Global Bass, Ghetto Tech, “Fifth World Music”, Worldmusic 2.0 – many names for a phenomen that is getting more and more attention lately not only on the urban dancefloors of this planet, but also by worldwide media (a fact regular readers of our blog will be familiar with).
This weekend ¡RADICAL RIDDIMS! in Berlin will not only bring you an excellent musical line-up, but also an exhibition of international video works, documentary films and lectures, in which the curators will set “the spotlight on the various local musical scenes and ‘hyper hybrid’ club music, as well as discuss the connections and disparities between key concepts like regionality and globality, citation and original creation, copyright and authorship, digitality, internet and web cultures, as well as the phenomenon of image transfer in popular culture.” Well, sounds like a deal.
The core of the event will be the ¡RADICAL RIDDIMS! party on Saturday at Ritter Butzke: on 2 floors you get a well-cooked stew of protagonists from a range of musical scenes and urban musical hotspots.
Everybody’s favorite cool kid from South Africa, Spoek Mathambo, will perform live. The list of heavy-hitter DJs includes not only Flore Morfin (especially recommended for her latest Moombahton productions), teaming up with MC Rodney P (veteran of UK Hip Hop), who will also celebrate the release of his new album “Raw”. All the friends of Digital Cumbia, every possible variety of Latin-influenced music and, well, Tropical and Global Bass will be happy to see Uproot Andy behind the decks.
Raw (Flore MoombahRAWn remix) – DOWNLOAD IT HERE: http://www.flore-music.com/?p=1019 by Flore
Vete (Uproot Andy rmx) – Antony Santos by Uproot Andy
The second floor will offer the whole spectrum Baile Funk-based and inspired music is able to cover: from Funk Carioca veteran DJ Edgar to Brooklyn-based Zuzuka Poderosa, kicking it in Portuguese, Spanish and English over every possible Tropical, Latin, Electro Avantgarde beat construct and giving life to “interracial musical babies”, as she calls it. They are joined by Daniel Haaksman, whose label Man Recordings can be called one of the corner stones for the global recognition of “non-Western”, locally specific, Electronic Dance Music.
Interesting (and most likely intentional) coincidence: the festival takes place at the same date (and even in the same part of town) as Berlin’s “Karneval der Kulturen” (Carnival of Cultures) – an event that is comparable to other urban carnivals like Notting Hill (even though it has noc specific immigrant or resistance background like the former), but unfortunately is still shaped by a slight “Worldmusic effect”. Don’t get me wrong: the carnival indeed manages to show the “ethnic and cultural diversity” of the city, and it is driven by a huge crowd participation, but the culture of spectacle, that gazing on exotized, colorful (clad), impressively dancing bodies remains.
The ¡RADICAL RIDDIMS! lecture programme on Monday should be the perfect occasion to discuss dynamics like that: after Georg Milz (well known through his label Outhere Records) will cast some light on Coupé Décalé and the principle of hedonism, Astrid Kusser will focus on “The Riddle of the Booty – Dancing within the Black Atlantic 1900-2010”. The historian and cultural scientist is talking about the history of dance trends within the cultural concept of the Black Atlantic and especially the importance of the artificial shaking and bouncing moves of the (female) butt.
Two documentary films will explore the contradictory field of dancing, gender and sexuality: “I’m ugly but trendy” by Brazilian journalist, film producer and director Denise Garcia Bergt is a feminist view on dancing in Baile Funk, followed by a conversation with Man Recordings label head Daniel Haaksman (no pun intended, haha). “Man Ooman”, a danish film by Andreas Johnsen and Rasmus Poulsen looks at the Jamaican Dancehall and it’s set of overtly sexualized dance moves, instructions and rituals.
The opening reception on Friday evening will kick-off nicely too: a performance by Nola (Sissy) Bounce star Sissy Nobby (once again proving the curator’s interest in gender questions – and good music) will be accompanied by a lecture by journalist and DJ Uh Young-Kim and a live painting action by London’s own Mode2.
PROGRAMME:
Fri., June 10/ 7 pm ¡RADICAL RIDDIMS! EXHIBITION OPENING Schau Fenster Gallery, Lobeckstr. 30-35
MODE 2 (live performance / mural painting)
Introduction by CHRISTINE LANG and CHRISTOPH DREHER
lecture by UH-YOUNG KIM (radio station Funkhaus Europa)
from 10 pm
SISSY NOBBY (live, Bounce / New Orleans)
DJ ROBOT KOCH (Global Bass / Berlin)
DJ DUB KIMSKI (Global Player / Cologne)
Sat., June 11 from 10 pm ¡Radical Riddims! PARTY at Ritter Butzke, Ritterstr. 24
First Floor:
SPOEK MATHAMBO (live, South Africa House / Johannesburg)
DJ FLORE (Breakbeat/Lyon) & MC RODNEY P (London)
DJ UPROOT ANDY (Cumbia Digital, Dancehall / NY)
DJ-Team FEMMES WITH FATAL BREAKS (Dubstep, Bassline / Berlin)
DJ MACKJIGGAH (Dubstep, UK Funky / Berlin) + VJ SNIPER (Berlin)
Second Floor:
DJ EDGAR (Baile Funk / São Paulo)
MC ZUZUKA PODEROSA (New York)
DJ DANIEL HAAKSMAN (Man Recordings, Berlin)
Mon, June 13 from 6 pm
Lectures and Films with DENISE GARCIA (Rio / Berlin). The artist and filmmaker will talk to DANIEL HAAKSMAN about her film ‘I’m Ugly But Trendy‘ and the women of the Brazilian Baile Funk scene
Lecture by ASTRID KUSSER (Cologne): ‘The Riddle of the Booty – Dancing in the Black Atlantic 1900-2010‘
Lecture by GEORG MILZ (Out Here Rec. / Munich), on Coupé Decalé from Paris and the Ivory Coast
