30/12/2011

Elephantine Vital Force


The elephant would have turned 60 today. Pepe Kalle (December 30, 1951 - November 28, 1998) aka "La Bombe Atomique", "The Giant Of Africa", "L'éléphant de la musique congolaise", "The Elephant Of Zaire"... 2.10 meter high, 140 kilos. May the above video stand as a reminder of his overwhelming vital force - only defeated by death.

Cochabamba Mortal Mix

Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the fourth largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 (2008). The name derives from a compound of the Quechua words qucha, meaning "lake", and pampa, "open plain". Residents of the city and surrounding areas are commonly referred to as Cochabambinos. Cochabamba is known as the "City of Eternal Spring" and "The Garden City" due to its spring-like temperatures year round. It is also known as "La Llajta", "town" in Quechua.

Cochabamba was featured in the 1983 film Scarface. Powerful drug lord Alejandro Sosa resided there, governed large coca plantations and owned cocaine labs where upon further refining, would be shipped to Tony Montana in Florida. Cochabamba is also mentioned in the documentary The Corporation, about their fight against privatisation of water by a foreign-owned company. The privatisation had gone to such an extent that even rain water was not allowed to be collected. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Mortal Mix is a 30 min road movie in three parts, investigating the representation of Cochabamba's urban and countryside landscapes seen from the street/road level, exploring the city as a mythological entity and natural surroundings as a source of life. It also provides interesting documentary views on local habits and food preferences. The whole thing being driven forward by an intense mix of fast-pulsating hits. Great sound, nice mixing, not fucking around too much but going straight to the point instead. Number 2 might be our favourite. Check it from 8:00 to 9:30 to catch its beauty.





soy cochala, me encuentro lejos de la tierra que me vio nacer...... estoy en catalunya (barcelona). saber que estas canciones aun se escuchan y se sienten, es como si uno retroceria el tiempo atras. te recuerda de todooooooooo y de todos tus amigossssssssss y vecinossssssssss que lindooooo

14/12/2011

A Look at the Future (Vol. 2) - Introducing Hugo Freegow



MESSAGE TO OUR FOLKS - While guns were bursting over Luik yesterday, we received this message from local hero Hugo Freegow in the mailbox. Citizens, take note. Hugo's first mix for Music City works as a traveler's guide to outer space.

A Look at the Future (Vol. 2)
Compiled and mixed by Hugo Freegow

Citoyens! Tenez-vous prêts pour une plongée dans l'univers surprenant de la "Library Music" (et de ses ramifications). Initialement enregistrées à l'initiative de maisons d'édition dédiées au marché de la licence (pour le cinéma, la télévison ou la radio), la plupart de ces musiques sont longtemps restées inaccessibles au public. Etrange industrie que celle-là, génèrant un flux continu de sons destinés à accompagner des images qui n'existent pas encore, à faire vivre des reportages qu'il reste à réaliser... Souvent crées en fonction d'une thématique particulière, elles laissent généralement leurs créateurs dans l'ombre.

La particularité de ce contexte de production le laisse facilement deviner: le syndrome de la musique d'ascenseur n'est jamais loin. Mais, parfois, il ouvre aussi la porte aux expérimentations les plus folles... C'est tout particulièrement le cas lorsque, dès la fin des années 50, l'électronique fait son entrée dans les studios. Le son se libère de ses attaches physiques, traçant tout naturellement la voie à une esthétique (rétro)futuriste. Des trésors inouis attendent l'auditeur curieux (et patient)! Passé le choc initial, la fascination continuera souvent d'agir comme un poison, incitant à l'exploration rigoureuse des profondeurs abyssales de ce monde méconnu. Quitte à s'y perdre un peu...

- Hugo Freegow

A look at the future (Vol.2) by Hugo Freegow

TRACKLIST
John Baker "Farm management"
Delia Derbyshire "Electrobuild"
Delia Derbyshire "Doctor Who's theme"
John Baker "Factors"
Alain Poinsot "Punaisarium 1"
Bernard Estardy "Tic tac nocturne"
Roger Roger "Sounds industrials 6"
Bernard Fevre "Dali"
Roger Roger & Teperino "Walking Robot"
Jean-Jacques Perrey & Pat Prilly "Altitude-1"
Georges Teperino "Electrosonics Nr 6"
Joel Vandroogenbroeck "Trilobites"
John Hyde "Magma"
Sauveur Mallia "Rectangle Astral"
Bernard Estardy "Night express"
Tod Dockstader "Bottle Dervish"
P. Bonello "Electronic track 5"
Raymond Scott "Cindy Electronium"
Eddie Warner "K.O."
Li De La Russe "Way out"
Ennio Morricone "In un Ricordo"
Cecil Leuter "Raving Waves"
Bernard Fevre "Le monde avait 5 Ans"
Jacques Lasry "Danse des cosmonautes"
+++ Piero Umiliani : "Spazio e Materia (Omaggio ad Einstein)"

A look at the future is a series of mix initiated by Hugo Freegow and François Boulanger (aka Cuppcave, Ssaliva, Kingfisherg) around their common love for Library music.

Picture collage by Manuel Padding.

05/12/2011

New Music City Cassettes



RADIO NUDISM
C 45 / 5 EUR

A collection of priceless documents collected from the sound archives of a Danish nudist radio station from 1993/94. This 45 min mixtape / compilation / radio narrative stands as an audio companion to the exhibition of Massimiliano Bomba, Benjamin Altermatt and Xavier García Bardón curated by Francesco Cavaliere and Marcel Türkowksy at Grimmuseum, Berlin in September 2011. Featuring tracks by the aforementioned nudists and more, this tape has been assembled and spiced up by DJ Bongo Man. Co-released by Grimmuseum, Raw Raw Edizioni, Caleuche Video and Music City in an edition of 120 pro-dubbed copies. Banana picture by Bea De Giacomo.

A few copies of the catalogue of this exhibition (published by Raw Raw Edizioni, Milan) are also available from us. A5 format, indigo print HP7500, Fedrigoni splendorgel paper 115 g, 36 pages. 7 EUR.


DJ BONZAI TARZAN: Un remède radical
Mixtape / C60 / 3 EUR

Bonzai Tarzan has worked as a guardian at Doctor Evariste Ossip Natural History Museum for over twenty years. He usually spends his days at the Tropical Bonzai Forest section nourishing the colony of Liliputean monkeys that live happily amidst the lush foliage, peeling miniature bananas with tweezers and pruning the infinite web of capironas, cercropias, figs, kapok and brazil nut trees. This painstaking, constant and stressful activity led him to develop an unusual relaxation therapy composed of calisthenics and music. Mister Tarzan's Un Remède Radical is a four step music program to relieve a variety of ailments from seasonal disorders to acute boredom. Cover art by Hannah Friese. Pro-dubbed tapes.



DJ BONGO MAN: Choc thermique
Mixtape / C40 / 3 EUR


This new Bongo mix focuses on the 1985-1992 era, compiling tracks from Togo to Congo all displaying a peculiar interest for the use of electronic gear, following a retro forward thinking approach. Topics approached in these songs are: love, fun, faith and the missing homeland. File under: computerized soukous, shangaan jive, kwasa kwasa, digi dancehall. Released on the occasion of DJ Bongo Man Suomi tour, November 2011. I would like to dedicate this tape to all my Finnish friends in Tampere, Jyväskylä and Helsinki: may this one help you fuel the coming Winter with light and positive energy. Home-dubbed tapes, limited run.

Orders: lanouvellecite@gmail.com

02/12/2011

Dub Echoes

This is def the most inspiring part of the documentary:



but you can see the whole thing here: http://documentaryheaven.com/dub-echoes/

28/11/2011

Palm Wine / Dj Rupture vs. Maga Bo "Dreamachine / Beyond Digital Mix"

Here I am, after five intense months of gestation Palm Wine's tape is finally OUT!
It features a mix of fieldrecordings I've captured in Morocco last year at the Master Musicians of Joujouka festival on one side, and a mix done by Dj /Rupture and Maga Bo, part of their project Beyond Digital - Morocco on side B.

To buy the tape (10€ for Europe and 12€ for United States, South America and Africa) and read the full story behind the production of the tape click here.

Here's a short excpert from the side A and a photo of the tape as it looks.

شكرا shukran Music City!



31/10/2011

Sierra Leone Music Panbody



Two great tracks and two nice videos from the huge collection of a frantic Youtube poster: mbaimba1 aka Mbaimba, a Sierra Leone-born UK-based kid I've been following on Youtube lately.

16/10/2011

Om is Om. Bowling & Sound Festival


Kraak, Silver Ghosts and Music City present

OM IS OM, BOWLING & SOUND FESTIVAL
- Knock out style bowling festival with music, video, alcohol and espresso -
*
Wednesday 26 October, 20:00
ROCK/RITZ Bowling
Rue Henri Werrie 76
1090 Jette
Brussels
*
"Awareness of the true Liquid Centre through focus, concentration, execution and release" (Bowling and sound as meditation)
*
A seven step program to achieve an enlightened state of being.
• pre tournament ritual
• awakening of the Liquid Centre
• sound senses stimulation
• further awareness of Liquid Centre through bowling meditation
• body mind oneness with the help of holy spirit elixir consummation
• total awareness achievement by crowning of ultimate bowling meditator
• release by the power of party
*
Your guides on this trip will be
*
ecstatic beyond the mind freedom unit, rock focused liberators
*
freak zone transcendence instigator, horror electronics sound manipulator
*
post bliss apocalypse dance instructor, vibe feeler extraordinaire
*
aka 'Cool Kid Broccoli' aka 'The Best' aka 'Ultimate Style'
*
Music City magus, spinner of magic tunes
*
italo as a science, next level intensity
*
Master of Ceremony, guidance with the truly tested 'Mijnsbergen' principle
*
NON STOP NEXT LEVEL AWESOMENESS!
NON STOP VIDEO PROJECTION!
NNON STOP ACTIONN!
NON STOP MUSIC!
NON STOP FUN!
NON STOP!
NON!
*
Sign up here for the program: tickets@kraak.net
€10, only 70 places!
Om is Om, Vol is Vol!
*
Your ticket gives you the following in return:
- ESPRESSO as a starter for the evening
- A BOWLING TOURNAMENT in knock out style
- several LIVE ACTS playing on the bowling lanes
- VIDEOS shown continuously
- ESPRESSO bar + special BOWLING COCKTAIL
- DJ's (all night long)
*
Poster design by Zeloot
*

27/09/2011

Saalim Saciid Salim


buufle waa raga jaadka cuna qeyrul mas,uslka aa bararka faristaa kuwaa waye kuwa bacda loo deynayo
hhhh
BUUFLE BUUFLE
qatar waye

16/09/2011

Nudism - A Furious Undressing!

Whistle, Minotaure! - a series of exhibitions and events curated by Francesco Cavaliere & Marcel Türkowsky - presents the first episode of

NUDISM
with Benjamin Altermatt, Massimiliano Bomba and Xavier García Bardón



14 September - 25 September 2011

GRIMMUSEUM
Wednesday-Sunday 14-19 h.
Fichte Strasse 2
10967 Berlin

A Furious Undressing !

Nudism, often referring to an alternative to "Naturism", the free speech movement of the body becomes a starting point for a series of upcoming episodes. This viewing assumes to move a sense closer to a free and furious experience in a multi dimensional space. A place where radicalism, realism and fight give possibilities to a self-conscious balance that settles and regenerates continuously. A polyphonic story told becomes more of a panoramic view than an attempt to reach a heterogeneous form.

"La Natura Brutale" (The Brutal Nature), a publication by Massimiliano Bomba and Bea De Giacomo can be an example of an uncontrollable revolt, of nature against man, but further still, occurrences of strangeness and ironic creativity that nature produces and reflects in its own image (like the shifting of lands, ways of life and its maps).

Benjamin Altermatt Zordan, Xavier García Bardón and Massimiliano Bomba are in this sense a combination and reflection of both the remnants of the post-colonial cities and the wider cultural mutations of recent times, and at this point is exactly where they could meet with the artistic approaches of Francesco Cavaliere and Marcel Türkowsky and their "neo tropicalist" vision. Alert in picking up the remains of actions, in continuous amplification of visions and lost mirages, this exhibition is moving into multiple directions through editions of books, films, drawings and music as a form of inquiry and narrative imagination.

This exhibition features a new chapter of the ongoing research of Xavier García Bardón on the history and aesthetics of 1980s Congolese music videos, this time under an installation form including a new video (Video Affairs) and a series of stills and original documents (Matonge Montage Collection). Two screenings of the original and amazing Congolese video material will also take place on September 16 and September 25 at 7 pm.

27/07/2011

Automatenspiel



Nat Fowler is a musician and film/video director based in Berlin. Most widely known as the guitarist for Oxes, he is also DJ Alejandro Technics, playing slowed 80's extended 12" 45s at 33rpm, and is one half of the VJ/KJ team Pantyload Karaoke which presents a chaotic and playful version of the tradition. Automatenspiel - hypnotic video/audio loops to ride on - Join him, for cocktails!

16/07/2011

Summer Mixtape 2010 (MP3 version)



One year later... Here is the MP3 version of the Stenze Quo Summer Mixtape 2010 featuring DJ Cool Brocoli & DJ Bongo Man.

Summer is here! 90 minutes of heatwave jams by these two Music City inhabitants. On the A-side Brocoli is mixing primal hip hop gems on the edge between disco and rap. Slick productions including spaced out synth bubbles and sharp lyrics meet rough recordings of drunk kids practicing in the studio. The lyrical aspect makes it a super intense listen! On the B-side Bongo Man serves us his ever magical eclectic mix of sweet world music. He is a true missionary of the good times dance floor and this mix again shows his ability in guiding us through diverse styles in a smooth & suprising flow. African no wave, ecstatic Congolaise guitars, obscure dub pearls and more rarely heard sounds!

Summer Mixtape - DJ Cool Brocoli

Summer Mixtape - DJ Bongo Man

13/07/2011

Shama Shama: A propos des sacrifices humains dans la chanson



As a further investigation on yesterday's post topic, this fascinating article by Mila Mbungu on the Mopero / Mobeti argument published by Ebène Magazine. Source: http://www.myspace.com/lecommandantdonamobeti. No date mentioned unfortunately.

12/07/2011

Shama Shama: Nasambue



Shama Shama: (Nasambue) LP, Rythmes et Musique, REM 520, Paris, 198x

Where soukous guitars meet casio drumpad madness. Yes. Here's the story: in 1973, Dona Mobeti and Mopero Wa Maloba launched together Orchestre Cavacha, one of the strongest bands to emerge from the Congolese scene of the time. Two years later, Mopero would leave the group to start his own band, the mighty Orchestre Shama Shama - named after a song he wrote for Orchestre Cavacha. The two would only reunite ten years later (well, I can find no date on the sleeve but from the electronic sounds and from the sticker on the back of the cover I bet this one was recorded and released around 1985) for one single recording session. The present untitled LP (also known as Nasambue, from the first track of the album) marked the reunion of Dona Mobeti and Mopero Wa Maloba and put an end to the Shama Shama story. The magic of this recording lies in its bringing face to face, hand in hand, the electricified guitar solos the band made a reputation for and the sparkling crude electronic sounds produced by the then newly appeared computer drums and electronic gear. Later on, as mentioned in a previous post, Mopero would leave the show business to become a priest. This one is for Cheeku.

11/07/2011

Hundebiss Summer Night



HUNDEBISS SUMMER NIGHT


DOMENICA 17 LUGLIO 2011 - 10PM
HANGAR BICOCCA, MILANO
FREE ENTRY
_______________________________________________

HIGH WOLF
FLORIS VANHOOF
DJ BONGO MAN
_______________________________________________

HIGH WOLF

Consacrato dalla stampa di settore, da Pitchfork a The Wire, il caro Max non sembra minimamente toccato da questa pseudo-notorietà, tanto lo sa che tra un anno al massimo il treno sarà già deragliato. E allora cosa resterà? Resterà un ragazzo del nord della francia, con una passione per l'india e un sano odio per il rock. Max cavalca le onde di loop e percussioni tribali, con un’espressione a metà tra il trasognante e lo stordito. Questa è musica per il sesto occhio che ti suona direttamente tra il collo e la fronte. E’ come se Enya si fosse presa le droghe sbagliate, se Moondog avesse suonato la chitarra e una casio nel 2004, se la pizza di stasera era particolarmente piccante.

FLORIS VANHOOF

Time Slime è l'ultimo album di Floris Vanhoof, uscito l'anno scorso per Ultra Eczema, accompagnato da un’installazione fatta di proiezioni 16mm e diapositive. Time Slime…c'è già dentro tutto, no? Time, perchè Floris con il tempo ci gioca, con i nastri principalmente, un supporto che il tempo te lo fa vedere, lo puoi toccare, lo puoi leccare. Slime perchè scivola, è viscoso, scappa ovunque (e per pulirlo devi bestemmiare). Quindi amici, benvenuti nel paradiso dell'iper-reale, ciò che vedrete e sentirete è quanto di più fisico e tattile possiate immaginare. Musica per le vostre retine abbagliate. Se proverete a distrarvi un attimo da come è vestito stasera X e di quanto siano fuori luogo le scarpe di Y, avrete assicurato un bel viaggetto sull'asse Z. Zeta Reticuli.

DJ BONGO MAN

È il ragazzo più positivo, intelligente, simpatico, gioioso, disponibile, curioso, goloso, simpatico, meticoloso e studioso che si possa incontrare. Oltre a suonare nel combo di musica disastrata che porta il nome simpaticoso di Buffle ed essere membro del frizzante collettivo Music City, suona sotto lo pseudonimo (sempre simpaticoso) di Dj Bongo Man, ovvero i tunes più caldi dal Congo e non solo. L'altra sera ha suonato ad Amsterdam e l'hanno definito African Raves, non so se esiste e non ho tempo di chiederlo al Bertuzzi quindi prendetela com'è: beat dai suoni caldi e dalle movenze conturbanti... sì sì sì, è tempo di ballare e stop al panico, la sua mixtape dell'anno scorso (split con il magnifico Dj Cool Brocoli) è stata in heavy rotation quassù fino alla settimana scorsa quando il nastro si è spezzato e sono volate cinque o seimila bestemmie.

07/07/2011

T.E.S #Too Hot For Youtube (NSFW)

Back in circulation!
Three videos deemed too hot for youtube.
These clips are lifted from "Beverly Hills Girls" (1984) and "Nightmare Sister" (1987) both movies starring "Queen of the 'B's" - Linnea Quigley. In each movie there is a performance, a music video within the movie and since we live in Music City I thought it would be appropiate to cut these performances from their original habitat and show them here.

The Skirts "Strange Ways" (Beverly Hills Girls)


The Skirts "Santa Monica Blvd. Boys" (Nightmare Sisters)


Becky LeBeau "Take Me Down The Hard Way" (Beverly Hills Girls)

20/06/2011

Hallo Gallo Dance Night



NONSTOP DANCE!

Saturday, June 25 - 9:00pm
OCCII
Amstelveenseweg 134
Amsterdam, Netherlands

DJ SETS

DJ COOL BROCOLI (be)
twisted early rap and electric boogie that make you spin.

DJ BONGO MAN (rdc)
african rave and the sweetest unheard dance tunes from all over.

ROACH FINGERS (ma)
Griffin (Sewn Leather) is playing us some excellent new mixtapes.

LIVE

MARCEL DU SWAMP (us/at)
this kid armed with a sampler and a mic throws his warped electronic dance music at you, sending shivers down a slope of slippery tiles in your shoe. He has been supporting DJ Dog Dick and Sewn Leather on parts of their recent euro-tour, and after a great set at the Kraaiennest rooftop in De Bijlmer recently, we are happy to welcome him once again.

YELLOW GALACTIC HUMAN (dk/nl)
handmade techno-not techno by Jonathan Mikkelsen of Laser Poodle.

FYOELK (de/nl)
wobbly improvised dance music, inspired by the tales of Läderlappen and Stålpojken. live electronics and drum patterns in constant flux.

entrance: 5 euro

26/05/2011

17/05/2011

Avarus Quantius Et Cetera



FRIDAY 27.05.2011, 20:00
Café The Student
Rue des Palais 76 Paleizenstraat, 1030 Bruxxels
tram 92, 94, 25, 55
5 eur

AVARUS (FIN)
JARSE (FIN)
MIK QUANTIUS (DE)

DJ PIETCHEVAL (BE)
DJ BONZAI TARZAN (ECU)

Finnish free form rock unit AVARUS celebrate their 10 years of activity by embarking on a tour in continental Europe... Catch the fever! AVARUS is a highly rated entity in the realms of avant-rock, improv and free-folk. The collective from the city of Tampere consists of an ever evolving cast of musicians from the Finnish underground (active in groups such as Kiila and Kemialliset Ystävät) and have released their weirdly twisted, puzzling and exciting outings on labels such as HP Cycle, Secret Eye, Lal Lal Lal, Ultra Eczema and Arbor. The line up in which Avarus will tour Europe this spring includes several members from the scene surrounding Fonal Records, as well as Jeffrey Alexander from American bands Black Forest/Black Sea and Dire Wolves. On this tour Avarus will be joined by one-man band JARSE, a member of Shogun Kunitoki (Fonal records) and MIK QUANTIUS, who has played with legendary Kraut rockers Embryo.

This is a truly stunning package!

This is a Music City / Lexi Disques night.
The following releases will be available among many others:
ANNE LAPLANTINE: "I send you a mp3" (Lexi Disques, 7")
JAMES FERRARO: "Rapture Adrenaline" (Music City / Hundebiss, VHS)

30/04/2011

James Ferraro: Rapture Adrenaline



Hotter than your wettest dreams...

MUSIC CITY & HUNDEBISS VISIONS
ARE EXCITED TO PRESENT
A HELL TV PRODUCTION

JAMES FERRARO: RAPTURE ADRENALINE
(VHS videotape, PAL!*, 94 min, 150 copies)

RAPTURE ADRENALINE is a 94 min epic science-action movie from 2009.

STORYLINE

Set in a crime-ridden Rochester, New York in the near future, RAPTURE ADRENALINE centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg. The main plot of the movie revolves around a "Bug" (code word for a member of an alien species that is similar in many ways to a very large cockroach) searching for a miniature galaxy which is also a vast energy source. "Acid Eagle" is the president of Hell-TV (Channel 83, Cable 12), a sleazy television station specializing in sensationalistic programming. Displeased with his station's current lineup (which mostly consists of softcore pornography), Professor Pizza is on a seemingly endless quest for something that isn't so "soft" and will "break through" to a new audience. The rescue turns out to be a fake; the two climbers are taken prisoner by a group of ruthless thieves. The driver is now a hostage trapped by his own seatbelt. However, the robot becomes smarter and more dangerous as it plays putting the boy and his friends in mortal danger. In addition to being an action film, the movie includes larger themes regarding the media, resurrection, gentrification, corruption, and human nature.

REVIEW

RAPTURE ADRENALINE is a virtual videogame car chase through the veins of hyperreality seen through fragments of US movies – mostly produced in the 1990s and diffracted by the euro-lens of Dutch subtitling and French dubbing. To achieve optimal melting these fragments have been transferred from tapes, DVDs and computer files to VHS.

Hollywood is here mirrored, xeroxed, enlarged, cropped and disfigured in order to burn a passage to the next dimension – one defined by cars, weapons, heroes, planes, corpses, space/time machines, virtual reality gods, babies, aliens, animals, dinosaurs... all piled up till reaching new, transcended levels in speed, power, tension, evolution, hi-tech, destruction, sense of space and fear of death… ultimately conveying adrenaline through fear – until you reach meditation point: blue screen. Blue screen is a concept used in computer science to define a state of technological crash, the burn out of the machine, overstimulated by too many demanding applications. The blue screen of death is caused by a fatal system error and is the error screen displayed by the operating system upon encountering a critical error, of a non-recoverable nature, that causes the system to crash.

RAPTURE ADRENALINE is an educational mixtape program, a cyber marine combat training video designed through primitive editing techniques – rough in terms of means yet subtle in their development, displaying a remarkable sense of composition and dynamics plus a peculiar attention to shapes and textures. Operating mythological transformations of popular movie iconography, it reaches the merging point of the magical and the political.

– Fabrizio Terranova & Xavier García Bardón, Chinotto Beach

* Please note! This is a PAL format videotape. It will play on most of VHS players in Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Western Europe. The following countries and areas are normally included in a PAL region release.

Tape is 15 eur + postage. For any order please get in touch with: Music City. Email: lanouvellecite (at) gmail .com

23/04/2011

Delirio de la Realidad

"El documental ya no sirve para constatar la realidad hasta poetizarla. La cámara perdió la función de ser testigo, pues de eso se han encargado los noticiarios. A la realidad le falta algo más allá de la verdad y la poesía… El documental es un tema para el hombre, la cámara debe ser su cómplice. El documental debe ser un delirio de la realidad, debe ser increíble"

Carlos Mayolo - Revista Kinetoscopio - N°78, Vol. 16.


Agarrando Pueblo from Cinépata on Vimeo.


« Documentary film is no longer useful to the poetic depiction of reality. Cameras are not witnesses any more because television news are taking care of that. Reality needs something that goes beyond truth and poetry... Documentary films are the realm of man, cameras should be its acomplices. Documentary film should be a delirium of reality, it should be incredible... »

More information available here and here

06/04/2011

Dindo Yogo: Makamu Yaka & Omona Wapi

Dindo Yogo in computer world. Party times in zebra landscapes. Beautiful shirts. Full color digital tapestry. Smooth sebene illuminations. These two video messages leave me speechless.


23/03/2011

Kraagistan Video Tape

My pal DJ Galapago from ECU found this VHS tape from KRG lying on a window sill next to Pizza Boom... something like... 9 years ago? Because it was NTSC it took him a while to transfer to PAL. Now here it is transcoded to MPG.



What I'd M Thfft Able has to say about this: «In 2002, i used to leave VHS with videos such as these all over downtown Portland. [...] These ones were pretty unique, instantaneous collages with whatever i had lying around, made hastily. The results were often dull, but occasionally something brilliant happened. [...] Left 'em in the library, in that little alley by 10 exchange, i opened car doors and dropped them in the drivers seat... all over the place. [...] Brendan and I did a few where we walked around Portland with a camera, went to the free box, filmed ourselves talking about and somehow using what was in the free box, then popped the tape out of the camcorder and stuck it in the free box...»

21/03/2011

Firenze Made Me Banzaï

Gary Stewart, Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos, Verso, London / New York, 2000, p. 308:

« As a result of Zaïre's failing economy and declining record sales, live performances took on greater importance. Stars' individual character and style could count for as much, perhaps more, than their music. The phenomenon of la sape, 'society of ambiancers and persons of elegance' (from the French les sapes, clothes or togs), appeared to spring in part from this development. Practitioners were called sapeurs. Nearly every young star – and soon many of their fans – joined in pursuing the fad. Sapeurs' predilection for European designer clothes flew in the face of authenticity [...]. La sape gave rise to a dance known as la griffe (the label). 'When you dance you have to show off the [clothing] label', Wemba explained. 'You can even take off your shoes to show the label on the shoes.' Wemba invented a dance called Firenze in honor of the fashion houses of Florence. »

Papa Wemba's 1983 song "Matebu" was the anthem of the sapeurs:

You'll grab these lyrics between 5:00 and 5:30 approximately.



« [Papa Wemba est] le prince, le "pape" de la SAPE, la Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes. Né au Congo à la fin des années 70, ce mouvement prend toute son ampleur au Zaïre, mais surtout auprès de la diaspora zaïro-congolaise à l'étranger et en particulier en France. La SAPE est un phénomène d'abord vestimentaire fondé sur une élégance flamboyante et exagérée. Fou de fringues, Papa Wemba est à la pointe de la mode et les grands couturiers européens et japonais n'ont pas de secret pour le chanteur. Les jeunes hommes s'empressent de se transformer en coquets dandys, et de suivre très précisément les codes particuliers de la SAPE, du choix de leurs chaussures à celui de la coupe de cheveux. Forme de rébellion anti-pauvreté et anti-déprime, la SAPE est aussi une façon de lutter contre la dictature de l'abacost, version locale du costume trois-pièces, et uniforme quasi-officiel des hommes sous le régime de Mobutu.» (http://papawembamwalimu.skyrock.com)


In 1986 Viva La Musica (in May) and Zaïko Langa Langa (in October) would travel to Japan and bring back to the soukous communities of Kinshasa, Paris and Brussels the craze for Japanese fashion deginers.


Massive Love To Japan!!!!!!!!

16/03/2011

Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore



Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (Mark Leckey, UK, 1999, 14') uses found and original footage of parties held across Britain during the 70s, 80s and 90s, from northern soul clubs to acid house raves. Details of clothing, technology, music and other cultural references surface briefly like uncanny folklore as the film explores a culture of collective leisure and consumption. Writing about Leckey’s first few video pieces, which in addition to Fiorucci… include We Are (Untitled) (2000) and Parade (2003), the art critic Catherine Wood said that they “represent the human subject striving to spread itself out into a reduced dimensionality. His subjects dance, take drugs and dress up in their attempts to transcend the obstinate physicality of the body and disappear in abstract identification with the ecstasy of music, or the seamlessness of the image". The video is sound-tracked by the artist's own music.

From Artforum: A documentary of sorts, Leckey's video chronicles the rites of passage experienced by successive generations of British (sub)urban youth. While obviously celebratory, Fiorucci is ultimately concerned with a collective loss of innocence; its subtext, an examination of the ritualistic behavior of heterosexuals on the threshold of adulthood. Leckey's young--ostensibly male--protagonists exist in the tungsten glare of the moment, blissfully unaware of (their) culture's inevitable passing. As one musical genre succeeds the next, so too are fashions consigned to the dustbin of history. Fiorucci revels in its detail: At one point an authoritarian voice-over intones a list of the once-prized sportswear brands favored by Britain's "casuals" (those elite tribes of mid-'80s football hooligans): Ellesse, Cerrutti, Sergio Tacchini, Lacoste, Fila, Kappa, Jordache, Fiorucci, each specific to a particular time and a particular team's supporters.

02/03/2011

Palm Wine Workshop: Congo Love Affaire Video

If you're in Milan or nearby... Simone Bertuzzi from the great Palm Wine blog is setting up the following screening / talk given by a Music City representative. Next Monday!

Kaleidoscope - annual workshop
Palm Wine Workshop – Episodio 3/5

Congo Love Affaire Video
a cura di Xavier García Bardón


7 MARZO 2011 ore 18.30
Kaleidoscope Project Space, Milano



Nei pezzi di soukous - un genere esplicitamente congolese - il sebene è la parte finale, dove le chitarre elettriche esplorano uno spazio di libertà estatica. Questo intervento propone di esplorare il mondo dei video musicali del Zaire/Congo degli anni 70/80, che non furono solamente il corrispettivo visivo di canzoni fantastiche, ma inventarono e produssero universi affascinanti, contemporaneamente alla diffusione generalizzata del mezzo video. Le VHS e DVD sono stati raccolti a Bruxelles, ex-metropoli coloniale dove la scena congolese è particolarmente vivace; video musicali, apparizioni televisive, immagini live e altri documenti verranno proiettati e ricontestualizzati. Con: M'Pongo Love, Trio Madjesi, Orchestre Bella-Bella, Lita Bembo & Stukas Boys, M’Bilia Bel, Zaiko Langa Langa…

Altre versioni di questa programmazione sono state presentate all'Oceans Academy of Arts di Den Haag, all'International Film Festival Rotterdam e al Palais des Beaux-Arts di Bruxelles.

Kaleidoscope, 10 Galleria Buenos Aires, 20124 Milano.

21/02/2011

The Lulus Band: Anabii A Maheni



The Lulus Band: Anabii A Maheni Pts 1 & 2 (Sokota International, Kenya, 7", SKT 7-002, year?)

Enjoy this track composed by Daniel Kamau.

From Kenyan Lyrics: Daniel Kamau Mwai "DK" (born February 1949 in Gatanga, Muranga District) is a musician from Kenya. He is of Kikuyu tribe and performs Benga music. Kamau comes from the village of Mabanda in Gatanga. Failing to pay the tuition, 1967 he dropped out of the Karatina High School in 1967. He decided to pursue a career in music, and released his first record in 1968. He made a breakthrough in 1970 when he released the “Murata/ I Love You”, which became a national hit. Around the same time he established a music studio of his own, the DK Nguvu Sounds. It would later attract musicians like Kakai Kilonzo. In 1977 his songs "Nana" and "Mwithua" were banned by the then state radio monopoly Kenya Broadcasting Corporation bue to alleged obscenity. In 1990 he formed a new band, the Lulus Band. He was the civic councillor of the Gatanga ward from 1979 to 1992. As of 2009 he is still performing, and has written over 1000 songs during his career. He is also releasing music videos of his past hits.

For a discography of the Sokota label, please check the always useful KenTanza Vinyl. This website is also full of scans of these fantastic Kenyan 7" labels. An endless source of inspiration in design thinking.

15/02/2011

La fiche signalétique du Trio Madjesi



I'm particularly happy to have found this today. This is a priceless piece of music journalism and a hilarious piece of music history. Trio Madjesi were an exciting Congolese band from the early 70s. All their videos ruled, they were full of fun and spontaneous moves. This interview is exactly like that. Please zoom in for best reading (in French).

11/01/2011

Jolie Detta: "Massu"





Jolie Detta, Franco & T.P. O.K. Jazz: Massu (Congo, 1986)

From Youtube: The reason Detta did not make any more records with Franco after this one, was that this 18-year-old girl was not strong enough to carry the succes that came out of it. Children shouting her name at her in the street, etc. The succes was too much for her, so she became "sick", or at least, that was the way Franco put it.

This is the best song I've ever heard.

07/01/2011

Mopero Wa Maloba

After playing in the fantastic Orchestre Cavacha, Orchestre Shama Shama and with Les Victoria Elei­son in the 1970s and 80s, Mopero - aka Mopero Wa Maloba, one of the best Congolese musicians ever - became an evangelist priest in the 90s, praising the Lord in Cotonou (Bénin), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) where he died in 2008, far from the show business industry (and strictly condemning its illusions). Some of Mopero's late celebrations were video recorded and released on VHS by Ephraim Production. Here come three of these. Take your time. Each of the following videos is 2 hour long. The music parts are usually excellent. In the first clip for instance, the track that goes from 4:30 to 7:30 approximately, with its synth rhythm, keyboard digressions and intense vocals is pretty amazing. Not to mention the transe images on this part. Be sure to check the graphics too, like the credits background...