long pre-dating the term -- is the Witness project. Founded in 1992 by musician Peter Gabriel, Witness has partnered with over 200 human rights groups in 50 countries, supplying video cameras and communication gear to allow people on the scene to document abuses of human rights. Witness attempts to create pressure for change by shining a light on injustice around the world. These are remarkably brave people. If the worst sousveillance supporters in the US may face is being escorted out of a department store, the worst Witness activists might face is torture and death.

But the Witness cameras stand alone; their only connection is via the hand delivery of video tape.

Things change when you can send your exposé over the Internet. Speed and breadth of access are the best allie for transparency, and the Internet has both in abundance. Once damning photos or video have been released onto the web, there's no bringing them back -- efforts to do so are more likely to draw attention to them, in fact. (...)

Angel Studios

Multimedia studio cum game developer initially known for creating the computer graphics in the Lawnmower Man and the Peter Gabriel video "Kiss the Frog." As part of Nintendo's "Dream Team," Angel became a full-fledged developer and created MLB Featuring Ken Griffey, jr.

Since then Angel Studios has made games for a variety of platforms, including PC, PS2, GameCube, and Xbox. Angel Studios was founded in 1984. In November 2003, Take-Two/Rockstar acquired Angel Studios and the company was renamed Rockstar San Diego.

Nick Mulvey Percussionist, Portico Quartet

Telegraph.co.uk 04/09/2008

Nick Mulvey, percussionist from Portico Quartet, tells Charlotte Bailey about his week

Wednesday

This has been the busiest week of my life: I play percussion for a jazz group called Portico Quartet and our debut album, Knee-Deep in the North Sea, has been shortlisted for the Nationwide Mercury Prize, which is announced next week.

Today we came back from Peter Gabriel's studios in Wiltshire, where we had spent five days working on our next album. It was the first time in a year that we had been in the studio and we had all forgotten how intense the process can be - though we did have our own cottage and our own chef. (...)

Dengue Fever To Tour West Coast, Issue Vinyl Release

Cambodian rock band Dengue Fever has announced a series of West Coast tour dates this October that will find the band performing everywhere from San Diego to Vancouver, BC in support of their latest release Venus on Earth. Dengue Fever will also make vinyl fans happy on September 23 when M80 Music releases their sophomore effort, Escape From Dragon House on LP for the first time. Pressed on colored vinyl, this limited edition version of Escape From Dragon House will also include a download card that will entitle the buyer to a free one-time-only download of the entire album from a secure site for added portability.

Confirmed North American dates are:
09/20 @ Street Scene, San Diego CA
10/05 @ Schooled in Song, 1st and Linden, Long Beach, CA
10/17 @ Bimbo's 365 Club, San Francisco, CA
10/18 @ Napa Valley Opera House, Napa, CA
10/20 @ Aladdin Theatre, Portland, OR
10/21 @ Neumos, Seattle, WA
10/22 @ Venue TBA, Vancouver, BC, CANADA (debut)
12/04 @ Scripps College Performing Arts Center, Claremont, CA (free performance & screening of band documentary Sleepwalking Through The Mekong)

A full scale British tour in November will be announced shortly along with club dates in Ireland and Turkey.

Having spent the last three months playing massive European festivals such as Glastonbury, Roskilde and Electric Picnic the band is now the subject of intense Grammy® buzz which started overseas while on the road.

"It was shocking to me just how many journalists and fans came up to the band while we were on tour this summer in Europe and the States who asked us if we thought we would be nominated for a Grammy for Venus On Earth," said bassist Senon Williams. "We played more than thirty dates in countries like Denmark, Sweden, England, the Czech Republic as well as others and that seemed to be all anybody really wanted to know. Who knows what could happen? Dengue Fever would welcome a Grammy nomination - that's for sure!"

Earlier this summer, Peter Gabriel's Real World Records in England licensed Dengue Fever's Venus On Earth for all territories outside the US and Canada.

The Week That Was: «Je ne comptais pas jouer live»

Vous les avez donnés vainqueurs devant The Wave Pictures et The Acorn, nous les avons interviewés! Enfin, nous l'avons interviewé, car The Week That Was (TWTW) est le projet d'un seul homme, Peter Brewis. Les trois groupes sont à l'affiche du festival Coopérative, vendredi soir, à la Flèche d'or (entrée libre). (...)

L’album sonne très années 1980. C’est voulu?

Ça va dans le sens du concept. Je voulais quelque chose d’assez nostalgique musicalement. Les premiers disques que j’ai écoutés, c’étaient ceux de mes parents: Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush… J’aime leur esthétique. (...)

Peter Gabriel gets Amnesty ward for human rights work

September 4th, 2008 Posted by: Belinda Goldsmith, Reuters

Peter Gabriel has been named as the recipient of Amnesty International’s 2008 Ambassador of Conscience Award.

A long time campaigner for human rights around the world, Gabriel, 58 first worked with Amnesty during the Conspiracy of Hope Tour in 1986 and then on the Human Rights Now! Tour in 1988. Gabriel went on to found Witness, a video community campaigning for human rights and more recently, The Elders, a private alliance of senior global figures to launch diplomatic assaults on the globe’s most intractable problems.

The award, now in its sixth year, has been given previously to Nelson Mandela, musicians U2, Former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and dramatist Vaclav Havel, who was the last president of Czechoslovakia. It will be presented to Gabriel on Sept 10 in London by The Edge, the U2 guitarist, who credited the former Genesis singer for recruiting him to Amnesty International.

Ambassador of Conscience 2008

Art for Amnesty, on behalf of Amnesty International, are proud to announce that Peter Gabriel is the recipient of the Ambassador of Conscience Award 2008.

'For over 25 years Peter Gabriel has, through his involvement with the pioneering Amnesty International music tours 'of the 1980's, his establishment and promotion of "Witness", and his more recent inspiration which lead to the creation of "The Elders", been at the very vanguard of the struggle for human rights and justice around the world.' said Art for Amnesty's Bill Shipsey.

'Any one of the above would have justified his selection as an Amnesty International 'Ambassador of Conscience' continued Shipsey. 'To have pioneered all three is a remarkable achievement from an even more remarkable man.'

The Award will be presented to Peter Gabriel at a ceremony in London on September 10th 2008 which will also mark the launch of Amnesty International's global 'Small Places Tour 2008'.

The Ambassador of Conscience Award, now in its fifth year, recognises exceptional individual leadership and witness in the fight to protect and promote human rights.



Nelson Mandela
Johannesburg, 2006

U2 & Paul McGuinness
Santiago, 2005

Hilda Morales Trujillo &
Mary Robinson
Madrid, 2004

Václav Havel
Dublin, 2003

...
‘What is Peter Gabriel's secret? He has a heart—in our part of the world, we would give him our highest accolade and say, "He has ubuntu." It is that marvelous quality that speaks of compassion and generosity, about sharing, about hospitality. He has ubuntu, and he deserves this latest accolade richly’.

Desmond Tutu, Member of 'The Elders'

Preview: Spin: the art of cover design, Arts Gallery, London

Reviewed by Charlotte Cripps, Tuesday, 2 September 2008

The designers who struck up the brand

The designer Peter Saville, whose Factory Records artwork included Joy Division and New Order album covers, knows more about the art of record sleeve design than most. Along with Dylan Jones, the editor of British GQ, and Faris Rotter, the lead singer of The Horrors, who recently created album artwork for The Charlatans, Saville has chosen some of the best LP cover art of the past 40 years for this show of work by former students of University of the Arts London. (...)

(...) he says. "I have never been given a brief by a record company, except in 1986, when I was told to bring Peter Gabriel forward as a personality. He was the type to hide behind a tree for a photo shoot, as he didn't want to be a pop star" (...)

Ad-funded music downloads site We7 has signed up EMI music.

Around 400,000 tracks from EMI Music's repertoire of artists, including We7 founder investor Peter Gabriel, will be available on We7.com through both on-demand, ad-funded audio streaming and paid-for MP3 downloads.

The partnership means We7 users will be able to listen to full tracks and albums on an unlimited basis at no cost, create personal playlists, and share their favourites with their friends.

We7's advertising technology plays short, targeted audio adverts before each streamed track and ensures that music offered through the site is legal but rights owners get paid and valued.

We7 plans to start delivering EMI Music's content later this year, and is delighted to welcome We7 founder investor Peter Gabriel to its growing roster of available artists. Peter Gabriel, commented: "I am very happy my catalogue is finally available on We7".

Douglas Merrill, President, Digital Business, EMI Music, said: "We7 represents the new and innovative digital experiments underway in the market today, giving fans another way to experience their favourite music and providing artists with an avenue to reach new audiences. We are pleased to be a part of emerging digital initiatives, including We7."

Steve Purdham, Founder Investor and CEO, We7, said: "We7 is making phenomenal progress ahead of our full launch later in the year, there's real momentum in the industry right now and ad-funded streaming is becoming more widely accepted as a legal alternative to piracy. We're really excited to be offering great music from EMI Music's world-class repertoire of artists on We7.com, enabling fans to listen to tracks for free when they want and then buy the music they love."

Sicilian mayor offers houses for 1 euro

By Nick Pisa in Rome, telegraph.co.uk, 03 Sep 2008

Vittorio Sgarbi, the controversial mayor of Salemi. The Sicilian is offering houses for 1 euro Photo: EPA

An eccentric Sicilian mayor has trumped Alistair Darling's efforts to reinvigorate the housing market - by offering properties for 1 Euro.

Vittorio Sgarbi, the controversial new first citizen of Salemi, came up with the idea as a way of revitalising the historic centre of the town. The drawback is many of the properties are barely standing and in dire need of renovation after being virtually destroyed by an earthquake in 1968. Among those said to have expressed an interest is former Genesis star Peter Gabriel and Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti - whose sister Milly used to be Sgarbi's colleague until he was sacked as councillor in Milan.

Sgarbi, an art critic and former Culture Minister in Silvio Berlusocni's government, is a regular on late night TV panels and is often at the centre of controversy because of his outspoken views. Debates he participates in regularly descend into chaos.

He told Corriere della Sera of his plan for Salemi and said:''We're thinking of people who have the sensibility and economic resources to embark on this adventure. In exchange for a token payment of one euro we will offer them one of these houses and ask that they undertake to restore them within two years while respecting their original characteristics. We have had alot of interest people are already booking up to come down here - my aim is to make Salemi the next Pantelleria.''

The tiny volcanic island of Pantelleria, off the coast of Sicily, is a popular celebrity haunt where previous visitors include Madonna and Naomi Campbell. However Corriere pointed out that ''a lot of the project has still to be sorted out, especially the bureaucracy.''

The idea was the brainchild of controversial photographer Olivero Toscani, whose campaigns using stick thin models have sparked outrage and who is Salemi's councillor for Creativity.

He said:''These houses abandoned for 40 years are like a heart pierced by a thorn - they are dangerous but they also represent a patrimony that is slowly dissolving away. We want to try and attract people back to the town or at least make some form of donation to try and help save an architectural environment that we are rapidly losing.''

Sgarbi was elected mayor of Salemi - population 11,436 in June - and the town is in eastern Sicily, close to Trapani and around 50 miles from Palermo, deep in Mafia country.

It is historically known for having been the place where Giuseppe Garibaldi announced the annexation of Sicily in May 1860 as part of the expedition of the Thousand, briefly making the town his headquarters and Italian capital - for one day - after his landing at Marsala. The town has been ruled by the Romans, Vandals and Goths and then the Arabs which gave it its current name of Salem (Peace).

EMI signs up to We7

By Ben Cardew, musicweek, Tuesday September 2, 2008

EMI has become the third major to sign with ad-supported music service We7, in a deal that means material from the company’s founder Peter Gabriel will be available from the site.

The partnership, which follows similar deals with Sony BMG and Warner, means We7 users will be able to listen to full tracks and albums on an unlimited basis at no cost, as well as buy MP3 downloads.

We7’s advertising technology plays short, targeted audio adverts before each streamed track and ensures rights owners get paid.

EMI Music president of digital business Douglas Merrill says, “We7 represents the new and innovative digital experiments underway in the market today, giving fans another way to experience their favourite music and providing artists with an avenue to reach new audiences. We are pleased to be a part of emerging digital initiatives, including We7.”

Peter Gabriel Real World Biographie

par Jean-Philippe Door, sur medium4you.be, le mercredi 3 septembre 2008

Tout petit déjà , Franck Buioni ne se sentait pas comme ses autres camarades ... le foot , les bagnoles et la frime à deux balles ... ce n’était point sa cup of tea ! Une existence un peu tumultueuse allait démarrer en trombe pour le jeune garçon épris de liberté et d’anticonformisme . Une rage envers les moutons suiveurs et autres zélés consommateurs allait le poursuivre mais ce n’est pas tout ... un art étrange allait bientôt grimper à ses oreilles pour ne plus le quitter : la musique !

Devenu adulte , notre jeune héros des temps modernes au sourire jovial poursuivait son chemin professionnel sans vraiment y trouver de la saveur : s’improviser patron alors que l’on rêve d’être un affranchi ou un Marlon Brandon en puissance , voilà qui ne laisse pas trop de place à l’imaginaire et à la fantaisie rock ’ n’ roll !

Un soir , comme dans les contes de fée , notre lutin aux cheveux jaunes épris de musique se rendit à un concert du groupe Genesis et, au moment précis ou les lumières s’éteignirent il vit " on stage" un jeune homme beau et fringuant vêtu de classieux oripeaux et masqué tel un oiseau de bon augure ... une révélation ! Notre lutin s’enticha derechef de ce chanteur à la voix rocailleuse et habitée et , dès lors il ne le lâcherait plus d’une semelle !

La vie de notre héros suivit son cours avec des hauts et quelques bas ... l’aspect sombre qu’il dut endurer correspondait à l’univers que décrivait le troubadour nommé Peter Gabriel .

Un parcours quasi identique puisque en 1975 , l’homme de Bath quitta les Genesis refusant un statut de rock-star qui ne convenait pas du tout à son tempérament indépendant et novateur . Une nouvelle vie beaucoup plus saine allait débuter pour lui en 1977 et le monde entier l’en remercie aujourd’hui .

De son coté , notre joyeux drille commençait à regretter de vivre à coté de à quoi il semblait destiner . Cette vie programmée jusqu’aux loisirs ne lui plaisait guère , peu de gens autour de lui le comprenaient mais... peut importe la hauteur des difficultés : un jour il trouverait sans voie .

Bien des années plus tard , il décida de raconter la vie et l’oeuvre de son mentor Peter Gabriel, narrer les aléas de la vie de l’homme de Bath , ses choix artistiques , son aspect visionnaire et décrire au plus près les péripéties de ce siècle dans lequel il vivait . Écrire d’accord , mais nullement question pour Franck Buioni de le faire comme ses congénères qui peuplent les rayons des librairies !

C’est avec un grand plaisir que je vous convie chers Internautes et autres bloggers de tout poils à découvrir la très réussie biographie de Peter Gabriel écrite par mon ami Franck Buioni . Vous allez passer un moment d’exception en vous immisçant à travers l’oeuvre atypique de l’interprète de" Sledgehammer" . Revisiter avec l’auteur les grands points forts de l’après guerre à nos jours , faire corps avec l’univers tourmenté , prenant et irrésistible de Peter Gabriel .

Pour acheter en ligne "Real World , Peter Gabriel biographie" c’est ici :
http://petergabrielbiographie.blogspot.com/

Jean-Philippe
Le magicien Ox

FESTIVAL WILD CARDS : SOIREE COOPERATIVE MUSIC [Concert]

FESTIVAL WILD CARDS : Soirée COOPERATIVE MUSIC

vendredi 05 septembre 2008, Entrée Libre 20h >> Minuit

Pour sa rentrée la Flèche d’Or prépare un Festival !

Pendant l’été, des invitations ont été lancées pour programmer une des soirées de la rentrée. On y retrouvera des concerts, des dj sets, une 24 hours party et des découvertes musicales ! De quoi dynamiter une nouvelle fois l’ancienne gare de la rue de Bagnolet.

THE WEEK THAT WAS (Cooperative Music/Uk)

Chansons populaires mélodramatiques / Ambiance / Rock. Les plus pointus reconnaîtront à la première écoute de ce disque la patte de Peter Brewis, tiers de Field Music auquel The Week That Was emprunte ce style « math pop » incomparable tout en lui ajoutant une touche cinématographique d’un goût très sûr. Musicalement, l'album est autant un hommage à l'ambitieux Linn Drum qu'aux experimentations de Kate Bush ou de Peter Gabriel avec une perfection évidente dans les arrangements qui demontrent que The Week That Was ne se contente pas des conventions habituelles de la music indé.

http://www.myspace.com/theweekthatwas

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Thought house prices had crashed here? In Sicily they cost one euro

From The Times, Richard Owen in Rome, September 2, 2008

Mayor of Salemi is seeking buyers with ’the aesthetic sensitivity and the economic resources to take part in this adventure’

The villas are set in the Sicilian hills, with spectacular views over the Mediterranean. Your future neighbours could be celebrities such as Peter Gabriel, the Genesis singer, and Massimo Moratti, the owner of the Inter Milan football team.

And then there is the price: a tidy one euro apiece.

The catch is that you have just two years to restore the homes, which were abandoned after an earthquake 40 years ago.

Vittorio Sgarbi, the colourful Mayor of Salemi – just 72km from Palermo – hopes to attract buyers who had “both the aesthetic sensitivity and the economic resources to take part in this adventure”.

But prospective property owners who think the offer is too good to refuse should bear in mind that the restorations will have to meet standards laid down by the council and respect the original character of the buildings.

Salemi is best known for providing the headquarters of Guiseppe Garibaldi after his historic landing at Marsala with “The Thousand” in May 1860, the start of his armed struggle for the unification of Italy.

Sgarbi, an art critic and former deputy Culture Minister believes it is an ideal centre for religious dialogue and the arts.

Noted for his outspoken views, not to mention his distinctive wavy hair, the bespectacled Mr Sgarbi is also a television celebrity well known and man-about-town with a host of friends in the worlds of politics and showbusiness.

Oliviero Toscani, the photographer best known for his controversial Benetton adverts, who is Mr Sgarbi’s adviser on “creativity and human rights” at Salemi, said “thousands” of ancient houses in the steep, cobbled streets of Salemi had been derelict since the 1968 earthquake.

The buildings were not only in a perilous state, they also formed “part of an historical heritage which is being dissipated”.

Peter Glidewell, an art dealer and critic, who was born in Rome and is the Mayor’s adviser on the enivironment, said: “We know these houses are perfectly capable of being salvaged.

“They have to be adapted to the exigencies of the modern world while maintaining the colours, forms and appearances of their time.”

Among those who have already expressed an interest in Sgarbi’s once-in a-lifetime hilltop property offer are Peter Gabriel. The musician already has a home on the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia.

Mr Toscani said that although an influx of VIPs would help to revitalise the town, the scheme was not intended for celebrities alone.

Mr Sgarbi vowed to turn Salemi into “another Pantelleria”, the nearby island where celebrities such as Giorgio Armani, the fashion designer, Fabio Capello, the England football manager, and Gérard Depardieu, the French actor, have luxury seaside homes.

Terms and conditions

— Salemi does not yet have a website but Vittorio Sgarbi does, at www.vittoriosgarbi.it – e-mails can be sent by clicking on contatti. Inquiries can also be made to the council on (0039) 0924 991 111

— Buyers must use local builders, architects, decorators and plumbers since the aim ofthescheme is to help the local economy

— It would be wise to use a local English-speaking agent to help with the labyrinthine bureaucracy

— British Airways, Ryanair, easyJet and Air Malta all have direct flights to Sicily. Ryanair flies from Stansted to Palermo and less frequently from Luton and Birmingham to Trapani; easyJet from Gatwick to Palermo; and BA and Air Malta from Gatwick to Catania

Source: thinksicily.com

Peter Gabriel Considers Studio Show For Fans

Showbizspy.com, September 1 2008

PETER GABRIEL is considering turning an upcoming recording session at his Real World Studios into an intimate gig after THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND did just that to cover the costs of a recent album.

The group charged 120 fans $100 (GBP54) for the privilege of recording tracks at Real World in Box, England - and studio boss Gabriel was more than impressed.

He tells Filter magazine, "The Incredible String Band wrote to their fans on their website and sold admission to their recordings... and that gave them the budget to purchase the studio time.

"They created a mini-economy based on 120 people."

And now Gabriel is considering hosting a similar studio treat for his fans: "There are space constraints at Real World, but I'm sure we could figure something out."