The fight for diverse and conscious voices

Between the weather and work and life I haven't had time for a while to collect up some of this good stuff. This story starts in France, and ends up in the Middle East by way of the Ukraine.

http://www.myspace.com/mrrigolo
Last month I discovered the weird and fun sounds of M'siou Rigolitch, a French DJ with decidedly eclectic taste. I still recommend starting with the full MySpace stream because there's a lot of great stuff here, but let me show you a few of the threads I chased because the sounds made me sit up and take notice.

http://soundcloud.com/mr-rigolitch/the-wonderlust-king-the-black-betty-the-bad-name
Gogol Bordello is not your typical mash-up fodder, and long-time readers know I have a thing for "Black Betty" mash-ups. So, yeah, this one got my attention. One of the commenters on this mix describes it as "terrifying at first but absolutely amazing" which is spot-on. You start listening to this stuff and your eyes bug out, then you say "hunh, that's actually pretty good."

http://soundcloud.com/mr-rigolitch/pretty-beat-for-dancing
The description of this is "Ukranian Dance House Kitch Mashup" which is startling accurate, as well as mind-bending. M'siou layers Offspring and Michael Jackson over Verka Serduchka, a Ukranian drag pop/dance comedian. No, really. I can't make this stuff up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verka_Serduchka. Verka is a little on the mind-bending herself (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpJ44NV6m-E) and provides just the right level of frantic. The transition to a sped-up mix of Eiffel65 midway through is amusing, too.

http://www.mixcloud.com/rigolitch/
At the end of the MySpace stream there's a whole hour-long set mix that is awesome in its own right. I understand just enough French to pick up some of what's being said - the protest songs in particular. And of course there's influence after influence pulled in from around the world I noticed one track and I wanted to know what it was so I dropped M'siou a note and he pointed me to this page - Mixcloud, hosting not just the full hour-long mix - "Mets du son Sans Frontières" - but an item-by-item track list. So go ahead and listen, and tell me if there isn't one voice that makes you sit up and take notice. Hint: it's about 32 minutes in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l00iSHXktJM
Well it turns out that that track that caught my attention was this one, "El Nur" by Soulico (http://www.myspace.com/soulicocrew) - an Israeli rap 'crossover' group. They blend US-style rap/hiphop with traditional Middle Eastern sounds, particularly Israeli and Arab/Palestinian instruments and beats. On this track Soulico list a bunch of featured guests, and a quick listen to Soulico on its own convinced me that it was one of the featured I was looking for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN9zm6xJKYk
Riham is the one that made me sit up and take notice. Her voice in the Soulico mix reminded me of Shahin Badar's startling appearance in The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up." The online information on Riham is sketchy - I can't figure out if she is Palestinian, Israeli Arab, or a neighboring Arab. To be honest I can't always tell if they're singing in Hebrew or Arabic, or a mix. Most of what she seems to do is more chill than the Soulico track. This one, Erja Ya Habebi, is a fairly traditional Arabic love song given a modern low-tempo house beat by Srulik Einhorn (http://www.discogs.com/artist/Srulik+Einhorn) an Israeli DJ/producer.

So there you are, one musical journey done. Next up, good old American funk and house.