Artist.......: VA
Album........: Festival des Vieilles Charrues
Label........: n/a
Genre........: Ethnic
Catnr........: n/a
Source.......: DVBS
Rip.date.....: Jun-25-2008
Str.date.....: Jul-22-2007
Quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: www.vieillescharrues.asso.fr/festival/
track title time
01. VA - Festival des Vieilles Charrues 89:42
Runtime 89:42 min
Size 82,10 MB
Release Notes:
Performed : July 22, 2007 (France)
Recorded : June 25, 2008 (France ╘)
** Toumast ** (www.toumast.com)
The Tuaregs traditionally occupied a large swath of land
stretching from southern Libya and southern Algeria to the
northern portions of Mali and Niger as well as parts of
Burkina Faso. They were a nomadic people, and thus unable
to lay claim to any specific geographic area as a
traditional homeland. In the '60s they made a bid for
autonomy but the governments in question, particularly
Niger, Mali, Libya, and Algeria, refused to recognize them
as a unique culture. In the '70s and '80s there was severe
drought; the Tuaregs relocated in massive numbers to
southern Algeria and southern Libya.
In 1990 the Tuareg Liberation Front, a movement that had
been born out of the anger the tribespeople felt at their
precarious position, both physically and politically, took
up arms against the soldiers of Mali and Niger who had
been charged with keeping the Tuaregs down. Libya's
dictator, Muammar Kaddafi, tried to take advantage of the
situation and established training camps for the Tuareg
Liberation Front in southern Libya. He hoped to form his
own nomadic army to make trouble for his neighbors, but
the Tuaregs were used to calling their own shots and the
scheme never took shape, although there was one unforeseen
result: in the camps between battles, young Tuaregs
discovered electric guitars and rock & roll. They began
playing their own brand of trance-inducing music blending
Tuareg tradition, rock, blues, and the music they'd picked
up Mali and Niger during their nomadic existence. The
best-known Tuareg band is Tinariwen, who have taken their
traditional sound worldwide thanks to the help of friends
like Bono and Robert Plant, who sang the band's praises
and helped them land a recording deal.
Moussa Ag Keyna, founder of Toumast, grew up in the same
camps that gave birth to Tinariwen. He fell in love with
B.B. and Albert King and Jimi Hendrix, and found their
blues-based music similar to his own. He started his own
band, Toumast (Identity), with members of his extended
family and friends. They played music between skirmishes
with various government armies, but by 1994, only two of
the original members were alive. When the French
government helped negotiate a peace between the Tuaregs,
Mali, and Niger, they agreed to airlift those wounded in
the struggle -- fighters unwelcome in Niger and Mali -- to
France. Keyna was one of the wounded who was evacuated to
a Paris hospital.
In France, Keyna faced discrimination and unemployment,
but he soon met Dan LΘvy, a French producer and recording
engineer who was sympathetic to Keyna's plight, and more
importantly, intrigued by his music. The duo began playing
together and Keyna invited his cousin Aminatou Goumar to
join the reconstituted band. In Tuareg society, women play
all instruments and sing, confounding many Western
stereotypes about the place of women in nomadic societies.
With Goumar and LΘvy in place, Keyna started developing
his own sound. It is firmly rooted in his own traditional
music, but his fascination with Hendrix carries over to
his compositions. His long undulating guitar lines are
complemented by Goumar's soulful, wailing vocals, funky
handclapped rhythms, and LΘvy's keyboard accents. The
title of group's first album, Ishumar, is a play on the
French word for "unemployed." The record was given
worldwide distribution by Peter Gabriel's Real World logo
in 2008. Keyna hopes to expand the sound of his music on
future releases to include more international influences.
** Oxmo Puccino ** (www.oxmo.net)
French rapper Oxmo Puccino drew on the street-smart
American hip-hop of the Notorious B.I.G. and other icons
to document life in Paris' hardscrabble 19th district.
Born Abdoulaye Diarra in Mali in 1974, he arrived in Paris
at age five as part of a family that included younger
brother Mamoutou Diarra, later a professional basketball
player of some international renown. A longtime hip-hop
fan, at age 21 Diarra began his collaboration with the
fledgling rap collective Time Bomb, honing his craft
alongside future superstars like Booba and Diam's. He
quickly developed into a lyricist with a metaphorical
ingenuity far more advanced than his contemporaries,
crafting violent yet strangely poetic portraits of urban
Paris life. In 1996 Oxmo Puccino made his recorded debut
with "Pucc. Fiction," a contribution to the compilation
L432. A series of subsequent mixtape appearances
solidified his growing reputation within the French rap
underground, and in 1998 he issued his solo debut, OpΘra
Puccino. Its 2001 follow-up, L'Amour Est Mort, proved
Puccino's creative and commercial breakthrough, while
2004's Le Cactus de SibΘrie confirmed his superstar
status. After signing to the venerable jazz label Blue
Note, Puccino assembled a new backing group, the
Jazzbastards, to record 2006's Lipopette Bar.
** Abd Al Malik ** (www.abdalmalik.fr)
French rapper Abd Al Malik drew on traditions far outside
of the hip-hop idiom, embracing elements of blues, jazz,
and slam poetry. No less unique are his uncommonly
philosophical lyrics, which often serve to champion his
deep-rooted Muslim faith. Born in Paris on March 14, 1975,
Malik spent much of his early childhood in his family's
native Congo before returning to France in 1981. He first
earned notice during the late '90s leading the New African
Poets (N.A.P.), a rap collective inspired by the
pioneering jazz-funk of Gil Scott-Heron and the Last
Poets. Upon exiting their ranks to mount a solo career, in
2004 he issued his debut LP, Le Face α Face des Coeurs, as
well as a collection of spiritual essays titled Qu'Allah
BΘnisse la France. Gibraltar followed in 2006, earning
Malik the sought-after Le Prix Constantin award.
** Groundation ** (www.groundation.com)
Groundation is bringing classic roots music into the
serious times of the 21st century. Their sound is an
organic fusion of Roots Reggae, heavy Funk/Jazz fusion,
and transcendental Dub; their live shows are synonymous
with high-energy positive communal vibrations, combining
the message and determination of the best Reggae music has
to offer with perpetually fresh Jazz-inspired
improvisation...Truly not to be missed.
In addition, Groundation is the progenitor of Young Tree
Records, a California-based Independant record label.
Young Tree has put out works by the cream of the Roots
Reggae crop, including The Congos, Pablo Moses, Andrew
"Bassie" Campbell, Winston "Flames" Jarrett as well as the
entirety of the expansive Groundation catalog.