Land of no hop By Sagol 59
November 30, 2009 | 1 Comment
When three years ago the famous rapper Nas (Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones) called his provocative album “Hip Hop is Dead,” sparking debates and long-winded discussions in the hip-hop community, he did not of course mean that the genre was “dead” commercially. Nas wanted to convey he that was fed up because hip-hop, without a doubt the most successful and profitable musical style of the past decade and a half, had lost its ideological compass, the fervor and sense of mission that had characterized it since its historic inception, somewhere back in the 1970s.
And if in the United States, the genre’s birthplace, the “intellectual” MCs are mourning the approaching death of the style as it celebrates its 30th birthday, what is happening here, in the Holy Land?
Well, to use something of a long-winded simile (don’t worry, it’s quite a common device in hip-hop), it appears that hip-hop in Israel is like a new immigrant who has managed to infiltrate into the country, but without a proper visa, without an “absorption basket” that affords him a safety net and without relatives who will help him acclimatize.
Here, the genre – which first saw the light of day, grew up and developed in the land where the possibilities are unlimited – is in a state of problematic breech birth, with its bottom already peeping out but its head still stuck deep in the dark of the womb. And the reasons for hip-hop’s absorption difficulties in Israel are many and varied.
This young country, which since the day it was founded has been fighting for its very existence, has an urgent and constant need for unity in the ideological ranks and the creation of an all-embracing consensus in thinking, which will help “us” fight the enemies “out there” effectively. And in Israel, the arts, including popular music, are also recruited to represent Israeli society’s ethos while giving unreserved support to the state institutions and shelving away criticism, doubts and questions in the locked emergency storerooms at the edge of consciousness.
In this way, certainly, the American hip-hop fan who has grown up on the sparks in the politics of Public Enemy, Ice Cube’s anti-establishment barbs or the subversion of ensembles like Dead Prez, Lynch Mob or Brand Nubian, would wonder at the fact that in Israel there are rappers whose songs are paid for by government institutions, and who sing in official campaign against drugs and in favor of road safety.
It appears that Israel is one of the only countries in the world where rappers are spokesmen for the government, the state and the army, which of course paves a more convenient way to being heard on the radio, certainly in a country where the radio station with the most listeners is owned by the government and belongs to the army.
Presumably those same wealthy people who own regional radio stations and television channels aren’t really losing sleep over a lack of political hip-hop on the airwaves or via satellite.
As on the television screen, in popular music including hip-hop the marginal groups in Israel are notable for their absence: When was the last time an Arab-Israeli ensemble was played on the radio? When did an angry Ethiopian rapper or an ultra-Orthodox hip-hop band appear on the screen? When was the last time a female – yes a female – Israeli rapper spat fire at the microphone and defended her gender?
Yes, there are a lot of all of these in Israel, but the distance from the centers of influence and funding does not afford them adequate exposure except in brief flashes as a gimmick on some unimportant talk show or as the topic of a documentary-anthropological film few people, if any, will get to see.
The concealment of the social and political aspect in the underground of Israeli hip-hop keeps many and important voices out of the public discourse, leaving the territory to the other half of the hip-hop equation: party songs, good times and escapism. And not that this is bad, but it is certainly less fascinating, varied or challenging.
Every fan of hip-hop knows that part of the mystique of the hip-hop and rap scene derives from the rapper’s ability to create for himself what some of the researchers of the genre call an “as-if personality,” a kind of alter ego, a mythical character whose adventures he delineates in his songs. Some of the lure inherent in the experience of hip-hop consumption is in the attempt to decipher and draw the thin and fuzzy line between imagination and reality, between the performer’s real life and the exaggeration and fantasy. Has Jay-Z really sold tremendous quantities of drugs? Is Too $hort really a wealthy street pimp who spends the greater part of the day getting free sexual services? Has 50 Cent really shot so many people? Did the late Notorious B.I.G. – “fat, black and ugly as always,” by his own definition – really smoke, deal and screw all that much?
The scientific answers here aren’t really important, but rap fans’ efforts to get to the facts through the screen of bytes and words created with so much virtuosity endow rappers with that aura necessary for the development of a successful career and an intriguing and attractive stage persona. To this is added the fact that in Israel the prevailing ethos is that of “the personal rock artist who writes about his life with absolute sincerity” that is – the constant expectation that the artist will always write with his heart’s blood, describing in his lyrics his genuine personal experiences in a way that is absolutely congruent with his real life, which prevents the creation of a real pop industry in Israel and wipes out any possibility of creating larger-than-life hip-hop characters.
We like our artists to be modest, simple, sincere, unpretentious, a bit unimaginative, a bit gray. In short: exactly the opposite of the flamboyant, boastful American rappers with deceptive biographies. In Israel it is impossible truly to create, and certainly to maintain, the pose of an American rapper for the simple reason that made-up names, myths and legends are foreign to Israeli culture.
Here everyone knows everyone else. We meet at the supermarket with a bag of dairy products, on the promenade with a child in the stroller or in a tent behind the scenes at some festival in the south with a dripping plastic cup in one hand and an egg-and-tuna sandwich in the other.
The inability to depict yourself as a legendary figure, possibly imaginary but always intriguing, also damages the ability to create fascinating and sustainable Israeli hip-hop myths.
There are also purely stylistic musical reasons for hip-hop’s acclimatization difficulties in Israel. It makes no difference how much hype there is in forums or on Facebook for hip-hop events – the simple and decisive fact is that black music in all its variety has never really been absorbed in Israel. Most Israelis have difficulty understanding and adopting the stylistic markers of black popular music and especially hip-hop. It makes no difference how often your aunts and uncles dance to the beat of some James Brown hit at a wedding, or how many times we hear Aretha Franklin’s “It’s raining men” or “Think” on the Galgalatz radio station, the fact is that the local audience is not familiar with the enormous catalogs of Brown, Franklin, Stevie Wonder, the O’Jays, Marvin Gaye or Isaac Hayes.
The Israeli audience, in any case, has always favored minor melodiousness, perhaps under the influence of Russian music and the pensive folk songs that helped establish what is known as “songs of the good-old Land of Israel” from the pre-state period, through the army entertainment troupes of the 60s to their heirs, the contemporary rockers.
It cannot be helped: The average Israeli listener will always prefer a British New Wave ballad or a melancholy guitar solo by Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour and the like. Play him a track of hip-hop, even the most classic of them, and most probably you will encounter the usual response of “but where’s the tune?” Or, in a worse case: “There are too many words here!”
At the textual level, too, Israeli hip-hop suffers from a worrying meagerness. Afro-American rappers benefit from a long verbal tradition of sharp witticisms, exchanges of verbal blows, the invention of unique types of slang and battles of sophisticated or humorous verbal improvisations. Local rappers have to try to invent new slang out of nearly nothing and forms of expression that hadn’t existed previously, and they can’t be found in biblical texts, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda’s renewed Hebrew or even Dahn Ben Amotz’s “modern” sabra language.
In any case, “Motherfucker” from Jay-Z or Snoop Dogg is always going to flow into the ear better than a sharp benzona (what Shakespeare would have called “whoreson”) from their Israeli equivalents.
Add to all this a monolithic, corrupt and slow-moving music industry, which operates in total contradiction to the essential immediacy of issuing rap songs and albums, the attitude toward rap as a passing gimmick, the fact that the tastemakers in the Israeli mass media do not yet appreciate rap and hip-hop with all the elements that accompany them as an “art form” – and you get a style that is teetering on a tightrope between reserved recognition and total scorn.
Even the Internet explosion, the home studio revolution, file-sharing, social networks and the ease of getting musical materials out into the world have in fact caught Israeli rap in an unripe phase. It is a style that, despite quite a number of promising and interesting works and steady growth in the number of those engaging in it, has not yet found its determined, clear and just voice on its way to integrating into the Israeli cultural fabric. The obvious question then is not, to paraphrase Nas, whether Israeli rap is dead. The real question is: Has Israeli rap been born yet? Only time (and good songs and successful albums) will tell.
Sagol 59 (Khen Rotem) is a rapper, musician and music critic. Originally published in http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1127414.html
Poetes Fyziks Video – DJ Magee
November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment
The 9th Annual Waga International Hip Hop Festival took place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in October 2009. Hip hop artists and activists from all over Africa converged on the tiny city of Ouagadougou for two weeks of bridge-buidling, networking, performances, and workshops. Poetes Fyziks, a highly controversial group from Gabon, met up with filmmaker Magee McIlvaine and decided to shoot a very quick music video during one of the breaks in the middle of the conference. Shot in 25 minutes, this video represents the importance of international collaborations and the power of festivals/events like the Waga Hip Hop Festival to bring people together.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE TO PRESENT RECORDING ARTISTS NAS AND DAMIAN ‘JR. GONG’ MARLEY FOR SPECIAL PROGRAM
November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment
‘Distant Relatives’ Event Dec. 12 Will Feature Hip-Hop and Reggae Legends
In Conversation Moderated by MTV VJ Sway, Made Possible by VTech
WASHINGTON (Nov. 17, 2009)—National Geographic Live will conclude its fall event series with a one-of-a-kind evening with some of hip-hop’s most legendary figures. “Distant Relatives,” sponsored by VTech, will feature hip-hop icon Nas and Grammy-winning artist Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, son of Bob Marley, in a discussion about the often under-appreciated evolution of and deep-rooted connections between reggae and hip-hop.
Joining them for this conversation, moderated by MTV VJ Sway, will be key players in the development of both musical genres, including Kool Herc, Rakim, Daddy U-Roy, King Jammy, Jeff Chang, Pat McKay, Waterflow and DJ Red Alert.
The event will take place at National Geographic’s Grosvenor Auditorium on Saturday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased online at www.nglive.org, via telephone at (202) 857-7700, or in person at the National Geographic ticket office between
9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. Tickets purchased online can be picked up in the lobby prior to the event.
Hip-hop, now a multibillion-dollar industry, originated as a vital form of cultural expression in Africa that was translocated by the slave trade to the Caribbean and the American colonies. It blossomed a half century ago in the dance halls of Kingston, Jamaica, and soon migrated to the parks jams and recreational centers of New York City, where the culture became known as hip-hop.
This evolution forms the basis of the “Distant Relatives” music project, a collaborative effort by Marley and Nas, which will comprise an album set for release in early 2010, a documentary film, performances and a series of public discussions, the first of which is this event hosted by National Geographic.
An open-mic party will be hosted at popular Washington nightclub Zanzibar following the event. National Geographic ticket holders will receive free admission with proof of purchase. For more information on the Zanzibar event, visit www.zanzibar-otw.com.
This event also will be streamed live and broadcast online at www.natgeomusic.net.
About National Geographic Live
National Geographic Live is the performing arts division of the National Geographic Society, featuring live concerts, films and dynamic presentations by today’s leading explorers, scientists, filmmakers and photographers, covering a wide range of topics, including exploration and adventure; wildlife and habitat conservation; natural phenomena; world cultures and ancient history; and relevant issues such as climate change and sustainability. Proceeds from speaker series help fund future National Geographic initiatives in field research, exploration and education. For more information, visit www.nglive.org.
About Nat Geo Music
Nat Geo Music, a division of National Geographic Entertainment, was established in 2007 to inspire people to care about the planet through the power of music. Content developed by Nat Geo Music is utilized across all National Geographic platforms, including online media, radio, print media, film and television. The Nat Geo Music label, launched in January 2009, records, releases and promotes modern music from around the globe from a variety of artists and genres. The Nat Geo Music Channel programs music from every corner of the planet and showcases global legends, local stars and up-and-coming artists. For more information, visit www.natgeomusic.net.
About VTech
VTech is one of the world’s largest suppliers of corded and cordless telephones and a leading supplier of electronic learning products. It also provides highly sought-after contract manufacturing services. Founded in 1976, the Group’s mission is to be the most cost-effective designer and manufacturer of innovative, high-quality consumer electronics products and to distribute them to markets worldwide in the most efficient manner. For further information on VTech’s blogs and its array of products, please visit www.vtechphones.com.
About “Distant Relatives”
“Distant Relatives” is an album created by two great artists to explore and celebrate the correlations and deep-rooted connections between reggae and hip-hop, tracing both sounds back to the African motherland that is both the cradle of humanity and the wellspring of mankind’s music. Unlike all previous collaborations between Jamaican and American artists, “Distant Relatives” is neither a remix nor a featured guest spot on a single track but a fully collaborative effort filling an entire album, opening new avenues of musical expression. Who better to fulfill this long-overdue mission? The youngest son of the legendary Bob Marley, and a hip-hop icon since 1991: Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and Nas, whose success as a duo was proved in 2006 with the double-Grammy-Award-winning “Road to Zion.”
Toubab Krewe Back in NYC!
November 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Nov 19, 2009
upstairs
Doors @ 8 PM
$15.00 Adv
It was only four years ago that the Bonnaroo staple and culturally transcendent ensemble known as Toubab Krewe crystallized as a cult favorite of jam festival-goers and African music enthusiasts. While most of their classmates at Wilson College were having identity crises, the quintet was redefining the notion of identity altogether, earning a grant to travel to the Ivory Coast, Guinea and Mali to study traditional African instruments and techniques. They emerged having fully incorporated their African education with the folk and rock they grew up playing together.
The Krewe are two percussionists and three string players alternating between electric guitars, basses, the souk, kamel ngoni, and the kora. Their mostly instrumental, heavily improvised music recalls jam-bands like Phish, the Americana folk of Deer Tick and the Afropop tambours of Osibisa. Their 2005 debut LP, consisting primarily of re-arranged African standards, turned heads in the realm of “world music” and solidified their international, acclaim. Afropop Worldwide raved that the release “set a new standard for fusions of rock ‘n’ roll and West African music.”
Their most recent album Live At The Orange Peel is an on-location performance recording featuring all new material including the surf riffs of “51 Ft. Ladder” and the lush percussion of “Maliba.” The album is an incredibly layered and bountiful offering produced by the Grammy-winning Steven Heller (Chet Atkin, David Wilcox). At Santos Party House on November 19th, they will be resurrecting that magic on the best sound system for live music in the city. The coalescence of many musical strains will no doubt reach an unprecedented climax.
“A Toubab Krewe show typically begins in the past, with a brief percussive disquisition on West African rhythms; gradually picks up velocity as more surf, jazz, dub, and hip-hop ideas are stirred into the mix; and ultimately climaxes in a futuristic, psychedelic, neo-griot frenzy.” (THE VILLAGE VOICE)
TOUBAB KREWE HOMEPAGE
BREAK SCIENCE (closing)
BREAK SCIENCE ON MYSPACE
MAMARAZZI (opening)
MAMARAZZI ON MYSPACE
Tickets available at:
OTHER MUSIC
15 East 4th St
New York, NY 10003
Facebook Event
Global Hip-Hop and the People Behind the Tables (P.B.Ts)
November 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment
By Marissa A. Gutiérrez-Vicario
Global hip-hop was alive and well in New York City on October 29, 2009, during the famous annual CMJ festival. Like the opening to any other hip-hop showcase, the DJ (DJ Boo) spun a diverse mix of the old school and the contemporary. Slowly, hip-hop aficionados and curious CMJ pass holders began to flood the floors of the 92YTribeca, where the music was loud and the energy even louder. However, unlike any other hip-hop showcase, Nomadic Wax and the Bloom Effect brought together some of the world’s finest underground performers, spanning nine different countries and four different continents, from Amsterdam to Accra, all brought together by the evening’s boisterous host, Blitz the Ambassador, representing Ghana.
Unlike any other hip-hop aficionado, I found myself with two other Nomadic Wax supporters, behind the merchandise table, representatives of the ten-year old hip-hop record label. Benjamin Herson founded nomadic Wax in 1999 after an initial journey to Senegal where he stumbled upon a very vibrant and active local hip-hop scene in Dakar. Ten years later, the record and production company has expanded to include the work of over sixty different artists, now including many outside of Africa.
There are several advantages and disadvantages to being a merch girl. The advantage is that one feels completely immersed in the experience, being there from practically start to finish. I met up with the other volunteers right about when Nomadic Massive, a highly energetic nine band person from Canada, Haiti, and France was completing their sound check and later on in the evening, as the final act, saw them wrap up the showcase. Yet simultaneously, a “Person Behind the Tables” (or more affectionately known as, the P.B.Ts) get to enjoy concerts from a different perspective and have the opportunity to assess the crowd’s overall reaction to the performers. For instance, we were flooded with CD requests from Coolooloosh, a hip-hop duo from Israel who seemed to be a real favorite of the crowd.
Yet the best part of being a P.B.T, is the appreciation one receives throughout the evening. Blitz the Ambassador made sure to interject his commentary with shout-outs to the P.B.Ts and announcements to support the artists. The artists themselves were the most appreciative. At Versaris, making their first visit to the US ever from Spain, and who had commenced the evening, made sure to come through and greet us. La Melodia, a duo from Amsterdam, definitely one of the favorites of the P.B.Ts, gave us hugs and wished us well. By the end of the evening, all of us had collected the autographs of almost every set of performers for the evening, another unknown perk of being a hidden, yet respected, P.B.T.
As with anything, a word of caution: there is one great disadvantage to being a P.B.T. It is vital for anyone seriously contemplating becoming a P.B.T to take the following into consideration. While one can definitely attempt dancing behind a merchandise table, it is not advised. For instance, while the rest of the crowd was free to jump, sway, and stomp to the incredible beats of Morocco’s Alfaress, us P.B.Ts were confined to careful swaying. While others were partying with La Melodia, us P.B.Ts were selling CDs and Nomadic Wax t-shirts. Although we don’t regret it in the least and took our mission very seriously, on the extreme end, it can be considered a hip-hop lover’s nightmare. A nightmare where one is at an incredibly fun concert and being exposed to a diverse new set of underground performers, only to look down and find that your feet have sunk into the earth and you can no longer move in a way that the music truly deserves.
All in all, my first P.B.T. experience was well worth it: the six hours we were behind the tables felt maybe like one or two. There was never a dull moment — all of the artists in the showcase were well selected and were immensely enjoyed by the crowd. The crowd itself was fantastic; while they may not have understood the lyrics of each performer, they responded in the universal language of dance and cheering. Personally, I was exposed to the world of the P.B.T.s, whom I now know not to simply walk by, but acknowledge them for having some of the best seats in the house.
Waga Hip-Hop Wrap Up 2010
November 6, 2009 | 3 Comments
Written by Magee McIlvaine
-October ’09, Washington DC.
Its a chilly 40 degrees outside…overcast, windy, its been raining the past few days. I keep asking myself- why don’t I live in West Africa?
I returned home to DC a few days ago from a 10 day trip to Burkina Faso. As I stepped off the plane, ominious NE winter winds greeted me, forcing me to pull a jacket up over my brand new Burkina Faso soccer jersey (of course i gotta rep!). Back in the US, cold, yet satisfied, and with a bag full of CD’s and footage.
I was in Burkina Faso for the 9th annual Waga Hip Hop Festival, held each year in Ouagadougou, the capitol city of Burkina Faso, West Africa.
The homeys at Stay Calm Productions and Umane Culture had organized two screenings of our film Democracy in Dakar. The screenings would be the West Africa premiere of the film. After a two day journey criss-crossing the continent with Air Ethiopia, I was picked up at the airport in dusty Ouagadougou by Mathurin aka Cool Matt J, co-head organizer of the festival. An amazing guy, Mathurin is responsible for most of the graphic and web work of the Burkina Faso hip hop community. His team and him have created an incredible hip hop festival that pulls in the best in International Hip Hop Talent each year, all in tiny Burkina Faso. Amazing.
We drove past the famous FESPACO Headquarters (the most famous and oldest African Film Festival. It was an honor for me just to be near it!), through the paved and not-so-paved streets, weaved around motorcyclists and arrived at Waga Jungle, a recording studio/house where I was to stay for the next few days. The studio is run by a former french paramilitary soldier and is one of the oldest and most well respected studios in the country. The studio has supported most of Burkina Faso’s artists at some point in their career. I said hello…and went straight to sleep (over 24 hours in a plane to get there. DC-Rome-Addis Ababa-Lome-Ouagadougou is not the most direct of flight-paths).
Several hours later, I woke up and took my first moto ride back into the city. The motorcycle immediately got a flat tire, so my arrival at festival headquarters was somewhat delayed. At the French Cultural Center, I got my first look at other Festival attendee’s and participants. I finally got up with Shivani of Big Up GB (Guiniea Bissau. Nuff respect). Was great to get up with her after so many emails. Peep the project we did together here: http://nomadicwax.bandcamp.com/track/big-up-gb-mixtape
I also got up with Abramz from the Breakdance Uganda project. What a great guy! Another guy I had been building with via email and whose work I had been admiring from a distance for a long time. It was a pleasure to finally build with him, and seem him learning french and tirelessly building with Burkinabe b-boys.
We moved on from there to my first West African emcee battle. The outdoor arena was filled to capacity, with people sitting on the walls that surrounded the theater. While most of the puchlines (in french), went over my head, the crowd enjoyed it immensely, the emcees were on point, and the freestyling was legit. The rule stands, even in Burkina Faso- spit a written in a battle and get booed off.
The next few days consisted of motorcycle, meeting, filming, motorcycle, meeting, filming, motorcycle…. I met with many different emcees, underground to famous (Ouagadougou Famous). Highlights included Faso Kombat. We shot an awesome video for their new single for their third album (to be released soon inshallah). I got to sneak peak their new album and its fire.
I got up with Burkina Faso heivyweight Smockey and we talked hip hop and politics. I saw revolutionary Thomas Sankara’s tomb, hidden away in an overgrown cemetery. I got up with international superstars Yelen and watched as they performed a unique, organic hip hop acoustic track together in multiple languages in their living room. I met up with many different groups. One of the other highlights was building and shooting the new posse cut video for Burkina Faso’s hardcore hip hop underground stars OBC. OBC, with its over 30 affiliate members, has a very Wu-Tang meets Africa feel, but don’t get it twisted. These guys are completely original. I really enjoyed shooting the video with them, each of the 7 verses in a different neighborhood of the whole city, each emcee with his own unique style of delivery and inflection. Watch out for that video, its going to be a banger.
In exploring the neighborhoods and meeting with all the members of the local Ouaga scene, I missed much of the days’ events during the conference.
Our two screenings of Democracy in Dakar were very well attended. The first night produced an extremely interesting post-screening discussion with local emcees comparing the scene in Senegal to the one in Burkina Faso. I trekked to each of the performances each night.
The highlights for me where Mic the 7th, currently based out of Toronto, and AmKoullel, representing Mali. AmKoullel put in more work for his set than most emcees I have ever seen. The post-show Sound System’s where dope, as the mic was opened up to the entire local scene (shout out to Fils du Ghetto- too famous). Moona from Benin also represented as one of the few female hip hop acts. Also, shout out to King Ayisoba (Ghana)’s snowshoe sandals. I’ve never seen anything like it.
A week in Ouaga heat and dust had me exhausted. But the ciphers, the energy of the hip hop scene there (so hungry!) kept me going. I was energized by the skills and unique styles represented by the different Ouaga emcees that I met. I can’t wait for Waga Hip Hop Festival 2010. Shout out to Mathurin, Renaud (Stay Calm Prod.), and Ali Diallo. Nuff respect.
