27th May- crazy middle Eastern/African dance party. Anyone?
>>>
>>> Sublime Frequencies was founded in 2003 by members of the Sun City Girls. In 5 years the label has produced approaching 50 releases,
>>> specialising in sound recordings and films from North Africa, the Middle
>>> East, and Asia, but also extending to other areas including South America
>>> and sub-Saharan Africa. The presentation, aesthetic, and approach of Sublime
>>> Frequencies sidesteps traditional ethno-musicology, academic protocol and
>>> corporate funding, instead documenting the sounds and images of ignored
>>> cultural phenomena rich in expressive ideas. The label also challenges the
>>> way in which international music and related culture can be sanitised and
>>> commodified for a Western audience. Sublime Frequencies presents some of the
>>> greatest expressive music in the world with only one agenda in mind: that it
>>> needs to be heard or seen, respected and recognised. Always eye-opening and
>>> aurally astounding, this Sublime Frequencies tour will certainly be a unique
>>> experience.
>>>
>>> The tour is all the more exciting as it is the first time either band has
>>> toured outside their own countries. Sublime Frequencies will be visiting the
>>> bands at home, helping them prepare and making some new recordings and
>>> documentations in the process. Nearly the whole label (Alan Bishop, Hisham
>>> Mayet and Mark Gergis) will come on the road with them, adding their own
>>> creative impulses and artistic work to the tour with film screenings, DJ
>>> sets, talks, and limited edition merchandise. The tour is an artist run
>>> enterprise and this is how it will be presented.
>>>
Omar Souleyman
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>>> and his group have emerged as a staple of folk-pop throughout the country,
>>> having issued more than 500 studio and live-recorded cassette albums which
>>> are easily spotted in the shops of any Syrian city.
>>>
>>> Hailing from the rural North Eastern city of Ras Al Ain, Souleyman began
>>> his musical career in 1994 with a small group of local collaborators that
>>> have been with him from the start. The group tirelessly performs concerts
>>> throughout Syria and has accepted invitations to perform abroad in Saudi
>>> Arabia, Dubai and Lebanon.
>>>
>>> The myriad musical traditions of the region are evident in their music,
>>> which reflect the sounds of Syia, Iraq, Turkey and the sizeable Kurdish
>>> population. The moods swing from coarse and urgent to dirgy and
>>> contemplative in the rugged anthems that comprise Souleyman's repertoire.
>>> Expect the ultimate party music as Omar's superb and varied vocals feature
>>> over high-octane Syrian 'Dabke' (the regional folkloric dance music) and a
>>> host of other styles. Frantic Arabic keyboard solos provided by the
>>> incredible Rizan Sa'id intertwine with reeds, stringed instruments and
>>> percussion. Mahmoud Harbi, a long-time collaborator and the man responsible
>>> for much of the poetry sung by Souleyman accompanies Omar for an
>>> unforgettable onstage collaboration as they perform the 'Ataba', a
>>> traditional form of folk poetry, where Omar's unaccompanied freestyle
>>> 'mawal' singing stands in a league of its own.
>>>
>>> This is a rare opportunity to take a glimpse into Syrian street-level
>>> folk-pop, a phenomenon seldom heard in the West in this form, and rarely, if
>>> ever, included on the import agenda of worldwide academic musical
>>> committees. Experience the genuine sounds of Syria and the Middle East
>>> without the condescending polish and shine of much exported 'world beat'.
>>>
>>> Personel:
>>>
>>> Omar Souleyman - Vocals
>>> Rizan Said - Keyboards
>>> Ali Shaker - Bazouk
>>> Mahmoud Harbi-Poetry/Ataba (form of poetry & performance)
>>>
Group Doueh
>>>
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>>> known simply as 'Doueh' (pronounced: 'Doo-way'). They are from Dakhla, in
>>> the Western Sahara. The group's sound is unlike anything that you've ever
>>> heard before - rooted in the traditional foundations of Sahrawi/Hassania
>>> music, but one that is also entirely its own. The group share their musical
>>> roots with neighbouring styles of Mauritanian music, but have managed to
>>> transcend the classical limitations of that music with a fiery, independent,
>>> and avant approach that incorporates a distinctly pop and rock element that
>>> is anomalous in the region. This is a sound that can only come from the land
>>> that inspired it. This is the sound of the Sahara desert. It is a searing,
>>> meditative, and hypnotic modal sandstorm of note clusters that has been
>>> cathartic to anyone who has heard it.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sublime Frequencies DJ Sets
>>>
>>> One of a kind DJ set presentations featuring primarily retro 1960's and
>>> 1970's Hybrid-Pop Rock, Folk Beat, Yeh-Yeh, Go-Go, Freak Beat, Psychedelic
>>> Surf and other indigenous styles from North Africa, The Middle East, South
>>> and South East Asia. The DJs will sometimes play contemporary music from
>>> these regions as well, and occasionally take requests. All of the material
>>> played at these DJ sets will be unreleased archival music collected by the
>>> DJs unless previously released tracks are requested. So sit back, listen,
>>> dance, do as you will and let them saw your head off with the best music
>>> you've almost assuredly NEVER heard before!
>>>
>>> Sublime Frequencies Films
This tour will feature screenings of DVD projects by Sublime Frequencies
>>> from their vast archive of visceral and immediate folk cinema shot on
>>> location in North Africa, the Middle East, South and South East Asia. The
>>> label has released 8 DVDs and several more films are currently in
>>> production. Film lengths generally range between 50 and 85 minutes. Sublime
>>> Frequencies are currently filming new footage of the bands on this tour.
>>>
>>> Sublime Frequencies Original Mission Statement
>>>
>>> Sublime Frequencies is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring
>>> and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and
>>> rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave
>>> transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, and other
>>> forms of human and natural expression not documented sufficiently through
>>> all channels of academic research, the modern recording industry, media, or
>>> corporate foundations. Sublime Frequencies is focused on an aesthetic of
>>> extra-geography and soulful experience inspired by music and culture, world
>>> travel, research, and the pioneering recording labels of the past.
>>>
