Posts Tagged ‘femi kuti’

Givaway: Nneka Hot Tickets!!!

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

nneka1

No matter where on the spectrum you lay your musical hat, chances are the name Nneka means something to you.

Since the release of her 2007 debut ‘Victim Of Truth’, Nneka’s songs of freedom have amassed a sizable global following.  Her own biography speaks the truth when it says this popularity has less to do with marketing budgets and a whole lot more to do with the content and delivery of her art. Although ‘Victim Of Truth’ was slept on by many, her sophomore offering ‘No Longer At Ease’ (which joins the Root’s “Things Fall Apart” as another LP title garnered from the mighty Chinua Achebe) refused to let us continue in our slumber with its tough-yet-soulful collection of treatises on the political and humanitarian crises we face in our times – not least in mother Africa.To date she’s shared stages with the Roots, Mos Def, Femi Kuti and Bilal and is now all set to hit the road with Damien Marley and Nas for their Distant Relatives album tour. Basically, this woman is not joking…

To cut a long, but pretty interesting story short, we’ve been given the opportunity to give away two pairs of free tickets to her London show at the Scala on Weds 28th April. Free entry to what is bound to be one of the capital’s hottest live shows this year goes to the two lucky people who can answer the following question:

What is the name of the single which Nneka released at the end of March?

The two winners will be picked at random from the list of entries with the correct answer. Good Luck!

EMAIL US YOUR ANSWERS HERE and see below for details of the show, an interview with the lady herself and a Lauren Hill inspired unplugged studio special.

nnekascala

Event: space is the place-standon calling

Friday, July 31st, 2009

l_fe951ad418d5047c32980491c159647c

summer in the uk, music festival-wise is pretty top notch. there r s**t-loadsa outdoor vibes for every kinda person, regardless of genre-preferences. i’ve personally made it my mission to hit as many festivals as possible whenever i happen to be in the british isles during its (so-called) summer.

… the thing is, its pretty hard to keep up with the sheer quantities of these outdoor parties. new ones spring up every year during the season, whether they are off the back of some other bigger festival or they’ve sprung outta someone’s vivid imagination.

increasingly fighting for our attention, promoters have had to get very creative when devising their promotion strategy as of course, there’s no party without the people.

so this takes me to ware, hertfordshire – where standon calling is situated. championing the new ’boutique festival’ genre, it essentially is a garden party that has spiralled outta control. still under 10 years old, standon calling has been able to attract some major artists in the music game. however, rather than settle for mere music, they have taken things one step further by attempting to engage all of our senses.

each year, a theme is set… previous themes have included ‘japanese culture‘ where harajuku girls, camp-fire watching sumo wrestlers, wasabi pods and yakuza gangsters surprised the unsuspecting crowd. this year however, its ‘apollo 11‘. nasa space camps have been erected on the site, there have been promises of telescopic star-gazing, interactive heliocentric performances and secret stages. galileo’s space observatory and CERN’s extra-terrestrial team of will also be present. in short, the entire weekend will pay homage to space and all its intergalactic psychedelia.

et5

to top it off, music’s flag-bearers of all thing cosmic: sun ra’s arkestra are set to headline the event. femi kuti and his positive force, ladytron, N.A.S.A plus the whip will also be presenting their own interpretations of music from beyond our hemisphere.

the festival uses local suppliers, no corporate sponsors, is ethical, green and even gives some of their earnings to charity… u can’t get better than that – do we need another excuse…?

oh yeah.. + there’s a swimming pool.

get details here