World music has been undergoing a resurgence in popularity in recent years, as evident by the release of many new recordings by world artists practically every month these days compared to five years ago. Many members of this tribe, especially those in North America, are busy putting together world music-themed club nites, coast to coast and around the world!
This thread is a continuation of one I started four years ago worldmusic.tribe.net/thread/...7c0fb84f Basically, I started it so we could share info on the efforts of DJs and other individuals in promoting our fave musical genre in the club scene, which will hopefully encourage us to attend and show our support for some these events. As usual, one-off events can still be listed under Tribe listings; once again, this thread should focus more on reviews of regular world music club gigs in different localities.
Having started my last thread in Portland, OR, I return once again to XLR8R and Six Degrees Records present ATLAS - International Heat with DJs Anjali, The Incredible Kid, and E3 at Holocene www.anjaliandthekid.com/
Holocene is a lounge-dance club that plays host to the city's most diverse, multicultural, worldtronica club nite, ATLAS. I have had the pleasure of returning to this most original world/global beat-themed night on two occasions: the fourth anniversary edition last year as well as most recently this year.
The ATLAS residents pride themselves on not being pigeon-holed in their sonic selections, a characteristic that has become the trademark of this Portland club nite. The fourth-year anniversary celebration found DJ Anjali and The Incredible Kid all dressed up--she in a resplendent vintage sari, a classic Air India flight attendant ensemble from the glory days of jet air travel in the 70s), and he in a airman flight suite who looked like he was about to take the audience on an excursion into world beat. DJ E3 also looked very elegant in his shalwar kameez. Musical highlights of the night included DJ Anjali dropping Shantel's Disko Partizani before launching into a Gitano Global set of Balkan tunes followed by a full-on ragga dancehall blowout. The Incredible Kid played a smashing bhangraton set including Bally Sagoo's Whiskey di Bottle and the latest sounds of the phenomenal genre known as reggaeton. E3 spun an eclectic global beat with everything from Bassnectar (Snake Charmer & Yo) to a reDesified mix of DJ H feat. Lehmber Hussainpuri's Ishq Brandy. Acting as hosts, Anjali and The Kid even had a huge tres leches cake to commemorate the occasion and feed the throngs of dancing people who had completely filled the two rooms of Holocene and were dancing (including yours truly) all up against the raised stage in the inside hall.
Fast forward a few months later into the new year and Atlas is still the place to be in Portland for the worldbeat fan on every second Saturday of the month.This time out, DJ E3 opened with a mini dubstep set followed by everything from hiphop rai (Clandestino by Rim-K feat. Mohamed Lamine & Sherene) to hiphop gnaoua (Fnaire's Yed El Henna). The Incredible Kid followed with an hour-long set of Balkan tunes and vintage meren-house and meren-rap mixed in with the latest reggaeton tunes in homage to the current musical passion and world music background of this maverick DJ. Anjali followed suit with a bhangra set showcasing the various fusions with electronic music and a touch of Asian Underground.
Something interesting happened during the Incredible Kid's second hour-long set. Apparently, there were a couple of people who were celebrating their birthdays. As a gift, he played a contemporay Bollywood set including his signature blend of a remix of the original version of the Bollydisco classic Jimmy Aaja with that of M.I.A's reimagined version. The birthday man in the crowd promptly rushed on top of the DJ stage to dance to the Bollywood and bhangra hits by the team of Anjali and The Kid--the scene looked like something straight out of a musical scene in a Bollywood film! Another special treat came in the form of witnessing the Americans on the dancefloor trying out their bhangra moves while the Punjabis on the dancefloor proceeded to dance to the Balkan tunes--world peace and unity achieved on the dancefloor of Atlas Pdx!
Four years ago, I had the pleasure of checking out Atlas in its first year. The world/global beat nightclub scene in Portland has expanded since then. Today, regular gigs also take place at venues such as the Crown Lounge hosted by DJ GlobalRuckus www.myspace.com/djglobalruckus (I had the pleasure of attending a post-event session following a March 4th Marching Band concert where GlobalRuckus played everything from MC Rai to balkanica and bhangra in a tag team set with DJ Joro of the famed Mehanata Bulgarian Bar in NYC) and the new revitalized Pi-rem www.pi-rem.com/ The unique place Atlas holds in the Portland music scene is as a pioneer of a truly international and global world beat clubnite, one that shows every sign of growth and expansion for many years to come.
This thread is a continuation of one I started four years ago worldmusic.tribe.net/thread/...7c0fb84f Basically, I started it so we could share info on the efforts of DJs and other individuals in promoting our fave musical genre in the club scene, which will hopefully encourage us to attend and show our support for some these events. As usual, one-off events can still be listed under Tribe listings; once again, this thread should focus more on reviews of regular world music club gigs in different localities.
Having started my last thread in Portland, OR, I return once again to XLR8R and Six Degrees Records present ATLAS - International Heat with DJs Anjali, The Incredible Kid, and E3 at Holocene www.anjaliandthekid.com/
Holocene is a lounge-dance club that plays host to the city's most diverse, multicultural, worldtronica club nite, ATLAS. I have had the pleasure of returning to this most original world/global beat-themed night on two occasions: the fourth anniversary edition last year as well as most recently this year.
The ATLAS residents pride themselves on not being pigeon-holed in their sonic selections, a characteristic that has become the trademark of this Portland club nite. The fourth-year anniversary celebration found DJ Anjali and The Incredible Kid all dressed up--she in a resplendent vintage sari, a classic Air India flight attendant ensemble from the glory days of jet air travel in the 70s), and he in a airman flight suite who looked like he was about to take the audience on an excursion into world beat. DJ E3 also looked very elegant in his shalwar kameez. Musical highlights of the night included DJ Anjali dropping Shantel's Disko Partizani before launching into a Gitano Global set of Balkan tunes followed by a full-on ragga dancehall blowout. The Incredible Kid played a smashing bhangraton set including Bally Sagoo's Whiskey di Bottle and the latest sounds of the phenomenal genre known as reggaeton. E3 spun an eclectic global beat with everything from Bassnectar (Snake Charmer & Yo) to a reDesified mix of DJ H feat. Lehmber Hussainpuri's Ishq Brandy. Acting as hosts, Anjali and The Kid even had a huge tres leches cake to commemorate the occasion and feed the throngs of dancing people who had completely filled the two rooms of Holocene and were dancing (including yours truly) all up against the raised stage in the inside hall.
Fast forward a few months later into the new year and Atlas is still the place to be in Portland for the worldbeat fan on every second Saturday of the month.This time out, DJ E3 opened with a mini dubstep set followed by everything from hiphop rai (Clandestino by Rim-K feat. Mohamed Lamine & Sherene) to hiphop gnaoua (Fnaire's Yed El Henna). The Incredible Kid followed with an hour-long set of Balkan tunes and vintage meren-house and meren-rap mixed in with the latest reggaeton tunes in homage to the current musical passion and world music background of this maverick DJ. Anjali followed suit with a bhangra set showcasing the various fusions with electronic music and a touch of Asian Underground.
Something interesting happened during the Incredible Kid's second hour-long set. Apparently, there were a couple of people who were celebrating their birthdays. As a gift, he played a contemporay Bollywood set including his signature blend of a remix of the original version of the Bollydisco classic Jimmy Aaja with that of M.I.A's reimagined version. The birthday man in the crowd promptly rushed on top of the DJ stage to dance to the Bollywood and bhangra hits by the team of Anjali and The Kid--the scene looked like something straight out of a musical scene in a Bollywood film! Another special treat came in the form of witnessing the Americans on the dancefloor trying out their bhangra moves while the Punjabis on the dancefloor proceeded to dance to the Balkan tunes--world peace and unity achieved on the dancefloor of Atlas Pdx!
Four years ago, I had the pleasure of checking out Atlas in its first year. The world/global beat nightclub scene in Portland has expanded since then. Today, regular gigs also take place at venues such as the Crown Lounge hosted by DJ GlobalRuckus www.myspace.com/djglobalruckus (I had the pleasure of attending a post-event session following a March 4th Marching Band concert where GlobalRuckus played everything from MC Rai to balkanica and bhangra in a tag team set with DJ Joro of the famed Mehanata Bulgarian Bar in NYC) and the new revitalized Pi-rem www.pi-rem.com/ The unique place Atlas holds in the Portland music scene is as a pioneer of a truly international and global world beat clubnite, one that shows every sign of growth and expansion for many years to come.
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Re: NYC World Music Club Nites In Your Area, Pt. 2
Fri, May 2, 2008 - 2:35 AMThe first of two world music clubland adventures on a Thursday night in a world music-drenched Big Apple.
Went to fellow World Music tribe member DJ I, Storm's Thurday nite gig in Little Italy/Soho www.obivia.com/events.html While his Friday night residency at Camaradas el Barrio (currently in its third year) in Spanish Harlem www.camaradaselbarrio.com/ has more of a world beat flava, he nonetheless served up a mini Camaradas-esque set at Obivia which included a Brazilian-influenced broken beat number by Azymuth and a couple of Latin house numbers that go down really well in el barrio.
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Re: Surya Dub vs Sub Swara @ Love
Sat, May 3, 2008 - 7:10 AMSub Swara is a two and a half year old NYC-based collective of electronic music producers and artists www.subswara.com/ My first encounter with this collective was when they played a show in Vancouver, BC. in May of 2006 hosted by Beats Without Borders. At that time, since I was rushing back from a Niyaz show as part of Vancouver Jazzfest, I only managed to catch the second half of their act which I wrote up in an end of the year post on 12/30 worldmusic.tribe.net/thread/...62be9898
Their brand of global electronica has roots in the Jamaican dub and Asian Underground scenes with a tip o' the hat to London and San Francisco. Speaking of the latter, the show last nite was billed as a Surya Dub vs Sub Swara edition, Surya Dub being the award-winning dub and global beat monthly at iconic Club Six in San Francisco www.suryadub.com Members of both crews hailed from the groundbreaking Bay Area-collective that was Dhamaal Soundsystem www.dhamaalsf.com/
I last experienced Surya Dub at Club Six in May of last year when they hosted Badawi in the Sub Hz Den and Lady Ra of Beats Without Borders in the Inna Yard. That was a fantastic show--I distinctly remembered dancing to DJ Amar's electro-tango and bhangra-laden opening set followed by Lady Ra spinning global dub and hiphop including Bole2Harlem and her own Pardesi tracks--a fortuitous evening that was attended by luminaries of the Bay Area global beat scene including musician/producer Jef Stott and DJ/producer Soulsalaam.
Stepping out of my taxi at Love at 10 pm (I admit I made an effort to come early after having experienced a typical NYC club entry waiting line at Basement Bhangra the previous night, more on my experience at this iconic NYC world/global-themed club nite later), who do I see but DJ/producer Maneesh The Twister www.myspace.com/maneeshthetwister walking to the club Love from across the street, a serendipitous event that reminded me of when I arrived at 1015 SF for Worldly V in March 06. Inside, I met the other Surya Dub resident artist in town for the gig, Kush Arora www.kusharora.com/ , Sub Swara MC Juakali whom I had also seen at Surya Dub last year www.myspace.com/juakali , and resident Sub Swara artists including Dhruva www.myspace.com/dhruvamusic (who mentioned that he would be touring Europe with gigs in London and the Clandestino festival in Sweden) , turntablist Sunder www.myspace.com/fraktion8r and DJ/electronic music producer Haj www.freekfactory.com/ whom I had previously seen on this trip the previous week at another event at Love, Church feat. Bassnectar.
At 11 pm, Haj was spinning his signature dub-infused midtempo electronica set while people began to trickle in to Love. Just before midnite, Dhruva got behind the decks and spun some dancehall reggae and rapso before transitioning into a very underground set that had me surmising if I might have been hearing cuts from the forthcoming Sub Swara album due out next year. Sunder soon joined him and the tempo picked up several notches; all the while Juakali was doing his Jamaican toasting. At a quarter to 1, Juakali introduced Kush Aurora who played his live global beat electronica set that delineates the sonic nuances between the Surya Dub sound, fully immersed in the global beat/tribal dance/burner scene of the Bay Area, and that of Sub Swara rooted in the undergound dance/burner scene of the Big Apple.
Several Punjabi bhangra, Jamaican dub, and other South Asian-infused midtempo dance tracks later, he was joined by Maneesh the Twister who spun a mindblowing set of dub and reggae-influenced dance music with varying tempo that delighted the dancefloor. By this time, the main dancefloor of Love was filled with dancing bodies dancing to the beats served by the talented artists performing that night. It is easy to see how Surya Dub has managed to hold its own at Club Six owing to the diversity of music and artists just like how Sub Swara has thrived in the Apple with its roster of talented resident artists. Definitely two artist collectives I plan to keep tabs on in the future.
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Re: World Music Club Nites In Your Area, Pt. 2
Sat, May 3, 2008 - 9:45 PMA monthly or semi monthly of thematic nights in the works. I'll keep you posted. That night with Joro was a blast. So glad you got to be there to share my birthday and the good times.
K
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Re: World Music Club Nites In Your Area, Pt. 2
Sun, May 4, 2008 - 12:14 PMHi Jacques,
Thanks so much for all your support and encouragement over the years. We have been really fortunate that Portland has supported our vision and made Atlas possible. Here's to you, and all other past and future dancers.
IK -
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Re: Portland World Music Club Nites In Your Area, Pt. 2
Mon, May 5, 2008 - 12:59 AMThanks to the two of you, Pdx is never lacking in world/global beat nites!
Can't wait to dance again in the Northwest! :D -
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Watcha Clan live in Nijmegen
Thu, May 8, 2008 - 1:43 AMhey, gonna head up this weekend to Nijmegen to see Watcha Clan and Makossa & Megablast at the afterparty of Music Meeting festival in Nijmegen.
For the rest i'm looking forward to the Glastonbury festival end of june where loads of nice bands and dj's coming up.
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