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.

From having seen them a few months ago, I can safely say that France’s Orchestre National de Barbès is one hot live band. They have been gigging for years already, spreading their raï sounds across Europe. The band recently signed with the French indie label Wagram, and a new album, “Alik”, is foreseen in February of next year.
The French Hip-Hop duo Les Nubians will be appearing in New York before the New Year. The sisters play a neat style that has been summed up as “Afropean hip-hop with R&B”, singing in French and English. ‘Princesses Nubiennes’ (Higher Octave/Virgin) was the most successful French-language album in more than a decade of Billboard charts. Since then, they have traveled the world, soaking up the sounds of reggae, afro-beat, pop and electronica while collaborating with a host of respected musicians.