OUDLAND

Cease-Fire: Cross line Culture

http://www.nubasurvival.com/Nuba%20Vision/
Vol%203%20Issue%204/3%20cease-fire%
20cross%20line%20culture.htm

Ceasefire is a new collaboration between Abdel Gadir Salim and Emmanuel Jal, one of Sudan's most established musicians and one of its newest. The story behind the album - and the contrasting characters responsible for its creation is every bit as fascinating as the music is captivating, as Peter Moszynski explains.

This participation between an Arab jazz maestro and a young Afro-hip hop star bursts with an innovative dynamism that combines familiar musical genres in an unexpected way. Its intricate melodies intertwine with lyrics poignantly calling for reconciliation in the wake of Africa's longest conflict. Ceasefire not only showcases a hauntingly original new talent, it is also highly politically significant. After almost 22 years of civil war, their cross cultural collaboration has a resonance far beyond the world of music - it symbolizes the hopes of peace and development of a continent lost to generations of conflict.

Abdel Gadir Salim is not only one of Sudan's most popular singers but one of its most innovative. He is also one of the few musicians from the country's vast reservoir of talent who has made a name for himself internationally.

Emmanuel Jal is fast becoming another. His rise to fame was crowned by a show stealing performance at Live 8 Africa Calling at the Eden Project in Cornwall, where he hammered home his multilingual message of peace and love whilst conducting five thousand newly acquired backing singers.

Jal's famous argument with Sir Bob Geldof for allegedly marginalising African musicians won him many plaudits. During Live 8 he commented: "We are here to promote global justice and fair trade but they insist on marginalising Africans far from centre stage - no wonder we are going backwards. Sometimes I think these people are not serious. Western leaders talk about the need for transparency and good governance yet they meet in isolation to decide the future of the world. The campaigners allow their showbiz friends to exclude the most important people in the entire debate, the Africans themselves. Who decides these things? A bunch of fading western popstars too busy with self-congratulation to notice genocide in Darfur and

famine across the continent. We need action, not just words - and the words we need to hear should come from the voices of the voiceless."

Jal has come a long way since we first met some thirteen years ago, in the swamps of Upper Nile in the midst of war-torn south Sudan. He was one of a small group of soldiers who trekked for months across the bush following a failed rebel attack on Juba, the capital of south Sudan. Of hundreds who set out, only a handful survived, but he was already a veteran of several year's guerrilla warfare and made it despite the dangers from landmines, thirst and hunger, and attacks by rival armies and wild animals.

He had been recruited into the Sudan People's Liberation Army at the age of eight or nine whilst he was a refugee in Ethiopia, and went on to participate in song of the most intensive combat of a war that had been fought between the Arab Moslem rulers in the north of the country and the predominantly Christian tribes of the south for generations. Slave raiding and British attempts to prevent it marked Sudan's pre-independence era: military coups, civil wars and Islamic Law have riven the country since.

The latest fighting began in 1983, and Jal was caught up in it from day one. His father, a senior police officer, had to flee when he was suspected of supporting the rebels, his village was burnt and the next few years were spent on the run. He was sent to Ethiopia after his mother died and he was separated from the rest of his family.

Fighting in the SPLA rearguard following the rebel's expulsion from Ethiopia in the wake of the 1991 downfall of their main ally, President Mengistu, Jal failed to follow the bulk of the refugee children to eventual safety in Kenya (where many of the "Lost Boys" eventually found refuge in America) and instead went on to participate in the rebel assault of Juba. When the rebel factions began to turn against each other he felt the whole cause was pointless and attempted to make his way home. His life rapidly improved following his rescue by aid workers, who subsequently sent him to Kenya to go to school.

When he finally escaped his ordeal he was desperately thin, unkempt and bedraggled, but twelve year olds are amazingly resilient and he was back on his feet in no time. He gave hilarious yet heart-rending descriptions of his experiences as a soldier: "First they give you your rifle," he sagged slightly at the knees. "Then your ammunitions," another sag. "Then you have your pack, your water, more ammunitions. It is so heavy you can hardly walk".

I also first encountered Abdel Gadir Salim that same year, but under somewhat different circumstances. In 1992 he was in Britain on a tour to promote his acclaimed new album, the Mahdoum Kings Play Songs of Love. He was at the time one of Sudan's most eminent singers and former head of the Musician's Union. His performance brought back fond memories of life in prewar Sudan, before the country had torn itself apart again on the altar of religious intolerance. (A few years later Abdel Gadir was badly injured in a murderous attack on the Musicians Union Club in Khartoum, when a knife wielding fanatic attacked the band playing on stage in the misguided belief that music was against Islam. One of Abdel Gadir's backing musicians was fatally wounded in the attack.) I scarcely imagined that the two would some day be recording together.

The idea for the album came about at the start of the year when one of Jal's tracks was licensed to the Rough Guide to the Music of Sudan, along with one of Abdel Gadir's. They were both were planning to return to London in the spring and, as they were both renowned peace activists, it seemed a good idea to try to bring them together.

Eventually recorded in both Nairobi and London, Ceasefire was produced by Paul Borg, someone well-placed to bridge popular rap culture and African music. He has worked for artists such as Naughty By Nature, MC Solaar and Urban Species, and with African musicians such as Cheb Bilal and Mory Kante. Borg has coaxed spell bending performances out of two musicians from opposite ends of a cultural divide that has kept their country at war for decades.

The result is a fascinating musical syntheses : a captivating fusion that moves from Arab jazz across the spectrum of African dance music and hip-hop, with vocal backings that bring home the beauty and complexity of their native country.

Abdel Gadir composed 'Ya Salaam' - a tribute to peace that Jal guest raps on - 'Lemon Bara', 'Hadiya' and 'Gamearina'. Jal composed 'Aiwa', 'Elengwen', 'Nyambol', 'Baai' and 'Gua', performed with his rap crew, the Reborn Warriors. Abdel Gadir and his band, Merdoum All Stars, feature on some of Jal's numbers, bringing ud, electric guitar, saxophone, accordion, bass guitar and Arab percussion to the mix, while Jal and his crew add raps to Abdel Gadir's compositions. The two soloists also swap roles in places: Abdel Gadir demonstrates a previously unknown talent as a rapper whilst Jal overcomes his reluctance to do anything other than hip hop, and reveals a wonderful singing voice.

Abdel Gadir's unusual foray into rap tragically spotlights the shortcomings of the current peace deal - it's not enough to bring an end to fighting between the government in the north and the rebels in the south: "We need peace for all Sudan, in the North and the South, in the East and the West. We need peace for all Sudanese. We need peace in Darfur". He explains that he was eager to get involved in the project because the main driving force behind the conflict has been racial and religious discrimination for which the best remedyunderstanding. In a word, multiculturalism, a concept somewhat alien to those usually in control of Africa's largest and most diverse country.

Jal has recorded a version of 'Gua' for War Child's new fundraising album:

'Help - A day in the Life', which has now the record for the fastest recording in history. Jal appears alongside some of Britain's biggest bands: Radiohead, Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, The Magic Numbers, Manic Street Preachers and Gorillaz. War Child aims to help young victims of conflict and Jal has also established his own Gua Africa Foundation to help war-affected youth in his own country.

Jal has also contributed a cover of John Lennon's Mother for Amnesty International's Make Some Noise Campaign album. In addition to being a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Jal has been working with Amnesty and Oxfam on the Control Arms Campaign and is sought as a role model to rap against Britain's urban gun culture. For someone who has seen bullets bounce off attacking helicopter gunships, Jal knows more than your average rapper about the effects of guns. He also has a somewhat more graphic image of Hell's Fire than most kids and when he chants "Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil" you somehow know he has a rather stronger grasp of the subject than US rappers like Coolio.

On January 9th, Jal performed at the signing ceremony of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement at Kenya's Lake Naivasha (which became the inspiration for the title Ceasefire) but this wasn't enough get him a visa for his scheduled recording session with Abdel Gadir in London. As the ceasefire had yet to come into effect on the ground at the time, it eventually proved impossible for the two musicians to appear together in the studio: Abdel Gadir's work permit had expired before Jal's visa came through. The two have still yet to meet face to face but the fruit of their collaboration is getting worldwide exposure.

Abdel Gadir and Jal are hoping to perform together in the next few months, both in London and hopefully Sudan, if the situation stabilizes sufficiently. Plans for them to get together in Khartoum and Juba have until now encountered delays in the post conflict transition but as peace takes hold their participation is increasingly sought because the more their voices are heard the better the chances are for their country's reconciliation.

La Madâ’a

http://www.arte.tv/fr/art-musique/danse/
NAV_20Madaa/1341744,CmC=1341746.html

Chorégraphie de Héla Fattoumi et Eric Lamoureux

© Benjamin SilvestreSur une musique du jeune compositeur palestinien Samir Joubran, une rencontre inédite entre la danse et le oud, le luth arabe.

Porté par le tempo arabo-andalous de l'oud et les chorégraphies toutes en tension de Héla Fattoumi et Éric Lamoureux, où les mouvements s'apparentent aux déliés de la calligraphie, cette pièce propose un dialogue fécond entre Orient et Occident, sublimé par les images du Sud tunisien tournées par le réalisateur Benjamin Silvestre.

Troisième collaboration des chorégraphes Héla Fattoumi et Eric Lamoureux avec le jeune réalisateur venu de la photographie Benjamin Silvestre, le film La Madâ’a met en scène la pièce du même nom, créée en 2004. Sur une musique du compositeur palestinien Samir Joubran qui mêle intimement retour aux sources et innovation, l'oud imprime son tempo arabo-andalou, alors que la pièce réunit des interprètes pour un dialogue fécond entre Orient et Occident. Un jeu de métamorphoses des corps porté par une chorégraphie toute en tension.

.................................................................................
Dimanche 1er octobre 06 à 20h15
La Madâ’a
Chorégraphie: Héla Fattoumi et Eric Lamoureux
Réalisation: Benjamin Silvestre
Avec Philippe Chosson, Hafiz Dhaou, Héla Fattoumi,
Anne Foucher, Eric Lamoureux, Laura Simi, Moustapha Ziane
(France, 2006; 26 mn)
Coproduction : ARTE France, Heure d’été Production,
Le Centre Chorégraphique National de Caen/Basse-Normandie
ARTE FRANCE

Via Campesina with Samir Joubran

http://nahawa_doumbia.mondomix.com/en/chronique3277.htm

Via Campesina

Food for the stomach, food for the mind. These are the two concepts the CD compilation “Via Campesina” attempts to bridge. Because almost 15% of the world population is chronically hungry and someone dies of hunger every 3.6 seconds (24,000 daily), the issue of food has become a moral issue shared by all, musicians included.

Food for all - particularly those who produce it, - will be debated in Mali during the February 2007 World Forum for Food Sovereignty. The concept of food sovereignty was coined ten years ago by Via Campesina, an autonomous international movement coordinating peasant organisations worldwide. Three-quarters of the 30 million people who die of hunger annually are peasants. They are the first victims of multinationals and neo-liberal policies imposed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

One of the principal reasons behind the devastation of rural communities has been the industrialisation and homogenisation of species and varieties planted. Via Campesina calls on more food production for domestic and local markets, based on systems that are “diversified and agro-ecologically based”. It denounces the the US-led drive to patent seeds, a policy that could destroy the “essential” genetic diversity of plants and animals.

In many ways such rallying calls are transposable to the world of music. Take-overs by music multinationals are reducing the diversity on offer, and neo-liberal market policies are forcing dozens of small independent labels to close down. The latest victim is the Paris-based Night & Day label that Maggie Docherty ran so astutely for 14 years. “Food sovereignty and cultural diversity go together,” insists the Daqui label director Patrick Lavaud. He is responsible for this gripping compilation that unites 17 artists from all horizons. “Defending peasant farming…also comes down to promoting their languages and local culture as well as cultural variety everywhere in the world.”

Lavaud allied himself with the charismatic farmer/politician José Bové for this September release that alternates songs and short snippets of speeches and demonstrations. The artists have all performed at one of France’s most compelling summer events, the Langon Nuits Atypiques Festival. They share the same conception of “a brotherly and united world,” claims Lavaud, although it is hard to fathom the incorporation of people like Emir Kusturica in this light. Outstanding contributions by Fao-Gasy (Madagascar), Luzmila Carpio (Bolivia), Samir Joubran (Palestine) and Djiguiya are the highlights of a delightful musical feast by the festival’s Daqui label.

Variety in music and plant species has plummeted over the last 50 years. While statistics on music diversity are hard to come by, those on cultivated crops are well-documented. Since the Fifties, local plant varieties have fallen from 81% of production to only 5% (FAO 1996, 1998). The introduction of “improved” species has caused huge genetic erosion that future generations will inevitably rue. This compilation is a timely reminder of the ticking bomb we are sitting on. People’s sovereignty over what they eat and listen to is an absolute right, a right that Mondomix defends with passion. This is why we support this World Forum for Food Sovereignty, nicknamed Nyéléni 2007, and hope to be present at the side of the activists and musicians in Mali come February.

September 2006

Daniel Brown

29 novembre 2006
Décolonisons !

http://sayitloudandclear.blogspot.com/2006/11/dcolonisons.html

« Il y a toujours eu des résistances en Afrique … » Dès les premières secondes, la nouvelle compilation de Survie donne le ton. C’est François-Xavier Verschave qui énonce ces mots de sa voix inimitable. Mais il est vite relayé par les tirs croisés de quelques uns des meilleurs rappers d’Afrique de l’Ouest : Lassy King Massassy, Al Peco, Awadi, Dixon (de Tata Pound), … On retrouve en effet dans ce deuxième volume de « Africa wants to be free » quelques uns des héros de la résistance africaine à toutes les formes de recolonisation (Tiken Jah Fakoly, Awadi, …) et ceux qui sentent le besoin d’une décolonisation (du monde, des esprits, …) ici. Et toujours tout un lot de titres introuvables en France : le tubesque « Dépendance » de Kajeem (Côte d’Ivoire), le très littéraire « La victoire des vaincus » d’Apkass et Hamé, l’un des brûlots des prolixes Marseillais Duval MC, …
Le disque est disponible depuis lundi par correspondance pour un prix minime chez Survie (210, rue Saint-Martin / 75003 Paris / 01 44 61 03 25). L’association aurait bien besoin que vous lui envoyiez un petit chèque pour boucler son budget à la fin de l’année. Comme cadeau de Noël, on a connu plus idiot !

Publié par François à 6:26 PM

by Andrew Granade
on December 6th, 2006

http://www.soundtrack.net/soundtracks/database/?id=4524

Reviewing film scores can be a frustrating art. Too often the releases I get to review are nothing more than a collection of short cues culled from the movie and put together in a seemingly random order. From these small nuggets I'm supposed to decipher the composer's language for that particular film, all without the syntax of the language or images the music was to accompany. At best, I can give you an impression of the art, but many score CDs do not exist to provide you a dynamic listening experience.

Into this strange environment steps Gustavo Santaolalla's two-disk release accompanying Babel. Notice I did not say "score" or even "soundtrack;" this is a recording that defies such neat categorizations and instead takes you on a sonic journey. Babel exists to make you think, make you remember, but most of all make you listen, and in doing so crafts one of the most rewarding scores of the year.

The film Babel is the third picture in Alejandro González Iñárritu's trilogy that began with Amores Perros and 21 Grams. The story follows three separate strands in three separate places: the Moroccan desert, the U.S./ Mexico boarder, and Tokyo. As he did on the previous films, Iñárritu put together a collection of music, a soundtrack to the film's creation, and gave to cast and crew. And, as on the previous films as well, he hired Gustavo Santaolalla to compose the score and help find music and musicians that would match the film's tone. This unique approach to filmmaking, in which the music is intimately a part of the creative process, resulted in a rich, satisfying, integrated soundtrack that truly captures the film's spirit while standing firm on its own.

As the film interlocks lives in three parts of the world, Santaolalla interwove music from those three regions and beyond among his original compositions. So, you get the Norteño sound of the accordion and the bajo sexto from "Los Incomparables" sitting side-by-side with Japanese composer/songwriter Ryuichi Sakamoto and the recently deceased (and sorely missed) Nubian musician Hamza El Din, who blended Arabic and Nubian sounds. From this description you would think the end product doesn't work, but it does magnificently. There is a vibrancy that occurs with these disparate musics inhabiting the same space. It allows us to hear that honest musical expression is not so different no matter its medium. Besides, any soundtrack that features David Sylvian is doing something right.

Connecting these artists and songs is Santaolalla's score. Although the composer's score for Brokeback Mountain was showered with praise, I was unmoved by it. The repetitive guitar motives lacked the movie's emotional punch. But for Babel, Santaolalla moved beyond his signature guitar-heavy score by learning an Arabic guitar, the oud. Ok, it doesn't seem like much of a move, but when combined with the influences he derived from the musicians on the soundtrack, the result is startling. The opening cue "Tazarine" begins softly with a sample of Arabic chanting intercut with oud melodies. You keep expecting it to go somewhere, but it never does. It is simply a meditation on the connection among musics, and ultimately in the film among peoples. But this give and take between instruments and thus traditions sets the scene for the recording's worldwide soundscape. Just listen to "The Blinding Sun," which mixes a martial drum pattern with sampled Mexican music receding into the background; or "Walking in Tokyo," in which an Arabic melody plays over an electronic accompaniment; or "Tribal," which could be taken directly from North Africa. It is the addition of the other instruments behind Santaolalla's guitar or in place of it that give this recording life and depth.

As a CD, Brokeback Mountain was a good listening experience, but the score existed as mere filler; here the score unifies and comments on the rest of the music to make an organic whole with each composition lifting up the others. The sum is truly more than its parts.

Santaolalla has done something few before him have - he has devised a soundtrack release that captures the movie's language and holds together, and in some ways works even better, on its own. Babel is one of the most refreshing and exciting scores/soundtracks of the year.

Maroc, Mali, Madagascar
Un concensus musical
nommé 3M


Http://www.lexpressmada.com/display.php?p=display&id=4002

Driss El Maloumi du Maroc, Ballake Sissiko du Mali et Rajery de Madagascar préparent un album spécial “cordes africaines” dont la sortie est prévue pour mars 2007.

Driss Maloumi est un virtuose du “oud” (sorte de luth oriental, communément présent au Maroc, dans les pays arabes, en Turquie, en Grèce et en Arménie). Ballake Sissiko excelle à la “kora” ( sorte de harpe, qui trouve son origine chez le peuple Malinké au Mali) et Rajery maitrise à la perfection la “valiha” (sorte de cithare tubulaire). Le “oud”, la “kora” et la “valiha”, sont des instruments de musique traditionnelle, appartennant à un genre commun, dit “instruments à cordes”.

Reconnus dans leur pays respectif et appréciés à l'échelle internationnal, Driss, Ballake et Rajery, ont décidé de mêler leurs talents pour mixer les consonnances de leurs instruments.

Trio prometteur
Entendre quelques unes de leurs répétitions, la densité et la richesse de leurs accords, est loin d'être une mélopée sans fond. Une musique venue d'ailleurs, où se mélangent en une parfaite harmonie, les mélodies malgaches, arabisantes et celles enigmatiques des sonorités des griots du Mali. Maîtrisant chacun les genres de la musique traditionnelle de leur pays, tout en ayant une parfaite notion de la world music, le futur album de ce trio est prometteur.
Pour l'heure, on ne sait quel va en être le thème, ni les sonorités mères, et encore moins le titre. La seule chose qu'on peut affirmer est la recherche de la perfection musicale pour chacun. Cela les fait se surpasser, pour se fondre en un même mouvement: celui d'une Afrique unie par la musicalité.
Les critiques musicales auront du mal à définir cette œuvre que l'on ne souhaite pas unique. Par contre, les mélomanes sauront l'apprécier à sa juste valeur, de par la plénitude de ses accords et sa mélodie envoûtante. Vivement bientôt.

Renée Raza
Date : 27-12-2006

MUSIQUE DU MONDE

Al Tarab : musiques séduisantes

Alain Brunet

La Presse

Avec le soutien fervent de son pouvoir monarchique, le sultanat d'Oman accueille un grand festival de musique classique arabe conçu autour de l'oud qui désigne le luth dans la musique ancienne de l'Occident. Les quatre CD ici enregistrés à ce festival sous l'étiquette allemande Enja nous permettent ainsi de plonger dans ces traditions séculaires. Soyez assurés que le raffinement, la délicatesse, la complexité et le pouvoir méditatif de ces musiques séduisent dès les premières mesures. La qualité des solistes, la ferveur des chants, enfin l'ensemble de ces superbes tableaux a tôt fait de faire basculer tout mélomane qui se respecte dans un univers fabuleux. On y met en scène de grands oudistes d'Oman (Salim Bin Ali-Al-Maqrashi, du Maroc (Saïd Chraibi), d'Égypte (Mamdoh El Gebaly, Alaa Hussein Saber ou Ammar El-Sherei), d'Arabie Saoudite (Abadi Al-Johar), de Syrie (Safwan Bahlawan) ou du Yémen (Ahmad Fathi). Qui plus est, deux des quatre CD comprennent de fastes accompagnements du Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra, qui nous suggère une autre esthétique de l'orchestre symphonique. Enfin, applaudissons la beauté de l'objet à consommer, assorti d'un généreux livret superbement illustré. Et puisque Al Tarab signifie l'extase, ce titre convient parfaitement à cette série d'enregistrements.

(+): La qualité en tous points


(-): Légères carences dans ces enregistrements publics

* * *
Al Tarab
Muscat ud festival (Enja / Fusion 3)

Quatre CD