Norouz/Nowruz mixtape by Rebel Up SebCat

Norooz or Nowruz, also known as the Persian New Year, is celebrated every year on 20/21 March in different countries around the world such as Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and many more.

It’s all about celebrating spring, a new beginning of the year. Families normally celebrate this event together in parks or in their houses in a “festival-like” atmosphere. Unfortunately, with the current crisis, many countries and communities are in quarantine and many families can not celebrate together.

The Huna sounds collective is all about celebrating good times. They decided to do a live stream for Norooz and invite local & international DJ’s to play from home, featuring Ramin&Reda, Aso Asin, Mafi, Arian Zand, Kuryokin & Rebel Up SebCat.

This Norooz mixtape is made with Iranian, Kurdish, Iraqi and North Syrian sounds, nowruz mobarak! Also up for download, check it out >

Babylon Trio – Habibi > Out now on Rebel Up Records as vinyl LP + digital!

the debut album ‘Habibi‘ by Babylon Trio is out now on Rebel Up Records (RUP006)

The current political state of Iraq is a far cry from what the Iraqi people envisioned. While the western media have largely stopped reporting about Iraq, in the past few months many protests have flared up in the capital Baghdad, Basra and cities allover the country. Persistent water shortages, power cuts, the lack of work and political corruption have angered the Iraqi population and protests have been the general order of the day and increasing by the month. The political elite has dug themselves in, protected and comfortable in governmental compounds, ordering police and the armed forces to crack down on protests with a shoot to kill on sight policy. In 2015, this ignited the first big emigration wave of young people and families leaving Iraq for neighbouring countries and the west and continues to do so. For many, returning seems very unlikely for the time being.

The three Iraqi musicians of Babylon Trio arrived in Belgium in 2015 as refugees of this political and social unrest. Arkan Mushtak is the composer and pinnacle of the band. Like the other members he hails from Baghdad, where from a young age onwards he has been shaped into a talented keyboard and piano player by Iraqi master composer Noor Sabah. He is accompanied by fellow musicians Saif Al-Qaissy (digital percussion, djarbouka and backing vocals) and singer Walaa Saad (vocals) and occasionally joined by Mohammed Algareb (guest percussion).

Babylon Trio plays an electrified mix of contemporary Iraqi and Arabic music styles, such as choubi choubi, dabke, maqam and electronic hybrids that put the dancefloor on fire. The trio’s debut album “Habibi” features songs about their old life in Iraq and new life in Brussels, Belgium, with topics such as separation from loved ones, love, beauty, honour and pure Arabic party bangers. This year will mark the power of the contemporary Iraqi street sound of Babylon Trio throughout Europe and beyond. Get ready for fire!

Tracklisting:
A
1. Bye Bye My Love ( وداعا يا حبيبي )
2. Iraqi Dabka Choubi
( چوبي عراقي )
3. Spoiled For Your Eyes
( لاجل عيونك / مدلل )
B
4. Difficult Separation ( فركتك صعبة )
5. Iraqi Prestige ( المعزوفة )
6. My Crazy Lover (
حبيبتي المجنونة )
7. The Euro Syrian Dabka (
الدبكة السورية الاوربية )
8. Habibi Trio Mix (Rebel Up Duckfood remix) ( مزيج حبيبي الثلاثي )

Released by Rebel Up Records on 26 september 2018.

Out on vinyl LP in coated cover design, buy on the Rebel Up webshop or via Bandcamp
buy digital album via Bandcamp.
distribution worldwide: N.E.W.S

This album has been made with the support of NGHE Mediatheque, cultural venue Les Ateliers Claus, Angstrom studio and Soylent Green studio in Brussels and everyone who has supported Babylon Trio in the past year, promoting, motivating and organising concerts for them.

produced by Seb Bassleer for Rebel Up Records
recorded at Angstrom Studio by Aymeric de Tapol & Nicolus Ripitus
mixed at Soylent Green Studio by Aymeric de Tapol
mastered by Frederic Alstadt at Angstrom Studio
cover design ‘Tapis’ by Kalām Collectif
(facebook.com/kalamshift)
photo (backcover) by Robert Kroos (flickr.com/mentalyouth)

graphic design by Vanessa Verbeiren

Fri 9 Dec @ Botanique, Afterparty Festival Cinema Méditerranéen > hosted by Rebel Up! with guests Gal Kadan & El Gato Callejero

festival-cinema-mediterraneenThis Friday, Rebel Up! is hosting the afterparty for Festival Cinema Méditeranéen @ Botanique.

We invited some special guests for a true Mediterranean flavour.

Rebel Up! SebCat will be accompanied by Israelian dj/producer Gal Kadan, who is specialised in music from the Levant (Libanon, Israel, Palestine, Syria & Jordan) and also by Spanish Brussels DJ’s El Gato Callejero and I Am Sardina, who will spin Iberian sounds from rumba Catalana to flamenco & mestizo + live percussion.

Expect a wild mix with dance music from the Mediterranean and the Levant > Latino Euro-Arab-Andalus connection!

@ Botanique Witloof bar
From 23h till very late!
FREE IN!

Info here

Sat 19 Dec > Rebel Up! Soundclash @ OCCII A’dam > Refugees Welcome Benefit w/ Eritrean Refugee band (ER), Shaghaf Band (SY) & Rocky Marsiano (PT/A’dam))

rebelup 201512 flyer
After their horror-trip to Europe the Eritrean refugees from the Havenstraat centre get a chance to listening and playing Eritrean music, dancing and enjoying their home food at OCCII together with Rebel Up!

The Eritrean Refugee Band has members Krar player Gerrie with on keyboard Mebrie and will play a special trad-modern live set.

Shaghaf Band is the band of Syrian musicians Nezar (guitar), Kenan (clarinet) and Shadi (percussion). In Syria, the members formed the band Passion and played in the professional circuit  until they had to flee their country. Recently they met again in Amsterdam and revived the band.

At the afterparty > Live/dj set by Portuguese Amsterdam producer Rocky Marsiano who makes heavy beat remixes of vintage African grooves from Angola to Cabo Verde, Kenya and beyond! His debut album ‘Meu Kamba‘ on international African label Akwaaba Music is one for the sweaty dancefloors!

Also the Greek crew of Melting Records are in town and will join us for a special live/dj set of roots, dub, tropical & hiphop.

Rebel Up! dj’s SebCat & Duckfood are always ready to play their global tunes all night between the bands & during the afterparty

With the help of RefugeesWelcome Amsterdam & WijZijnHier. Please like & share!
If you can, please also bring instruments/cloths/donations for all refugees that are housed at the old prison Havenstraat here at Amstelveenseweg.

FB event here.

@ OCCII
Amstelveenseweg 134
A’dam Oud-Zuid
from 22h til 4h

Sat 23 Nov > Rebel Up! @ Moussem Sounds, Bozar museum, Bxl

moussem

This saturday all day > Moussem Sounds: twelve hours of non-stop modern Maghreb/Arabic music on three stages in BOZAR.

The Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre has always taken a keen interest in alternative, excellent music from all over the world. We keep up with the latest developments and invite new young bands which emerge in our cities as well as in other countries. Whatever is simmering in the world sooner or later finds its ways to the stage, in innovative sounds and moving texts.
Moussem Sounds is a special mix of rock, hip hop, jazz, electro, blues, oriental and funk. Moussem Sounds is music full of cross-overs from France, Morocco, Greece, Algeria, Belgium, Jordan or Egypt.

We’ll be playing short Rebel Up! sets in the Foyer next to Henry le Boeuf hall, from 15:00 – 15:30, 16:30-17:00, 18:00-18:30 and 19:30-20:00, expect a wild variety of Maghreb and Middle Eastern sounds.

Here’s the roll down all the artists/groups playing >

3.30 pm Andalus
Andalus, a group of musicians from the Iraqi diaspora in Europe, takes you on a poetic musical journey through maqams and traditional and festive music from Iraq.

5 pm Hijaz
The Tunisian master of the oud Moufadhel Adhoum and the Greek-Belgian pianist Niko Deman discovered they shared a passion for improvisation and music with Mediterranean influences. Hijaz is an instrumental dialogue between East and West. Jazz, for these multifaceted musicians, is far more than just a genre: it means a free approach to diverse musical worlds, whatever their origins.

6.30 pm El Morabba3
El Morabba3 translates the bustle of Amman into pure rock. The group sings about the frustrations of life in the big city and about the hopelessness of the world around them, but also about their own determination to change things.

8 pm Imarhan N’Tinezraf
The spiritual and artistic roots of this young group of Tuareg musicians lie in the most arid, rocky area of the Sahara, in the endless plains the Tuaregs call Tinezraf. Their music expresses what it means to be a Tuareg today in poetic compositions that take you by the throat right from the first bars.
@ FOYERS ADJOINING THE HENRY LE BOEUF HALL
DJ sets: Rebel Up ! Soundclash & DJ Chahinaz

@ HENRY LE BOEUF HALL
8.30 pm Hommage à Warda – Samia Sabri & Ensemble Al Boughaz
The Al Boughaz ensemble is a group of Belgian-Arab musicians brought together specially for the occasion. Together with the talented singer Samia Sabri, they present a tribute to “the Rose of Algeria”, Warda El Djazaïria, who died in 2012.

10 pm Houda Saad
The Moroccan superstar Houda Saad was made famous by the Arabic version of the X-Factor TV programme. Her first album, released in 2008, contains songs sung in the dialects of Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, and the Gulf states. At the Centre for Fine Arts, as part of Moussem Sounds, she will present her second album and a selection of the best of modern Moroccan chanson.

@ TERARKEN ROOMS
9 pm Smadj – Fuck the DJ
The versatile musical all-rounder Smadj brings his latest project, Fuck the DJ, to Moussem Sounds. He takes an ironic look at DJs, who so often take the place of live musicians wherever people dance all over the world. Smadj shows us a different way of doing things as he immerses us in his musical world, from Balkan disco to hip hop and from minimal techno to Middle Eastern dubstep. Welcome to the baroque electro world of Smadj!

10 pm NoMoBS
No More Bullshit. Four young rappers, born and bred in the Kiel district of Antwerp. Youngsters who have become wildly popular in their own neighbourhood through their hip hop in a mixture of Antwerp dialect, English, French, and Arabic to world-class beats – with lyrics that mean something.

10.30 pm H-Kayne
Six years ago, H-Kayne gave Moroccan hip hop a shot in the arm. The group is made up of four young guys from Meknès who grew up with the music of Biggie and Tupac, before developing their own style. They combine Western beats with traditional Moroccan instruments and melodies; their lyrics often deal with corruption and individual freedom.

11.30 pm Rim’K
Abdelkarim Brahmi-Benalla, better known as Rim’K, is a French-Algerian rapper who grew up in the banlieue of Vitry-sur-Seine and became known as a member of the rap groups 113 and Mafia K’1 Fry. He has shared a stage with Khaled, Mobb Deep, Sefyu, and Rohff.

12:30 am After-party: DJ Cal (Trill Klan) & DJ Younited

@ WHITEBOX (HORTA HALL)
9 pm meeting and rap session between NoMoBS and H-Kayne
Moderator:
Uman (Manu Istace) 
Uman
is an integral part of the history of Belgian hip hop. A radio entertainment pioneer with a specialization in rap and student of the Saint-Luc art school in Brussels, he quickly joined the Brussels-based trio De Puta Madre, which he left in 1992. After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, Uman founded the Bass Sound System Culture and perpetuated the spirit of Jamaican dancehall through incendiary performances in clubs, concerts and festivals accross the realm.
Language: French | Dutch

Programme time schedule:

@ HALL M
15:30 Andalus
17:00 Hijaz
18:30 El Morabba3
20:00 Imarhan N’Tinezraf

@ FOYERS ADJOINING THE HENRY LE BŒUF HALL
DJ sets: Rebel Up ! Soundclash & DJ Chahinaz

@ HENRY LE BŒUF HALL
20:30 Hommage à Warda – Samia Sabri & Ensemble Al Boughaz
22:00 Houda Saad

@ TERARKEN ROOMS
21:00 Smadj – Fuck the DJ
22:00 NoMoBS
22:30 H-Kayne
23:30 Rim’K
00:30 Afterparty: DJ Cal & DJ Younited

@ WHITEBOX (HORTA HALL)
21:00 meeting and rap session between NoMoBS and H-Kayne moderated by Uman

From 15:00 – 2:00

@ Bozar museum

Rue Ravenstein
€ 25,00: Day pass
€ 15,00: under 26 years

all info here
FB event

new Rebel Up! mixtape online; Arab Street Sounds

hey folks,

We’ve just put a new mixtape online at Mixcloud, Arab Street Sounds as recorded live outside at the Arabic party we did last Friday at Recyclart (see previous post). It’s up for listening or even to download in 320 kbps! Check it out, yallah!

Arab Street Sounds Mixtape by Rebel Up! on Mixcloud

2 March: Rebel Up! @ STRP festival, Eindhoven w/ Cairo Liberation Front & Copyflex

hola,

this saturday 2nd Rebel Up! crew will be in Eindhoven to play at the STRP Bienale festival, as we are invited by the fine folks of ∆ Cairo Liberation Front ∆ for a full-on arab revolution technofolk marathon in the foyer all night, also Copyflex (of Copia Doble Systema) is joining us.
Anyway, we’ll do our best to scare the IDM hipsters and chase the steppers in a night filled with DJ Shadow, Hudson Mohawke and much more electronic artists, so YALLA!

in case you should miss this, Cairo Liberation Front will come & play @ Rebel Up! Soundclash on saturday 20 april, so mark it down! 🙂