SzigetNews.com

Since Szigetnews is a big supporter of the Rock Against Racism concept, we decided to post the whole press release about this very important day for Sziget Festival 2009. Here it goes:

Musicians representing successful UK-based anti-racist campaign Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) are taking part in a unique and important show on the opening day of Budapest’s gigantic Sziget music festival – to launch a new Hungarian campaign based on similar lines to LMHR.

The new organisation – Zene a Rasszizmus Ellen” (Music Against Racism) or ZARE for short – is being set up with help from the UK Embassy in Budapest with the aim of bringing together anti-racist musicians, groups and individuals in an active and united campaign to tackle racism in Hungarian society.

After an entire day’s bill featuring some of Hungary’s top bands playing to support the cause, more than a dozen acts will combine in one set to provide a spectacular multinational and multicultural finale to the day.

The day’s programme will also feature a separate “Hungarian Jazz against Racism” stage, with concerts by star performers from Hungary’s jazz scene and top international guests.

Sam Duckworth aka Get Cape Wear Cape Fly is curating the music for this special one-off set, with an eclectic group of cutting-edge artists including Drew McConnell from Babyshambles, members of The King Blues and Kid British, brilliant singer Mpho, Jimmy Pursey from Rock Against Racism heroes Sham 69, rappers Low Key and Eslam Jawaad, Britpop legend Lee Mavers from The La’s, beatboxer Shlomo and DJ The Last Skeptik. The set will also feature collaborations with leading Hungarian musicians, still to be announced, with one or two surprise guests still in the offing.

Sziget Festival is among the biggest music festivals in the world, with 385,000 people attending in 2008. The star-studded line-up for this year’s event includes Lily Allen, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy, Klaxons, Tricky, Faith No More, Amadou and Mariam and much more. For more information see http://www.szigetfestival.com/

KRSA, from PASO (Pannonia Allstars Ska Orchestra) said:

“Our goal with the Pannonia Allstars Ska Orchestra has always been to advocate cultural diversity. As the pioneers of Hungarian ska we built bonds between the Jamaican and Hungarian musical heritage to show our crowd how the love of music can bring together people of different origins.

For this reason we are very happy to participate in the work of RAR and LMHR and to be present at the birth of the Hungarian movement, ZARE – Music Against Racism. We hope our music helps people to spread the message of love and denounce racism and any kind of hatred.”

Fruszina Szep of Sziget Festival said:

“Sziget is the biggest multicultural Festival across Europe. We are presenting and welcoming all kinds of cultures, nations. This has been our aim since the start in 1993 and it remaind our main goal till today! We are happy to welcome LMHR at this years Sziget Festival and to dedicade our so called zero day on the 11th of August for this highly appreciated approach and event, mission and vision! It’s time to act! NOW!”

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said:

“I am delighted that the FCO is partnering the UK music-based campaigns Rock Against Racism and Love Music Hate Racism and the Sziget Festival in order to promote the values of racial harmony, respect and tolerance in Hungary. The ZARE project is important – especially given the problems of anti-Roma racism which appear to be growing in parts of Central and Eastern Europe.”

UK Ambassador to Hungary, Greg Dorsey, said:

“Unfortunately the scourge of racism has not been removed from UK society, nor indeed from Hungarian society. That is why I applaud the efforts and commitment of Love Music Hate Racism – an extremely impressive organisation of committed individuals who are taking up the fight where RAR left off. Each era in history faces its own challenges. Ours faces many. I believe that one of our key challenges is to solve the problems of anti-Semitism and anti-Roma racism which have blighted the continent for centuries. We need to be aware of the risk of racists and populists filling any political space left unfilled by mainstream political parties. The living conditions of many of the Roma in Hungary and other countries of this region are a matter of shame for Europe. The marginal slums on the edge of villages. The segregated schools. These should have no place in a modern democracy. That is why we want to be a catalyst for a new, active and dynamic anti-racist campaign in Hungary – harnessing the power of music in the way that RAR and LMHR have been doing in UK. We want young people to learn from their musical heroes that it is simply uncool to be racist. We want Hungarian music fans to carry the anti-racist banner – by supporting a Hungarian anti-racist campaign based on music

Lee Billingham from LMHR said:

“LMHR has been successful in helping mobilise many thousands of people against racism and fascism in the UK, bringing together music fans and artists to celebrate our multicultural society and our unity against those trying to divide us. In the wake of the recent elections to the European Parliament anti-racists in every country will be stepping up their efforts. We are therefore proud to have been asked to help with the setting up of a Hungarian organisation based on similar principles to LMHR. While local conditions may differ slightly – culturally and politically – the same threats face us across Europe with institutional and everyday racism on the rise and racist ideas gaining ground in many countries. To launch the new organisation at such a huge and multicultural festival as Sziget, which drew last year 380,000 visitors, with 50% coming from other parts of Europe, is a great opportunity to show mainstream opposition to the racists, and those in Hungary who scapegoat Roma people and other minorities – just as Muslims and migrant workers are targeted in the UK. It’s been very encouraging in the wake of the announcement of ZARE that some of Hungary’s top rock and pop acts and jazz musicians have immediately backed the cause.”

PARTICIPATING ARTIST BIOGS:

Sam Duckworth (Get Cape Wear Cape Fly)

As Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Sam has established a reputation as a fiercely political and at the same time astute and sensitive songsmith, melding folk, punk and electronic influences to brilliant effect in his music – and collaborating with the likes of Nitin Sawnhey and Baba Maal. He’s been a fantastic fighter for the anti-fascist cause over the past few years since joining LMHR at a stall at Glastonbury in 2004, playing countless events and representing the musicians who support the campaign on national TV shows such as Newsnight and The Politics Show. Sam is curating this unique LMHR lineup at Sziget.

“People say, when you talk about racist parties, you give impetus for people to go and research and out about what they’re about and I say, do you know what? Fine. People are finding out about them one way or another and how vile and disgusting their views are, especially their Islamophobic stance and their homophobic stance. I feel possessed as a citizen to make a stand as opposed to just being a musician trying to make a point.”

http://www.myspace.com/getcapewearcapefly

Mpho

Mpho Skeef is part of a new breed of young black or mixed-race female artists who resolutely refuse to make the music that’s expected of “women of colour”, such as R&B, hip-hop or grime. The pan-generic approach of this pigeon-hole defying artist recalls original future-shock ‘pandrogen’ Grace Jones. The singer was born in apartheid South Africa and raised in a bohemian, racially mixed family of musicians and political/community activists in south London. Her major label debut “Box N Locks”, is based on a clever sample of Martha and the Muffins’ 1980 new wave hit Echo Beach and produced by M.I.A./Santogold sidekick Switch, is all about defying expectations. LMHR is delighted to welcome this exciting artist to our Sziget show.

www.myspace.com/mphosounds

Kid British

Manchester’s Kid British are the perfect antidote to the racists – A multi-racial band drawing influence from numerous genres. They made their LMHR bow this year with a show-stealing performance at the Stoke Festival, and have been touring with The Specials and The Enemy. A tasty shank of old-school ska and dancehall, a light splash of reggae, and garnished with a juicy slice of electro-pop, their music is said to sound like a gooey mixture of The Specials, Outkast, The Streets, , Madness, De La Soul and Blur.

“We think Britain as it is today is too strong for a racist party to come into power but we still need to fight so they never do… Music brings everyone together from every different race, every different demographic and as long as you keep making good music, bringing people together then people will forget about racism hopefully especially the younger generation”

http://www.myspace.com/kidbritishmusic

Drew McConnell (Babyshambles)

Perhaps best known as the current bass player in Babyshambles, Drew is increasingly famed for his work with other projects. He is part of “indie supergroup” Mongrel with members of Arctic Monkeys, Reverend & The Makers, and rapper LowKey; he’s now become a permanent part of guitar-pop legends The La’s, and has graced many a LMHR stage (including last year’s 110,00-strong Victoria Park Carnival) with his own other band Helsinki – which has featured contributions from the likes of The View, Noisettes, Guillemots, Seb Rochford, Jimmy Pursey (Sham 69) and Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex). Musicians’ musician with more bands and projects on the go than you can shake a stick at, Drew has made one of the biggest contributions of any artist in the UK to Love Music Hate Racism. He helped compile our NME covermount CD and organised our biggest-ever fundraiser at London’s infamous Fabric club with Babyshambles, Mystery Jets, The View and over 30 grime MCs!

http://www.myspace.com/drewhelsinki

Low Key

Lowkey has been heavily involved with Love Music Hate Racism, and has just written and released a brand new song attacking racist political parties in the wake of this year’s European Elections – with all proceeds going to Love Music Hate Racism (download it at http://www.tinyurl.com/wedontwantthem).

He is a poet, playwright, political sctivist and award winning hip-hop artist who has received airplay on numerous major radio stations including BBC Radio 1, Capital FM, Kiss FM, Choice FM and BBC 1Xtra, and this year alone has toured internationally performing to crowds everywhere from Glastonbury and Trafalgar Square to Palestine, Israel, New York and Austria.

“I don’t believe in legitimising Nazis and I wholeheartedly stand with LMHR but more importantly I believe in allowing human beings to be human beings and equality to all. We must combat fascism wherever it rears its ugly head but you cannot fight fire with fire you can only fight fire with water. That is why I support LMHR”

http://www.myspace.com/lowkeyuk

The King Blues

Political punks with tunes whose talent is gaining them mass popularity – on their terms, without compromising their music or voices. Outspoken opponents of racism and big supporters of Love Music Hate Racism, clocking up three LMHR gigs to date and featuring LMHR banners and posters in a recent promo video.

“This is protest music at it’s most vital and basic a slice of life that’s recognisable enough to call together everyone fed up of being spoken for. Excitingly necessary.” – Punktastic.com

http://www.myspace.com/thekingblues

Lee Mavers- The La’s

Lee Mavers is one of the true lost talents of British music. Lead singer with Liverpool’s The La’s, he carved out a niche of 60s-inspired pop that has become hugely influential over the past two decades. The La’s debut album – and in particular the anthem “There She Goes” remains a popular critically acclaimed work. The group reformed in 2004 for a series of dates but since then little had been heard of Mavers. However earlier this year an alliance developed between the songwriter and Babyshambles mainman Pete Doherty. The duo uploaded a video to Youtube featuring footage of a jam session together, while Mavers also joined Doherty onstage in Birmingham recently to run through some old favourites by The La’s. ‘Shambles bassist Drew McConnell has also become a new member of The La’s.

Bashy

Eighteen months ago 23 year old Ashley Thomas was a talented and popular MC but still working fulltime as a bus driver – and then ‘Black Boys’ the anthemic celebratory track paying homage to the achievements of some of Britain’s most successful young black men dropped, the You tube hits exceeded 1 million, and overnight a star was born and the bus driver laid his uniform to rest. The last few months have seen Bashy receive rapturous applause for his BBC Electric proms performance, team up with Damon Albarn in Lagos to contribute to the star’s ‘Africa Express’ album, and write the smash hit title track to the award-winning Noel Clarke film ‘Adulthood,’ which grossed millions at the box office, and receive a 2008 MOBO nomination. Bashy’s played four Love Music Hate Racism shows to date, and spoke on the panel at our national conference this year.

http://www.myspace.com/bashystar

Jimmy Pursey (Sham 69 / Day21)

Best known as the lead singer with legendary seminal punk band Sham 69, and anthems like “If The Kids Are United” and “Hurry Up Harry”, Jimmy is still flinging himself around stages with new band Day 21. Sham 69 played an important role in the Rock Against Racism movement of the 1970s. As a band known to have some racist followers, Jimmy’s anti-Nazi pronouncements and the band playing RAR gigs were a big boost to the cause. Jimmy famously joined The Clash onstage at the infamous 1978 Rock Against Racism Carnival for a rendition of “White Riot” – which he reprised with Babyshambles’ Drew McConnell and Noisettes’ guitarist Dan at last year’s LMHR RAR 30th Anniversary Carnival in the same east London park.

http://www.myspace.com/hershamboys

Shlomo

Part human beatboxer, part jazz drummer, part musician-at-large, Shlomo has worked for years to push the boundaries of beatboxing as a collaborative musical artform. “Hi. My name is Shlomo. I make music with my mouth. Some people I have made music with include Polar Bear, DJ Yoda, The Mighty Boosh, Bjork, Martha Wainwright, Damon Albarn, Bill Bailey, Jarvis Cocker, Mad Professor and my beatboxing choir (the vocal orchestra). ‘The kid’s good. Jaw-droppingly good.’ — The Guardian

http://shlo.co.uk

Eslam Jawaad

Born to Syrian and Lebanese parents, Eslam Jawaad (real name ‘Wissam Khodur’) came to London in October 2003. He found his way into the underground music scene, linking with British acts UK Apache, Visionary Underground, Fun-Da-Mental and Asian Dub Foundation. It was his Arabic rap talent that launched him onto the scene in a bigger way than he could have imagined. Through a mutual friend, DJ U-Cef, Eslam was introduced to Gorillaz & Blur frontman Damon Albarn who was looking for an Arabic rapper to describe the city of London on the song ‘Mr.Whippy’, scheduled for his next project called ‘The Good, The Bad & The Queen [EMI/Virgin]’. They clicked, and within an hour Eslam had recorded his verse. The group, made up of Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon [The Clash], Simon Tong [The Verve] & Tony Allen [Fela Kuti] debuted at number 2 in the UK Albums Chart and was certified Gold in the UK within days of its release. After the group released their first single “Herculean” with “Mr.Whippy” on the B-side, the band appeared at the BBC’s Electric Proms season at the redeveloped Roundhouse in Camden in which they performed the entire album, and brought out Eslam in front of millions of viewers to perform “Mr.Whippy”. His performance was so well received that Damon decided to take Eslam along on their world tour as an unofficial band member and performed in over 20 countries together. His album also sees some collaborations with major talents. Title song ‘The Mammoth Tusk’, produced by Dr.Dre’s right hand man Focus…, who had produced for a slew of superstars such as Beyonce, Destiny’s Child, 50 Cent, J-Lo, Pink, N-Sync and many others. ‘Alarm Cord’ is a track produced by Damon Albarn, while the Wu-Tang Clan’s The RZA provides a firey beat to ‘So Real’. Legendary Hip Hop group De La Soul join Eslam on ‘Rewind DJ’ and bring back memories of the good old Hip Hop days. Eslam joined Albarn, Simonon, Tong and Jerry Dammers onstage in front of over 100,000 for The Good The Bad The Queen’s last ever performance at last year’s LMHR Victoria Park Carnival.

http://www.myspace.com/eslamjawaad

The Last Skeptik

Building his first beats in school alongside the charismatic luminary Sway, Skeptik consistently worked on his skills until releasing a number of 12”s in the days when 12” singles sold, and mp3s were a thing of mythical legend. The first of which, featured ‘Prior To The Present’ featuring Sway, and first alerted the public to his MPC wizardry. An E.P co-starring Conflix followed, with the A Side ‘Think Twice’ demonstrating a different side to a production powerhouse in the making.

In late 2007, Skeptik put together a feature length collaboration with long time friend Verb T. Entitled ‘Broken Window’, the album featured guest appearances from Jehst, Edo G, Kashmere and more, including the radio rinsed ‘March’ featuring Sway and Kyza. The single from the album, ‘Satisfied’, gained constant rotation on Channel U, and plays on major stations including Radio 1 and Kiss FM. The album itself was critically acclaimed and appeared in the Evening Standard, Metro, Q Magazine, RWD among others.

As a producer, to date, Skeptik has worked with the likes of Get Cape, Wear Cape Fly, Sway, MF Grimm, Jehst, Kyza and Lowkey to name a few. As a DJ, Skeptik has shared stages with such modern luminaries as Damon Albarn, Flea (Red Hot Chill Peppers), Zero 7, Kano, Shlomo, Terri Walker and Tony Allen among many others.