Last weekend at Barcelona's Primavera Festival Turkish folk icon Selda Bağcan took to the stage with Tel Aviv psych-rock outfit Boom Pam to present their latest collab project, alias SELDA feat. BOOM PAM.
Back in 2014, in light of an upcoming performance at the Dutch independent music festival Le Guess Who?, Selda gave a 5-minute interview, detailing her outspoken artistic approach and past political involvement, which led to a 20-year ban and subsequent incarceration; messages that continue to resonate as we speak:
"I've always sung protest songs. I call upon the people to put up resistance. For me, lyrics are very important. What I usually do is set famous poems to music. They express everything that needs to be said. There is no need to add anything. The authorities didn't like my songs, so they banned them. Songs are more dangerous than weapons, you know."
Watch the entire interview below.
AUTHOR: Lev Nordstrom
The inimitable and prolific musician, producer and selector Will Holland, better known as Quantic, has done it again. Currently residing in Brooklyn, the UK-born jack of all musical trades continues to dig deep, dedicating his latest mix to the great Anibal Velásquez, legendary and lightning-quick accordion player and singer, or as Holland puts it:
"This is a short mix dedicated to Maestro Anibal Velásquez, incredible musician and the world’s most [...]
Amongst all the political turmoil these days Istanbul, the Turkish metropolis populated by an estimate 20 million inhabitants, is set to welcome the new, biannual 212 Magazine to its glossy ranks.
In light of the pioneering first issue to appear this week, local DJ, producer, record store owner Kaan Düzarat teamed up with Murat Meriç to include an exclusive essay on the history of Anatolian pop music.
To accompany his piece, the publication asked [...]
This one has been a long time coming. Nestling up to the other nine tracks on their debut album "Mania Regressia", somewhat like that pink elephant no one was willing to talk about, but whose presence was felt by everyone, "Meat Heat Beautiful Feet" tells the story of suburbian ennui gone Freudian.
It all started with a sentiment, a slight feeling of discomfort songwriter Dr. Boiko used to tell his guests about during regular weekend barbecues in his [...]
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 [...]
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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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 [...]
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, 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]