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.
Algeria’s Mehdi Haddab has radically transformed the image of the oud by plugging in and amplifying the ancient fretless lute, bringing rock’n’roll attitude to an instrument at the core of traditional Arabic music. With bassist Pascal Teillet and beat mistress Hermione Frank, Haddab references everything from the Cure and the Chemical Brothers to Algerian rai.
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).
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!
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.
Marcel Khalifé (Arabic: مرسيل خليفة) was born in 1950 in Amchit, Mount-Lebanon. He studied the oud (the Arabic lute) at the Beirut National conservatory. His music works around the classical Arabic oud but also includes jazz piano and many other influences. His playing techniques expand far outside those of classical oud playing, however, and he is attributed for having greatly expanded the horizons of this traditional Arabic instrument.
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.
The Narcicyst is a Canadian hip-hop performer of Iraqi ancestry.
Since 2003, Save the Rhino has held an annual Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture around the time of his birthday to raise money for rhino conservation projects. The first three lectures were held in conjunction with the Gorilla Organisation (formally the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund), of whom Douglas was also a founder patron. Since 2006 the lectures have been held in conjunction with the Environmental Investigation Agency, a charity that Douglas was also heavily involved with.