The Soviets are a 5-piece Indie/Rock band from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK. With influences ranging from the Stone Roses to Astral Pilot via Kings of Leon, the band fuses genres to create a distinctive and unique sound.
Launching their own label - Reckless General Records - in early 2009, The Soviets are a band to look out for. The name is also used by an Alt. Rock band from Omagh.
Yair Dalal (born 1955) is a composer, violinist and oud player and is probably the most prolific Israeli ethnic musician today, with global recognition (WOMAD appearances from Seattle to Sydney).
Over the last decade he has put nine albums, covering wide and varied cultural territory. Much of Dalal's output reflects the strong affinity he has for the desert and its habitants. Dalal's family came to Israel from Baghdad and he has included much Iraqi material in his work to date.
Palestinian oud player and composer, Adel Salameh was born in Nablus, Palestine, in 1966. He started performing as a soloist while still living in the Arab World, but immigrated to Europe in 1990. He quickly established a reputation as one of the finest performers of the oud. He has performed in more than thirty countries including Japan, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, and numerous countries in North Africa and Europe.
Anouar Brahem (Arabic: أنور ابراهم) is a Tunisian oud (middle eastern lute) player and composer who is widely regarded as an innovator in his field. Performing for primarily a jazz audience, he fuses arabic classical music, folk music and jazz and has been recording since at least 1991 after becoming prominent in his own country in the late 1980s. Brahem began studying the oud at age 10 under the tutelage of Ali Sitri at the National Conservatory of Music in Tunis. In 1987, after six years in Paris, he spent two years as the director of the Ensemble Musical De Ia Ville De Tunis.
Haytam Safia is from Jerusalem. In 2001 he debuted as a performer in The Netherlands and acquired a firm position in a musical ensemble with which he accompanies modern dance company Galili Dance. Safia created a.o the music for the choreography: For Heaven’s Sake by Itzik Galili (which was voted as Outstanding Performance for 2004, Critics’ Choice Dance Europe).
Le Trio Joubran (Arabic: الثلاثي جبران) is a Palestinian oud band, consisting of the three brothers Samir, Wissam, and Adnan Joubran from the city Nazareth. The Joubran brothers come from a well-known family with a rich artistic heritage. Their mother, Ibtisam Hanna Joubran, sang the Muwachahats (poems that originated in Arab Spain) while their father is among the most renowned stringed-instrument makers in Palestine and in the Arab world.
Ahmed Mukhtar (أحمد مختار) is an Iraqi oud player, born in Baghdad in 1967. He has been playing the oud and Arabic percussion since 1979. He studied music at the High Institute of Music in Damascus, and at London College of Music. Mukhtar has frequently toured in the Middle East and Europe.
THE JOE PUBLIC is Jordi Urch - Drums, Jake Meeking - Guitar, Vocals, Dave Callaby - Guitar, Vocals & Joe Labanowski - Bass, Keys, Vocals. Based in the south west of England, THE JOE PUBLIC were hand-picked by Michael Eavis to play at Glastonbury Festival, and have since gone on to play over 250 shows across the UK. Prolific song-writers and talented musicians, THE JOE PUBLIC make a sound which has been described as a cross between Brandon Boyd fronting King's Of Leon and The Temper Trap jamming with Queens Of The Stone Age!
North African musicians are proving to be amongst world music's most exciting pioneers: Khaled's pop-rai synthesis has made the Algerian Elvis a superstar while London-based Moroccans, MoMo, blend gnawa music with storming dance beats. DuOud are the latest North African sensation to prove that tradition and technology can mix and match to create a sound full of possibilities. DuOud consist of two oud-playing Parisians who combine their North African heritage with the latest in Western technology.
It's hard to believe that FULL SCREAM AHEAD are brand new on the music scene. Formed in 2008, they have played a handful of impressive live shows around the country, already earning support slots with Attack! Attack!, Lights Action and Twin Atlantic. 2009 is set to be an intensive year for the band. With a brand new 6-track EP We Write Our Own Anthems to promote and more writing and recording on the agenda the band will be working themselves hard - and will not stop until long after the dust settles.