Tue 16.11 concert Etran de l’Aïr (Sahel Sounds / Agadez, Niger) + Rebel Up support @ Les Ateliers Claus, Bxl

This tuesday evening Rebel Up & Les Ateliers Claus present: Etran de l’Aïr!

The name Etran de L’Aïr translates to “the Stars of the Aïr,” the mountainous region of Northern Niger. They are based in the town of Agadez, an urban center renowned for the electric guitar and the western named “desert blues” music. In the Sahara, this electric guitar genre is intertwined with social function. It’s a lucrative commerce, and gigging bands make their living in weddings, baptisms, and political events. Etran de L’Aïr is one of Agadez’s longest playing groups on the circuit since 1995. Yet they are also a band that has remained on the fringes, stars of the Agadez working class.

Etran de L’Aïr play a style that captures the contemporary sound of Agadez, incorporating vastly different musics into their repertoire. While Tuareg guitar follows a predictable format, Etran breaks convention and throws a third guitar into the mix. The two lead guitars solo on top of one another, in constant dialogue, with a crashing response from the drum. There is a bubbly underwater warble that emerges from reverb and crackly amps. It’s electric party music, surf rock, from a place that is all beach. They differentiate themselves from the other wedding bands: “We play our own folklore, not like the other artists in Agadez. Our music is based around traditional Takamba…and we listen to a lot of Malian music. Not Tinariwen, but musicians like Ali Farka Touré and Oumou Sangaré.” Etran de L’Aïr is not just a musical group, but a family collective.

+ DJ support Rebel Up SebCat

Tickets presale: 8€ under 26/ unemployed – 10€ normal. Buy here.
doors 20h
concert @ 20h30

@ Les Ateliers Claus
15 Rue Crickx
St Gilles

FB event / website

Rebel Up & Friends session @ Kiosk Radio online now

Our Rebel Up & Friends session at Kiosk Radio from thursday is online now on Mixcloud. Check it out >>>

1st hour Rebel Up SebCat going all Amazigh, Sahrawi, Tamashek (Tuareg) and more.

2nd hour with special guest Tamqrant who did a selection on Kabyle women and Algerian gems from the 70’s to 90’s.

Also check the soundcloud profile of Tamqrant with deep Maghreb & Sahel mixtapes and Amazigh poetry readings

Double Bxl wednesday 20 Nov: Rebel Up SebCat @ Autumn Falls festival: Mdou Moctar, Atelier210 + Kaito Winse @ Bonnefooi, Bxl

This wednesday is a double African concert night at Atelier210 and Bonnefooi.

In Atelier210 tamashek rocker Mdou Moctar from Agadez, Niger, will play as part of Autumn Falls festival.
warmup dj set & afterparty Rebel Up SebCat& Funky Bompa.

Mdou Moctar immediately stands out as one of the most innovative artists in contemporary Saharan music. His unconventional interpretations of Tuareg guitar have pushed him to the forefront of a crowded scene. Back home in Agadez, he’s celebrated for his original compositions and verbose poetry, an original creator in a genre defined by cover bands. In the exterior, where Saharan rock has become one of the continents biggest musical exports, he’s earned a name for himself with his guitar moves. Mdou shreds with a relentless and frenetic energy that utterly sets him apart. His latest album ‘Ilana The Creator’ is out on Sahel Sounds, listen here >

ticket 14€ presale, 17€ at door
all info > FB event / website

@ Atelier210
Chaussée Saint-Pierre 210
1040 Etterbeek

and for those of you in the city centre and in the mood for some griot music:
Kaito Winse from Burkina Faso will play a FREE concert in Bonnefooi.

His concert is made from 9 songs and 9 shorts stories explaining the message of songs or instrument’s origins, depending on the mood. Chatting with audiences, Kaito Winse takes them to Lankoue, his village of Sourou from Burkina Faso. His songs reveal Samo land and griot traditions from Burkina Faso through ancestors praise, edifying traditional stories (tales). So many topics sung with a powerful and natural voice, which impose listening and silence before convincing by a melodious, bewitching and catchy texture via traditional instruments such as the mouth bow, Fula flutes, calabash and more. In 2020 his solo album will be released on Rebel Up Records. See a short video here.

FB event
showtime: 22:00, FREE IN!

@ Bonnefooi
Steenstraat 8 Rue des Pierres

Fri 19 June @ OCCII, Amsterdam > Rebel Up! Soundclash / OK IN KO OUT present: Akounak movie premiere (tuareg music film) + Mdou Moctar concert + djs

19 juni mdou moctar
Amsterdam!

This friday another special Rebel Up! Soundclash & OK IN KO OUT collab night in OCCII.
Showing the movie ‘Akounak’, followed by a concert of Niger tuareg band Mdou Moctar and the Rebel Up! & Sahel Sounds dj’s

Mdou Moctar  – concert
In the somewhat crowded scene of Tuareg guitarists, Mdou stands apart from his peers. One of the few original singer/songwriters willing to experiment and push the boundaries of the genre, his unconventional styles have won him accolades both in Niger and abroad.

Mdou Moctar hails from Abalak, in the Azawagh desert of Niger. He taught himself the guitar at a young age on a homemade instrument. Inspired by returning Ishumar, Mdou traveled the road to Libya where he traveled and worked odd jobs. As chance had, he would meet some of the now famous guitarists and further his musical studies. He returned home with a guitar and a dream.

Rising to the status as local celebrity, in 2008 he traveled to Nigeria to record his first album “Anar” – a psychedelic electronic album of Tuareg guitar, became an instant success throughout the mp3 networks of West Africa. “Tahoultine,” one of the standout tracks, was later featured on the compilation “Music from Saharan Cellphones.” In 2013, he released his first international album, “Afelane,” rocking and raw sessions recorded live at his hometown in Niger. He is currently in production in the first ever Tuareg language film, a fictional story of the struggle of a guitarist trying to make it against all odds in Agadez.

Akounak Teggdalit Taha Tazouhai Trailer from sahelsounds on Vimeo.

Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in It (Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai)
Feature | NR | 75 | DIRECTOR: Christopher Kirkley

Prince goes Sahel in this colorful homage to Purple Rain. Set among the sub-Saharan Tuareg people, and reputedly the first feature film in their Tamashek language (which has no word for “purple,” hence the title). Resplendent in a purple robe and matching chopper, smoking hot guitarist Mdou Moctar arrives in a music-mad Niger town and sets about wooing a local beauty, clashing with his pious father, and fencing with the jealous king of the local scene (Kader Tanoutanoute, as wily and dapper as Morris Day) until their climactic six-string shootout.

Starring guitarist Mdou Moctar, Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in It (Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai) is a feature length fiction film, shot entirely in Agadez, Niger. Akounak tells the universal story of a musician trying to make it “against all odds,” set against the backdrop of the raucous subculture of Tuareg guitar. The protagonist, real life musician Mdou Moctar, must battle fierce competition from jealous musicians, overcome family conflicts, and endure the trials of love – all while coming to terms with one of the biggest barriers: himself.

Both a homage to Purple Rain and The Harder They Come, Akounak is based on the universal hero, the struggle of a musician to overcome a series of conflicts. In execution, many techniques have been adapted from Poverty Row, Italian Neo-Realism, and the experimental films of Jean Rouch. While there are a plethora of films concerning the Tuareg guitar, all are documentaries. Akounak is the first fiction film to explore the scene in this format, and the first film in the Tuareg language of Niger.
agadez_screening
DJ sets by Rebel Up! & Sahel Sounds dj’s.

8€
Doors open: 20:30
Movie to start around 21:00

full info > OCCII site or FB event

monday 24 november > Rebel Up! presents: Mdou Moctar in OCCII, Amsterdam

mdou occii 24 nov

Hello Amsterdam!

on monday 24th, we have tuareg rocker Mdou Moctar & his band playing in OCCII, Amsterdam!
Spaced out tuareg rock from Niger! (Sahel Sounds)

In 2013, legendary Tuareg shredder Mdou Moctar released his first international album, ‘Afelan’, a collection of rocking raw sessions recorded live in his hometown of Abalak, Niger and earlier 2008 album ‘Anar’ has just been reissued too. After his debut European tour last July, he returns again to Europe and for the first time in Amsterdam!  Not to be missed, away with a quiet monday so come down!

Read this interview here in the online English OCCII Knik magazine
Listen to his albums here >
Mdou Moctar – Afelan
Mdou Moctar – Anar
Saharan & Sahelian tunes before & after by Rebel Up dj’s & friends.

doors 20:30
6€
@ OCCII, Amstelveenseweg 134
Check the OCCII site or see FB event.

5 & 6 Nov > supporting Mdou Moctar in Ghent (Vooruit) & Brussels (Recyclart)

Our favorite young tuareg rocker Mdou Moctar and his band from Niger are touring Europe again, and we had a little hand in getting them these 2 Belgium shows. Sahel sounds in the house!

11-06-mdou-moctar-3-by-jerome-fino-2014-lores

We’ll be dj-ing sahelian sound support in Ghent, hopefully with Chris from Sahel sounds too >

on wednesday 5 nov in the café of De Vooruit venue (Ghent), and it’s a free show! FB event

and next day on thursday 6 nov Mdou plays in Recyclart (Brussels), with Belgian-Congolese band Shengen Shege of David Bovee (Think Of One). doors 20:30, 5€ in. FB event.

To get the full spectrum on Mdou, read the Sahel Sounds website, for those who read Dutch , check the interview I did with him for Gonzo (circus) magazine, or just check this video recap of his last tour

Listen to Mdou’s amazing sound here!

and oh, soon Mdou will be a music movie star, when his movie Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai  (*Rain The Color Blue With A Little Red In It*) will be premiered. check the awesome trailer here 🙂

Akounak Teggdalit Taha Tazouhai Trailer from plastic shaman on Vimeo.

6 new Rebel Up! theme mixes online at Mixcloud

hey peeps,

We got 6 new theme mixes online since the last few months, some of them are even up for download!
check them out here;