Carla Pires began her singing career in 1993, participating in several musical projects, recording soundtracks and playing roles as an actress for TV series in Portugal. For three years, she performed the young Amalia Rodrigues in the successful Portuguese musical about this fado idol.

She established herself as a fado singer in 2008, when she embarked on a 10-concert tour of France and also performed in Spain, Austria and Algeria. Since then, she has constantly toured internationally, entertaining audiences in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America with more than 400 performances around the world.

Some of the highlights were performances at prestigious venues such as Osaka Symphony Hall, Okayama Symphony Hall, Hiroshima Bunka Gakuen Hall, Kobe International House, Nakano Sun Plaza-Tokyo (Japan), Graz Opera (Austria), Södra Teatern (Stockholm, SE), Concertgebow Amsterdam (NL), Cirque d’Hiver and Théâtre de la Ville (Paris, France) and Teatro Solís (Montevideo, Uruguay).

VIDEO: NL VPRO TV - Vrije Geluiden Program: Meu amor, meu amor

Following her debut album Ilha do meu fado (Ocarina,2005), Carla released Rota das Paixões (Ocarina/World Village, 2012). In 2014, at the invitation of the prestigious Portuguese choreographer Vasco Wellenkamp, Carla Pires embarked on tour of 42 dates through The Netherlands with the show fado, a co-production between the Portuguese National Contemporary Ballet and the International Danstheater (Amsterdam) about fado, with live music performed by the singer. This show won the Audience Dance Award 2014.

Pires’ third solo album "AQUI" was released in November 2016. "AQUI" sings of the city of Lisbon - female, free, diverse - where so many genres meet fado, such as tango or samba… and where they find a natural union in the voice of Carla Pires and the instruments of the musicians.

2017 follwed the "Aqui" World tour, with concerts in France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Poland and a 14-concert tour of Japan, between 28 October and 14 November, at the best venues of the main cities: Kasaoka Civic Hall |Okayama Symphony Hall |Arkas Sasebo |Hiroshima Bunka Gakuen Hbg Hall | Higashi Kurara Hall |Izumo-Shi Shimin Kaikan | Kobe International House |Osaka Symphony Hall (2 concerts) | Nara-Ken Bunka Kaikan | Wakayama Municipal Auditorium |Joyo City Cultural Center | Nakano Sun Plaza Hall (Tokyo). 2020 she released the album Cartogrofando (Ocarina) in Europe.

VIDEO: Live bei Radio-Warschau: Lisboa Menina e Moça

On stage, supported by excellent musicians and their distinctive sound, Carla Pires has a remarkable presence and the power and talent to thrill her audiences. She is a great singer with a unique voice, which carries the fado and its special feeling through amazing musical roots.

LIVE Line-up: Carla Pires (voice) | Bruno Mira (Portuguese guitar) | André Santos (classical guitar) | João Novais (Doublebass)

CARLA Pires website: https://carlapires-fado.com/

Sunny Jain’s „Wild Wild East" encompasses myriad facets of Jain’s identity both as a first-generation South Asian–American and as a global musician, from his own family’s immigration story to his eclectic musical upbringing. In recasting the immigrant—steeped in the courage to leave a familiar homeland for a new beginning—as the modern-day cowboy and cowgirl, Jain sources musical inspiration from the scores of Bollywood classics and Spaghetti Westerns, Indian folk traditions, jazz improvisation, and rollicking psychedelic and surf guitar styles. Sunny Jain’s Wild Wild East is rooted in the contemporary American soundscape, singing in a new voice, "I am large, I contain multitudes.

Debut album on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings released February 21, 2020

Sunny Jain - Wild Wild East, offizielles Video:

Immigrant Warrior, das making of von Sunny Jain´s Wild Wild East:

Jain is best known as the dhol-pounding bandleader of Red Baraat, the frenzied fusion of bhangra, hip-hop, jazz, rock, and unbridled energy that NPR called "the best party band in years." The drummer and composer has collaborated with jazz artists Vijay Iyer, Donny McCaslin, Norah Jones, and Kyle Eastwood; the Sufi rock band Junoon; rapper Himanshu Suri (aka Heems), producer Andres Levin and singer Peter Gabriel. Jain has been commissioned to write new music by NPR, Aaron Copland Music Fund, Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer & MASS MoCA. In 2019, Jain served as musical director for the OBIE award-winning theatrical show, The Jungle, as well as Lincoln Center’s 60th Anniversary celebration.

Sunny Jain website: https://www.sunnyjain.com/

DUDU TASSA & THE KUWAITIS is the Israeli band that opened Coachella festival 2017 and was chosen by Radiohead as its support act for 2017’s spring tour of the USA. With the release of the new album „El Hajar“ in 2019, the band is ready to enter the global stage.

DUDU TASSA, one of Israel’s leading rock stars, is the grandson of Kuwaiti musician Daoud Al-Kuwaiti, whose musical collaborations with his brother Saleh as the Al-Kuwaiti Brothers became famous in the Arabic world between the 1930s and 1950s. Their music was later banned in Iraq by Saddam Hussein during his regime when he discovered that the singers were not Arabic, but Jewish. Being of Iraqi-Jewish (and Yemeni) descent, Tassa’s exploration of his roots revealed an amazing musical history.

DUDU TASSA has released 12 albums, the first of which when he was only 13 years old. He has collaborated with many prominent artists, composed for television and cinema and has featured as actor and musician in Israeli films. His concerts are sold out weeks in advance.

Having spent the last two decades gaining a reputation for his own original work, DUDU TASSA one day came across a box of old tapes by his grandfather and great-uncle.

The Al-Kuwaiti Brothers were among the greatest composers and musicians in Baghdad during the first half of the 20th century, considered innovators and creators of modern Iraqi music, who also helped to establish Bagdad’s original broadcasting authority. They were among the King’s favourite singers at that time and regularly performed at palaces and stadiums. Their songs remain popular in the Arab world today.

In the 1950s they emigrated to Israel, where they resorted to a humble existence, selling appliances in a market by day and playing music mostly in private and on rare occasions at a wedding.

On his albums with DUDU TASSA & THE KUWAITIS, “Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis” (2011), “Ala Shawati“ (2015) and his 3rd release “El Hajar” (2019), TASSA turns his powerful voice and innovative musicianship to salute the Al-Kuwaiti Brothers, the ground-breaking mid twentieth century Iraqi band featuring his grandfather and great uncle.

Tassa sings their original songs in Iraqi Arabic and integrates Iraqi, Middle-Eastern, and Israeli Rock music, his own distinctive style has been shown in the impressive "Iraq'n'roll" documentary film at numerous documentary film festivals.

Line-up:
Dudu Tassa (voice, guitar)
Adel Jubran (Cello)
Ariel Qassus (Qanun)
Barak Kram (Drums & percussions)
Loay Naddaf (Violin)
Nir Maimon (Producer & Bass Guitar)
Nissren Kadre (Vocal)

Homepage Band: www.the-kuwaitis.com 

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Tassa, who hadn’t known his grandfather, listened to hundreds of Al-Kuwaiti Brothers’ songs on old records and tapes of his mother’s and began choosing tracks he felt he could modernise and combine with his own sound. His project resulted in first two albums: Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis (2011) and Ala Shawati (2015). ‘Wen Ya Galub‘, the lead off single from debut album Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis, was the first Arabic song to be playlisted on the largest, premier radio station in Israel.

Both recordings, helmed by TASSA and his musical partner Nir Maimon, salute the Al-Kuwaitis legacy, revive their songs and integrate Iraqi, Middle-Eastern, and rock music in a unique style. The songs were recorded in Iraqi Arabic, which TASSA learnt especially for the project. On both albums, TASSA hosts Jewish and Arab singers and performers, from Israel and Iraq (including the notable singer and champion of Iraqi music, Ismail Fadel). Now, “El Hajar“ marks the third album in his series and the first to be released in Europe.

DUDU TASSA & THE KUWAITIS is not merely about the powerful voice, musicianship and energy of the performers, but also about doing justice to an important chapter in the history of popular Arabic music.

The recording of the first album was documented in “Iraq’n’roll” (2011), a film which tells the story of reviving the Al Kuwaiti Brother’s music and was screened at many international film festivals.

The project received praise from all around the world, including the countries that serve as the roots of this music, Iraq and Kuwait. Since then, has performed at the Babel Med Music Showcase in France, toured in the United States, including a SXSW Showcase, and played at Womex, the Colours of Ostrava Festival, Sziget Festival in Hungary, and a show at the United Nations building in New York celebrating the cross-cultural nature of the project.

An intriguing story and a marvellous set of music, DUDU TASSA & THE KUWAITIS album “El Hajar” gives us a great taste of history and a hopeful, inspiring and fascinating look into the future.

OqueStrada renews and changes the traditions of Portuguese music. OqueStrada´s music comes from the suburbs, bars and shady corners of Lisbon. Far from music studios this unlikely group has created a reputation on the road. The six musicians have taken the name Oquestrada, a neologism mixing "orquestra" and "estrada" (road), yet, more than just a contraction, this represents a new horizon and a new ambition.

"Changing paths that’s what we love!" proclaims singer Marta Miranda in "Tourner en Rond", a strange rustic rap that flirts with melodic folk. And my god it moves in all directions!

Their nomadic swing travels long distances with a little melancholy in their rucksacks, a good sense of offbeat humour and tickets of acidic humour in their suitcases, or rather trunks, which exude scents from around the world. The fununa from Cape Verde, the Congolese semba, the Argentine tango, their home fado, French musette, jazz and ska impregnate the music as they sing in Portuguese, Creole, Spanish, French and English. Oquestrada is an eclectic bazar that’s completely unique, just like the instruments they’ve put together (including washtub bass and percussion chair) and like the style they’ve created, the Tasca Beat!

More than music, it’s the soundtrack of a country in transition, a surrealist cabaret where the Saudade combines with glimpses of the future.

OqueStrada developed with songs like "Oxalá Te Veja", "Creo carino" and "Se’sta Rua fosse minha" cult-status in Portugal. International TV- and radio features like the German Late Night Show INAS NACHT and ARTE TV, Metropolis led them to international success. OqueStrada played in Spain, Germany, Austria and France and at the "Creation of Peace Festival" in Kazan, Russia in front of 80.000 people. In 2012 OqueStrada was invited to perform as the first portugues music groupe ever, next to Seal, Jennifer, Hudson and Ne-Yo at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway.