Rome, Feb 16 : It seems unlikely that the Pope, known for his love of Mozart and who once described rock music as the work of the Devil, enjoys Carlos Santana’s Black Magic Woman or Oasis’s Wonderwall on an iPod in the privacy of his study.
Yesterday, however, the Vatican gave its imprimatur not only to Santana and Oasis, but also to the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, U2, Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac in a list of approved pop albums published in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.
Last year the Vatican advised the faithful which films to watch, finding merit even in Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. This year, because Europe faced a season of mediocre songs at music festivals, the newspaper explained, it was time to recommend an antidote in the form of classic pop milestones.
The Holy See’s top ten includes the 1982 album Thriller by Jackson, the video for which shows the late singer as a zombie dancing with other ghouls in a graveyard, and Pink Floyd’s meditation on time, death, mental illness and consumer greed, The Dark Side of the Moon.
The Beatles also make the list with Revolver, perhaps their most drugs-influenced, psychedelic album from 1966. In the song Eleanor Rigby Father McKenzie writes “the words of a sermon that no one will hear”.
Also given approval is U2’s album Achtung Baby from 1991, on which Bono sings in Acrobat: “I’d break bread and wine if there was a church I could receive in.”
As for Oasis, the Gallagher brothers — “Enfants terribles of the working class”, the newspaper said — had given the world a “jewel produced by torment” in their 1995 album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory.
The article by Giuseppe Fiorentino and Gaetano Vallini, who recently wrote that Bono was a “true crusader for Christianity”, said: “To single out ten classic discs to take to a desert island is no easy enterprise.” They had no hesitation, however, in starting with Revolver, “issued by the Fab Four long ago in 1966” and a “point of no return in contemporary pop music”.
L’Osservatore Romano recently absolved John Lennon of his notorious boast that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus”, saying that this was “merely like the boasting of an English, working-class lad struggling to cope with unexpected success”.
Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 album Rumours remained a “fascinating musical soap opera”, the newspaper said. And in 1999’s Supernatural Santana had shown that he was “the only member of the Woodstock generation still at the top”.
The newspaper said that it had not included Bob Dylan — who sang for Pope John Paul II in 1997 at the World Eucharistic Festival in Bologna — partly because his “visionary poetry” had turned “Messianic” after his conversion to Christianity, but also because he inflicted on the world “three-note songs” that “tried the ears and patience of listeners”.
Under Gian Maria Vian, who took over as editor of L’Osservatore Romano two years ago, the newspaper has shed its previously staid image and taken a more open and outward-looking approach.
It praised The Simpsons on the series’ twentieth anniversary, saying that Homer’s religious confusion and ignorance were a “mirror of the indifference and the need that modern man feels toward faith”.
Last summer it praised the film version of J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for its depiction of “the eternal battle between good and evil” in the struggle between Harry and Lord Voldemort, despite having earlier criticised the Potter saga for promoting witchcraft.
Last month, however, the newspaper criticised James Cameron’s 3-D blockbuster Avatar as a “sentimental and facile, anti-imperialist and anti-militarist parable” that promoted pantheism. It also said that the Twilight vampire series of books and films amounted to a “moral vacuum with a deviant message”.
I know I have been told not to Wear my soul on the sleeves Of my shirt I know I've been asked to put On my mask But I have had enough No more, No more
(From left) Mercy, Donoghue and Grace
They sure don't put on a mask. They sure just love what they do and yes they personify a young vibrant India which is ready to march to the tune of a different drummer. That is Afflatus, an all-woman band from Shillong, Meghalaya, born when four girls, childhood friends just out of school, decided to jump on to the MTV Campus Rock Idols competition in 2004. Almost overnight, Karen Donoghue, Grace and Mercy Miller, and Sharon Zadeng formed a rock band to participate in the competition and went on to be the second runners-up in the finals held in Mumbai, proof that reality shows do change lives.
Afflatus means "divine inspiration" in Latin. "Our band is special not just because we are all women but because we are friends. We love our music and are comfortable with each other," says Grace, who grew up singing for a gospel group and gave up a job as an air-hostess to concentrate on music. She is the lead vocalist and teaches English part-time in a local school, but says, "music is our full time career". Mercy, her younger sister, talks less but is a livewire on stage. She even drove a bus once to reach a concert venue on time. Donoghue teaches mass communication and video production in a Shillong institute. Their sisterhood is steeped in song.
"For us, the sky is the limit. We want to leave our stamp on the world music scene." Karen Donoghue, Lead Guitarist, Afflatus
While they love live shows, right now they are focused on their album. "We don't really have a hall to practice in, so we hit Mercy's place. But we are a noisy group and neighbors do have a problem," says Donoghue with a twinkle in her eyes. But that doesn't stop them. They have already performed in Delhi and at the annual Autumn Festival in Shillong. "We play independent rock and it is so encouraging to see that audiences are more open to original music. They not only enjoy popular songs but also want to hear a new sound," says Donoghue, the band's lead guitarist.
They don't want to make too much of the fact that they are Shillong's only all-girls band. "That can intrigue people for a short time. They may come in once just to see what we look like. But after that, if our music is not attractive, no one will spend their time or money on us," says Donoghue. This inspired sorority will do what it takes to, in legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen's words, look down into the audience and see themselves.
By 26 Norah Jones had sold 30 million albums and won enough awards to last a lifetime. Time to sit back and relax? Not a bit of it. She talks about her acclaimed new album and the painful break-up that inspired it.
By Craig McLean
I’ll take the fatty breakfast,’ says Norah Jones. 'I love eggs so much. I feel like my day hasn’t started until I’ve had eggs. I’m probably gonna die from high cholesterol!’ Either that, or from stomach ulcers caused by the hot sauce the Texan-raised singer-songwriter is merrily slathering on her plate.
It’s mid-morning in Manhattan. Tucked into the corner table of a comfy café on the Upper West Side, one of the most successful female artists of the past decade has already put in a five-hour day. Jones, 30, is hard at work promoting her fourth album, 'The Fall’, a beautiful collection of songs that adds gentle grooves to her award-winning brand of folk-influenced jazz. It has just earned her a nomination for best international female at this year’s Brit awards.
'Sometimes I would love to not be the band leader or the boss,’ she sighs. But, when you’ve sold 30 million albums and won eight Grammys by the age of 26, you know how to work, and what it takes to turn on the magic. Jones’s 2002 debut album, 'Come Away With Me’, released when she was 22, was a runaway success. Its mellow, jazz-lite ambience was the perfect vehicle for her gorgeously smooth voice. But when her subsequent albums worked the same hushed, late-night vein, sales began to drop and she was rather cruelly dubbed Snorah Jones.
So it comes as a surprise to learn that she’s collaborated with Foo Fighters (on their album 'In Your Honour’) and Keith Richards (at a tribute concert for the country singer Gram Parsons), and that Angelo Petraglia, who worked on the last Kings of Leon album, has produced 'The Fall’. It’s not just her music that has toughened up; Jones is much steelier than her gentle voice and floaty frocks may suggest.
'It taught me a lot about business,’ Jones says of an old collaborator who, early in her career, cashed in on her success by releasing some songs Jones would rather had stayed in the studio. 'It taught me to not try to be nice – just say no. Be direct.
It doesn’t have to mean you’re a bitch; it just means that you know what you want. So I’m usually pretty direct with the label,’ she says with a blithe smile.
She says she gets this trait from her mother, Sue, whom she laughingly describes as 'incredibly direct!’ Jones was born in New York but, aged four, moved with her mother to a suburb of Dallas. She’s been back in New York for a decade now, but does she still think of herself as Texan?
'Yeah. In a big way. I’m ballsy. Well,’ she says, blushing, 'sometimes I’m ballsy. I like Dr Pepper. I like hot sauce on my eggs. I love country music. If I listen to Willie Nelson or Hank Williams I feel at home all of a sudden. I’d love to make a full-on country record, but on this record I really wanted to focus more on the grooves.’
'The Fall’ was made after her acting debut, in the 2007 art-house film My Blueberry Nights. Playing a lovelorn and restless waitress, she gave an impressive, naturalistic performance alongside Jude Law, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman.
'I love Norah. She is a sweetheart,’ Portman, now one of Jones’s closest friends, told me. 'She knows what she’s doing. She’s just one of the greatest people I’ve ever met. It’s rare that you meet people through work who you’re like, “Oh, my God, I wanna spend every minute with you!” She’s just fun and real.’ Weisz, a neighbour of Jones in the East Village in New York, was equally enthusiastic: 'Norah was brilliant. She’s a really natural actress.’Jones blushes when I read her these quotes. Would she do more acting? 'It would be fun, but it’s the furthest thing from my mind right now!’
'The Fall’ is Jones’s most personal record to date, not least because for the first time she’s written most of it on her own. When Jones began working on the album she had just broken up with her boyfriend of eight years, Lee Alexander, who had been both her romantic and musical partner; he co-wrote songs with her and played in her band. 'It’s kind of a break-up record,’ she concedes hesitantly.
When I last met her in New York, two years ago, Jones told me that Alexander’s song-writing style was more 'perfectionist’ than her 'gut’ approach. After they split, did her song-writing style change?
'I didn’t think about it,’ she insists. 'I just think I’m a lot more confident as a writer and excited to finish songs on my own.’ She says she had no plans to start work on a new album after touring in support of the previous one, 2007’s 'Not Too Late’. 'I was just trying to chill out, be off, and figure out what the heck I wanted to do with my life.’ But the songs came to her without warning. That last album featured a handful of political songs inspired by the failings of the Bush administration ('Nothing is as scary as election day’ she sang on My Dear Country. 'But the day after is darker. Who knows, maybe he’s not deranged’). But this time, she says, 'I was just so preoccupied with my own personal stuff.’
In her sweet, resonant singing voice she touches on the split in Stuck ('Why don’t you leave, leave me be’), I Wouldn’t Need You ('If I touched myself the way you touched me…’) and Back to Manhattan ('I don’t know nothing about leaving but I should do it today’).
'There are a lot of lines on this album that are very personal,’ she agrees. 'But the album is about me just going through a big transition overall,’ she continues. 'Breaking up, turning 30, changing my band, getting a dog, cutting my hair.’
After years of tresses as soft and swishy as the dresses she used to wear on stage, Jones’s hair is now so short I can see the circular tattoo on the back of her neck.'I’ve had that a while,’ she says. 'It’s a cherry blossom. Does it signify anything? Nope, we were in Japan in cherry-blossom season in 2005!’
And what about the writing inscribed on the inside of her right wrist?
'Oh, that’s just a little personal ditty…’ she says, tucking her hand under the table so I can’t see it. When I ask if it’s written in Sanskrit she just laughs. There will be no further elaboration.
Jones also has a new boyfriend, but won’t reveal any details, other than to say he’ll be looking after her poodle, Ralph, when she goes on tour. Thirty years ago, Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar player best known for his work with the Beatles, was also touring America. Jones’s mother, Sue, was working as a concert promoter at the time. The pair met, fell in love and had a child: Norah. But the relationship didn’t last. The two went their separate ways and Jones barely knew her father until she was 18.
For a long time she avoided talking publicly about her famous father. The last time we met she told me: 'I’ve lived my whole life without having to be known as the daughter of somebody. And I didn’t want to start now. Maybe
I’m genetically more inclined to music, but the music I make is so far removed from Indian classical music – I grew up in Texas! But people think of me separately from him now, and that’s great. I love my dad and we have a very good relationship now.’
Today she tells me that after the end of her last tour she visited him in India. 'I was there for a month, just hanging with my family, because I don’t really go to India that much. They live in Delhi, which is fine, but I was just sitting around the house a lot, and I wrote a couple of songs [for “The Fall”] there.’
Her dad also tried to teach her a Hindi song.'That was fun. I don’t know that I would want to record it. People have gurus and give up their whole lives to study this music, so I’m not gonna just waltz in and start recording it.’
Shankar’s birthday is on 7 April, the week after Jones’s. 'He’s gonna be 90!’ she exclaims. I gently broach the subject that, given his age, might she not want to record a song with him soon? Jones wrinkles her nose.
'I can’t imagine actually being able to play that music. He’s done all kinds of stuff, collaborating on all kinds of music, but I can’t picture him playing sitar on Cold Cold Heart!’ she says of the hit single from 'Come Away With Me’. 'I would love to do it, but I would love to just spend time with him and not put pressure on it for some public reason. But, yeah, play music, I would love to; he comes alive when he talks about music so it’s definitely a great experience.’
Like Jones, Shankar is apparently never happier than when performing live, accompanied by his daughter (and Jones’s half-sister), Anoushka. 'He’s interested in lots of things, but keeping playing and not stopping is what’s kept him in such good shape,’ says Jones. In fact, he played in New York last year. 'Yeah, but he doesn’t have as rigorous a schedule [as me]. He has to be careful. He’s not doing TV shows at seven in the morning!’
She says that Anoushka tried to teach her the sitar once, 10 years ago. 'It was fun,’ she beams. 'But you have to twist your back all around. My dad and Anoushka both have twisted backs from playing so much. And you have to sit cross-legged. See, that ain’t cool! I can’t imagine doing a world tour cross-legged!’
Touring is uppermost on Norah Jones’s mind right now. She hopes to be playing her new songs on the summer festival circuit. But don’t go expecting flash or fireworks onstage. Yes, at the gig I’d attended the night before our interview, Ms Jones was wearing an impressive pair of heels ('Urban Outfitters!’ she says proudly), and was poured into a pair of skin-tight jeans. 'But production-wise we’re gonna keep the shows pretty mellow. We’re gonna rely on Sasha’s dresses and her legs,’ she says, referring to her 'best friend’ and band member, Sasha Dobson. 'She’ll have to step me up a little bit with my clothes. It’s not such a guys’ world anymore,’ she says approvingly of her swinging new band. 'It’s fun not feeling like you’re the only one trying to put make-up on and being girly.’
She and Dobson also play together in a rockabilly-influenced side project, Puss ’n Boots; they performed a pub gig the night before I arrived in New York. Jones has another band, too, the Little Willies. Lee Alexander is in that band. Isn’t that difficult?
'Well, he’s not living in town anymore,’ she say evenly.
'He’s out in Nevada now. It was fine working together; we have a great relationship, I think. We’ll keep playing.’Did she tell him that some of the new songs were about him? She nods.
'It’s a very heartfelt record. Some of the songs were painful,’ she says, laughing quietly and pulling a face. 'But Lee heard all the songs a long time ago. I mean, it’s been a while. He was cool with it.’ She pushes what’s left of her breakfast around her plate. 'We’re not…’ she starts. 'There’s still… We’re not, like, hanging out every day, getting lunch,’ she says finally. 'But we’re cool.’
And are there any songs about the new relationship on the album? 'I think there’s a couple,’ she offers, with an embarrassed smile. 'Well, Man of the Hour, duh! Just kidding…’
New beginnings, new sound, punchier attitude, greater sense of fun – 'The Fall’ looks a lot like the rebirth of Norah Jones.
The new single, 'Stuck’, released 8 March, is taken from the album 'The Fall’, out now
Nashville, Tennessee : The head of Taylor Swift's record label is fired up and ready to defend his superstar from people who are criticizing her Grammy-night performance.
"She is the voice of this generation. She speaks directly to (her fans), and they speak directly back to her," said Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta in a phone interview. "This is not `American Idol.' This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It's not about that technically perfect performance."
Borchetta first responded to the backlash in The Tennessean. Asked by The Associated Press why he felt the need to defend Swift, he said because the criticism was "just over the top."
"It's that classic thing that critics do of building something up and then wanting to tear it down," he said.
Swift rehearsed her performance and duet with Stevie Nicks two different times at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in front of a crowd of people. Critics were nicer then. Entertainment Weekly wrote of the rehearsal, "The two women's voices complimented each other nicely on the harmonies of `Rhiannon ...'"
But on Sunday night's Grammy show, Borchetta said Swift had a technical issue that made her worry about her performance. (Attempts to reach The Recording Academy for comment went unanswered.)
"We had a volume problem in the ear. So, she was concerned that she wasn't able to hear everything in the mix," Borchetta said. "That's just part of live TV. ... So you're going to have difficulties on occasion. Unfortunately, on one of the biggest stages, we did have a technical issue. She couldn't hear herself like she had in rehearsal."
As quickly as you could say "Fearless," bloggers and media outlets, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, pounced on Swift's performance. The chatter at times overshadowed the four Grammys she won – including album of the year.
Borchetta said he doesn't need critics to give the 20-year-old the benefit of the doubt: "What we have is so much bigger than that. Am I going to ask them to turn their heads, no, I don't need them to."
It's doubtful her fans will abandon Swift anytime soon, judging by the congratulations and positive comments on her Facebook and MySpace pages, or that those with tickets to the second leg of her sold-out "Fearless" tour will throw them away because she had a bad night.
And with that, Borchetta has a message to all of her critics.
"If you haven't seen her live performance, you're welcome to come out as my guest to a Taylor Swift show and experience the whole thing, because it's amazing. You can see her in her element. There's a reason tickets are selling like they are."
Swift's "Fearless" album has sold over 5 million copies and was last year's top-selling album. She is the youngest artist to ever win the Grammys' top prize of album of the year. She will resume the "Fearless" tour March 4 in Tampa, Florida.
On February 1, 2010, American gospel singer Kim Burrell performed "I Believe In You and Me" at the BET Honors 2010. Her performance was a tribute to BET honoree Whitney Houston.
BET Honors 2010 is the third annual ceremony aired by BET Networks, and honored Houston, Queen Latifah and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. The tribute to Whitney Houston by Burrell was introduced by Ne-Yo, who stated Houston believes Burrell’s voice to be "the greatest on the planet."
Burrell is represented by Lewis Agency, and was accompanied by her brand ambassador, Krishnar Lewis, as well as a range of stylists, celebrity hairstylists and makeup artists. Her entourage was completed by a public relations team, who were promoting Burrell's upcoming activities, including a new reality series and a new gospel album.
Krishnar Lewis stated: "If I were to say Kim Burrell is the greatest living singer in the known world, who would argue with me? What you are seeing now isn’t a new Kim, it is the real Kim. A gift this great cannot be contained or defined to one genre of music or group of people. Her brand is for the world and I am here to exploit that message in every way possible. This is the year of Kim Burrell.”
Kim Burrell is an American gospel singer, born in Houston, Texas. She describes her musical style as "jazz gospel." She's been an active gospel singer since 1995, when she released her first album, Try Me Again, which earned her a deal with Tommy Boy Gospel. Burrell's previous albums were Everlasting Life (1998) and Live In Concert (2001).
After a quiet period, Burrell returned to recording in 2009, when she released her fourth album: No Ways Tired. Burrell has gained much respect from her fellow singers, and is often referred to as either an influencing force, or as a new revelation. She is often called "this generation's Ella Fitzgerald.".gospelflavagospelflava.com
BET Honors
The BET Honors were introduced in 2008 by the BET (Black Entertainment Television) Network. Previous honorees include: 2008: Alicia Keys, Tyra Banks, Dr. Cornel West, University Professor in the Center for African American Studies (Award for Education), Richard Parsons, The Honorable Maxine Waters, and Janice Bryant Howroyd bet.com 2009: Magic Johnson, Tyler Perry, Mary J. Blige, Judith Jamison and James Clyburn. bet.com 2010 honorees include:
Dimapur, Feb 3 : From Jamaica’s dingy ghettoes to Australia’s open outback, America’s smoked-glass night clubs to Scotia Nova’s medieval-ish theaters, February 6 will be for millions of people a solemn date to celebrate the only musician in history to be called a ‘Revolutionary’ – Bob Marley. And for Nagaland, for the very first time, will be joining the globe in celebrating the Man and his music, in Dimapur on the 6th.
Music fans from around the world will be staging concerts, take out fund drives and peace marches and of course, abundantly complemented by the mandatory menu of Bob Marley’s “rebel music” that is his legacy today.
For decades, Reggae music’s biggest icon has remained the symbol of the mysticism of the plenteous marijuana packaged for brotherhood love, the Rastafarian poetry, free peace and oneness with the mankind’s cosmos. February 6, the man’s birthday, will be celebrated with a fitting tune in Dimapur’s Jumping Bean café.
The band of the hour will be Roots Reggae from Meghalaya’s Marley-fanatic city, Shillong. India is no stranger to the Bob Marley and Bob Dylan tribute concerts (read Lou Mojaw and The Great Society generation). Marley fans are aware of the 12 years stint the tribute concerts have been on in Shillong.
The dates have been confirmed and Roots Reggae will perform the Bob Marley birthday tribute at Dimapur’s hangout Jumping Bean, in Kher Mahal. Roots Reggae is a ten-member reggae band based in Shillong. This is not the first time the tribute series has been done in India. But certainly for Nagaland, this will be for the very first time.
“We specially wanted to bring in a taste of Reggae music to Nagaland which has never been done before, or has been attempted but received poorly. We hope to make this an annual thing if it kicks off well with the audience here in Dimapur,” stated Jumping Bean’s proprietors Sarah Pongen and Nokcha Aier in a letter.
It was informed that Jumping Bean is solely organizing this event ‘in terms of funds.’ A sound company, Dual Sound is sponsoring the sound system for the Marley tribute, Jumping Bean informed.
Bob Marley or Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley was born on February 6, 1945. He was the front man, songwriter and guitarist for the Ska-reggae bands The Wailers (1964–1974) and Bob Marley & The Wailers (1974–1981). Marley was responsible for spreading the Jamaican Ska/Reggae style of music and the Jamaican ‘religion’, the Rastafari movement to the world.
Bob Marley's best known hits include ‘I Shot the Sheriff’, ‘No Woman, No Cry’ and ‘Redemption Song.’ He has, with The Wailers and the Bob Marley & The Wailers about 15 studio albums and a score other compilations, live albums and recordings. The compilation, Legend (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album. The albums went being 10-times Platinum in the United States alone and selling 20 million copies worldwide.
Bob Marley died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami on the morning of May 11, 1981, at the age of 36. He died of melanoma in his lungs and brain. Bob Marley was accorded a state funeral by the Jamaican government on May 21, 1981.
Guwahati, Jan 31 : Fans are known to do crazy things. But Assam's singing sensation Zubeen Garg of "Ya Ali" fame was taken aback when he realized that a woman fan had stealthily chopped off his ponytail at a recording studio here.
The incident took place late Friday when Zubeen was busy dubbing an Assamese number at the DG Music Studio in Guwahati. "I suddenly found that my ponytail was missing and then found a woman fan of mine, who seems to be a little crazy, holding the lock of hair and shouting at me. What could I do?" Zubeen told journalists.
Friends and acquaintances later shoved the woman out of the studio. "The woman had on earlier occasions attended some of my functions and even danced on stage," Zubeen said. The singer is at his wit's end, and so are some of his friends and well wishers, as Zubeen is currently shooting an Assamese TV serial "Anuradha" where he is supposed to sport the ponytail.
"There are some sequences left for shooting and for continuity we need the ponytail. Without Zubeen's ponytail, the shooting would be incomplete. We have to find other ways to maintain the continuity in the serial," one of the make-up artists of the serial said.
The news of Zubeen's ponytail cut by a woman fan has spread like wild fire as he is considered the heartthrob of the young generation in Assam. "I got the news late Friday and immediately rushed to the studio to find out what happened and how Zubeen looked without the ponytail," said Zublee, a female co-singer who accompanies Zubeen in most of the stage shows.
Fortunately for Zubeen, he managed to get the lock of hair back from the woman. "Look at this ponytail. Maybe some people don't like me to wear a ponytail," Zubeen said in a jovial manner.
Rock O Phonix, a competition for rock bands which is a module in the larger cultural festival of IIT Guwahati called Alcheringa. The festival will commence on 4th February and end on the 7th.
The Prelims of the Event are on 4th and 5th February,2010. And Finals are on the 7th February. The Finals will be the grand finale of the Festival, which is a first for any IIT Cultural festival.
Modus Operandi:
30 bands will be shortlisted for the Prelims based on their demos and profiles. 20 minutes + 3 minutes for sound check will be given to each band in Prelims so a total of 23 minutes stage in and stage out. An original is a must in Prelims’ set list. For Finals, 7 bands will be selected based on their performance in Prelims. A band has to perform any five songs of their choice. An original is compulsory again along with that only one cover from Prelims performance can be repeated.
Jury:
We have Mr. Larry ex bassist of Soulmate. He has two international side projects Abiogenesis(listed in Grammys) and 4th Element.
Mr David. He is founder of Rockarolla events and co-founder of Eastern Beats Music Society. He is responsible for rejuvenating Guwahati Rock Scene.
Vishal J. Singh. The one man kill machine and Amogh Symphony Is his brainchild.
Mr Rishi Boro. He is one of the finest vocalists of Assam. He is a sound engineer and composer. Had two projects in Delhi called Terminal frost and Swastika.
Mr. Momocha. A Veteran Drummer from Manipur. He was the member of one of the earliest metal bands of India called ‘Cannibals’.
Bands Shortlisted are:
Chronic xorn Kolkata
Pip of the Fourth Mother Shillong
The Cynical Recess Kolkata
Kaivalyaa Kolkata
Cleave Manipur
Stacy’s Penitence Aizawl
Melodrama Nagaland
Myth of a Fate Aizawl
Alien Gods Itanagar
October Delhi
Gravy Theory Kolkata
Moshpit Kolkata
Nigambodh Delhi
Solitary Souls Kalimpong(Darjeeling)
Wasted Souls Chandigarh
IQ Cannabis Darjeeling
Girish and the chronicles Gangtok
Freddie’s Nightmare Aizawl
BasementBlues Delhi
Dwar Shillong
Rabbit is Rich Delhi
Weaponshop Kolkata
Native Rules Shillong
Jester Delhi
Guillotine Delhi
Noiseware Pune
and there are auditions for Guwahati Bands scheduled to be on the 1st February,2010. 5 bands will make it through to the Prelims.
Guwahati’s favourites Lucid Recess and Casino Blue will also perform as guest bands during the prelims of Rock-o-Phonix,with
Eluveitie headlining the festival.
Prelims are on 4th & 5th February,
Finals are on 7th February, 2010. followed by Eluveitie’s Gig.
This recent feature by Hype Machine, which highlights the best music of 2009 according to bloggers, is loaded with gems. Over the course of this week, they're rolling out their top 50 picks for artists and albums. In addition, they have a great list of the top songs (often with previews), including some cool remixes. Four of the songs, for example:
With the overwhelming success of their last trek through North America earlier this year, Dutch female-fronted symphonic metallers EPICA will return to the U.S. and Canada for 24 headlining shows with Nuclear Blast labelmates SCAR SYMMETRY, as well as MUTINY WITHIN and BLACKGUARD. The tour is set to launch on November 16 in West Springfield, Virginia and wrap up in Raleigh, North Carolina on December 18. This will be EPICA's second North American trek in support of the band's latest album, "Design Your Universe", which came out last October. The CD landed at position No. 12 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.
Confirmed tour dates are:
Nov. 16 - Jaxx - W. Springfield, VA
Nov. 17 - The Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA
Nov. 19 - The Gramercy Theatre - New York, NY
Nov. 20 - The Palladium - Worcester, MA
Nov. 21 - Club Soda - Montreal, QC - CANADA
Nov. 23 - Music Hall - London, ON - CANADA
Nov. 24 - Peabody's - Cleveland, OH
Nov. 26 - Blondie's - Detroit, MI
Nov. 27 - Headliner's Music Hall - Louisville, KY
Nov. 28 - The Rave - Milwaukee, WI
Nov. 30 - Bluebird Theater - Denver, CO
Dec. 02 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
Dec. 03 - Rickshaw Theatre - Vancouver, BC - CANADA
Dec. 04 - Hawthorne Theatre - Portland, OR
Dec. 05 - DNA Lounge - San Francisco, CA
Dec. 07 - The Key Club - Hollywood, CA
Dec. 08 - Ramona Mainstage - Ramona, CA
Dec. 09 - Clubhouse - Tempe, AZ
Dec. 11 - Trees - Dallas, TX
Dec. 12 - Emo's - Austin, TX
Dec. 14 - The Club at Firestone - Orlando, FL
Dec. 15 - Culture Room - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Dec. 17 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
Dec. 18 - Volume 11 - Raleigh, NC
Rome, Feb 16 : It seems unlikely that the Pope, known for his love of Mozart and who once described rock music as the work of the Devil, enjoys Carlos Santana’s Black Magic Woman or Oasis’s Wonderwall on an iPod in the privacy of his study.
Rock O Phonix
