New Rebel Up radio show on BRUZZ, Arab & Levantine global sound special!

hello!
on tuesday night we did our weekly Rebel Up radio show on BRUZZ Brussels radio.

It was a special show on electronic arabic & levantine global tunes by Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek (Bongo Joe Records), Labaz, Baharat (Batov Records), Zenobia (Crammed Discs / ACID ARAB Records), Joxaren and halfway the hour a guest mix by belgian DJ Niveau.Nihil, tune in!!! >>>

Fri 13 Dec: Rebel Up @ Giraffes & Penguins, KulturA, Liege

Oh yes, time again for a Giraffes & Penguins weekender in Liege + Brussels.

Starting on friday the 13th (woohoo!) in Liege at the amazing KulturA club.
Arab Bass night with special guest Ghoula from Tunisia and Liege guest Cedric Blavier. hosted by Rebel Up, Le Grand Mechant Loop & Tropical DJipsies.

We’ll dive together into the infinite richness of arab music and its evolution from traditional forms to the most contemporary and wild electronic sounds.

Ghoula (TN/FR)
Ghoula is a tunisian self-made musician and producer. In Tunisia, music has been a generational vehicle for popular symbols, images and myths. Despite its small size, Ghoula sees his native country as a north African crossroad where legacies came to settle. As a producer and multi-instrumentalist, Ghoula creates genre-defying sets through both acoustics and samples. Obsessed with North African multimedia heritage, Ghoula has been digging up vinyls from flea markets and old Tunisian medinas, bringing back vestiges of forgotten music cooked on top of contemporary upbeat dance rhythms. His album Hlib el Ghoula was released on the Shouka label and he is now preparing his second album.
listen here >


Cédric Blavier (Liege)
A music lover, digger and dj, Cédric Blavier makes his weapons in his native Belgium, between Liège and Brussels. Amateur of ultra-dancing ethnic music as well as planing electro downtempo, he succeeds in surprising sets to combine the effective and the experimental, the organic and the synthetic, the modern and the traditional. His musical synthesis meets a growing success in the world of electronic music, with notably appearances noticed in the festivals Nuits Sonores, Chateau Perché (France) or Taka Tuka (Hungary)!
https://soundcloud.com/l-l-phant/
https://www.mixcloud.com/Mathéo/

and Arabic dance and bass sounds by Rebel Up SebCat, Le Grand Mechant Loop and the Tropical DJipsies.

Full info > FB event / website.
doors: 22h
5€ in

@ KulturA
Rue de Roture 13
Liege

Thu 18 Oct > Rebel Up & Babylon Trio @ La Bellevilloise, Paris (FR) w/ Akuphone label & Praed

Akuphone presents an evening dedicated to the new wave of contemporary Arabic music. Spearheading this music scene is the Lebanese band PRAED, who will play its contemporary cutting edge shaabi, with captivating psychedelic accents. For the first time in Paris, the young Iraqi/Brussels trio Babylon Trio will give a wild performance!

To complete the evening, Akuphone invites Brussels collective Rebel Up. Cheb Gero (Akuphone) and SebCat (Rebel Up) will share the decks in the first half of the evening for a set of various styles from choubi-choubi to dabke, electro shaabi, maghraganat, rai, reggada and beyond.

Praed (LB)
founded in 2006 by Raed Yassin and Paed Conca and is a group that explores popular Arabic music (or shaabi) and its interconnections with other psychedelic and hypnotic music genres, such as free jazz and psych-rock. Raed Yassin performs keyboards and vocals, Paed Conca, clarinet and electronic bass. The group performed during many festivals and toured Japan, Europe and Canada. Praed has developed an international network of famous musicians, raising musical collaboration to the umpteenth square. Their next album will be released on the Akuphone label next year.
http://www.paed.ch/praed/
https://praed.bandcamp.com/releases

Babylon Trio (IQ/Bxl)

plays an electrified mix of contemporary Iraqi and Arabic styles, such as choubi choubi, dabke, maqam and electronic hybrids that set the dance floor on fire. The debut album “Habibi” of the trio is filled with songs about their old life in Iraq and their new life in Brussels, Belgium, about topics such as separation, love, beauty. They have played Nuits Sonores festival, Forest Sounds, Gentse Feesten and Fete de la Musique to name a few. The band will present their debut album “Habibi” on the Brussels label of Rebel Up Records (with the help of Rebel Up, NGHE Mediatheque, Ateliers Claus and Angstrom Studio in Brussels), available in LP and digital and available on the spot this Tuesday night
https://babylontrio.bandcamp.com/

+ contemporary arabic dance actions by Troupe Kif-Kif Bledi.
+ dj sets Cheb Gero (Akuphone) & Rebel Up SebCat

FB event / website

$$ TARIFS $$
Reservation 11.50€ // at the door : 10€
The organiser strongly advises you to reserve your place before, as it might sell out!
Tickets here.

@ La Bellevilloise,
19-21 rue Boyer
75020 Paris

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