Liraz
To label her up-and-coming would not be doing her prolific career justice: Liraz Charhi, alias Liraz, was born into a family that was all about 'the arts' and grew up surrounded by classical Persian music. Her family had emigrated to Israel in the 70s at the brink of the Iranian Revolution. She began singing, dancing and playing the piano at an early age and instantly knew this was her future.
As an actress, she's worked with Hollywood icons the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, but has also appeared on stages across Israel, where she has become a household name and face, gracing local magazine covers.
Not to forget her burgeoning musical career: With several Hebrew recordings under her belt she has long since wowed crowds, delivering groundbreaking performances. (Watch her Farsi cover of Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do", set in Istanbul)
During her regular visits to Los Angeles for film work, she increasingly came in touch with the expatriate Persian/Iranian community and culture there, dubbed 'Tehrangeles', while being exposed to the counter-revolutionary sounds of singers such as the legendary Googoosh and the renowned Dariush.
This encouraged her to return to her Persian roots and, as expressed in a recent interview with Israeli daily Haaretz, to "provide a voice for silenced Iranian women". She is now reinventing herself and forging ahead with a new album, fusing modern sounds and beats with her own ethnic flavour in Farsi and Hebrew.
For this, she teamed up with acclaimed beats producer Rejoicer (Raw Tapes) to produce an album that boasts a rich mix of "Middle Eastern spice and clean-cut beats", both cover versions and original songs, updated by Rejoicer's freshly sampled beats and performed with a handful of Iranian musicians.
Listen to her debut single "Nozi Nozi" below, featuring Rejoicer on keys, Malox's Roy Chen on drums and the stunning Liraz on vocals.
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Kobal
To promote a recent party in Montreal, Canada, the notorious MusicIsMySanctuary blog asked local staple Kobal, one of the city's most acclaimed and respected DJs and record collectors (and part of the Canicule Tropicale collective), to record a guest mix of forgotten Haitian gems, which he did. So without further ado, head over to Mixcloud for Kobal's "Haiti Legba Sound". You can find the tracklist below.
Nemours Jean Baptiste – Contre danse n-4
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The Jew In You
Your favourite Jewish Monkeys are back for a series of six shows in Germany. On this occasion the band sat down with journalist Miron Tenenberg for a five-minute feature on the band in general, Jewish humour and their 'Jewishness' in particular.
While the piece was recently aired in German, here is an interesting comment made by singer Gael Zaidner in English, when asked why Germany audiences seem more engaged in the Monkeys' artistic interaction with their [...]
Akabongi
After receiving manifold global praise for his latest full-length album "African Fabrics", modern bass music tastemaker Daniel Haaksman (listen to our interview with him if you slept on it) just released the music video to his upcoming feel-good single "Akabongi", starring the prolific South African rapper Spoek Mathambo on a cover of the Soul Brothers' mid-90s classic pop hit. The clip, directed by Chris Kets features original pantsula dancing, popping, [...]
Jewmany
Jewmany, um, Germany, let's get loud! The Jewish Monkeys are set to return for a string of six shows. They will bring the heat to Jena, Krefeld, Cologne, Frankfurt, Kassel and Nürnberg. Check the tour section for event details and bring your dancing shoes!
Deutschland, we're coming for you!
TUE 17.5. 2016 Jena, Café Wagner Jena e.V.
WED 18.5.2016 Krefeld, Kulturrampe Krefeld
THU 19.5.2016 Cologne, Underground Cologne
FRI 20.5.2016 Frankfurt, Das [...]
Ecuadorian Highlands
In our editorial exploits to date, only rarely have we ventured into the more mainstream field of dance floor oriented, club productions, for no reason in particular. Let's just say we still have a lot of musical ground to cover and a plethora of styles to embrace.
Founded in 2013 by Thomas Von Party and his partner Angus Gruzman, up-and-coming Montreal-based label Multi Culti is known for spreading its body-moving, psychedelic wizardry and multicultural [...]
Oppari
Mind officially blown, as we venture deeper into the realm of the Dust-to-Digital-affiliated Excavated Shellac blog, "a website dedicated to 78rpm recordings of folkloric and vernacular music from around the world", brought to life by Jonathan Ward, a passionate collector and researcher, for his and our listening pleasure. "This is the music of THE FUTURE", is the claim on his FB fan page and we can only nod our heads in agreement. This is amazing.
Among [...]
Wake Up You! (Part 2)
Los Angeles-based Now Again Records recently released the first volume of its ambitious investigation into the Nigerian rock scene of the 1970s, a two-album/two-book project entitled "Wake Up You! The Rise And Fall of Nigerian Rock, 1972-1977" and authored by music producer/historian Uchenna Ikonne.
In an interview with NPR radio Ikonne proceeds to offer some background insight, including the role of the notorious Fela Kuti in the short-lived [...]
Moksha
They say beauty is the sum of all parts. This rings true in all walks of life and with music in particular. Signed to Bugge Wesseltofts iconic Jazzland Recordings, Norwegian trio Moksha is poised to release its debut album and explore "The Beauty of an Arbitrary Moment". Composed of guitarist Oddrun Lilja Jonsdottir, percussionist and vocalist Sanskriti Shrestha and percussionist Tore Flatjord, Moksha embarks on a mesmerising, positively spiritual journey of [...]
Toukadime X Greedio
In case you are new to Greedy, a while back we featured the Rouen-based radio show Toukadime, hosted by Bashir and Karim (aka DJ Krimau), bringing you a monthly selection of choice vinyl 45s from the Maghreb region. Needless to say, we are such big fans of the show that we decided to include their SoundCloud stream in our Ready Made Select section on Greedio for your listening pleasure. So if you have a moment, be sure to check out their latest show in the [...]
Tezeta
We are most definitely hooked on those Ethiopian grooves, so when an article appeared on Okayafrica a few days ago, we answered the call and were rewarded with a fine read, providing insight to an invaluable piece of musical history on "How Armenian Genocide Orphans Sparked A Revolution In Ethiopian Music".
A few years ago, Armenian-American director Aramazt Kalayjian launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund a documentary retracing the roots of Armenians [...]
Blast From The Past
Right on time for the weekend, passionate music lover, record collector and DJ John Fitzgerald, aka DJ Fitz, delivers a mind-blowing selection of "Middle East & Maghreb Disco Funk from the Golden Era (1975-1985)", which you can hear in the SoundCloud player above or via Mixcloud. The mix presented via David Byrne Radio "features a few very rare 7”s he found (under a fishbowl!) during his first visit to Turkey in 2006, and others he's come across since [...]
Natanya
Just ahead of tonight's Berlin live show MALOX premier the video to their latest drum- and sax-heavy, ska-punk rampage "Natanya", gifting us a friendly dose of everyday, metropolitan madness. From traffic jam manoeuvres to athletic ambitions and various types of alpha male behaviour, including the periodic release of bodily fluids, this low-budget piece of art leads the way for least f***s given this week.
Last week Eyal Talmudi and Roy Chen unveiled [...]