Wednesday, 4 June 2008

Coming Up .....Saturday 14th June
Folk_Bhangra_Punjabi_Jazz




1001 Nights with The Destroyers + The Voice of Sanchita Pal + The Dhol Blasters

A Thousand and One Nights with The Destroyers is the culmination of the band’s recent collaboration with Gurcharan Mall and his great force of drummers and dancers The Dhol Blasters. The two groups started working together last summer mixing the eclectic character of The Destroyers’ folk orchestra, with Bhangra and Punjabi folk music of The Dhol Blasters, creating a unique and explosive sound.

The show also features a new Birmingham Jazz commissioned work entitled Shahrazad’s Rhapsody. The piece, conceived and designed by Cristina Pinero Maese, is inspired by the collection of tales A Thousand and One Nights. It tells a story through music and dance, featuring the voice of Sanchita Pal, dancers – Subhash Viman Gorania and Kaajel Patel, and an ensemble including Indonesian Gamelan, Tabla, Kora, Violin, Oud & Double Bass. The music of Shahrazad’s Rhapsody is a collaborative compostion by Daniel Wilkins, Manveer Singh, Frank Moon and Louis Robinson.

This is a one off opportunity to see this unique spectacular: a riotous carnival of music, singing and dance!

Venue: Birmingham Town Hall, City Centre
Cost: £12
Links:
http://www.thedestroyers.co.uk/
http://www.dholblasters.com/
http://www.sanchitapal.com/
http://www.thsh.co.uk/

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Coming Up .....Saturday 14th June
Funk_ Soul




Funkbox presents one of the original and best of the current crop of UK New Funk bands, come to The Yardbird for the first time. Heavy heavy funk with the New Master Sounds.

Having been together since 1999, and releasing music since 2000, it was not until 2004 that this UK funk four-piece began to make waves on the American funk scene, thanks to the vision and commitment of Chicago enthusiast Dave Vandenburg (3 on the B Records) who managed to get them two nights at the House of Blues in Chicago opening for The Greyboy Allstars.

Led by guitarist and producer Eddie Roberts, The New Mastersounds feature Joe Tatton on Hammond, Pete Shand on bass and Simon Allen on drums. Though the NMS sound is very much their own, there are strong influences from the late-sixties soul-jazz of artists such as Jimmy McGriff, Lonnie Smith and Grant Green, as well as New Orleans funk pioneers the Meters. In 2004 the band had the honour of backing Blue-Note sax legend Lou Donaldson for his UK tour.

Their vintage-sounding 7" single releases have made them very popular with funk DJs and record collectors around the world and the live shows have a freshness and energy that sets dance-floors on fire. In 2006, after the US and Japanese release of their 'Live at La Cova' CD, the NMS toured in the USA, France and Japan, as well as writing and recording the studio album, 102% which was released in January 2007.

Having whipped up a storm at sea on the Jamcruise (www.jamcruise.com) the band returned to UK to perform on BBC Radio2 with Mark Lamarr. In April they made their debut appearance in New Orleans during JazzFest, playing gigs at The House of Blues, The Blue Nile, and on the front porch of a house in the French Quarter at sundown. The trip is the subject of a forthcoming DVD documentary. Eddie Roberts stayed an extra week, during which he sat in with Galactic at Tipitina's, with Karl Denson & The Greyboy Allstars on a riverboat, and played at late night shows with Papa Mali, Lonnie Smith and Idris Muhammed.

In June and July the NMS returned to the States to tour Colorado, and to play at various summer festivals including Wakarusa (KS), Harmony (CA), Gratefulfest (OH), Clifford Brown Jazz Festival (DE), and High Sierra (CA).

May 07 saw the German release of the compilation album 'An Introduction to The New Mastersounds'; in October last year Italian label Record Kicks released the remix album 'New Mastersounds - Re:Mixed'. In June their 5th studio album 'Plug & Play' comes out in UK and Japan and features the dynamic vocals of Miss Dionne Charles.

Venue: The Yardbird
Time: 8pm
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/funkboxclub
http://www.myspace.com/newmastersounds

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