The Cuban Cowboys bring together rock ‘n’ roll and Latin beats with a punk sensibility that brings to mind such post-punk genre busters as The Pixies, Manu Chao, Jonathan Richman, and Moroccan cha’abi rockers Hoba Hoba Spirit. Musically promiscuous and lyrically inventive, head Cuban Cowboy, Jorge Navarro, has found the musical voice on their n

Trails Mixed

S.F.’s Cuban Cowboys flavor Latin grooves with punk power.

By Jeffrey Callen

The Cuban Cowboys‘ new album, Diablo Mambo, doesn’t hesitate to let you know what it is all about. Drop the digital needle on the first track and you learn all you need to know within the first 50 seconds: A Jimi Hendrix lick establishes the rock bona fides before the track morphs into a mambo section overlaid with a post-punk, art rock guitar pattern. The Hendrix lick then returns and signals the transition to driving punk guitars, but with a difference — the usual straight up-and-down thrash is blended with the sway of a Cuban son rhythm pattern. Two musical streams — rock and Latin music — are introduced, then blended, before the story of the song begins.

Bandleader/songwriter Jorge Navarro has interesting, engaging stories to tell. The opening track, “Cojones,” relates an early lesson in navigating the contradictions of the code of machismo taught by his knife-wielding grandfather. Navarro’s songs portray his family’s memories of a mythical Cuba born out of the nostalgia of exile and his experiences as a first-generation Cuban American, immersed in American pop culture and drawn to cowboy boots and rock ‘n’ roll. These two themes establish the narrative poles for the songs on Diablo Mambo, and Navarro skillfully navigates this bi-cultural territory, spinning tales of romance, sex, politics, and family. The music plays an essential role in the effectiveness of the stories, weaving together various tributaries from the two main musical streams — classic rock, punk rock, doo-wop, post–punk, rockabilly, and son, mambo, calypso, and salsa. (to read the rest, go to SF Weekly).

Excellent article by Ted Swedenburg on Khaled and rai — debunks prevalent misconceptions about both.  Brilliant!  Check out Ted’s HawgBlawg — well worth the time.

Khaled and the myth of rai | The Middle East Channel.

An excerpt:

Cheb Khaled, the Algerian rai singer who is probably the best-known Arabic singer on the planet, was selected this summer as one of NPR’s 50 Great Voices. Banning Eyre, a regular commentator on World Music on NPR and producer for Afropop Worldwide who has worked tirelessly to promote music from Africa, including the Maghreb, introduced Khaled to the NPR audience. Unfortunately, his introduction of Khaled repeated several unfortunate and misleading myths about rai music. Eyre presents a picture of an exceptional artist who favors tolerance and peace, and whose courageous positions have angered many Muslims and forced him to take refuge in the West. Eyre depicts Khaled as well as a kind of “bad boy,” in the image of a U.S. rock’n'roller. Khaled, from “a land [Algeria] torn apart by intolerance and violence,” says Eyre, “stood out as an artist who embraced openness and peace.” The real story of Khaled is more interesting, one rooted in Algerian politics and in its large and vibrant musical scene.

via Khaled and the myth of rai (Ted Swedenburg @ The Middle East Channel)

Related Articles

• Khaled: The King Of Rai (npr.org)

More on Taqwacore from جون بلوتن (Tales from Bradistan)

(1) A short excerpt from AMERICAN ARAB, an in-progress Kartemquin Films documentary by Usama Alshaibi, featuring Marwan Kamel of the Taqwacore band Al-Thawra.

(2) Another repost from Tales from Bradistan with some great photos of the Kominas

The Kominas Live In Bradistan

Following the ending of the taqwacore tour in the UK, Boston band The Kominas stayed on in order to play more shows. A hastily arranged session was put together in Bradistan and held at the Bradistan Playhouse. There was barely over twenty-four hours time to promote the gig plus it coincided with the world cup final so it was no surprise that it was very sparsely attended.

The gig was about as punk as it gets – no stage, half a drum kit with no microphones, no monitors and buzzing guitar leads – but the sound wasn’t that bad. The Kominas put in a typically energetic performance that lasted for around an hour. In the end they were taking requests from the audience and everyone who attended left satisfied.

Here is a selection of photographs that I took at the concert.

For more photographs click here

…one cannot revolutionize a (artistic) field without mobilizing or invoking the experiences of the history of the field, and the great heretics inscribe themselves explicitly in the history of the field, mastering its specific capital much more completely than contemporaries so that revolutions take the form of a return to sources (1996, pg. 238).

Previous writings on:

Tim Eriksen:

• • Postmodern Traditional Music How Tim Eriksen became perhaps the only musician to play with both Kurt Cobain and Doc Watson.
  • Finding a Voice (Interview of Tim Eriksen)
  • “Northern Roots,” “Americana,” “Traditional Music” — The Strategic Nature of Genre Definition

Carolina Chocolate Drops:

• • CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS DROP NEW ALBUM: “GENUINE NEGRO JIG”

MONDAY, 26 JULY 2010

Al Thawra

I am the revolution and you are the revolution
In your spirit you have the power
In your heart lies the secret
From your lips spills the truth
That the wine of power is in our blood
Together we can make a revolution
Tell your comrades
I am the revolution
We are the revolution

Recently I drove over to Preston to meet two of the bands that are at the forefront of thetaqwacore scene in the USA. I already wrote about The Kominas with some thoughts about the documentary film Taqwacore: The Birth Of Punk Islam. The other band on the tour were Al Thawra (“The Revolution” in arabic) from Chicago, a group that were not given much airtime in that film but certainly deserve greater recognition.

Al Thawra are a trio but on this trip they had expanded to four members. Syrian-Polish-American Marwan Kamel sings and plays guitar; Matt Scott stood in for the absent bassist Mario Salazar; Micah Bezold was on drums; and Adam Jennings from Winters In Osakaguested by playing the sampler. (to read on…)

Taqwacore

Taqwa - (Arabic: التقوى‎ at-taqwá) is the Islamic concept of “God-consciousness”

Core - (from Hardcore) is a subgenre of punk rock that’s generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock.

As humans, we need labels in order to describe things and have some kind of order in the world we live in. However, when it comes to music, labelling can become patently absurd. It seems like every genre of music has multiple off-shoots and for the outsider it can often be totally confusing to try and work your way through a maze of descriptive names. The metal and punk scenes in particular have a bewildering number of labels – how abouthardcore, hardline, street punk, grunge, metalcore, D-Beat, post-hardcore, emo, screamo,thrashcore, grindcore, sludge metal, crust punk or even anarcho-punk?

If that’s not enough then how about desi-punk, bollywood punk, raicore or punk islam? All of these terms are real and the ones in the last sentence all fall under the taqwacore genre that is attracting a lot of attention, in particular in the USA. If I wasn’t short of time and trying to get this blog entry together then I would probably think up a few terms of my own although I’m certain that someone like the satirists Chris Morris or Armando Iannuccicould do a lot better than my efforts.

While it starts to get quite laughable with all of these often quite ridiculous labels, the taqwacore genre is definitely worthy of attention as there are some quite interesting things happening in this scene. (to read the rest, click here).

THURSDAY, 8 JULY 2010

Al Thawra – Miskeen

I’m still putting together my blog entry on the taqwacore punk bands Al Thawra and The Kominas and hope to publish it shortly. Until then, following on from last week’s taster “Sharia Law In The USA” by The Kominas, here is a crisp biscuit from Chicago punks Al Thawra. “Miskeen” which is arabic for a poor or unlucky person is taken from their 2008 CD “Who Benefits From War”. This is about as abrasive arab music ever gets and is not for the faint-hearted.

There is not a definitive “taqwacore sound,” as artists incorporate various styles, ranging from punk to hip-hop, and musical traditions from the Muslim world; the Kominas describe their sound as “Bollywood punk”, Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate are rap and techno inspired music while Al-Thawra uses the term “raicore“, based on Arabic Raï music. (Wikipedia).

Reposted from Tales from Bradistan (more to come):

“If I could get some bubbles, I’d be forever indebted,” singer Craig Lyons tells the packed house at his Monday night gig. The crowd promptly complies, filling the room with bubbles while Lyons plays his tune “Under Water.”

Two nights earlier, the audience made it snow as he strummed the chords to his song “Winter.” Strangely enough, the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter has come to expect this type of supernatural behavior at his shows, which take place several times a week in Second Life, the virtual online world that allows users to interact with one another as avatars.

Despite declining media coverage after a few years of overexposure, Second Life lives on, and within its virtual borders a music scene has been thriving, with independent artists such as Lyons leading the charge. These artists are earning livings, promoting their music and supporting causes they believe in by performing in this virtual space, which has approximately 1 million users each month.

A fascinating article from Laura Ferreiro in the L.A. Times – Second Life’s thriving music scene — brought my attention to something I knew existed, Second Life (a virtual community where you can create a second life as an avatar) but had dismissed as trivial and as pitiful a way to spend your time as Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games that I thought had run their course and disappeared. They haven’t and Second Life seems like role-playing with balls (and all the other virtual viscera an avatar needs).

What I had no idea about was the music scene in Second Life. A few major acts have performed there, including Ben Folds and Suzanne Vega, but what is more astounding is that artists, such as singer-songwriter Craig Lyons have begun a career there that has taken them into non-avatar-driven virtual spaces and even non-virtual space. Fascinating!

When a Lady Fingers DJ spins a record, expect just about anything – from a mellow Reggae tune to South Asian beats, to swing and Soul. The Lady Fingers DJ Collective of Melbourne, Australia is all about music, diversity and sisterhood. Their message of equality through cross-cultural unity has just landed them a Moreland Award.

The Moreland Awards recognise the important contributions of women to social justice and community well-being. The awards acknowledge achievements in the areas of political, business, advocacy, organisational, and community projects and are part of Australia’s International Women’s Day Celebrations.

Lady Fingers DJ Collective was nominated for the creation of an empowering social enterprise that teaches DJ skills to young women from culturally and socially diverse backgrounds. Lady Fingers were acknowledged for reaching out to young women through community cultural events and providing skills to women in a field that has been traditionally dominated by men. What started as a community project quickly gathered a groundswell of interest from women of all cultural backgrounds.

The group, formed in 2009, is united by a love of music and dance that crosses all cultural boundaries. Lady Fingers members hail from rural Australia, Somalia, South Korea, Uruguay, Samoa, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Rwanda and give audiences beats that include Bhangra, swing, African, Rock, RNB and exotic styles from every corner of the planet.

At a time when Australia is plagued by race riots, hate crimes and ongoing criticism for the treatment of it’s indigenous people, Lady Fingers DJs draw on their combined cultural strength, their passion, their creativity and their DJ skills to bring their global beats and a message of peace and empowerment to ever increasing audiences, making big waves in the Australian World Music scene.

About the Author:  Dana Flannery is a professional media writer with a background in radio. Dana works with women of all backgrounds and nationalities through her work at Brisbane Civil Celebrant