23 February 2010
10 February 2010
ADF Reform For One-Off London Gig.
Yes, you heard me right! Seminal British band Asian Dub Foundation will reform with their original line up (including original front man Deedar Zaman) on Friday 26th March for a one-off gig to celebrate Bangladesh Independence day. The event, at the Rich Mix arts complex in London will also feature State Of Bengal & Paban Das Baul recreating their brilliant Realworld Records album ‘Tana Tani’ live, and the first airing of Deedar Zaman’s new work ‘Pride of The Underdog’, where he’ll be joined by bass-scientist Dr Das. Amongst all the other amazing music on the night look out for Badeshi, a former Friction Introducing artist who’s music is as dark as it is mystical.
I am simply amazed at this line up, curated by friend & cultural warrior Sweety Kapoor, and think its an appointment to reach, as well as the fact it’s a lil’ bit o’ musical history. Wanna know what it was like during the heady days of the Asian Underground? Then make sure you reach. Wanna know what the next generation of musical hero’s need to aspire to? Then make sure you REACH.
Here is all you need to know…-
“To Mark Bangladesh Independence day, A stellar line up of live music, spoken word, dance, exclusive sets, special one off commissioned collaborations from both established and new artists and visual projects straight from streets of Dhaka to London.
STATE OF BENGAL & PABAN DAS BAUL: Tana Tani
Released in 04 (Real World Records) It has been described as “a folk culture over 500 years old meeting this digital soundscapes of the 21st century” Song Lines mag who nominated it as best global album of the year and Voted no.2 on XLR8R mag’s Global Break Beat charts. For the 1st time, the much awaited live set of innovator State Of Bengal & Sufi Baul, Paban Das’s collaboration album Tana Tani (Real World Records). Special guests: Mimlu Sen (Baulsphere, Bloomsbury) + Susana Ansar, the British Bengali singer joins the stage for Sukno Patar, (poem by Nasrul Islam) from SOB’s Skip-ij album + 2 tracks from her chart topping album, diverse melodies from the writings of poet Nazrul Islam.
ARUN GHOSH (Clarinet) IDRS RAHMAN (Sax) KISHON KHAN (Piano)
Special Collaboration: The hugely talented trio join forces in a special commissioned set, featuring one of the rising starts of Bangladesh, Labik Kamal Gauro & Mithun Chakraborty on Tabla.
ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION, EXCLUSIVE.
Original ADF line up come together to perform their tribute to the revolutionary poet Nazrul Islam; Rebel Warrior.
DEEDER ZAMAN & DR DAS ( bass )
Sneak preview of ADF’s original front man Deeder’s new album ‘Pride of the Underdog’, produced by the legendary Adrian Sherwood of On U Soundsystem.
AMINA KHAYYAM – Dance Commission.
In a tribute to the National Poet of Bangladesh, choreographer & dancer Amina delivers a powerfully emotive piece set to contemporary music and reading, by actor Rez Kabir, from Nazrul’s infamous poem The Rebel (Bidrohi)
A GOLDEN AGE – Dramatic reading of Tahmima Anam’s award winning novel in a musical juxtaposition by actress Leesa Gazi and musicians Sohini Alam / Oliver Weeks.
SARAH SAYEED – Spoken word artist & fierce lyricist brings her unique & quirky blend of powerful writing & vocals in a soulful, hip hop live set with DJ Badeshi.
NAGA – BBC Blast & SLAMbassadors winning lyricist.
Spitting from an Asian perspective, Naga performs his own beats & strong conscious lyrics outlining his life in the East End.
SH8S – One of the original (ex) founders of Desi Movement, Sh8s gives a 2-track sampler of his fierce lyrics rising from the streets of Brick Lane.
Dj BADESHI- “World wide & between the tempos” DJ / producer Badeshi mixes his blend from Dubstep to Baul Soundscapes.
Commissioned Media Artist: Hamja Ashan
Design: Maraz Ahmed Talukder
Curated / Produced by Sweety Kapoor
Friday 26th March 2010
Doors Open 7pm
Starts 8pm -1am
£12 / £10 Concessions
Box Office: 020 7613 7498
Online Booking: www.richmix.org.uk/bookings
For Press and more info contact sweetykapoor@gmail.com ”
1 February 2010
Led Zeppelin – Kashmir (David Starfire Remix)
I first met David Starfire the first time I DJ’ed in Los Angeles. As you can imagine, when you’ve DJ’ed around the world like I have there are very few places that still have mythical vibes attached to them, but LA was one of those places that excited me as it’s the City of Angels (as sung about in so many songs over the last 50 years) and the home to Hollywood & The Viper Room.
My flight out from London was so delayed that I ended up landing 11pm and had to be on the decks by midnight. Therefore my first gig in LA was a manic rush from airport straight to venue after a ten hour flight, with the last fifty metres from cab to decks done as a sprint. The gig was at The Standard, a LA hotel with its own brilliant Rock n Roll history, and as I entered the club I felt like I was moving through an alien world. Maybe it was my whole life spent watching Hollywood, but walking through the crowd all dancing to mashed up Desi vibes, in this club on Sunset BLVD, I felt like I was surrounded by people who had a different genetic make-up to me and breathed different air. It was at this point that an alien looking figure pushed a skinny arm out to me and pulled me behind the decks and said in the strongest Californian accent ever, “Hi Bobby! I’m David Starfire!”
Since then we’ve DJ’ed together numerous times and both played EPIC sets at Burningman 2009. His set at Hookahdome in the middle of the Black Rock Desert was a scene I’ll never forget as he played some real low down & dirty Desi Dub-Step with a live sitar player joining him on stage for about an hour, as well as a secret 5am back to back Dub-Step set with me at Bass-Camp which literally made peoples ears bleed! Anyway, his new album Bollyhood Bass is out right now on Six Degrees and if you take your electronic Asian music seriously you’ll get this album for yourself right now.
Enjoy this remix he did of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’ – something he dropped in the middle of the desert that made a few people I watched, cry with joy.x