Respect plus 2006
Zuco 103
4. 2. - Palác Aktopolis, 19:30 / Respect Plus
Can you mix samba with DJ culture? Brazil's carnival with Berlin's Love Parade? Zuco do it on expert level, fusing high energy of a live drummer and keyboard magician with the stunning voice of Lilian Vieira from Rio de Janeiro. In 2002, they thrilled the Prague audiences at the Respect Festival. Their new album features the reggae pioneer Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Barcelona's loudest voice Dani Macaco.
Ba Cissoko
23. 3. - Palác Aktopolis, 19:30 / Respect Plus
If Jimi Hendrix was born in Africa, his name would be Ba Cissoko. In his 38 years, Ba is the Africa's most radical musician. While he plays the traditional kora, his 20 years younger accomplice uses an electrified version of this instrument and the bolon bass player transforms himself into maniac dancer on stage.
Kocani Orkestar
29. 3. - Palác Akropolis, 19:00 / Respect Plus
The brass band that initiated the current Balkan Brass fever is called Kocani Orkestar. The Underground director Emir Kusturica introduced them in his Balkan epic Time of the Gypsies. They also influenced the soundtrack composer Goran BregoviĆ and played on the anniversary album of their Romanian fellow virtuosi Taraf de Haidouks.
Konono No1 / KNG
25. 4. - Palác Akropolis / Respect Plus
Trance music from the war zone of Southern Congo, cultivated in streets of Kinshasa, played on thumb pianos, amplified by homemade microphones and heavily distorted by megaphones. This world-industrial sound was immediately discovered by the post-rock ava
Cabruera
30. 9. - Palác Akropolis, 19:30 / Respect Plus
"Music seems to flourish here, even if little else does,” says The Rough Guide to World Music about the tough Northeast of Brazil. The mangue beat alternative was pioneered by Chico Science who died in car crash - but thanks to him the local styles exploded into the world. In 2003 Cabruera were representing Brazil at MIDEM Festival in Cannes. Their new album, Proibido Cochilar (Sleeping Forbidden): Sambas for Sleepless Nights, is a dynamic mix of forró, rock, jazz, funk, rap, reggae, and drum ‘n’ bass, undergirded by the syncopated beat of samba, bursting with raw energy.
Susheela Raman
6. 10. - Palác Akropolis, 19:30 / Respect Plus
HOT SPICY SONGS Susheela Raman was born in London in 1973 to South Indian parents. During her childhood her family moved to Australia, where she grew up singing South Indian classical music and giving recitals. As a teenager she branched out into more blues-based music, which demanded quite different voice techniques. In 1995 she went to India to study with Shruti Sadolikar, one of the greatest living Hindustani vocalists. In 2001 she was nominated as the first world music artist for the British Mercury Prize, in January 2002 she received the BBC Radio 3 World Music Award in the Newcomer category. Her work with South Indian musicians climaxed in her last album Music for Crocodiles. Her producer, bandleader, guitarist and husband Sam Mills is well known from his projects for Peter Gabriel's Real World label.
Souad Massi
11. 11. - Palác Akropolis, 19:30 / Respect Plus
THE BRIGHT WORLD MUSIC PRINCESS OF ALGERIA As a teenager she studied Andalucian flamenco, five years later she toured Algeria with a hard rock band, a job risky even for a man in a country torn apart by the fundamentalists. After she moved to France and made her first CD, often often she was compared to Joan Baez or Tracy Chapman. But her sweet and spiraling voice speaks of another culture. Like Natacha Atlas, Souad Massi stands between Europe and Africa, but contrary to Atlas she writes these unique bitter-sweet songs by herself. Her mix of North-African melodies with European guitar sounds like a musical puzzle. All her 3 albums were massive sellers in France. This spring Souad Massi won the BBC Planet Award and joined Khaled and Rachid Taha as a world ambassador of Algerian music.
K'Naan
7. 12. - Palác Akropolis, 19:30 / Respect Plus
K'Naan was growing up during the civil war in Somalia and left his homeland aboard the very last commercial flight to Canada. "Where I'm from there are no police or fire fighters, we start riot's by burning car tires," K'Naan says in Hardcore, his take on Western rappers. His Canadian co-patriot K-os even replied by biting accusations, while the Brooklyn rapper Mos Def praised K'Naan and took him on his tour. In Geneva, invited by UN, in front of some of the biggest suits in the world, K'Naan won a standing ovation and African superstar Youssou N'Dour invited K'Naan to record with him. He made his debut The Dusty Foot Philosopher with producer Jarvis Church, one half of the Grammy award winning team Track and Field (Nelly Furtado). And recently, M-1 from the well known duo Dead Prez featured K'Naan on his Confidential album.
