Mambazo’s golden anniversary

South Africa’s beloved Ladysmith Black Mambazo (LBM), the Grammy-winning isicathamiya group, have embarked on a countrywide tour to celebrate their 50 years together.

Ladysmith Black MambazoIsicathamiya (from the Zulu word meaning “to walk softly”) is a style of singing that focuses on deft harmonising. Isicathamiya choral competitions are popular in South Africa.

The Back to eKasi (slang, meaning “home”, from the Afrikaans word lokasie, meaning “township”) tour sees the globe-trotting group going back to their roots and taking their unique a cappella sound to townships around South Africa between 16 and 24 September 2010.

Fans in Bloemfontein, Thokoza in Ekurhuleni municipality, Rustenburg North, Atteridgeville, Ermelo, Bela-Bela and KwaMashu near Durban are in for a treat, with performances from LBM and two local curtain-raisers at each venue. [Read more…]

Grupa Mocarta – The Mozart Group

Is something more than a classical string quartet. The names that make Grupa MoCarta are: Filip Jaslar _ first violin, Michal Sikorski – second violin, Pawel Kowaluk – viola, Bolek Blaszczyk – cello. They are all well educated instrumentalists who graduated from prestigious academies of Music in Warsaw and Lodz, but they decided to play classical music in a humorous way. What is more, they created something like musical cabaret, one in which the music, not the words were the source of laughter.

[phpbay]music classic, 1[/phpbay]

As they explain: ” We exist despite the solemness of the great concert halls, despite the boredom of the everyday life of the classical musicians, despite the fanatic lovers of classical music, despite the fans of rock, rap or pop who are afraid of classical music. We treat our Mother Music with a humorous irony and we are sure she will have nothing against it”.

The second program of the Group, in which they took Vivaldi a their patron, was entitled “The Four Seasons According to Grupa MoCarta”. Later on however, it runs freely in the direction of various Polish and world songs about spring, summer, autumn and winter. The piece provides the listener with over 70 minutes of a sophisticated perfectly arranged and played fun!

In 2007 Grupa MoCarta has published their first DVD ever – “Grupa MoCarta at the opera” – a live concert recorded at the opera in Wroclaw.
Grupa MoCarta appeared on many stages all over the world, and received many prestigious prizes.

On the 18th and the 19th of September we will give a spectacular and a very unique show in Polish Cultural Centre – Hammersmith, W6.

Concert to honour female artists

Pretoria – A concert to pay tribute to some of South Africa’s top female artists will wrap up Women’s Month at the State Theatre in Pretoria.

The star-studded line-up at the inaugural Tribute to Women concert is expected to dazzle South Africans on 29 August. [Read more…]

Global Sounds For Summer And Autumn 2010

BIRMINGHAM, UK: A summer and autumn of performances by internationally renowned artists from across the musical spheres of jazz, folk, world and roots has been announced by leading UK concert venues Town Hall and Symphony Hall Birmingham.

The Grade I listed Town Hall and acoustically acclaimed Symphony Hall will play host to concerts spanning afro-pop, folk-rock, be-bop and much more with a line-up of musicians, singer-songwriters and composers originating from India, Argentina US, Mali, Australia, Italy, Cuba, Spain and the UK amongst others.

Highlights include a performance from the supremely talented sitarist Anoushka Shankar, a rare UK appearance from Malian singer and ‘Golden voice of Africa’ Salif Keita, a concert from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Pulitzer Prize winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and a welcome return to Birmingham by NYC’s finest alt-folk songstress Suzanne Vega.

Paul Keene, Director of Programming and Projects at Town Hall and Symphony Hall:

“There’s an extraordinary range of national and international talent at Town Hall and Symphony Hall this summer. The world comes to play in this global city, and we give it a warm welcome in our two superb venues.”

[phpbay]music trumpet, 1[/phpbay] [Read more…]