Palestinian/Tunisian/French electro outfit Checkpoint 303 will be appearing (for free) in Rome on Sunday May 31 as part of the “Finding Palestine” event, featuring traditional and contemporary arts. They will also be appearing at the Venice Biennale. Click “read more” for further details.
Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. will host the 4th annual Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival, the first and largest international hip-hop festival in the US, on April 3rd and 4th, 2009. This year, the event is headlined by K’naan, the rising star in international hip-hop. The Somali MC spent the last 2 years touring with Damian and Stephen Marley. His vividly spoken images of war-torn Somalia and fierce criticism of American gangster rap has garnered him appearances on BET, MTV and collaborations with Mos Def and M1 of dead prez. K’naan signed with A&M/Octone in 2008 and released Troubadour in February 2009.
The Palestinian/French/Tunisian electro collective will be appearing at the Générale en Manufacture in Paris on February 2:
They will then appear at the Chabada in Angers the following day, February 3. Click through for details.
Mehdi Haddab & The Speed Caravan
Nutty oud players DuOud will be playing shows in London and Paris over the coming weeks. Mehdi Haddab’s experiment in blending percussive and snappy oud playing with electronics and even speed metal is a sight to see. They’ll be at the K-Wa in Paris on the 22nd and the Ginglik in London on the 27th, notably. Click through for dates.
Shantel, the pioneer of Balkan dancefloor grooves, is touring Europe between October and January. The former DJ combines Balkan and Turkish music with dance grooves, creating a sound which is pretty much irresistible. His music offers a bold, colourful challenge to the wall-to-wall House/Lounge sounds of most clubs, provoking hysteria in more than one venue. He will be touring with an 8-piece band. Check out the album “Disko Partizani” and click through for the full tour dates.
Not a lot of people know that South Africa has a vibrant electronic scene. It gets a little showcase this month, with the release of the “Facebreaker” game on Xbox and PlayStation. The South African group Tone Deaf Junkies are featured alongside people such as Drop Kick Murphys on the game’s soundtrack. The track is from their album “Alpha”.
After their recent live shows in Australia and in Tokyo and the support set with Massive Attack in France (Nuits de Fourvière festival), Checkpoint 303 has been invited to perform an audio-visual electro-acoustic set @ Scala in London, Sat. Oct 4th, 2008. The line-up of this event organized by SOAS students’ union & SOAS Palestine Society:
Checkpoint 303 (live electronics/visuals/oud, Palestine/Tunisia/France)
Ramallah Underground (trip-hop/hip-hop + visuals by Ruanne, Palestine)
Visionary Underground (live D’n'B, UK)
DJ U-Cef + DJ Bashir
Doors open @ 8 pm, CP-303 Live sets start @ 9 pm // so be there early! For details, visit the Scala.
Before that, Checkpoint 303 will be the guests of “Les visiteurs du jour” a daily program on Radio France Internationale (RFI Paris Studios / 44 million listeners worldwide). The radio magazine is dedicated to news about the trends and challenges of the world’s societies with in-depth analysis and conversations with the world press and “audio snapshots” of key players in the world’s social mix. The program starts at 11h40. The Checkpoint 303 interview is scheduled for this thursday (2nd Oct. 2008) live from Paris (and by phone from Jerusalem) at 12h10 (World: 11h10 UT // Africa: 3h10 UT ). Check RFI for frequencies.
Checkpoint 303 - the Palestinian/Tunisian/French outfit that bills itself as “free tunes from occupied territories” - will perform a DJ set at the legendary Tacheles alternative art-house in the center of Berlin on Thursday 7th of February, 2008. The gig will take place at the opening of a photography exhibition organized in collaboration between Tacheles Kunsthaus and the Conflict Zone Art Asylum network. The show starts @ 7 pm (Free entry).
With Middle East talks more or less on track, the Palestinian-Tunisian outfit Checkpoint 303 have released a new tune to the web called “Gaza Calling”. As a reminder, Gaza has been the subject of an air, land and sea blockade by Israel since Hamas took over there and following repeated missile attacks from the territories. “Gaza Calling” is based on a man’s attempt to get through to the UN to explain the living conditions there.
The track is typical Checkpoint 303: snappy Arabic percussion, angular electronics and the occasional oud. They appeared at a major festival in Montreal recently. For details and to hear “Gaza Calling” visit Checkpoint 303.
