Tune Your World

Mozambican musician Feliciano dos Santos, campaigns for clean water, wins Environmental Prize

Listen To Massukos's Album 'Bumping'

Feliciano dos Santos, leader of the group Massukos, just won the Goldman Environmental Prize for using  music to raise awareness about health, water and HIV/Aids issues.

Harnessing their popularity to fight poverty, Massukos make music that is not only phenomenally beautiful but also a powerful force for change. Massukos have an enviable reputation as the country's most successful band but they are also making their mark as initiators of social change. Originating from Niassa in northern Mozambique, one of the poorest parts of Africa, Massukos speak out against the hardships that have affected their lives. Passionate about what they do, the band travels for miles to remote villages to deliver simple life-saving messages such as “more condoms less partners”.

"I started using music when I realised that it was a good way to send a message and bring people together," Santos told BBC News.

"Even when you play a loud radio, people are drawn to it. Even when it plays sounds that are not about dirty water, they just want to listen to the sounds. I realised that music had this power, so for this reason we thought it would be good to mix it with what we wanted to achieve."

Santos said the $150,000 Goldman prize money would not change his life but it would help focus attention on what was happening on the ground in Mozambique and Africa.

"It shows that even if you live in poor places, such as Niassa, you can have an influence on the world. Let's not talk about the money, let's do things that can change the world. Don't think about awards, think about quality of life."

Santos said the $150,000 (£75,000) prize money would not change his life but it would help focus attention on what was happening on the ground in Mozambique and Africa.

Listen To Massukos' Album 'Bumping'

Tune Your World: Learn how you can microfinance Masukos' work...

Massukos, Feliciano dos Santos, Goldman Prize, Bumping

1,000 True Fans to Launch Calabash's Music Microfunding Platform!

What's the solution for how to survive as a struggling musician in the 21rst Century?

According to Wired Magazine editor Kevin Kelly's article, 1,000 True Fans,  an artist needs to find only 1,000 core fans -- defined as those who will buy everything produced by the artist. If each 'True Fan' is willing to give up a day's wage ($100)  each year to support the artist, then an artist can earn $100,000 per year.

It's a simple formula for artist success and it is exactly the path that Calabash is currently developing to allow fans to microfund working musicians. Calabash is changing the way the world finances music by applying the principles of microfinancing to the music industry.

Our groundbreaking approach is the creation of the 'Tune Your World' Music Microfund -- an online music microfunding platform and social network that allows any musician to raise money for their next recording project directly from their fans -- thus pre-financing the startup costs. Learn more about our micro-funding platform...

We're operating our Microfund on a people-to-people model: musicians obtain funding for their recordings without giving up ownership or control. Fan/Sponsors are able to feel a personal connection with a music project and get regular updates from musicians. Instead of buying music via a distribution network that prevents most of your money from getting to the artist, peer-to-peer micro-financing lets you sponsor small amounts directly to a particular musician.

Every artist has the same problem of obtaining capital for their next recording. Our microcredit platform will create fan-funded pre-financing of their startup costs. For example, Canadian artist Jill Sobule set up a page on her web site to raise $75,000 from her fans by creating several categories of sponsorship. $10 gets you a download copy of the album, while $10,000 let's you sing along during the recording session. Jill raised over $80,000 exceeding her goal!

With your help we can create an easy-to-use service that any of our artists can use to reach out to their own True Fans. You'll be providing opportunities to revitalize the music industry in places where the music industry has never really worked very well. You can participate in a new cottage industry of microfinancing recordings produced in music capitals across the globe.

To get this job done, Calabash needs our own True Fans. We've been running the gauntlet of trying to raise money from the Venture Capital world and are being told that while our concept is great, we should come back when we are grossing more than $5 million.

We don't need $5 million.

We're doing our own micro-credit campaign with you, our True Fans, to raise $100,000 -- which will pay our development costs to launch our musician micro-credit platform -- ultimately supporting all of the artists we work with around the world.

Use our Tune Your World widget below to help us reach our goal! Contributions to Calabash will be paid via your Payapl account.

We've created a variety of suggested funding levels -- each with its own reward:

$10 - Entry Level: 10-song download compilation

$25 - Bronze Level: 25-song compilation

$50 - Silver Level: 50-song compilation

Learn more...

www.tuneyourworld.com

Microfinance, Microcredit, Microfunding, 1000 True Fans,

Kafala Brothers - FREE Song: 'Salipo'!!

Today's FREE Song is from Angola!

FREE SONG:'Salipo'

Born in the village of Mazoso, in the province of Benguela, Angola, Moises and Jose Kafala both rose to national fame individually before their debut performance together in Luanda.

The Kafala Brothers' music is best described as Angolan folk music. Their songs are revolutionary in nature and reflect real life experiences, while painting poetic portraits of Angola's 30 year long war and continued struggle for national reconciliation. Using a single guitar and a flute, the Kafalas are able to tell stories of war, sadness, love and joy with conviction and heartbreaking vocal harmonies which have been known to provoke uncontrolled tears to well up in the eyes of those listening.

FREE SONG:'Salipo'

Get more music from Kafala Brothers here!!

Coco Mbassi - FREE Song: 'Na Menguele'!!

Today's FREE Song is by Coco Mbassi, She is Cameroonian, but she is principally based in Paris. Winner of the 1996 Radio France Internationale Decouvertes 'prize in the African music category, she is both an author and a composer.

FREE SONG:'Na Menguele'

Coco's songs tell stories often based on personal life experiences that she recalls. It's these stories and feelings that make her songs what they are today, and a great deal of these memories are made up of those old sepia-colored (black and white) photographs from home.

With a postgraduate degree in translation she began singing lead and chorus in the African gospel choir "Les Cherubins" and as a backing vocalist, she collaborated with various artists like Salif Keita, Oumou Sangare, Manu Dibango and Ray Lema.

The words to the songs of her mother tongue, Duala, are often found combined with jazzy, minimalist and classical arrangements, where vocal polyphony and African rhythm continue to play an important role. Coco Mbassi composes her own pieces and writes the words. Although her husband - who teaches as classical double-bassist - exercises a strong influence on her music writing, in her childhood she was permanently exposed at home to a wide variety of Händel, Makossa and jazz bigbands.

FREE SONG:'Na Menguele'

Get more music from Coco Mbassi here!!

Frédéric Galliano - FREE Song: 'Isto é kuduro w/Zoca Zoca'!!

Today's FREE Song is by Frederic Galliano and the Kuduro Sound System!

FREE SONG:'Isto é kuduro w/Zoca Zoca'

French DJ, Frederic Galliano,  has been working the French groove scene since 1994. He put together his own label, Frikyiwa, with artists and bands such as Hadja Kouyaté, Baye Coly, Néba Solo, Ali Boulo Santo, and others. His latest project, 'Kuduro Sound System', is all about dance and takes us across the continent of Africa to Angola.

The Kuduro was born in 1996 in Angola. Created by Tony Amado, the Angolan's Grandmaster Flash. Kuduro is an African electronic production, and Galliano's beats are a savant mix of programming inspired by Angola's carnival. Just check out the moves on the Kuduro Sound System's live video and you'll be a believer!!

FREE SONG:'Isto é kuduro w/Zoca Zoca'

Watch Kuduro Sound System's Live Video

Get more music from Frederic Galliano here!!

Kuduro, Frederic Galliano, Frikyiwa, Angola,

Soulfege Band Leader, Derrick Ashong, speaks his support for Barak Obama

Get Today's FREE SONG:''Sweet Mother' by Solfege'

On Jan. 31, Derrick Ashong, a 32-year-old musician and leader of the band Soulfege,  was carrying a sign for Barak Obama outside the Hollywood theater at the Democratic primary debate taking place that day.

Derrick's sign said “¡Sí, se puede!” (Yes, we can!), and he joined a crowd milling around in the street. Then a guy carrying a video camera came by and began asking Derrick a series of very pointed questions about why he supported Barak Obama.

“So why are you for Obama?” he asked. It was clear from his approach that he expected a shallow answer.

As it turned out, Derrick was glad to be asked, and held forth for almost six minutes — which is a very long time for regular broadcast television. — on universal health care, single-payer approaches and public-private partnerships.

Now this may seem like what could have been rather dull fare but here’s the cool part: On Feb. 2, the video interview was posted on a YouTube channel called “The Latest Controversy,” where supporters of both Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Obama are asked very aggressively to justify their choice of candidates.

The video blew up, drawing more than 850,000 views. And after getting such a large response Derrick decided to post his own follow-up video that was posted Feb. 11 and received  300,000 views.

So here is an independent musician, who was looking to (anonymously) show support for a candidate, drawing more than a million views with an impassioned but reasoned pitch.

Derrick clearly appealed to the youth movement that is shaking up the 2008 campaign. While his video could have been lost among the YouTube clutter, an editor at The New York Times heard about it and a Youtube hit was made.

Part of what happened is that the original video was contrary in format to the 'regular' sound bite news format. Neither the camera guy nor Derrick played by the rules. The journalist is never seen and is extremely aggressive in asking questions, while Derrick, does not so much take the bait as reel in the guy setting it out there. It is a classic viral moment. Derrick was quoted by the New York Times, saying: 

“Certain types of discourse are better suited to the Web. There has been so much talk about how this campaign is all about style and no substance, and this video contradicts that. There are reasons that we support Obama, and it has to do with the issues. You can’t get that on CNN right now, you can’t get that on MSNBC right now, and young people saw it on YouTube and they took it.”

It turns out that three of the dozen most popular videos on YouTube this month are about Barack Obama, not Paris or Lindsay or Britney. As noted in the NY Times:

"Many long-held beliefs are taking a beating during this election, chief among them the idea that if you want to connect with young people, you’d best keep it short, funny and stupid."

Thanks to Derrick and the Soulfege crew for exploding this myth...

Tune Your World: Learn how you can microfinance Soulfege's work

Get Today's FREE SONG:''Sweet Mother' by Soulfege'

Get more music by Solfege

Pêcheurs de perles - FREE Song: 'Yassou '!!

Today's FREE Song is by Pêcheurs de perles!

FREE SONG:'Yassou'

Concert musicians Pêcheurs de Perles (Pearl divers) is based in the south of France. They are composed of an Iraqi singer and four European musicians.
The band's origins come from a very rich musical tradition (Persian Gulf Pearl-divers) and allow both Eastern and Western countries to meet and come together. This combination has given a style of music which is sensitive, impassionate, flamboyant and nostalgic and has been inspired by the sight of the universe.

That name, as a symbol, reminds an ancient time when the Persian Gulf was the best place for pearl diving and was practised in the Isle of Barhein, Iran, South of Iraq, Kuwait and up to Yemen.
On boats, musicians were bound to help pearl divers in giving a rythm to their job.
Pearl diving has stopped, music has survived.

FREE SONG:'Yassou'

Get more music from Pêcheurs de perles here!!

K'naan - FREE Song: 'Strugglin' (Live)'!!

Today's FREE Song is by K'naan, the new Somalian Icon on the international scene:

FREE SONG:'Strugglin (Live)'

K'naan, “the traveler”, fled war-torn Somalia at the age of thirteen on what turned out to be the very last commercial flight to ever do so, amidst a crumbling society and the end of any form of centralized government. He arrived in Toronto with a very strong sense of purpose, and it is this sense of purpose as well as his amazing lyrical gift, which has made him a beacon for other artists as well as those dedicated to global change.

An elegant ambassador of peace, K'naan rhymes against violence because he never forgot the chance he had to escape death. In 2001, after gaining notoriety as a skilled mc and spoken word poet, K'naan was invited to Geneva to perform a spoken word piece at the 50th anniversary of the UN Commission for Refugees. In front of some of the biggest suits in the world, K'naan brought the house down with his politically charged poem. The audience was so moved by the piece that they gave K'naan a standing ovation. K'naanexplains, "I basically called out the UN for its failed relief mission in Somalia. When my brother heard the song he said that it’s the first song he’d heard of mine that could get me killed.”

K’naan emerged on the International scene with his debut album “The Dusty Foot Philosopher” in 2005. He took home the 2006 Juno Award (Canada’s Grammy)  for Best Rap Recording and received newcomer of the year at BBC’s World Music Awards. In the last 2 years he has played over 350 shows touring 5 continents recorded and sharing the stage with Damian Marley, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, M1, Youssou N’Dour, Amadou and Miriam and many more.  These artists celebrate the relevance of his political poetry, live performance and purpose-driven mission.

K'naan’s music is truly a vehicle to raise awareness. He is an artist with a message; as such, his music and his actions have placed him in a position to speak out for the voiceless while informing, empowering and inspire the masses.

FREE SONG:'Strugglin (Live)'

Get more music from K'naan here!!

RV Babe - FREE Song: 'African Boy (African Tribal Mixx)'!!

RV Babé is a result of 5 years of adventurous, experimental studio hours and brain-storm sessions. Not to overreach, but this may be both The Rebirth of Nubian Music and of World Music. check out today's FREE Song:

FREE SONG:'African Boy (African Tribal Mixx)'

In 2000 Luis Maruwasa started one of Namibia’s major hip-hop establishments, Tha Syndicate. The fundamental ideology that brought Tha Syndicate into being was that Tha Syndicate was principally to be a custodian of a near helpless juvenile Hip-Hop culture amidst a prejudice and unwelcoming nation which could not allow it to flourish like other kinds of “Acceptable” music styles.

Hence Tha Syndicate’s only aim was to nurture and nourish such a “being”. The World over, Hip-Hop has not seen a revolution since 93 or so, but Namibian Hip-Hop has possibly experienced many revolutions in itself. Aided by only an arsenal of skilled MCs, Luis managed to set Tha Syndicate to sail into a horizon of what seemed to be the future of Hip-Hop in Namibia.

RV Babé Vol.1 reaches in even further than might have been expected or anticipated by music fanatics and critics alike. RV Babé Vol.1 may not in itself be revolutionary but rather a renewal of music, a new beginning.

FREE SONG:'African Boy (African Tribal Mixx)'

Get more music from RV Babe here!!

Madala Kunene & Max Lasser - FREE Song: 'Marriage'!!

Today's FREE Song is by Madamax, a superb collaboration between veteran - South African trance musician Madala Kunene who amongst other projects released the sensational Kon'ko Man, and Swiss guitar supremo Max Lässer, famous for many recordings, including Between and A Different kind of Blue.

FREE SONG:'Marriage'

Madala says "I first met Max at a studio in Johannesburg in 1995, because of a session that Robert Trunz had organised in Downtown Studios in Johannesburg." Great creative empathy and feeling was shared between exceptional artists for this project.

Max has successfully worked before with South African artists who have added special flavours and extra dimensions to his already distinctive work. With Madala, however, what started off as "a real jam" started "becoming a new thing". They even recorded their first takes, giving the sound a crisp freshness and playful sophistication. The result? In Max Lässer's words "Unique music happened".
Max Lässer says that meeting Madala Kunene was like finding a brother from another culture and part of the world, "He really opened my heart to African music and to a different view of playing music than I was used to".

Both guitarists are unique, both have their own style and yet when playing together the result is something else, something like "primordial and confrontational." The two artists complement each other in an extraordinary way, and their work can be best described as an organic unity of the best of two cultures, or as Max describes it: "a perfect marriage."

FREE SONG:'Marriage'

Get more music from Madala Kunene & Max Lasser here!!