Joseph Arthur & The Lonely Astronauts Enter the S.S.

[Video: Pete Maiden/Eric Helton; Editing by Pete Maiden]

RollingStone, January 27, 2009 :

Joseph Arthur & The Lonely Astonauts - "Temporary People"

One of our favorite singer-songwriters, Joseph Arthur, was kind enough to drop by the S.S. to play a few songs, and he brought his band the Lonely Astronauts with him.

One of the most prolific writers around, Arthur was discovered in the early '90s by Peter Gabriel, and signed to Gabriel's label, Real World Records. His debut album, Big City Secrets, was released in 1997 and was followed by the Grammy-nominated EP, Vacancy, in 2000. Since then, Arthur hasn't slowed down. He's released 11 EPs and has just cut his seventh full-lengh album, Temporary People. He's loved by contemporaries like Ryan Adams, Lou Reed and Michael Stipe, who covered Arthur's "In the Sun" for Hurricane Katrina victims. Also a talented painter, Arthur had his own art gallery in Brooklyn before being evicted in September '08.

Arthur is playing a couple of shows this weekend at the Bell House in his current hometown, Brooklyn, with Harper Simon opening, before shipping off for a mini-tour of France in March.

JA&LA were nice enough to play four tracks off their latest release, Temporary People. Check out the title track above, and click the jump for "Dead Savior," "Turn You On" and "Faith." (...)

Amadou and Mariam : Welcome to Mali

By Jonathan Rothman, Exclaim.ca

The funkiest blind, married, French-speaking Afro-pop couple around, Amadou and Mariam return after 2005's Manu Chao-produced Dimanche à Bamako with a potent blend of electronic twists and guests spots for Welcome to Mali. While feature artist turns include guest producer and knob-twiddler Damon Albarn (leadoff track "Sabali," with Mariam's piercing vocals), K'naan and Keziah Jones on the rousing "Africa," and Amadou's desert blues guitar with Toumani Diabaté's sublime kora ("Djuru"), none can outshine the main attraction here.

Playful call and responses, impassioned stories and meditations and wailing Malian violins over slow, bluesy jams — almost to the effect of a cuica over a slow samba canção — keep the focus on the world music duo now embraced by everyone from World Cup soccer fans to Scissor Sisters devotees. Yes, like mid-career Peter Gabriel, Amadou and Mariam are a safe world music act you can admit enjoying but that's also because they're brilliant, dynamic and passionate. (Because)

Totó la Momposina to take Afrocolombia to Bogotá

Colombia reports

Totó la Momposina, the world's best known representative of Colombia's traditional music, will perform in Bogotá on both February 6 and 7.

The 61-year old singer from Mompox, Bolivár has released albums since 1983 and has garnered increasing international acclaim since Peter Gabriel decided to put her album 'La Candela Viva' out on his RealWorld label.

Totó la Momposina, whose real name is Sonia Bazanta Vides, comes from a family that's been involved in traditional Colombian music for generations. Her children also are musicians.

The diva of traditional music will perform in Bogotá's Roberto Arias Pérez theater. Tickets can be purchased online.

Les chants mystiques soufis et ceux des tribus pakistanaises vivent encore

Véronique Mortaigne, LE MONDE, Article paru dans l'édition du 03.02.09

Mis à mal par les graves turbulences politiques qui traversent la région, le Pakistan demeure un pays où la musique est reine. Cet art y est au carrefour entre les influences de l'ancien empire perse, des traditions tribales, notamment celles des zones qui font frontière avec l'Afghanistan, et des raffinements hérités de l'Inde, à laquelle le Pakistan appartenait avant la partition en 1947.

Terre musulmane, le Pakistan a perpétué les rituels mystiques soufis du nord de l'Inde et de l'Asie mineure, célébrant un dieu souverain par des chants dévotionnels débridés et des poésies enivrées. A cela, on ajoutera les allers-retours entre ceux qui sont restés au pays et la jeune communauté indo-pakistanaise du Royaume-Uni, friande de musiques électroniques rythmées et de cinéma Bollywood.

Le programme est passionnant, et le Théâtre de la Ville le suit depuis plus de vingt-cinq ans. On ne saura jamais assez gré à l'établissement parisien d'y avoir fait découvrir l'immense chanteur Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, en 1985, avant que ce soufi pur sucre né près de Faisalabad, au Pendjab, n'aille s'encanailler en 1990 avec le chanteur de rock Peter Gabriel et les précurseurs du trip-hop de Bristol Massive Attack pour un génial tube planétaire, Mustt, Mustt.

Icône du chant mystique qawwal - le chant dévotionnel soufi du sous-continent indien, 700 ans d'âge -, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan est mort prématurément en 1997, à 49 ans. Avec son physique de bouddha, sa voix hors du commun, sa bande de joueurs d'harmonium et de claqueurs de main, Nusrat a été au qawwal ce que Glenn Gould fut à une génération de pianistes désireux de jouer Bach : paralysant.

Au rayon de la foire aux spectacles, Nusrat avait des concurrents : les délirants frères Sabri Brothers, de Karachi : cheveux longs et teints en roux, bagues à tous les étages, yeux maquillés au khôl. L'un des frères, Ghulam Farid, trépassa en 1994, et le groupe disparut.

Samedi 31 janvier, dans l'un de ces concerts de fin d'après-midi du Théâtre de la Ville qui ne cessent d'être des havres de paix dans le bruit parisien, c'est un jeune chanteur, Javed Bashir, et son groupe qui se risquent à la succession. Ils choisissent une troisième voie, un qawwal fervent, mains déployées, yeux au ciel, mais plus discret. L'emballement rythmique du qawwal de la génération Nusrat, et son empressement à atteindre Dieu par l'extase, est refréné par des éléments d'un chant classique très maîtrisé, très intériorisé, proche de l'ancienne Perse. Javed Bashir n'en travaille pas moins son physique, taillé à la serpe, par des allures de chevalier noir dans un costume d'ébène avec paillettes, car il a aussi des accointances cinématographiques - il a chanté pour le film Khuda Kay Liye (In the Name of God), de Shoaib Mansoor (2007), un film à succès sur l'après-11-Septembre.

La voix de Javed Bashir s'enfonce profondément dans les graves, dans des contrées sonores d'où il faut revenir par paliers, sauf à vouloir s'y perdre à jamais. A ses côtés, son frère Ali Akbar, en blanc, voix aérienne, plus haute, modulations de gorge en dentelle. Des tablas, une flûte, et des harmoniums portatifs (héritage des missionnaires portugais), et le tour est joué. Les voici chantant des poèmes de Bullhe Shah (XVIIe siècle), d'Amir Khusro (1253-1325), des hymnes à Ali, le guide des musulmans sunnites.

ZARSANGA, LA BRANCHE D'OR

Dire qu'il fait bon vivre au Pakistan serait osé. A Peshawar, où habite la chanteuse Zarsanga, attendue au Théâtre des Abbesses, autre salle du Théâtre de la Ville, le 7 février, les musiciens aussi craignent la violence, et évitent de s'aventurer vers le col de Khyber qui mène à l'Afghanistan. Dans des temps moins rigoureux, Radio Peshawar diffusait de la musique et les chants de Zarsanga ("branche d'or"), née il y a cinquante-cinq ans à Bannu.

Elle fut bergère, nomade, fille d'une tribu pachtoune, célèbres gardiens de ces montagnes, infiltrés aujourd'hui par la drogue, la CIA et Al-Qaida - pour résumer. Hier illettrée, elle a élargi ses compétences en chantant des ghazal classiques, posés au milieu de la complexe tradition pachtoune. Sa qualité de Pachtoune lui permet de se faufiler encore en Afghanistan pour y chanter. Zarsanga est venue en France pour la première fois en 1989, au Festival d'Avignon. Depuis, elle fume toujours des cigarettes, elle porte toujours des voiles brodés, et chante dans un souffle discret.

Zarsanga, le 7 février à 17 heures, Théâtre des Abesses, 31, rue des Abbesses Paris-18e, M° Abbesses. Tél. : 01-42-74-22-77. De 12 à 17 euros. Disques : Zarsanga, songs of the Pashtu, 1 CD Long Distance. A consulter : www.mondomix.com.

Gilles Peterson a "terrible wedding DJ"

Created On January 27th, 2009 by skrufff, inthemix.com.au

Acid jazz/rare groove/eclectic dance pioneer Gilles Peterson chatted to Skrufff this week about his upcoming tenth anniversary show on Britain’s Radio 1 and revealed that he once got bumped off the decks after just ten minutes for playing Fela Kuti at a celebrity wedding. “I’m a terrible wedding DJ, I’m probably the worst DJ to invite to play at weddings; I’m just too serious,” Gilles confessed. “I remember playing at Peter Gabriel’s wedding in Sardinia for just a couple of hundred people. He had a private beach, Richard Branson was there and Phil Collins was performing and they had African music and so on. Then I had to DJ.”

“I lasted something like ten minutes, when I suddenly heard different music than the record I was playing coming out of the speakers, they’d literally cut me off. The bride’s family, who were regular working class Irish people, had put their own cassette into the master mixer then faded me out – they ended up playing tracks like the ‘Birdie Song’. I still had a good time,” Gilles added. “Though Peter Gabriel was very, very embarrassed. And then I went home. It was fine,” he laughed.

The wedding playlist would have proved no problem for Gilles’ French experimentalist counterpart Laurent Garnier who in 2001 boasted of owning not one but two copies of The Tweets’ early 80s classic. “When I’m really drunk with a few of my friends I love playing that shit,” Garnier told the London Standard. “Hey, I’m not embarrassed,” he added. “I’m proud of my ‘Grease’ and ‘Saturday Night Fever’ albums too.”

Gilles had more wedding grief courtesy of fellow Londoner Norman Jay over the duo’s football rivalry. “Norman Jay is a good friend though he supports Tottenham Hotspur and I support Arsenal and we’re both quite well known for supporting these two teams and we both hate each other,” Gilles laughed. “I remember one day I found out that he had been DJing at (then Arsenal star) Thierry Henry’s wedding. I phoned Norman up and I nearly fell out with him after that. He hates Arsenal so much, but he still played at Thierry Henry’s wedding. That was the one party I would have died to play at. A big regret,” he chuckled.

Womad's horizon expands

Monday, January 26, 2009

Rock legend Peter Gabriel's world music festival is expanding into a new location – Abu Dhabi.

Womad, based at Gabriel's studios in Box, is to team up with the oil-rich sheiks of the United Arab Emirates to stage a world music festival in the Arabian desert.

The event, which is to take place in April, will be the first Womad festival in Asia.

The name is already well-established in Spain, the Canary Islands and Adelaide in Australia, with other Womad festivals recently springing up in New Zealand and Italy.

Two years ago, the team brought the original version of the festival back to the West Country with a move to Charlton Park in north Wiltshire.

The new event will be held for three days in the open air at several locations in Abu Dhabi, and Womad is working with the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage.

Womad director Chris Smith said: "The event will bring a whole new cultural experience to the people of Abu Dhabi and will attract an audience from across the Gulf region and beyond."

Jon Hassell and Maarifa Street

Walker Art Center Presents Visionary Composer/Trumpeter Jon Hassell and Maarifa Street

MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- Björk, Bono, DiFranco, Townsend, Basquiat, and Glass have raved about Jon Hassell, the master innovator and visionary creator of what he calls “worldly music”—a mysterious hybrid of ancient and digital, composed and improvised, Eastern and Western. On his first U.S. tour in 20 years, composer/trumpeter Hassell, with his band Maarifa Street, performs at the Walker Art Center’s William and Nadine McGuire Theater at 8 pm Thursday, February 12. Joining Hassel for this concert are musicians Peter Freeman (bass, laptop), Jan Bang (live sampling), Helge Norbakken (drums), and Kheir-Eddine M’Kachiche (violin).

Early in his career, Hassell worked with Karlheinz Stockhausen, La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and raga master Pandit Pran Nath, whose Hindustani vocal style was transmuted by him into a new trumpet sound. Rock innovators Brian Eno and Peter Gabriel collaborated with Hassell, then steered his ideas into the avant-pop sphere, where they have since evolved into post-jazz and rock forms. His 1999 album, Fascinoma, produced by Ry Cooder, opened a surprising new chapter in his recording career, creating a glorious acoustic sound that reaped critical acclaim. Hassell began touring with Maarifa Street in 2005, playing to European audiences from Norway and Madrid to Rome and Berlin astonished at the discovery of an atmospheric music which defies category: in France, Playboy wrote, “this celestial jazz is amazing”; about his performance at the Vienna Kunsthalle, the cathedral of classical, Der Standard raved, “the concert of the year.”

In the last two decades, Hassell’s connoisseur recordings, built around a completely unique "vocal" trumpet style (developed in studies with Pran Nath), have inspired a generation of collaborators. His trumpet performances show up on records of world stars like Björk, Baaba Maal, and Ibrahim Ferrer. Film and theater credits include scores for Wim Wenders (Million Dollar Hotel, with Bono), The Netherlands Dance Theater (Lurch), Peter Sellars (Zangezi), and the theme for the hit TV show The Practice.

Fascinoma, with bansri flute master Ronu Majumdar and jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson, inspired a new generation of European trumpet players like Arve Henriksen, Erik Truffaz, Paolo Fresu, and Nils Petter Molvaer, who have all acknowledged Hassell’s influence as leading beyond the gravitational pull of Miles Davis.

Montreal, Milan, and Paris concerts became the raw material for magical transformation in the 2005 release Maarifa Street/Magic Realism 2—another difficult-to-define musical fantasy stretched across geography and time, as was its 1983 namesake ka-Darbari-Java/Magic Realism.

In Tsegihi, a choral work for 100 voices and chamber group, premiered in the 11th century Norwich Cathedral in May 2008. This year, a reconnection with the prestigious ECM label has resulted in the just-released Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street and the Return to USA tour—from New York’s Zankel Hall to Royce Hall in Los Angeles—signalling the growing awareness of a master musician and a music without borders whose freshness comes increasingly into focus as time passes.

Congolese warlord to go on trial at int'l court

The Associated Press, Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Hague, Netherlands: The International Criminal Court's first trial will bring hope to Africa's child soldiers and send a warning to the warlords who recruit them a Congolese activist who helped demobilize young fighters believes.

The world's first permanent war crimes tribunal begins its first trial Monday with Congolese rebel leader Thomas Lubanga facing six charges of recruiting children some as young as 10 years old and sending them to fight and die in battle.
"What gives hope is that this is something that has never happened before," said Bukeni Tete Waruzi, an activist who has helped demobilize hundreds of children from brutal militias in the east of Congo.

"This will be a great lesson. Warlords back in (Congo) will learn that no one is untouchable."

The case is finally getting under way more than six years after the treaty creating the court came into force. While Lubanga is relatively unknown outside Congo, judges at the court are expected to decide soon whether to issue an arrest warrant for a far bigger fish Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, accused by the court's prosecutor of genocide in Darfur.

The U.N. estimates there are 250,000 child soldiers fighting in more than a dozen countries around the world.

A special U.N.-backed court prosecuting atrocities in Sierra Leone's bloody civil war has convicted rebels for using child soldiers, but Monday's trial will be the first international criminal case to focus solely on that crime.

"This first ICC trial makes it clear that the use of children in armed combat is a war crime that can and will be prosecuted at the international level," said Param-Preet Singh, counsel in Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program.

Lubanga, who is expected to enter not-guilty pleas to the charges on Monday morning, insists he was trying to bring peace to Ituri, a region in eastern Congo wracked by years of conflict between rival groups seeking to control its vast mineral wealth.

He was leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots and its armed wing during the time of the alleged crimes in 2002-2003, and he still has strong support among his Hema tribe in Ituri.

Among Hema people, "he is seen ... as someone who has tried to protect his ethnic group," said Waruzi, who now works for Witness, a human rights group founded by musician Peter Gabriel. (...)

The Secret Policeman's Balls DVD

John Cleese / Shout Factory

In 1975, Monty Python's Cleese instigated the first of a series of benefit concerts that turned little-known Amnesty International into a major human rights organization. The late-night shows featured an all-star lineup of British comedians and musicians, from Peter Cook to Pete Townshend and Peter Gabriel. They also inspired Live Aid. This superb three-disc set has five shows and a documentary. 510 minutes.

Hear the World Magazine Special Issue Celebrates "The Voice"

Elle Macpherson, Peter Gabriel, Takahashi Murakami and Frank Sinatra are highlighted in special edition focused on the unique and myriad ways we make ourselves heard

Stäfa, Switzerland (PRWEB) January 23, 2009 -- The latest issue of Hear the World magazine takes an in-depth look at what it means to have (and hear) a voice. From appreciating an artist's unique perspective to appreciating the science that allows each of us to sound unique, the special issue addresses a variety of ways in which our individual "voices" resonate in our daily lives.

Hear the World, the magazine for the culture of hearing, is supported by the global Hear the World initiative, which is dedicated to raising awareness about the topics of hearing and hearing loss - a problem that affects 10% of the world's population. It utilizes a culture and lifestyle platform to address the topic of hearing. Always linking content to the subject of hearing and sound, the magazine's features focus on a broad range of topics, from music, to art, to nature, to anything else that makes life more beautiful.

Recent Golden Globe-nominee Peter Gabriel is on the cover of the issue. Inside, Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, artist Takahashi Murakami, crooner Frank Sinatra, architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and German actor Sky du Mont are featured, among others.

The latest issue of Hear the World also features a new series of photographs taken by musician and photographer Bryan Adams in his role as official photographer for Hear the World. Images of Elle Macpherson, Lenny Kravitz, Jude Law, John Legend, Emilia Fox, and Charlie Siem are all captured in a pose of conscious hearing. And for the first time, Adams has contributed a portrait he shot of himself in the signature Hear the World pose.

Adams has photographed more than 30 international ambassadors for the initiative. Each of these artists lends his or her name to the initiative to help raise awareness about the importance of hearing as a global issue.

Hear the World is published quarterly and is available at select newsstands, such as Hudson News, and at airports internationally for $8 per issue. A free copy of the magazine can be ordered at www.hear-the-world.com. Net proceeds of the magazine benefit the Hear the World Foundation.

About Hear the World

Hear the World is a global initiative by hearing device manufacturer Phonak created to raise awareness about the importance of hearing. The initiative calls attention to the social and emotional impact of hearing loss and addresses prevention of and solutions to a problem that affects more than 10% of the world's population. In the context of the Hear the World initiative, Phonak has established the non-profit Hear the World Foundation to improve the quality of life of people with hearing loss through financial and technical assistance. The foundation is committed to the prevention of hearing loss as well as the support of people with hearing loss and their families.

About Phonak

Headquartered near Zurich, Switzerland, Phonak has developed, produced and globally distributed state-of-the-art hearing systems and wireless devices for more than 50 years. The combination of expertise in hearing technology, mastery in acoustics and strong cooperation with hearing care professionals allows Phonak to significantly improve people's hearing ability and speech understanding and therefore their quality of life. Phonak offers a complete range of digital hearing instruments, along with complementary wireless communication systems. With 2,500 employees worldwide, Phonak drives innovation and sets new industry benchmarks regarding miniaturization and performance. For more information please visit www.hear-the-world.com or www.phonak.com.

Gary Go - Wonderful Video

On Contactmusic.com :

Video for Wonderful from Gary Go.

Gary Go releases his new single 'Wonderful' on February 16 2009 through Decca Records. When Gary applied for a job at Peter Gabriel's recording studio 'Real World' in Bath, Peter told him he should concentrate at working on his writing. Those words stuck with Gary and quickly he was picked up by a record label. Gary Go will release his self-titled, self-produced album in early 2009. Gary will also be playing a few dates throughout February.
7 Feb Glasgow O2 Academy Glasgow
8 Feb Manchester Apollo Manchester
9 Feb Bristol Academy Bristol
11 Feb Wolverhampton Civic Hall Wolverhampton
12 Feb Roundhouse, London London
13 Feb Roundhouse, London London
17 Feb Luminaire, London (HEADLINE SHOW)

Gary Go - Wonderful


Click Here for all you need to know about: Gary Go

'Superman' on a crusade to find justice

by FIONA MACDONALD, Metro.co.uk, Friday, January 23, 2009

Carne Ross doesn't dress in a pants-over-tights combo - not in public, anyway - but there's more than a whiff of the Caped Crusader about the former Foreign Office diplomat.

Since resigning in 2004 (after 15 years), Ross has offered his services to marginalised groups around the globe, helping governments in exile, states seeking independence and divided countries attempting to re-unify. Think Ghostbusters but with a suitcase full of UN resolutions instead of a proton pack.

Ross set up his not-for-profit consultancy Independent Diplomat four years ago. Responsible for Britain's Middle East policy at the UN Security Council from 1998 to 2002, he left the Foreign Office after giving evidence to the Butler inquiry into intelligence on Iraq.
'According to what I'd seen in the many years I'd been reading intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, there was no way it could sustain the claims the government was making,' says Ross speaking in New York, where he's now based.

'Also, I didn't think the war was legal in terms of the UN resolutions - and I felt the government had ignored available alternatives to war, such as a tougher stance on Iraq's illegal oil exports. Blair and Bush claimed that sanctions were falling apart, and this was simply not true.'

On secondment to the UN in Kosovo at the time of his resignation, Ross soon picked up his first client as a freelance diplomat. 'The Kosovan government had to deal with a highly complicated international diplomatic process to determine its final status,' he says.

'They weren't allowed a diplomatic service of their own and yet were required to navigate this obscure process.' After launching Independent Diplomat, Ross advised the Kosovars until independence early last year.

Other clients include a government in Eastern Europe trying to get into the EU; the government of Somaliland (a democratic state in the north of Somalia seeking international recognition); the government in exile of the Burmese opposition; the Polisario front in Western Sahara; and the government of Northern Cyprus which is recognised only by Turkey and is currently going through a UN talks process about re-unification.

Working on a freelance basis has convinced Ross of the need for a cultural shift in diplomacy. 'Many diplomats are operating in a kind of bubble, in real isolation from the problems they're grappling with,' he says. 'I felt that acutely as a British diplomat. Somehow, discussion in the Security Council was bloodless and boring, and yet we were dealing with genocide and invasions, issues of incredible human drama. That always bothered me.'

Bridging the gap

International Diplomat (the first of its kind) is a way of bridging that gap. 'When I was a British diplomat, I always liked to think what a nice guy I was and how helpful I was to the poor benighted people on the other side of the table - whether it was the PLO, the Polisario or the Kosovars - but at the end of the day, I was always working for London. That's what I was paid to do, but it meant that if I was giving them supposedly neutral advice about how to advance their cause, it was always coloured by what was best for us.'

Now, Ross is on the other side of the table. 'I'm not just a Western diplomat patronisingly telling them the way things work; I'm working for them. It's a different world view if you're a liberation movement based in tented refugee camps in the Sahara desert.'

Yet his former experience can be invaluable. 'One of the primary values of what we do is that people will tell us things that they won't tell our clients to their faces. It's just something about human nature, that humans will say what they really think to others rather than directly to people.'

Carne Ross is also pressing for UN reform, after arranging for the Kosovan prime minister to attend a meeting of the UN Security Council (SC) for the first time. 'I noticed that all too often the places we were discussing weren't actually present. I felt that people were getting a raw deal because they weren't properly involved in the diplomatic process about their country.'

New initiative

He's now working on an initiative called the Universal Right of Address. 'It would mean any party to a dispute being discussed by the UNSC would have the right to address the council,' he says. 'It makes obvious, logical sense, and would be easy to implement, but that doesn't mean they'll do it - because the UN is not really about making fair, just and right decisions; it's about status and power.

'For instance, as a big Serbia ally, Russia had major objections to Kosovo attending the meetings. But Russia is now keen to put other non-state actors in front of the SC, such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia, because of events in Georgia. 'Meanwhile, the Americans wanted the Kosovars there because they could support Kosovan independence, but they don't want South Ossetia. China doesn't like anybody. They don't want Tibet or the Xinjiang Province to get the right to speak.'

If Carne Ross is the Caped Crusader, there's one organisation that could lay claim to being an Avengers-style league of superheros. Informally created in 2001, after Peter Gabriel and Richard Branson discussed the need for a gathering of world leaders to tackle seemingly intractable problems, The Elders is a roving team of Nobel Prize-winners and national heroes aiming to spread peace wherever they go.

Powerful line-up

With a line-up including former South African president Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US President Jimmy Carter, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Burmese human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi, it's based on the traditional model of village elders, who resolve conflicts in their local communities.

Except these conflicts are slightly bigger than the usual stolen goat: in the past year, various Elders have gone on missions to Sudan, Cyprus and the Middle East. A planned visit to Zimbabwe had to be cancelled after they were denied visas by president Robert Mugabe. They insisted they weren't planning to get involved in any political negotiations, though - something they view as an advantage.

At the official launch of the Elders in 2007, Mandela argued they were free from the external pressures typically associated with international bodies. 'The structures we have for dealing with these problems are often tied down by political, economic and geographic constraints,' he said.

And, in a line suggesting he could also see the superhero connection, Mandela added: 'The Elders can become a fiercely independent and positive force for good.' Now they just need a few special powers.

www.theelders.org

Reactions from Oscar nominees

Reuters, Fri Jan 23, 2009

(...) Peter Gabriel had never received an Oscar nomination before Thursday, though he has been nominated three times for a Golden Globe. His "WALL-E" songwriting partner and the movie's score composer, Thomas Newman, has now been nominated 10 times, engendering comparisons to Susan Lucci among his friends. "It never gets tired, and it's every bit as thrilling," Newman said. Gabriel, however, noted that they needed to shake off their bad luck, and told of a woman in Paris who tried to get married for 20 years, to no avail. On the counsel of a friend, she threw herself a fake wedding, inviting all her friends and drafted a fake husband. "Within four months, she met her man and had a real marriage. And they are still together. So what we have to do is get fake Oscars on both of our mantelpieces and visualize (the win)." Gabriel also said he didn't know how he was going to celebrate the news, " but it will involve alcohol."

Oscar nominee reactions

By ANGELA DAWSON, The Hour, Posted on 01/22/2009

(...) "It's always exciting and particularly with 'Wall-E,' because I worked on it for so many years. I think I started in late 2005, so it's kind of satisfying to see there's some recognition to that end. We sensed from the beginning that this animated movie was going to be different, but you never know how it's going to turn out. It always was a risky thing. Along the way, there were moments of doubt and moments of great pride. Ultimately, as it got close to being completed, all of us realized it was working. By the end of the movie you were just so involved with these two robots who were in love with each other. I went to England to meet with (co-writer) Peter Gabriel for a short period of time and we kind of hammered out the basic form of a song in about a day and a half. We talked from time to time and shared ideas from time to time digitally, and we kind of worked from there. We played the song for Andrew Stanton and the other people at Pixar and they approved it and liked it, and Peter did some additional work and we backed and forthed it and the song was kind of born." -- Thomas Newman, Best Song nominee for "Down to Earth" (with Peter Gabriel) and Best Score nominee for "Wall-E"

Abu Dhabi to Host Ethnic Music Festival Womad

Silvia Radan, Khaleej Times, 23 January 2009

ABU DHABI - One of the largest ethnic music festivals in the world will be held in Abu Dhabi in April. The three-day presentation will mark the festival’s debut in the Middle East.

Spectators enjoy one of the WOMAD concerts.—Supplied PhotoAn agreement to this effect was recently signed by the World of Music Arts and Dance (WOMAD) and the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH). According to the ADACH, the dates and list of musicians have not been finalised, but the festival will take place in the open, most likely in three locations in Abu Dhabi. “There will be performances from North Africa, ME, India, Pakistan, as well as other parts of the world,” said Isadora Papadrakakis, from the Arts and Culture Department of ADACH.

Founded as an organisation in 1980 in England to promote music of other cultures, the first WOMAD festival took place in 1982 and saw the reunion of Rock star Peter Gabriel, founder and chairman of WOMAD with Genesis, his former band in order to raise additional funds for the first 1982 festival.

Libel Arts: Wayne White

Filter Magazine, Thursday, January 22, 2009

Having worked on “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” in 1986 as a set and puppet designer (winning three Emmy awards for his work) and also art directing Peter Gabriel’s smash-hit video, Big Time, Wayne White’s career has been both prolific and evolving.

These days, however, White is turning heads with his novel, though some say trendy, re-workings of cheap landscape paintings found in thrift stores and yard sales across the U.S. Taking banal landscape paintings and then overlaying his own phrases and lettering onto the work, White creates new art from old—and in many cases—unremarkable paintings. White’s work is lately getting placed in not only galleries, but fine art museums as well. And if you get the chance, definitely make a trip to see the work with your own two eyes.

And if you have never seen White’s glossy 3-D paintings, perhaps you’re familiar with another one of his works…the album cover for Lambchop ’s 2000 Nixon LP, featuring White’s painting of the same name.

And just for old time’s sake, how about a little Big Time for good measure? Long live Peter Gabriel:

Concert du Hadouk Trio au Mail de Soissons

Hadouk : mot valise composé de : Hajouj ou gumbri basse africaine et de Doudouk hautbois arménien.

Bien plus qu'un concept fédérateur, l'utopie est l'essence même du trio Hadouk, sa nature profonde, sa force vive depuis plus de dix ans, son âme insaisissable aussi. Car Hadouk est un monde par lui-même, fait de racines aériennes et de terres rêvées, un continent imprévu qui pointe entre l'Afrique et l'Orient, un rivage improbable qui s'avance entre jazz et world, une véritable rose des vents qui se dessine sur le portulan des musiques du monde. Bref, Hadouk c'est une cosmologie en soi, avec ses constellations et ses horizons libres, ses lignes de grande transhumance et ses astres de première magnitude.

Charmeur de vents, Didier Malherbe attrape de son phrasé inimitable, les mélodies que zéphyrs et alizés lui apportent de toutes les latitudes. Cofondateur du mythique Gong avec Daevid Allen, il défend ensuite bec et anche la trille alerte et le slap éolien auprès de Jacques Higelin et de Brigitte Fontaine, de Robert Wyatt et de Pierre Bensusan. Depuis longtemps, à côté du saxophone et de la flûte, Didier apprivoise la bourrasque et cisèle la volute dans ces exquis réceptacles à turbulences que sont le bansouri, les ocarinas, et bien sûr le doudouk, hautbois arménien en bois d'abricotier au son doux et pensif. Grand connaisseur du roseau et infatigable babilleur, il a également publié un recueil de sonnets intitulé L'Anche des Métamorphoses.

Méhariste éclairé, Loy Ehrlich a été de toutes les équipées trans-sahariennes, aux côtés de Youssou N'Dour, Touré Kunda, Geoffrey Oryema, mais aussi de Peter Gabriel. Poly-instrumentiste, fin joueur de kora et de sanza, spécialiste du hajouj, la basse des gnawas, Loy a également mis dans ses claviers toutes les épices des marchés du monde. On le connaît aussi comme arrangeur et producteur, ainsi que programmateur du festival d'Essaouira.

Bourlingueur invétéré, Steve Shehan promène quant à lui son grand sac à rythmes sur toutes les coutures de la planète, pour en capter les forces sismiques. On l'a entendu avec Paul Simon, John McLaughlin, Paul McCartney, Christian Vander, Brian Eno et tant d'autres... Bois et argiles, cuirs et métaux n'ont plus de secret pour lui. Car Steve joue avec le temps comme avec la matière, et c'est le diaphragme du monde qui bat entre ses peaux. Il a par ailleurs à son actif plus d'une douzaine d'albums.

Après avoir célébré la chimère totémique (Shamanimal) et s'être hissé au sommet du perpétuel présent (Now), Hadouk emprunte désormais l'orbe altière du gyroscope cosmique. Après l'amble du désert et le groove végétal, voici le swing météorique ! Placé sous les auspices de la toupie céleste, ce cinquième album fait ainsi la part belle aux élans tourbillonnants, valse, pulse ternaire, danse spiralée et autres envolées giratoires.

De nouveaux instruments ont rejoint la panoplie de nos chasseurs de sons : khen, orgue à bouche du Laos, gumbass assemblant la caisse du guimbri et le manche de la basse électrique, hang au croisement chatoyant du steeldrum et du gamelan . Autant de territoires sonores qui s'inventent dans la distance prise depuis le terroir d'origine...

Hommage de trois navigateurs au long cours, à celui qui fut le pionnier de la world music à travers son concept de Quatrième Monde, Hadouk invite le trompettiste américain Jon Hassell sur trois morceaux : dans un ultime envoi, l'utopie rejoint alors l'orbite des grands empires imaginaires. Entre toupies et utopies, voici donc une nouvelle série de belles tourneries et de rêveries nomades, qui enlacent et emportent sur l'autre face du monde.

Bruno Heuzé?source : happy aisne

Green business in full blossom on Mare Island

By RACHEL RASKIN-ZRIHEN/Times-Herald staff writer, Posted: 01/19/2009

Besides being international musical superstars, what do Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney and Madonna have in common?

They've all been clients of Vallejo's Suite Treatments owner Jacqueline Barsotti of Vallejo, who provides "green" event and dressing room decor for entertainers and others. Suite Treatments is in The Coal Shed artist's studio on Mare Island, which serves as Barsotti's home base, though much of her work involves travel, she said. Originally from the Concord-Pleasant Hill area, Barsotti, 41, said she moved to Vallejo by way of Yosemite in 2005. "I chose Vallejo to start my business because Mare Island is a great place to have a business," she said.

Divorced and with no children, Barsotti said she got her start pampering rock stars when she worked for Bill Graham Presents. Her office is lined with in-concert photos of superstars like Sting, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Matthews and the Judds, which Barsotti said she shot herself in her Bill Graham days.

"I started as a runner and worked my way up to producer and then I decided to go out on my own," she said. "I learned that many entertainers want plants in their dressing rooms, and I knew that was a business I could do." Now, she and her team create "green," relaxing spaces for special events and dressing rooms and has more than 150 clients, she said. She's handling decorations for Willie Nelson's event at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium in honor of Barack Obama's presidential inauguration, she said.

Barsotti said she's not star-struck, is rarely interested in meeting the clients and never asks for autographs. She's much more interested in subtly sending "green" messages wherever she goes "I'm a green business," Barsotti said. "I run my vehicles on bio-diesel, and if someone wants me to advertise, I ask a few questions, like do they print on recycled paper. This can sometimes create a chain reaction."

Though unwilling to disclose any really juicy stories, Barsotti said when working with stars and other important people, one can't help but learn things. "Peter Gabriel was awesome, a very nice person," she said. "The Rolling Stones are easier to work with than you'd think." One of her anecdotes involves rap artist Snoop Dog's six-foot bong. "Snoop Dog has his candy, and (last year) we made this huge bong to hold it," she said. "He loved it, and now it's on tour with him."

Some stars are notorious for making what seem to be strange, unreasonable demands, but often there's a method to that madness, Barsotti said. "Sometimes they ask for difficult-to-find things to see if the promoter cares enough to read the rider," she said, adding that her firm is most often hired by promoters seeking to pamper a favored client. The world's water has been among Barsotti's main focuses since her only brother drowned in the Napa River after a solo vehicle accident in 2005. He was 31. "I took his ashes to the Ganges River - the holiest river in India - and that started me thinking about the state of our water," she said. "I needed to get people to do things differently, and if artists do things differently, people will pay attention."

Another defining moment in Barsotti's life was seeing her grandparents lose everything in the Oakland Hills fire. "It helped me realize that you don't really need anything," she said. In addition to her Suite Treatments work, Barsotti hopes to join Valcore Recycling's board of directors and is involved in a planned bio-diesel manufacturing business coming to Vallejo, she said. "That's the future. It's very exciting," she said. Valcore's Jane Bogner is equally excited about Barsotti. "She has a wonderful green company and an incredible green spirit and such energy, it's really exciting to be around her," Bogner said.

Though she works with the rich and famous, Barsotti said she also does private parties and events and would love to find more work locally. No budget is too small, she said. "The rock 'n' roll industry taught me the concept of 'cheap and cheerful,' " she said. Even as a child, Barsotti said, she knew she was meant to be involved with the music industry."I had boyfriends who were in bands, and I just always liked the atmosphere," she said. "I think it's the vibration from the crowd. They give off more joy than anything."

Winners announced at Independent Music Awards

by Larry Rodgers - Jan. 16, 2009, The Arizona Republic

Folk-rocker Martin Sexton, late blues master Jeff Healey, British crooner Jamie Lidell and banjo wizard Tony Trischka are among this year's winners in the eighth annual Independent Music Awards.

The awards were handed out this week in 50 album, song and design categories. Judges included recording stars Peter Gabriel, Roger Daltrey, Suzanne Vega, Buddy Guy, Keith Urban and George Jones.

Sexton's career-spanning Solo CD won in the Live Performance Album category.

Healey, who died in March, won Best Blues Album for his 2008 release, Mess of Blues.

Trischka won Best Americana Album for Territory, and Lidell won Best Pop/Rock album with Jim.

Denmark's A Kid Hereafter won for Best Punk Album with Defenders of the Faith, and Rebecca Martin won the Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter category with her latest CD, The Growing Season.

The IMAs are produced by Music Resource Group, publisher of The Musician's Atlas and the AtlasOnline Web site.

Full list of winners: independentmusicawards.com.

A Column About African Pop Music

John Doran, The Quietus, January 16th, 2009

A Column About African Pop Music: First Up, Nigeria And Mali

The Quietus starts a new regular column on the music of Africa with a look at the sounds coming out of Nigeria and Mali

In order to kickstart this irregular column about pop music either from or directly inspired by the African continent, it's necessary to cover some of the amazing reissues and new albums that have been out in the last few months - if only to convey something of the Kanutian task at hand.

Or perhaps this should be described as Sisyphean - as in pushing a boulder up a hill for all eternity. If someone asks you what sort of music that you're into and you say 'African', it's pretty much like being asked what you want to eat in a restaurant and saying: “Oh, you know, some food." It is this bewildering panoply of taxonomically confusing sub genres and categories that probably allowed the survival of the understandable but totally useless category 'World Music' for so long. As much as the manic culture of album reissues might be keen to ignore the saturation of the market in music; the Foppification of record collections and the disastrous cultural strip mining effected by peer to peer file sharing, in this arena it is creating sizeable waves of interest in wider pop and rock fans.

This would have been unlikely ten years ago and unthinkable twenty years ago. Mainstream perceptions of Africa as a sonic continent are no longer seen as a beam of light blasted out of Jon Hassell's trumpet, filtered through Peter Gabriel's goatee beard, refracted through Paul Simon's spectacles and bounced off Brian Eno's big shiny head.

This internet/reissue culture has allowed the vast African landmass to slowly fragment and shatter - in front of our eyes, not just into composite countries, but into cities and towns and across class and religious divides. Again, I've got to stress that if you're a specialist consumer, you'll probably find this tedious to say the least but for the rest of us, seeing these new musical vistas, suggesting themselves, slowly feathering into view, then finally achieving crystal clarity is magnificent to say the least.(....)