Zawose Family Theatre - The Building Begins
The Zawose Theatre in the town of Bagamoyo in Tanzania was a vital focus and centre for the cultural life of the town. It was devastated by fire some years ago but now, finally ,construction to rebuild this hub of music and dance began last week! John Simpson who has worked with the Zawose family for many years travelled out from London to help get the process going. He was able to take with him significant funds from Real World royalty payments due to the Zawose family following the death of the great Hukwe and his young nephew Charles. Here is John's latest report and pictures:
Consulting local builders and the family we managed to settle for the attached plans. A large Makute roof with a stage, workshop and rehearsal space - very simple but if you know how these roofs look it will be quite spectacular. The construction will be done in two phases. The first being until I leave on the 7th July when the frame will be built for the roof and the decking and concrete foundations for the stage as well as digging a trench and laying the electrical cable. In September in the second and final stage we will roof the structure with the Makute (traditional thatch roof), finish the staging and carve the wooden trunk's that hold the structure up.
On Sunday 24th May we had a 'breaking the ground ceremony'. We invited another two music groups from the village 'Chiivane' and 'Gendaeka band' to play sets on the plot where the theatre will be. After the performances representatives of the family (Julius, Esteli, Sara, Simon, Msafiri and Ndahani) each shoveled dirt into the air to break the ground. After this we then cooked two goats and drank 120 sodas and 30 beers beside the bonfire as Chiivane played into the night. Photos to follow...
On Monday a flat-bed truck arrived in Bagamoyo with tonnes of wood (about a third of the total needed just for the structure). We got the wood from a governement wood store in Dar which means it is supposed to be from sustainably cut forests, they even provided a certificate so lets hope that is true. We have employed a Masai security guard to ensure nobody steals from the site during the construction. The workers are now busy each morning digging the foundations and we are confident that the first trunks of wood will be slotted into the ground today or tomorrow, changing the Zawoses plot of land for good. Some of the Zawoses are helping with the builders and the girls are cooking breakfast and lunch for everyone to keep them going."
The wonderful documentary film made by John Simpson is now showing on Link TV in the USA this month
Bought For A Dollar, Sold For A Dime
The musical melting pot of 'Bought For A Dollar, Sold for a Dime' is large, and bubbling. Here are addictive rhythms. Soulful vocals. Pinches of dub and funk, reggae and gospel. Oh-so-subtle samples and innovative electronics. And underpinning it all, McDonald's shimmering blues guitar licks, conjuring a space where the dirt roads of the Deep South meet the shiny lanes of the Information Superhighway.
Utopia
The guitar is the most popular instrument in the world. However, informed interpretation, the essential characteristic of western classical music, is only possible if you have a repertoire of the highest quality to interpret. The gap between popular and classical guitar culture is huge and I have been eager to begin to bridge it, as well as to add to the range of contemporary music repertoire.
Admission
From the driving drums on opener 'Falling Down' to the campfire sing-along on the final track 'Please', there's a sonic nod to Muse, perhaps an echo of Radiohead's Street Spirit, with Gareth Hale's yearning, passionate vocals suggestive of Jeff Buckley, a fresh urgency reminiscent of The Jam... But comparisons aside, the dynamic sound of The Black Swan Effect is all their own.
Trance Sessions
Repetition builds on each track that grows slowly from song to abstraction, infused with psychedelic energy, a web of sound far greater than the sum of the three player's parts.
Hobo
Charlie distills his music to its raw essence, a hearty modern gumbo of blues-folk, straight-talking lyricism, and soul, all laced with beat-boxing and quirky instrumentation. From the anthemic 'Like a Hobo' to the existential campfire pop of 'Kick The Bucket', from 'Generation Spent's passionately strummed critique of contemporary culture (or lack of it) to the whimsically melancholy 'My Life As A Duck', the album playfully resists easy genre categorisation yet maintains a spirited, contagious rootsiness...
Isla
Portico Quartet sound like nobody else in jazz, World or contemporary music. Each of the nine tracks on Isla has a distinct mood and atmosphere, while remaining firmly within their soundworld. From the churning maelstrom of Clipper to the pounding pedal points of Dawn Patrol; from the fragile ostinatos of Line to the anthemic ensemble of the title track, Isla is an album whose contents reveal fresh nuances and facets on each listen.
Kalashnik Love
"I've always had this rage that I need to express." Mehdi Haddab sits back, rests his electric oud on his lap. "Rage against, I don't know... injustice. Inequality. The system." He pauses, smiles. "And music - loud music - is the thing that helps me channel it."
Better hold on: with Haddab behind the wheel of Speed Caravan you know you're in for a ride. Electrified, amplified and fuelled by creative fire, the Paris-based quartet charge towards a psychedelic horizon; slaloming through rock, dance, electro, hip-hop, world and other music - blazing a trail with raised fists, a hand brake turn and a sharp spray of desert sand.
Return to Addis
The EP, 'Return To Addis', features all unheard material: two new tracks and two remixes from the album 'A Town Called Addis'. Track 2 is a Sima Edy remix by that most irie emperor electric, Cesar Diaz - a Real World Remixed competition winner (producer Dubulah was so taken with the winner he wanted this track to reach a wider audience). It features "Mr Mesenqo", Teremage Woretaw, on lead vocal and mesenqo, vocalists Sintayehu Zenebe and Tsedenia Gebremarkos Woldeselassie, Samuel Yirga and Feleke Hailu on keyboards and sax, topped off by the unbelievable bass playing of Winston Blissett (possibly the best bass player in the world).