6/7 Nov > Rebel Up! weekender with Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band (Burkina Faso) @ Vooruit, Gent + Les Ateliers Claus, Brussels!

this weekend a special double concert of Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band in Belgium; Gent & Brussels! Rebel Up! helps to organise these nights, and will DJ before/after both shows. fun!

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On friday 6 Nov @ De Vooruit in Gent, a sweet lineup with Baba Commandant and also Alsarah & The Nubatones

Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band
are a contemporary group from Burkina Faso. Coming from Bobo-Dioulasso, the group is steeped in the Mandingue musical traditions of their ancestral legacy. The enigmatic lead singer Baba Commandant (Mamadou Sanou) is an original and eccentric character who is well respected in the Burkinabé musical community. A sort of punk Faso Dan Fani activist for traditional Mandingo music, Baba continues to redefine the boundaries between traditional and modern. In 1981, he joined the Koule Dafourou troupe as a dancer. Later, he embarked on his current musical direction as a singer first in Dounia and then in the Afromandingo Band. His current band — when he’s not playing with the now-famous Burkinabé musician Victor Démé — is the Mandingo Band. At present, he is a practitioner of the Afrobeat style, drawing inspiration from the golden era of Nigerian music. Fela Kuti/Africa 70 and King Sunny Adé are big influences, as is the legendary Malian growler Moussa Doumbia. Baba plays the ngoni, the instrument of the Donso (the traditional hunters in this region of Burkina Faso and Mali). His audience comprises multiple generations and strata of Burkinabé society; he accordingly adapts his repertoire to his surroundings, which range from cabaret Sundays in Bobo-Dioulasso to the sound systems of Ouagadougou and are a formidable force steeped in Ouagadougou’s DIY underground musical culture. Juguya is their sound.

Listen to Baba here! >

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Alsarah & The Nubatones
Born in Sudan, Alsarah is a singer, songwriter and ethnomusicologist. She grew up in the capital Khartoum and Taez (Yemen) but since 1994 has called New York her home. The Guardian lauded her as“the new star of Nubian pop”. Together with her band the Nubatones she explores her love for Northern-African and Arabic music from the 60 ‘s & 70’s. Get ready for a heavy taste of eastern instruments, profound melancholic vocals and pentatonic arrangements.

Full info + presale tickets > FB event or Vooruit website.

Then the day after, saturday 7 Nov in Brussels @ Les Ateliers Claus, Baba Commandant will play after Moroccan band Lahcen Akil & the Chaabi Brothers (we saw them in Amsterdam a few weeks back, in one word > mesmerizing!)

lahcen akil

Lahcen Akil and the Chaabi Brothers
Lahcen was born in 1969 in the village of Tamlalte in the Moroccan High Atlas. Influenced by acoustic music and traditional songs, he started music very young. As songwriter, he performed his songs about the beauty of the region. He interprets his songs on a lothar that he made himself, with a wooden handle, a palm soundboard and goatskin. He is regularly accompanied by his brother on percussion.

dj’s Rebel Up! & Hisham Mayet (Sublime Frequencies)
dj & filmmaker Hisham Mayet joins us for a ping pong dj set afterparty, expect african beauties, rough folklore, guitar rock and global pop tunes from this true collector of musical gems!

Full info + presale tickets > FB event here or LAC website

Sat 17 & Sun 18 Oct > Rebel Up in Amsterdam @ Pan-Amafropeans night (ADE), OT301 + @ Fly Agaric Swap party, OCCII A’dam

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a special Pan-Amafropeans night @ OT301 venue during Amsterdam Dance Event, organised by Pal/Secam & Afrobot. with Baris K, Young Marco, Afrobot, Pal/Secam, Bufiman & Tako.

in De Peper restaurant of OT301, there will be some live shows earlier in the evening and at midnight followed by a Rebel Up dj set from SebCat til the end, expect lots of global flavours from all the continents, in vintage and electro style

The event is practically sold out, only 50 tickets at the door, so come early if you ‘re keen to be there! 🙂

Facebook event  or on ADE website

Next day on sunday afternoon there is a swapping market and musical matinee afternoon at our homestead venue OCCII. The Fly Agaric collective organises this afternoon of various swapping and with a special concert by Moroccan musician Lahcen Akil and the Chaabi Brothers. Wow!

lahcen akil
Lahcen Akil was born in 1969 in the village of Tamlalte on the route of the thousand Kasbahs in the Moroccan High Atlas. Influenced by acoustic music and traditional Amazigh songs, he started music very young. As songwriter and poet, he writes songs about the beauty of the region which he plays on a self-made 5-stringed lothar lute, composed of a wooden handle, a palm soundboard and goatskin. Lahcen is joined by fellow villager and percussionist El Houssain Safir who plays the bendir, a traditional drum with vibrating snare. For the occasion, two more musicians come along: the bassist David and accordionist Matthieu. Be ready for a compelling evening of raw Amazigh roots out of one of the most beautiful regions in the world!

+ DJ’s TP OK & Rebel Up!

check this video, yeah!

doors: 14:00 – 19:00
entry by € donation

Full info here
and 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