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Natacha & Nuits De Princes present “Gamayun”

Its generous arrangements give each instrument additional stamps: balalaïka and Russian domra, classical bass guitar and steel string guitar – the opportunity to find their natural place and develop their singular registers suave and attacked, amplified by the double bass. Over the years, Natacha & Nuits de Princes moved into the maturity of an identifiable group sound, something not so common. Perhaps there must be as much friendship as musicality. A beautiful acoustic string instrument sound that, with Natacha’s simple, enveloping voice, is capable of expressing a tone of tenderness, childhood, melancholy, gravity, then humor and swing but also calm and light. A tone which, I think, is little taken up, seems to me to be in our agitated society, but which, according to the welcome and the public’s visible pleasure, nevertheless corresponds to a deep need. These five delicate and virtuoso instrumentalists never forget that they owe this playful happiness, certainly to their classical or jazzist formation, but also to this precious source of the Slavic songs of reference, passionately sentimental, made of poignant narratives, celebration of Nature, revolts against heaven, devastating fatalism, candor and nobility, courage and poverty, despair, savagery, poetry, intoxication and infinite sweetness. The Russians remain the most nuanced musicians because for them music is the state of the soul (for me, it is the same). A melody, an interpretation, a song is the occasion for a serious and complex pleasure, an undeniable happiness, fleeting but consistent. So, what happens during a concert of Natacha & Nights of Princes? Well ! We are here. Quite simply. Present and in love. ***** INFORMATION Website: www.nuitsdeprinces.com Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/veev-com/sets/natacha-nuits-de-princes-gamayun Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Natacha-Nuits-De-Princes-238384219575772/?ref=ts&fref=ts Video: https://youtu.be/rMq3dVXFWdo
31 March 2017

Kala Jula presents Mande Kulu

“Mande Kulu“, “The Mandé Mountain” is the title of the Kala Jula’s upcoming CD to be released March 29 on Buda Musique (Paris). In this latest chapter of their musical ventures, Samba Diabaté and Vincent Zanetti are accompanied by two French musicians, major figures in European jazz and world music, the violinist Jacky Molard and bassist Hélène Labarrière. Made in early September 2016 at the Grande Boutique in Langonnet (a center for world music production in Brittany), the recording was mixed by Jacky Molard. As was the case on the two previous Kala Jula albums, all the songs are original compositions by Vincent Zanetti and Samba Diabate, with the exception of, “Bamanan Deli” a version of a song composed by Vincent Zanetti and the late Soungalo Coulibaly, the djembe drum genius who left us too soon in 2004. A brilliant ambassador of the griot musical tradition of Mali, Samba Diabate is one of Bamako‘s most highly-esteemed guitarists. His playing stands apart as much for its rhythmic richness as it does for its luminous sense of melody. From Toumani Diabaté to Cheick Ti- diane Seck, the most prestigious contemporary ambassadors of Mandinka music call on him. Multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, journalist and ethnomusicologist, specialist in West African musical traditions and dance accompaniment, Vincent Zanetti is one of the few white masters of the djembe drum and Mandinka rhythms. A major figure in the world music scene in Switzerland, he is also a donso, a member of the venerable and ancient initiatory brotherhood of hunters from the Mandé in Mali. In Kala Jula, he is the voice carrier, storyteller or griot depending on the different contexts. Constantly moving between West Africa and Europe, the two artists created Kala Jula in 2011. Essentially instrumental and acoustic, their music is deeply rooted in both the Mandinka tradition, blues and jazz. Entirely original compositions, their repertoire has already been captured on three CDs, all released by the Parisian label Buda Musique, and at several concert series in Switzerland, Mali, France, Belgium, UK and Israel. While the pair holds its preferred place for composition in Kala Jula, it simultaneously forms the nucleus of several larger formations that vary in location each time it is redesigned, depending on the different projects. In this way, they have collaborated on different creations: Sidikiba Coulibaly(Mali), fabulous donsow singer from the Mandé; Léonard Eto (Japan), master in the art of daïko drumming, a former member and artistic director of the famous troupe Kodo; trumpet player Yannick Barman, guitarist Jean-Philippe Zwahlen, drummer Cyril Regamey and accordionist Stéphane Chapuis (Switzerland), the brilliant ambassadors of Swiss jazz on international stages. Featuring a collaboration with Hélène Labarrière and Jacky Molard, “Mande Kulu” opens up a new chapter in Kala Jula‘s musical development. ***** INFORMATION Website: www.kalajula.ch Souncloud: soundcloud.com/label-buda-musique Facebook: Kala-Jula Live video: Les bouffons  / Mande Kulu   ***** TOUR Via Vox – Thomas BARRÉ thomas@viavoxproduction.com Tel: + 33 (0)1 40 33 46 65 /  06 75 31 27 03  www.viavoxproduction.com
16 March 2017

Bab El West presents Douar

In 2011, the singer-guitarist Habib Farroukh met drummer Marc Dupont and his travelling companion, bassist Clement Vallin. Through the wild jam sessions held in numerous squats and cafe-concerts in the capital city, a strong, tacit understanding developed among these three musicians from the west, all driven by the same taste for adventure and groove. At the crossroads between Maghreb folk, soul and African music, a rough form of Bab El West (“the Western Gate”) took shape in 2012. The magic happened: transported by increasing lively audiences, they hit the road, passing from popular cafes at festivals, to intimate shows on crazy tours. In the process, they released a four-song EP, thus marking the birth of their unique style. Striking a balance between traditional and modern sounds, the trio brought on guitarist Hamza Bencherif, who lends his blues rock touch to the group, and Nidhal Jaoua on the qanun, a virtuoso of this eastern ancestor to the harp. After five years of adventures and the success off all their meetings and sharing, Bab El West took a controlled exit and entered the studio to record their first album DOUAR. DOUAR is an imaginary country at the intersection of soul and North African folk music. An air of pop seeps through it regularly, and anyone can appreciate the climate of groove that rules here all year long! The lyrics from singer Habib Farroukh are evocative of Nature, Love and the Journey. Timeless themes that, in the second reading, gives him the chance to address his personal journey. He shares the most sensitive matters as an ode to freedom, an exile song or a prayer of hope, surrounded by unifying refrains. With this debut ten-song album that blends the current with the traditional, Bab El West’s hybrid music takes over the body and soul. ***** INFORMATION Website: www.babelwest.com Souncloud: soundcloud.com/veev-com Facebook: babelwest.officiel Album teaser: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZwW1Lc5S9M
3 March 2017

Hirustica Label presents Serendou and Kazut de Tyr

The trio Serendou came about ten years ago from a high-calibre artistic encounter between the musical traditions of Niger and Brittany. Jean-Luc Thomas and Yacouba Moumouni, two great traveling utists rst mixed their utes and songs, and then, accompanied by the rich percussion of Boubacar Souleymane, gave them shape in an astonishing alchemy. Through research, experimentation, complicity and improvisation, the musicians developed a shared language for communicating their aesthetic style to the world. These three men have regularly gotten together all over France (l’Opéra de Lille, festivals : Africolor, Vieilles Charrues, Chants de Marin de Paimpol, de Cornouailles, Couleurs du Monde), in Germany (TFE Rudolstadt), in Brazil (Tocando Pifanos- Olinda), in Niger (Niamey, Maradi, Zinder – where their rst album was recorded), Scandinavia (Global Copenhague, Pick’n MixinGotebörg,MixMusicinMalmo), as well as in Belgium (MuziekPublique). A Serendou concert is an invitation to travel to unknown lands, where music from the South and North come together in a full unison of strength, humor, emotions and fantasies. Each one of the members’ compositions are thought out with the trio in mind, their wild or moving improvisations are the result of years of listening and sharing. They move between beat-heavy grooves and inspired improvisations, between self-knowledge and a desire for otherness. Following their taste for adventure, the Breton musicians of Kazut de Tyr travel on oriental paths while remaining faithful to their musical heritage. Their music works its way in us like a language of the origins, made up of modalities, micro-tonalities, ancient scales, mingled together and echoing from here to there, a «dance machine». For almost ten years, through encounters, collaborations and travels with artists from Eastern Europe and the Middle East, these musicians developed their particular sound. In 2013, together wtih Wyria Ahmedfrom Kurdistan, they founded the Dengekan group which toured in France and Irak until the situation forced the group’s collaboration to an end. The Breton trio then decided to take up the Kurdish repertoire again, mix it with the Breton repertoire and asked Kani Kamar, a Kurdishsinger met in Erbil in 2013 to join them. ***** INFORMATION ***** Serendou Information:  Website: https://www.hirustica.com/serendou-2/ Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/veev-com/sets/serendou-zinder Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Serendou-471339136250063/?fref=ts Video: https://vimeo.com/190541722 Video: https://vimeo.com/121812854 ***** Kazut De Tyr Information:  Website: https://www.hirustica.com/kazut-de-tyr/ Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/veev-com/sets/kazut-de-tyr-jorjuna Video: https://vimeo.com/199346958
7 February 2017

Simon Bolzinger presents “Tambor y Canto”

Sorry, this entry is only available in FR. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.Le pianiste Simon Bolzinger présentera « Tambor y Canto » son nouveau spectacle le jeudi 16 mars sur la scène de la Maison de l'Amérique latine de Paris. L’album sortira le 24 février 2017 chez L’Assos’Picante / Rue Stendhal. Simon Bolzinger (piano, direction et composition) sera accompagné à cette occasion d’Arturo Martinez (chants et percussions de Cuba), Patinho Axé (chants et percussions du Brésil), Rocco Sedano (danses et percussions d’Argentine), Rodolfo Muñoz (chants et percussions du Pérou), Olivier Temime (saxophone) et Rafael Paseiro (contrebasse). La Compagnie Tambor y Canto propose le mélange du jazz et des traditions de quatre pays : Cuba, Brésil, Pérou et Argentine . Quatre percussionnistes et leurs quatre voix chantent et slamment la tradition, quatre maestros prêts à vous faire partager la richesse des percussions d’Amérique latine : le pandeiro, le cajón, le bombo et les batas ! Un métissage osé et explosif, où le piano se fraie un chemin entre zapateo et timbao, la mâchoire d’âne dialogue avec le saxophone, le bombo fait du danzón et la chacarera chante les Orishas. Un plateau exceptionnel et inédit, formé de virtuoses des rythmes latino-américains. De quoi embrasser la diversité et l’unité d’un continent tout entier !  ***** INFOS Site : L’Assos’Picante Souncloud : veev-com Facebook : Tambor-y-Canto Teaser Vidéo ***** LA MAISON DE L'AMERIQUE LATINE 217 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 75007 Paris Site Web : mal217.org  Horaire : 19h-20h30
18 January 2017

Sultana presents “Sol’Air”

Songwriter, composer and singer, Sultana invites you to travel according to her poetic and mixed world. A subtle combination of melodies and rhythms, a journey between Chanson, Latin Jazz and World Music! Sultana of her true name, alias “The Queen”, symbol of femininity, values of sharing and generosity bewitches the listener by her warm and sensual voice. Franco-Moroccan, she sings in French, English, Spanish with a touch of Arabic, the free, modern and independent woman, who lives with her time, aspires to the present moment with radiant optimism and overflowing energy! “SOL’AIR“, her second album reflects her personality and the artist she is, expressive, moving and generous! Impregnated with the many travels of her childhood and her artistic encounters open to the world, sultana is definitely an artist inhabited by musical diversity. With this new album she wanted to collaborate with new songwriters and composers for a dynamic of sharing, discoveries and interactivity. She therefore wrote the basics of what she wanted to be a cry of the heart, passing the pen and notes to the talented artists who crossed her path. Artist with definitely no borders in her music as in the themes she explores, Sultana, with its resounding voice and its luminous melodies, weaves a link between all these worlds, the result can only be “Sol’Air“! ***** INFORMATION Website: sultana.fr Souncloud: veev-com/sets/sultana-solair Facebook: Sultana Videos: Medley Live Libre comme l’air Ici et Maintenant
9 January 2017

Afro-beat band Fanga presents Kaleidoscope

“Don’t do what I’ve already done” Fela Kuti used to say to his artist followers. And this is the advice Fanga has tried to follow since they started up in 1998. Their Afrobeat that marries their political calling, is the fruit of multiple interbreeding, from hip-hop to funk via jazz to Mandinka. Structured around Korbo, their singer, the band is inspired by multiple influences and it is not without reason that their new album is entitled Kaleidoscope. When they chose their name, which, in Dioula means “strength, energy and power”, Fanga didn’t realise how apt it was. The strength of their convictions is definitely the reason why the collective remains active, with undiminished faith in their music and the messages it conveys. A self-titled EP (2000), Afrokalyptik (2003), Natural Juice (2007), Sira Ba (2009), Afrokaliptyk Nation Live (2011) and Fangnawa Experience (2012) have all marked the band’s career, which today, is off to a new start. Kaleidoscope re-establishes the energy of the early days; less jazzy and more funky, from here on they are blending afrobeat with traditional African music from Togo, Benin, Ethiopia, Niger, Mali, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, on top of lyrics which continue to question the notions of justice, freedom and the right to happiness, in a world which is so cruelly lacking in it. As logic would have it, the album cover is a kaleidoscope in which each element evokes one of its tracks, from the child soldier to the human robot. A collage reflecting our society, where being united makes us stronger, provided that we set the diversity of its components to music. Fanga shows us the way, with Kaleidoscope. INFORMATION Website: fanga-official.com Souncloud: fanga-kaleidoscope Facebook: Afrofanga Video clip: Soldiers Vimeo: Live at ElMédiator Club of Perpignan 
9 November 2016

Fado singer Carla Pires presents Aqui

Throughout her career, Carla Pires has accomplished to entertain audiences from Europe to Algeria, from Brazil to Japan. Her main highlights performances were in prestigious venues such as the Opera of Ghent (Belgium), Queen Elizabeth Hall-PR(London), Södra Teatern and Kulturhuset (Stockholm), De La Mar Theater and Concertgbow (Amsterdam), Schowburg Roterdamse (Roterdam), Cirque d’Hiver (Paris), Oharu Auditorium (World Exhibition-Japan 2005), Théâtre de Verdure (Algiers), Museu Histórico Nacional (Rio de Janeiro) and Teatro Municipal de Barueri (São Paulo), Coliseo Carlos III (Madrid), Teatro Solís (Montevideo), Studio Samsung (Buenos Aires). Carla began her singing career in 1993; she participated in several musical projects, recorded soundtracks and played roles as an actress for TV series in Portugal. In 1996 won 1st place at the Festival Thessaloniki (Greece), organized by the Societies of Authors in Europe on behalf of Portugal, with the theme “Canção do Vento e da Terra” that was arranged to be included on her last album: “Rota das Paixões”. In 2002, , the year in which Fado began to take over her main musical aspirations, she recorded with the Quintet Amália, the CD “Fado em Concerto” and from September 2002 to July 2005 played the role of “young Amália” in the biggest musical ever produced in Portugal – Musical “Amalia”. Records her first solo album to Ocarina, “Ilha do meu Fado”, in 2004. Some tracks of this CD integrated several national and international collections. This marked the beginning of her solo career. In 2005 she was invited to represent Portugal at the World Exhibition in Japan performing at the Auditorium of Oharu. Carla Pires statement as Fado singer happens in 2008, when she held a tour with 10 concerts in France, and also performed in Algeria, Austria and Spain. International concerts have been constant in her career, highlighted by the opening concert of one of the biggest festivals in Europe (Flanders International Festival,Ghent-Sept18,2010) and the showcase at Babel Med Music, Marseilles (March30,2012), the second largest world music fair in Europe. Her latest album, “Rota das Paixões” released in 2011 in Portugal was published internationally, by the label World Village/Harmonia Mundi on May 2012. The year 2014 began with a new experience.At the invitation of the prestigious Portuguese choreographer Vasco Wellenkamp, Carla Pires boards on tour of 42 dates through Holland with the performance Fado, Ritual e Sombras (Fado/Ritual and Shadows), a coproduction with dancers from Portuguese National Contemporary Ballet and the International Danstheater (Amsterdam) about Fado, with live music performed by the singer. This is another milestone in the career of Carla Pires. Parallel she has presented her solo concert “Rota das Paixões” in France, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Angola. In 2015 [March (14, 18, 25) and April (10, 12, 17, 18, 23, 26)] – Carla Pires performed at Graz Opera in the piece “Malambo” which integrates the contemporary dance project “Fado, Ritual & Shadows”, with a new choreography by Vasco Wellencamp for the Oper Graz Tanzkompanie. Throughout these dates Carla Pires was accompanied by her musicians and by the Grazer Philharmoniche Orchester. ***** INFORMATION Website: carlapires-fado.com Souncloud: soundcloud.com/veev-com/sets/carla-pires-aqui Facebook: CarlaPiresOfficial Live video: Meu amor, meu amor Contact booking: viavoxproduction.fr
18 October 2016

Etienne Mbappé & The Prophets present “How near how far”

With a rich, singing tone and an unerring gift for melody, bassist Etienne Mbappé imparts even the most demanding musical contexts with a grace, warmth, and humanity that transcends boundaries, genres, and languages. His gifts have been put to use as a member of John McLaughlin’s 4th Dimension and the Ringers (with Jimmy Herring, Wayne Krantz, Michael Landau, and Gary Novak), along sideman appearances with Joe Zawinul, Manu Dibango, Robben Ford, Salif Keita, Ray Charles, Steps Ahead, and saxophonist Bill Evans. Now audiences can experience Mbappé‘s own music via How Near How Far (available on DATE through Abstract Logix), his forth solo album and the first to focus on his instrumental music. How Near How Far also marks the debut of Mbappé’s new band the Prophets – featuring Christophe Cravéro (acoustic and electric piano), Anthony Jambon (guitars), Clément Janinet(violin), Arno de Casanove (trumpet, flugelhorn), Hervé Gourdikian (tenor saxophone), and Nicholas Viccaro (drums, percussion). With the unusual trumpet/tenor/violin frontline leading the way, the Prophets explore eleven Mbappé originals, which touch on a number of international traditions while bridging cultural divides via deft musicianship and a thoughtful, conversational improvisational approach. “My music is influenced by places I have traveled, people I meet, colors I see, flavors that I taste, fun that I’ve had, and, sometimes, the pain that I feel,” Mbappé explains. “We live in a complex world today. I want nothing more than to bring that joy and understanding to people through music.” ***** INFORMATION Website: etiennembappe.com Souncloud: soundcloud.com/abstractlogix/johnji Facebook: etiennembappeandtheprophets Live video: Teaser Medley Milonga
30 September 2016