Kimmel Center’s World Music Wednesdays Return and Cool the Summer
June 14, 2006
Tickets for each World Music Wednesdays show are $25 each or buy a Passport for all four concerts for $75. Tickets can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evening.
AMADOU & MARIAM
with DJ Frosty
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Perelman Theater | 8pm
World Music Wednesdays begins with West African husband and wife sensation Amadou & Mariam who effortlessly bring funky, yet sweet soul harmonies to audiences around the world. Mixing “the fizziest of afro-pop blues ever bottled” (The Observer) with rock guitar, violin, Cuban trumpet and Indian tablas, they have brought West African music into the mainstream. Their latest album Dimanche à Bamako (‘Sunday in Bamako’) was produced by Manu Chao. He recalls: “For a year I played their records round the clock. What I liked the most about them was the juxtaposition of the African blues-rock they play and the overwhelming softness they project.”
In Britain, a clutch of five star rave reviews greeted the album’s release in summer 2005. Time Out simply declared they had made “THE world music album of the year.” Yet what was even more interesting was the way that the record transcended the usual confines of the world music ghetto. It was acclaimed in the indie rock magazines that usually ignore these kind of records, and the Sunday Times, instead of burying it at the bottom of the page where world, jazz and folk albums are usually hidden, boldly declared Dimanche a Bamako ”pop CD of the week”.
Amadou & Mariam made their first recordings in 1986 on a series of cassette-only releases. Following the success of Dimanche a Bamako, these are now being issued by Because Music on CD for the first time as the single disc collection ‘1990-1995: The best of the African Years’ and will be followed by a special box set featuring all five of their African cassette releases ‘1990-1995: The Complete African Years’.
DJ Frosty will be spinning tunes to get the party started and to close the night.
DAARA J
with DJ King Britt
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Perelman Theater | 8pm
The party continues on July 19 with Senegalese hip hop sensation Daara J (pronounced Dah-ra Jay). “Born in Africa, brought up in America, hip hop has come full circle” proclaims Daara J. This Senegalese trio mixes raga, jazz, plus Cuban and Caribbean sounds while rapping in English, Spanish, French and Woloff (a prominent Senegalese language). The trio consists of N’Dango D, Aladji Man and Faada Freddy. They all speak various languages, absorbing all styles of music on their journeys, mixing languages and music styles. Their music blends western hip hop with traditional African rhythms to create an infectious dance style. Sharing heartfelt messages, Daara J crosses continents and cultures with pure style and a positive force.
Daara J's new album is recognized for its great musical quality. "In our music, the melody is always the starting point". Thus Si La Vie N'est Pas Belle starts with a harmony borrowed from the Zulu music, their last album, Boomerang, with a Mandingo traditional melody and for the occasion they were joined by guest Rokia Traore, one of the greatest female voices of Malian music.
Their first album, Darra J was released in 1994 and they were the first Senegalese rap band to tackle up front the religious issues as well as other strong social, political and spiritual issues. Their second album, Xalima, was released in 1998 and had a curator from the House of Slaves contribute which is where the boats of the ebony commerce sailed. This dimension of course has not disappeared on this new album. Babylone recalls the exploitation of the African people, whether visible or invisible. Bopp Sa Bopp is a vigorous exposure of selfishness, yet finds its origin in Africa, whilst Paris Dakar, their duo with Franco-Senegalese Disiz Le Peste, reminds us that the wealth of mankind is not necessarily in technological development but more surely in shared well being. Le Cycle is a variation on the question of life, death and resurrection, whilst Exodus obviously deals with the uprooting of exodus. Finally, Esperanza is a song of hope, to not let us sink into the abyss that awaits each one of us. The great strength of this record is undoubtedly that it forces us to rethink our accepted ideas on Africa and its so called "lateness" compared to the Occident. "We are the first generation born after the independence. As such, we embody at the same time tradition and modernity. One foot in the past and other in the future"
Daara J is one of Africa's top rap groups. They made appearances at various world music festivals around the world. They also performed at Live 8 concert, Eden Project and Africa Calling.
DJ of the night is King Britt.
MUSAFIR
with DJs Darshana and Chetana Borah
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Perelman Theater | 8pm
Third in the World Music Series on July 26 is Musafir, an energetic hybrid of Indian folk music and popular music, Musafir also features acrobatics and feats of physical endurance. Musafir, which means “traveler” in Farsi, is composed of professional musicians from the Thar Desert in Northwest India. Musafir showcases rural folk music, Indian film music and Hindustani (North Indian Classical) music.
Founded by Hameed Khan Kawa, Musafir is a musical journey throughout the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, the original land of gypsies. This vast endless locale of burning hot sand composes one of the most vibrant and evocative music cultures of the world. There is opulence and diversity in Rajasthani music, which is rich, heroic, melancholic and joyful, and governs all aspects of lives in Rajasthan.
Musafir is a colorful combination of professional musicians belonging to different folk communities such as Langa, Manghaniyar, Sapera…as well as classical artists.With his own individual interpretation of a lyrical and musical heritage, Hameed Khan has been arranging subtle hybrid versions of Indian folk and Hindustani classical music, dance, acrobatics, and feats of physical endurances by emphasizing the talent of each of his artists.
Hameed Khan ‘Kawa”, Musafir’s founder holds deep knowledge of musical tradition and years of experience that allows him to choose a wild repertoire from Indian music and deliver startling performances. Amplifying his culture in a distinctive way, sharing it with artists of different persuasion, Hameed has also been playing with musicians and vocalists of Hindustani classical music such as Lakshmi Shankar, Narendra Bataju, and Krishna Bhatt.
Hameed Khan is not only a musician, arranger and a music director; he is an artist, who dedicates his life to bring spirituality into the music and into the performances, as Musafir reveals.
Traveling since centuries all over the Rajasthan and now all over the world, Musafir sends messages of love, happiness and hope from place to place and brings you to the heart of the desert beat.
DJs Darshana and Chetana Borah, the twin sisters will be opening and closing the concert. .
TIEMPO LIBRE
with DJ Aaron Levinson
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Perelman Theater | 8pm
World Music Wednesdays comes to a close on August 2 with Grammy-nominated Tiempo Libre who turns up the heat with a tropical fusion of timba, salsa and merengue. Dance to the irresistible mix of high-voltage Latin jazz and seductive rhythms by the true modern heirs of the rich tradition of Cuban music. This hot, young Latin band offers a joyful, modern sound that keeps crowds all over the world coming back to their concerts year after year.
The Miami-based band is equally at home in concert halls, jazz clubs and dance venues. Schooled in different Havana conservatories and all enjoying thriving careers in Latin music performing, touring and recording with such artists as Albita, Cachao, Arturo Sandoval, NG La Banda, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Isaac Delgado, Roberto Torres and DLG, these seven extraordinary musicians came together to realize their collective musical dream: to create the first authentic all-Cuban timba band in the United States. Their eagerness to share their music with others led these multi-talented individuals to come together between projects to develop their new style together.
Since their formation in 2001, Tiempo Libre has been on a mission: to share the musical heritage in which they grew up with as wide an audience as possible, reinterpreting and reinvigorating traditional Cuban music with a youthful sound and forging a new style born from the meeting of their Cuban roots and their new American experience.
DJ Aaron Levinson will be on hand to spin to start and close the evening. Levinson is the producer of the Grammy winning CD Across 110th Street by The Spanish Harlem Orchestra and has also taken part in the creation of many other discs including The Philadelphia Experiment.
All of the artists on the series will be making their Kimmel Center debuts with the exception of King Britt who also appeared at the Kimmel Center as part of the 2006 Summer Solstice Celebration.
PW is a proud sponsor of the 2006 Summer Concerts at the Kimmel Center.
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