London retro-soul music fans may remember the Dap-Kings as the American band that recorded and toured with Amy Winehouse. But the band’s Wednesday night performance at Koko with their original front woman, Sharon Jones, was an entirely different affair.
The full review, on the recent Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings performance at Koko in London, is at the DAILY TELEGRAPH.
Photo by perole
Biyi Adepegba, the festival’s creator, said performing bands have gotten significantly smaller over the years, because of the high cost of touring — where the festival used to host bands with 15 or 20 members, most bands now rarely exceed 10. However, Adepegba thinks having smaller rosters actually helps bands appeal to a larger audience. “Can you believe that economy global meltdown has done wonders for small promoters like us,” he wrote in an email.
The full blog post is at the NEW YORK TIMES.
The CD came with extensive liner notes that read like an enthusiastic travelogue. Someone hadn’t merely thrown these songs together. They had done their homework to find out why this music sounded the way it did: a collage of funky island rhythms from all over: North and South America, Colombia, the Caribbean and Africa. Yet the music, which evolved during a time of political upheaval and regime change in the country, is precisely Panamanian.
The full interview with DJ Beto is at INTELLIGENT LIFE.
