“Gaza Calling”

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.

Taraf de Haidouks live on French radio

Romania’s Taraf de Haidouks will be making a special appearance on the France Inter radio show “Le Pont des Artistes” on Saturday Nov 24. What’s the big deal? The release of a new album, called “Maskarada”. Over the years, countless musicians have taken their inspiration from Central European gypsy music. So now this Balkan big band are turning the tables and covering the music of Bartok, Khachaturian, Manuel de Falla, Kosma, Ketelbey, Albeniz and Liszt. Click through for links

Last minute: African rap in Norway

In terms of diversity and colour, nothing beats African rap. We just got news that the South African band Black Noise will be appearing in Oslo, Norway on October 17 as part of the Oslo Celebrations. More specifically, they will be providing music, DJing and capoeira for an African fashion show at the Georg Sverdrups Hus (University Library), University of Oslo. Get more details here.

Find their three albums on iTunes:

Uman adds hip-hop to ragga stylee

We just heard the first single from Original Uman’s album “L’aventure c’est l’aventure”. Uman made a mark for himself first with la Puta Madre and later as a toaster. The single “184 centrimetres” is a Hip-Hop workout in French with notes of accordion. The rest of the album promises “Jamaican rhythms”, with the label making comparisons with Serge Gainsbourg, no less. Check his music on MySpace/Uman.

Koçani Orkestar announce French dates

Macedonia’s incredible Koçani Orkestar have just announced a series of dates in France. YouTube has a video of them playing “Siki Siki Baba” with Zach Condon. It’s chaotic, but fun. Check it here.

Pascal Schumacher European and Australian dates

We saw the Pascal Schumacher Quartet again just before the summer. What can we say? They are still as tight, bright and melodious. So they are STILL our n° 1 hot ticket in jazz. Since then, they have released a new album of cool jazz called “Silbregrau” on the Igloo label. Click through for the European and Australian dates.

Mamadou Konte remembered in Marseilles and Paris

As mentioned below, the death of Mamadou Konte was a great loss to African music (and indeed the US and European music fans that enjoyed the acts he promoted). The company he created, Africa Fête, is however continuing. On September 9 and 15 next, they are putting together a special homage to Konte with a selection of acts based in the south of France: these include Toko Blaze (photo right), Oumar Kouyaté, Sayon Bama Camara, Afro Latin Jazz Concept and others.

The Paris and Marseilles events are also to support Africa Fête, who were recently the victims of a burglary. For details, visit Africa Fête.com. To check Toko Blaze’s sweet ragga/dancehall in French, click here.

Fela Kuti son kicks up a live storm

Reviews of the Seun Kuti live shows with Egypt 80 in North America have been very good, with reviewers again welcoming the arrival of a massive Afro-Beat band led by the son of the iconic Fela Kuti (not that anyone has forgotten his other son Femi yet). “The band was the most important thing in my father’s life,” says his youngest son Seun. “I didn’t want it to die.” Seun seems a bit overwhelmed by the response, or a little mis-informed. “Before my father’s death, it was only (Africans) who listened to Afro beat, but right now it is a global phenomenon,” he told AFP. Really? I’m sure I’m not the only that attended Fela’s concerts in major venues across the globe.

Click through for the upcoming dates in Europe

RIP: Mamadou Konte

Although largely unknown to the general audience, African rap has lost one of its most important players. Mamadou Konte founded the Africa Fête festival in France in the late seventies, later bringing it to the US and Canada. He also set up a label in Senegal that was responsible for uncovering Positive Black Soul and Pee Froiss, amongst others. One of his most important contributions to music, however, was the continued development of a music business in West Africa, where he ran numerous programmes for training managers and other professionals. He was also very active in trying to protect African music from the rampant piracy of the West Coast. Much of his work can be found by connecting to Africa Fete.com. Konte died in Dakar on June 21, and is survived by two sons - and a whole generation of musicians and music professionals.

UPDATE: Mamadou Konte will be featured in a special programme to be broadcast on TV5 Monde. Boncana Maïga’s “Stars Parade” will be devoted to him. Guests will include Souleymane Coly (Koteba), Luc Mayitoukou and Saintrick. The show goes out on July 14 at 18:00 GMT and Sunday July 15 at 12:00 GMT for Africa and Friday July 20 at 6:30 in France. Looks like you should check your satellite dishes and recorders.

Source: African Rap.com

Checkpoint 303: Free music from occupied territories

Apart from the Chehadé brothers, I had never really thought about Palestine as a source of music - and certainly not electronic music. Mea culpa. Checkpoint 303 are a Franco-Palestinian-Tunisian collective that create electronic music using field recordings of life in the occupied territories. Although not overtly political, the sounds they use are often of demonstrations, bullets being fired and voices through megaphones. They combine this with snippets of news reports (most effectively in “Needle Stuck on Lebanon”). Add a touch of oud-playing and you get a rich sound with an overlay of drama.

Checkpoint 303 are about to play a number of dates in Palestine, including a special event at the Beit Hanina college in East Jerusalem for the international Fête de la Musique on June 23. Check their MySpace page for updates, or download their music on Checkpoint 303.