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Biography

Press Information

Reggae / Soul / Dub

"One of the best blends of global funky elements we've ever heard...Great stuff all around, and a record that's almost more funkily exciting than all those old Jamaican platters you've sorted through trying to get a sound like this!"

• Dustygroove

"Jungle Struttin’ is closer in spirit to the deep groove of Sound Dimension than most of what’s come off the island since."

• Now Magazine (Canada)

"The L.A. collective emerges with an outstandingly distilled, urban sound that mines dub reggae in a vintage yet completely fresh way by tastefully blending it with soul and funk."

- Orlando Weekly

THE LIONS is the result of an impromptu recording session including members of Breakestra, Connie Price and the Keystones, Rhythm Roots All-Stars, Orgone, Sound Directions, Plant Life, Poetics and Macy Gray (to name a few). They gathered together at Orgone's Killion Studios in Los Angeles to lay down some jamaican inspiried tracks. The grooves created that day went beyond the Reggae spectrum combining JA riddims and dub mixing mastery with the global sounds of Ethiopia, Colombia, and Africa.

One of the many gems includes a Rock-Steady, horn heavy version of Lyn Collins' THINK, arranged by Todd Simon (Quantic Soul Orchestra, Antibalas, Sound Directions, Keystones, etc.) which features guest vocalists Noelle Scaggs (The Rebirth) and Black Shakespeare (I & I Sound System). Dan Ubick aka Connie Price, contributes with a vocal version of his classic Roots instrumental SWEET SOUL MUSIC featuring guest vocalists Alex Desert and Deston Berry from HEPCAT.

THE LIONS are an example of the ever-growing musical family found in Los Angeles. Beleive it or not, but there is a vibe to be found in the spread out, artificial, Hollywoodland of LA. Many of the LIONS met through the LA staple rare groove outfit BREAKESTRA and have stayed within many projects together throughout the past 10 years.

THE LIONS Live Line Up:

Blake Colie: drums, Dave Wilder: bass, Sergio Rios: guitar

Dan Ubick: guitar, Davey Chegwidden: percussion

Danny Hastie: organ, clavinet, piano

Todd M. Simon: trumpet, flugelhorn, David Ralicke: trombone, saxophone, James King or Tracy Wannomae: saxophone

Alex Desert: vocals, Deston Berry: vocals, Malik Moore: vocals

Black Shakespeare: toasting/vocals, Steve Kaye: Mixing Engineer

RADIO MUNDIAL

THE NEW NUYORICAN SOUND

Based in Brooklyn, RADIO MUNDIAL is a collaboration of brothers Jean and Richard Shepherd. Born in Bronx and raised in Miami by their Puerto Rican mother and Peruvian father, they released their first CD on Gary Kurfirst (Talking Heads, Ramones etc.) and Chris Blackwell's (U2, Bob Marley) new indie lable, RxRecords/Palm Pictures.  RADIO MUNDIAL'S concept is best summed up by All Music Guide's Thom Jurke: "Their music is a unique fusion of Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Latin Music with the street music of Brooklyn's neighbourhoods. RADIO MUNDIAL perform dance floor music of the highest order where Ska, Reggae, steaming Funk, and a polyrhythmic assault take on Rock n' Roll in a free for all of skittering joyously raucous, largely accoustic-based music, where anything goes."  Radio Mundial's music is a powerful fusion of LATIN FUNK. Made out of the 70's New York Salsa and old school Funk Music from Harlem. Puerto Rico's national instrument Cuatro gives the unique sound to the bands music. After great shows in the big US cities and festivals RADIO MUNDIAL  brought their strong and infectious live performance in the summer of 2004 to Europe. They performed for example at such prestigious festivals like: Arezzo Love Wave Festival, Womad Festival Reading and Istanbul Jazz Festival. They will participate in the WOMEX World Music meeting in Essen at the end of October 2004 and play a limited number of festivals and clubs afterwards. In 2005 Radio Mundial did their second European Festival Tour and performed at big summer festivals like Roskilde Festival in Denmark, Festival Latino Americando in Milan, only to name a few. Carlos Santana did a cover version of 'La Raiz', the title song of RM's first CD, which is on Santana's new CD 'All that I Am'. It's called 'El Fuego' there. Radio Mundial's new CD 'Momento Eterno' was produced by Yerba Buena's Andres Levin and  will be released in the beginning of 2006. The band will promote their new album with an European summer tour.     

See Videos of Radio Mundial: Live 2004 / With Santana 2005 / Video-Info file

LINE UP: Jean Shepherd - Vocals, Electric Guitar, Cuatro,
Richard Shepherd - Vocals, Electric Guitar,
John Uman - Congas, Timbales
Patrice Blanchard - Bass
Eric Bolivar ­ Drums
*Cuatro: A ten-string guitar-like instrument unique to Puerto Rico and the national instrument of the rural farmers. Usually carved from solid blocks of laurel wood and known for resonances and pitches different from those produced by its Spanish counterpart, this instrumentŒs graceful body has been revered for decades as the national instrument of Puerto Rico. Jean Shepherd learned to play the cuatro from his uncle in the mountains of Puerto Rico.

Ska Cubano

JAMAICA MEETS CUBA

Ska Cubano fuse the sounds of pre-revolutionary Cuba with Jamaica’s choppy ska and the occasional ripe Colombian Cumbia to create a brew that kicks like a cocktail blending Wray & Nephew + Havana Club. They arrived fully formed in 2004 as the lost musical link between the Caribbean islands of Cuba and Jamaica. Jamaican immigration into Cuba in the 1920s & 1930s guaranteed Cuban cultural kinship with Jamaica, reflected in the huge popularity of Spanish versions of Jamaican calypsos in the 1950s.
The Cuban Revolution in 1959 cut off Cuban/Jamaican cultural interaction, consequently ska never took root in Cuba in the 1960s although founder members of Jamaica’s finest ska outfit The Skatalites, Rolando Alphonso and Tommy McCook, as well as Ska Don Laurel Aitken, were all born there. The emergence of Ska Cubano is the creation of alternative cultural history.
 A line up featuring Natty Bo in his Cab Calloway threads on vocals and super-charged stage presence; Megumi Mesaku aka Miss Megoo on Alto and Baritone sax and bringing great musical skill alongside effortless glamour; Jesus Cutino all flowing locks and tres licks; wise sage Eddie ‘Tan Tan’ Thornton who’s played his trumpet with everyone from The Beatles to Georgie Fame’s Blue Flames to Jimi Hendrix to Jazz Jamaica; MD Rey Crespo on rock steady double bass; look the part - and they deliver. They make crowds smile, skank and wind their collective waist. They’re bawdy and infectious, a visual and musical feast, there’s nothing like them. But backing up the obvious fun and frolics there is mucho musicality.
 
 In 2004, debut CD “Ska Cubano” was released to great acclaim:
 
“It’s brilliant.” Observer Music Monthly
“…highly entertaining album.” The Daily Telegraph
“Unquestionably a canonazo, a smash hit…” Songlines
“The Skatalites in Santiago de Cuba – that is the spirit of this brilliant concoction.” Evening Standard

and the band hit the road with gigs from New York’s Central Park to Tokyo.
 
In 2005 the band released their follow up ¡Ay Caramba! which added cumbia picante to the party:
 
 “Altogether a triumph: if Ska Cubano didn’t exist, it would be imperative to invent them....”   Songlines ****
“… utterly infectious.” Metro.
“… in a perfect, parallel UK, this album would generate a handful of top 10 singles.” Independent On Sunday

More rambunctious live shows followed, from Nobel Prize celebrations to Glastonbury and Roskilde Festivals.

“Ajiaco”(pronounced Ay-Hee-Ako ) which is a Cuban stew made of indigenous root vegetables, as well as being a hot favourite in Colombia. “Aijaco” is also the name of the new Ska Cubano remix collection with contributions from Da Lata, Spiritual South, DJ Dolores, The Sea (aka Latin Dub Collective/Corin Pennington), Ojos de Brujo’s DJ Panko and many more. Each adds different flavours to the unique Ska Cubano sound in their own style and fashion highlighting reggae, dub, afrobeat, drum and bass and much more.

Line-Up:
Benny Bily: Lead vocal
Natty Bo: Vocal
Leonardo Alexander: Piano
Megumi Mesaku: Alto & Bariton Saxophon
Rene Dominguez: Tenor Saxophon
Tan Tan: Trumpet
Yorkie: Trombone
Rey Crespo: Double Bass
Jesus Cutino: Tres-guitar
Dr. Sleepy: Drums
Oreste Noda: Percussion

HAJAmadagascar & The Groovy People

Roots Trance Music From Madagascar

Madagascar – a natural jewel in the Indian Ocean – is more than a paradise refuge of lemurs, chameleons, and rare orchids. An island brimming with love of life, Madagascar prides itself as a country in which music always enhances everyday living. When HAJAmadagascar and his band turn up the heat, even the coolest audience melts after just a short time. Like a river that overflows its dams, sweeping away everything in its path, the Groovy People's show also generates immense energy around its charismatic guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, and above all showman. Whenever HAJAmadagascartakes the stage with hisGroovy People, it's party time! Or – to use the phrase describing Madagascar 's exuberant festival – it's a real “riba satrana” or “bal poussière” or “ball of dust”. That's because wild dancing swirls under open skies until a cloud of dust wraps up the happy celebrants at daybreak. After a while, hardly anyone can withstand the power of this "trance music". Actually, “The Groovy People” is a project of gathering musicians from different African and African Diaspora countries. HAJAmadagascar’s compositions, rooted in Malagasy tradition, are spiced, coloured, decorated, and enhanced by each musician’s influences, depending on his origins (and, of course, the way he plays his instruments). HAJAmadagascar is also a musicologist “in my free time, as a hobby” This avocation comes naturally for a versatile musician intrigued by his land’s festive traditions, its native instruments, and the unique song-and-dance scene its gifted musicians create. “Our music reflects our being,” he says. “We love our traditions, but we live in big cities at the same time. Tradition and modernity can live well together. Afro-grooves are endless.”

Trance roots music, Afro-trance, Afro-fusion…

The basic ingredients come from Madagascar ’s very rich tradition of trance roots music. The spices come from Afro and Afro-Diaspora styles everywhere. We call each other «groove searchers»; we cook the “grooves”. The mainstream of our rehearsals seeks the different “grooves”. Then they’re “cooked” for hours and hours, spiced by the experience of each “groove searcher” in turn. The band's music blends in as colourfully as the population of the exotic island. No rhythm resounds twice. The hot program's rainbow stretches from Malagasy salegy, bahoejy, and antosy to beats originating on the African mainland and hot grooves from South America as well as reggae and funk. Line-up

HAJAmadagascar: (Madagascar) Vocal, Guitar, Marovany, Kabosy, Ngoma, Jejy, Faray, Valiha, Percussion
 Luis Ribeiro: (Brasil) Drums, Berimbao, Kalimba, Percussion, Vocal
 Liva Zista Kamarady: (Madagascar) Keyboard, Bass, Vocal, Percussion