Imarhan
Imarhan / 19.00 – 19.40
The Tuareg Rock scene swept more and more bands from the Sahel Zone to the international festivals. First of all the founding fathers of Tinariwen, successful for years and Grammy-winning, but also acts such as Tamikrest and Bombino. Imarhan from the Algerian town of Tamanrasset stand for the latest update of this kind of music: They gently open up the Assouf, basically the Tuareg Blues, to Pop music and West African rhythms. That’s how the group around Iyad Moussa Ben Abderrahmane ended up on the Berlin based label City Slang. Their enticing debut, also called Imarhan, will be premiered in Berlin at Pop-Kultur.
ESKA
Photo: Jaroslav Moravec
ESKA / 20.00 – 20.40
Whoever is touched by the voice of Eska Mtungwazi, will not forget it too quickly. It’s powerful, changeable, full of character, masters the quiet tones as well as the loud ones. Mtungwazi originates from London, was educated in classical music and already cooperated with Bobby McFerrin (!), Tony Allen (!!) and Grace Jones (!!!) – amongst many other sessions. She is fluent in the languages of jazz, folk, Pop or Soul. Moreover, the singing mother preserved this multifaceted nature for her own music. Her debut album, »ESKA«, is a personal didactic play in all things musical, historically knowledgeable but completely state of the art. But all of this is taking a backseat when Mtungazi is starting to sing – for the first time ever in Germany.
A-Wa
A-Wa / 21.00 – 22.00
Here come Ofra Haza’s heirs. Like the great Israeli singer, Tair, Liron and Tagel Haim descend from Yemeni Jews, who had to leave Yemen after Israel’s independence. Their grandma taught them numerous traditional love- and work songs, just as Yemeni women – Jewish and Muslim – had done for generations. Together with producer Tomer Yosef, known from Balkan Beat Box, the Haims translate this canon to modernity. A-Wa managed to create the first ever number one hit in Arabic language in Israel with their song »Habib Galbi«. But their infectious mix of folk and Hip Hop/Pop-beats is reaching more and more people outside of the country. Taking on self-written lyrics in Hebraic, Arabic and English on their debut album, A-Wa are on route to becoming a global Pop-phenomenon.