Shantel Balkan grooves on tour in Europe

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.

Palestinian Hip-Hop screens at Ghent film fest

The Ghent Film festival is screening “Sling Shot Hip Hop”, a film that follows Palestinian rappers as they try to travel through Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. The film screens on October 8, 10 and 11.  The groups are DAM from the West Bank and PR from Gaza, who try to get to meet their counterparts. The film offers yet another view of Hip-Hop as a vehicle for political thought and aspirations, offering a voice to people that are very rarely heard. Click through for details.

Global Hip-Hop to be featured at CMJ

The College Music Journal Marathon (CMJ) is New York’s largest music, film and media conference and will host hundreds of live performances, films, lectures and networking events. This year’s CMJ INTERNATIONAL HIP-HOP THROW-DOWN will unite the talents of a creative and diverse group of lyricists and DJs from Africa, Korea, Canada, and Europe at club DROM, located at 85 Ave A in New York’s East Village on Thursday October 23rd 2008. The event will begin at 8 PM and will last until 3 AM and will feature live international hip-hop music and DJs spinning music.

The show feature a handful of rising stars including Blitz the Ambassador (Ghana), Drunken Tiger (Korea), King Reign (Canada), Empire Isis (Canada), Chachi (Cape Verde) and Too Many Fish (France). DJs Boo and Soulscape from Korea will be on the turntables. V.J Kwon from Korea will set the tone and visuals for the night. There will also be an all French Hip Hop showcase at Hiro Ballroom on Friday, October 24th featuring La Caution, Mangu and Wax Tailor.

Check out Blitz on MySpace.

Palestinian underground in London, October 4

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.

“Many Lessons” looks at Islam and Hip-Hop in West Africa

The German label Piranha takes a look at Hip-Hop and Islam on the compilation “Many Lessons”, recently released in Europe. Islam is a strong influence across West Africa, despite the fact that most countries are secular by nature. This selection of tracks looks at how Islam is incorporated into the buoyant Hip-Hop scene, which is one of young Africa’s ways of getting itself heard. The artists include General Snipe, Keur Gui, Dread Skeezo and Sister Fa. Click through for the full track list.

Kasaï Allstars and Konono N° 1 refused entry visas in Europe

Despite having toured the world already several times, the Congolese bands Kasaï Allstars and Konono N° 1 have been refused visas by several European countries, so disrupting a number of major festivals and bringing their agent to the brink of bankruptcy. The group first had problem renewing their passports in Congo, and were then sent on a labyrinthine chase for visas and paperwork from the French, Belgian and UK embassies (where they were to play). At the end of the day, these proved unsuccessful and the tours have been cancelled - over 25 dates in all.

Africa to salute James Brown this summer

This promises to be a pretty hot ticket. Pee Wee Ellis, former saxophonist of James Brown, has brought together some excellent artists for a tribute to the legendary James Brown. Among them are Fred Wesley and Tony Allen (drummer of Fela Kuti), the Nigerian-London singer Wunmi (who DJed in 2004 at Couleur Café in Brussels), The Family Stone-singer Fred Ross, the Senegalese artist Cheikh Lô and the still very young but already celebrated South-African jazz singer Simphiwe Dana.

They will be playing under the banner, “Still Black, Still proud” (a reference to the James Brown track “Say it Loud”). They recently got a three-star review in the UK’s Independent. Look out for them in your local press.

Movaizhaleine parodies French and Gabonese leaders

Movaizhaleine, probably the best hip-hop outfit on Africa’s West Coast, have created a viral hit with “Quaffffoutre”. They used a sample of the Gabonese president saying “Moi, je n’ai qu’à foutre” (me, I don’t give a shit) and looped it. As France and Gabon are having a little push and pull for the moment, the clip features the Gabonese president, Nicolas Sarkozy, Jacques Chirac and the French Socialist Ségolène Royal. Fun.

Wendo Kolosoy: return of the king of rumba

Wendo Kolosoy, the veteran World music star, has released an album of material recorded in 2004 on the IglooMondo label. Kolosoy is hailed as the father of the rumba, having helped shape the style already in the fifties and sixties. “Banaya Papa Wendo” features 10 tracks with old sparring partners such as Jean-Louis Kayala Bikunda on bass and Vula Diankatu Missy on guitar.
Wendo Kolosoy on Amazon.fr

Baloji brings African rap to Paris

Although it was only released in Belgium, one of our favourite albums in 2007 was “Hotel Impala” by Baloji. This Belgian rapper of Congolese origin has created an album that spans Hip-Hop, 70s soul, Afro Beat and chanson - quite a programme. The breakout single was “Congo”, a 7-minute masterpiece.

Baloji will be bringing his show to the Cafe de la Danse in Paris (5 Passage Louis Philippe, 75011) on February 15 before travelling around France later.

Click through for the full dates in France and Switzerland and the full version of “Congo”.