BABA ZULA
--------------------------------------------------
Founded in Istanbul in 1996, Baba Zula feautures founding members Levent Akman (percussion, rhythm machines,toys), Murat Ertel (saz and other strings,vocal), as well as darbuka player Coşar Kamçı who replaced original member Emre Onel in 2005. BaBa Zula added live drawing artist Ceren Oykut into the mix in 2004. Her presence onstage has added an important visual aspect to BaBa Zula's live performances.
Baba Zula go to great lengths to provide their fans with a unique live show experience. Their ritual like performances are a mixture of disciplines of art, often featuring belly dancers, elaborate costumes, poetry, theatre and live animation, delivering viewers a tantalizing audio-visual feast.
By mixing oriental instruments such as the darbuka, electric saz, and spoons with electronics and modern sounds, BaBa Zula creates a sound all their own called "Oriental Dub". While a ney can represent the past Sufi-Islamic tradition, and a clarinet is the symbol of the music of the Turkish gypsies-an electric saz together with a wooden spoon can serve as musical compass to Turkish musical roots going as far back as pre-Islamic, shamanic times, through Anatolia reaches all the way up to present-day Istanbul.Despite sounds that might initially come to mind when one hears the phrase "Oriental Dub", Baba Zula's music is in fact rock'n roll that rolls in a way that westerners haven't heard since the late '60s rock epoch. Baba Zula share their legacy with us through their music, a music born out of Istanbul and influenced by the memories of Istanbul passed on to them from generations past.
arife tarif BaBa ZuLa nın konukları
The group, which from the very beginning has shown great interest in featuring guest musicians and players in concerts and albums, has been accompanied by stars such as the Thracian Selim Sesler (clarinet master), the Canadian singer Brenna MacCrimmon (specialized in Balkan folk music), Alexander Hacke (E.N.), Fred Frith (from Henry Cow, John Zorn, etc), Jaki Liebezeit (Can), Hüsnü Şenlendirici (Clarinet master from "Laço Tayfa"), Ralph Carney from San Fransisco (saxophonist who worked with Tom Waits and B52's) and the diva Semiha Berksoy (first Turkish opera singer and painter).
Baba Zula have turned up the volume and energy levels at festivals such as the Roskilde Festival (Denmark), Sofia Film Festival (Bulgaria), Klinkende Munt Festival (Belgium), Arezzo Wave Festival (Italy), Images of Middle East (multi-city Denmark tour), Cologne Triennale (Germany), Printemps de Bourges (France), Şimdi/Now Festival (Germany), the Boost Festival ( Netherlands) and the Venice Biennial.
--------------------------------------------------
Klima mainstay Angele David-Guillou is a one-off; a London-based French singer-songwriter whose muse effectively synthesises a subtle array of influences from the wider shores of both Gallic and Anglo-American pop, rock and electronica to create highly personal music of unique allure. Klima's self-titled debut album was released on Peacefrog in April '07 (the label home to the likes of Jose Gonzales and Nouvelle Vague). Composed and programmed by Angele at home on her 8-track machine and recorded with Piano Magic's Jerome Tcherneyan at the controls, Klima's full debut was mixed by Guy Fixsen of Laika, who also produced the live strings played by Gwen Cheeseman (of Psapp), while Christophe Rosin (guitar) and Laika/Eardrum's Lou Ciccotelli (drums and percussion) leant melodic lustre and rhythmic pulse, respectively.
Angele has also guested on records by Piano Magic, Textile Ranch, Future Conditional, Laudanum, Hubert-Felix Thiefaine, as well as being a key singer/player in French pop band, Ginger Ale.
--------------------------------------------------
From its conception as a bedroom-studio hobby in Summer 1996, Piano Magic's trajectory has never been textbook - random at best. Originally, a self-confessed revolving door operation - musicians arriving, contributing and leaving as they pleased - they harvested a catalogue of varied singles, EPs and two albums by 1998. This convey-belt membership also resulted in a plethora of sonic stylings, from smallbeat Kraftwerkian Meccano Pop on debut album, Popular Mechanics (1997) to the breathless, ethereal, multi-layered melancholy of Low Birth Weight (1998).
Only in 1999 did Piano Magic resemble anything like a conventional format group. Smooth-talked into playing a Dutch festival which actually turned out quite well, they decided to play anywhere they were wanted and began to build something of a cult following, particularly on the European Continent. They spectacularly showcased the post-modernist baroque sound of Artists' Rifles (1999) at the Benicassim and BAM music festivals. Ironically, the band have never infiltrated the hearts of the British music press - out of time, unfashionable and kinda weird looking, its best not to stay home much. Tours of Germany, Holland, Italy, Belgium, France, Spain peppered the next few years.
The band signed to 4AD Records in 2000 and delivered their most critically contentious work, Writers Without Homes and the soundtrack to Spanish director, Bigas Lunas' Son De Mar movie. Though oft-maligned, 'Writers Without Homes' was a particularly monumental milestone for the band, as it featured the first vocal recording for 33 years of lost 60's/70's folk heroine, Vashti Bunyan.
Post-’Writers, Piano Magic have become closer to a more “conventional group format.” Drafting in French musicians, Jerome Tcherneyan and Franck Alba alongside English bassist, Alasdair Steer, Piano Magic recorded The Troubled Sleep Of Piano Magic, for Spanish independent, Green Ufos. This album perfectly encapsulated the live sound of the group - delicate vocals, glistening guitars, insistent drums, anthemic synth washes. A new record, Saint Marie EP followed in June 2004 and featured collaborations with, again, Vashti Bunyan, Alan Sparhawk from Low and Ben Ayres from Cornershop.
Piano Magic's 2005 album, Disaffected, stretched fingers into an even more melodic, near-on "pop" sound, magically without dispensing with their notorious depth of emotion. It features guest vocal contributions from John Grant of The Czars and Angle David-Guillou of Klima (the latter, now with her own debut solo album out on the Peacefrog label). In the 2 interim years between the release of Disaffected and their newest album, 'Part Monster,' the band have continued to be prolific and not only in concert (the band recently added Turkey, Poland, Italy, Greece and Portugal to their gig list). Johnson has released a debut album of experimental electronic under the name, Textile Ranch and along with keyboardist, Cedric Pin, as Future Conditional, they've put out an album of electropop on LTM, 'We Don't Just disappear. ' To date, Piano Magic has harboured over 60 sonic orphans with nothing better to do, recorded 7 proper albums, a double CD retrospective and many, many singles. They've outlived several of the labels they’ve recorded for and show no signs of stopping. Piano Magic is Glen Johnson, Franck Alba, Jerome Tcherneyan, Alasdair Steer and Cedric Pin.
www.piano-magic.co.uk
www.myspace.com/lowbirthweight
--------------------------------------------------
This is a quirky, fascinating, illuminating insight into the weird and wonderful world of New Wave.
And what, you may ask exactly is a Nouvelle Vague? It..s ..new wave,.. it..s ..bossa nova....it..s ..Nouvelle Vague... Too vague? Nouvelle Vague is the marriage of ..new wave.. and ..bossa nova,.. two incredibly prescient yet improbable musical bedfellows. But it..s really not that simple. The key twist is the fearless music that is translated (so to speak) into Nouvelle Vague. Take, if you will, a trip down memory lane back to the most vibrant and exciting era of earnest music..the classic post-punk period between late 1978 and mid-1981---a time of faux existentialism, unnecessary glumness, and grey musical austerity that raged against the big haired, corporate rock of the time. Nouvelle Vague is two well seasoned, multi-instrumentalists/producers, Marc Collins and Oliver Libaus, who have found the beauty and heart in the sounds from this era and transformed them--cleverly merging and arranging this radical music. Some of the songs are stripped back to acoustic arrangements with lithe shaker rhythms achieved by gathering a parade of heavenly chanteuses from all over the world (six French, one Brazilian and one New Yorker) as guest vocalists to sex up everyone from XTC and Modern English to The Clash and The Undertones. Marc Collins, Oliver Libaux, and their honey-voiced accomplices have achieved nothing short of jaw dropping music that is completely recognizable and true to it..s original meaning, just with a bit more ..swoon...
www.nouvellesvagues.com
www.myspace.com/nouvellevague