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After a scramble to get everything together, I made my way out to the Roots and Blues Festival in Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Though not a hip hop festival, the line up looked promising, especially since K’Naan was set to headline Friday night’s main stage performances. One of the main reasons for making the trek into the interior was the glimmering hope that I would be able to snag an interview with K’Naan. This turned out to be a delusion that was pretty quickly put to rest when it turned out K’Naan wasn’t arriving until late in the evening on Friday and was leaving early on Saturday morning. This, however, was a slight hiccup in an otherwise phenomenal festival (all hope is not lost in the interview either; K’Naan will be in Victoria for Rifflandia this year on September 23rd).
K’Naan’s performance on Friday night was certainly the highlight of the weekend. His energy and stage presence were superb. His band played blistering renditions of his songs while he delivered each song with a surprising freshness for someone who has toured over 80 countries this year alone.
Along with K’Naan’s performance, however, there were also many great acts who played. The workshop where Morlove, Ohbijou and Royal Wood shared the stage was fantastic. Five Alarm Funk rocked every stage they played on, mixing heavy rock drum beats with funky bass, horns, guitar and percussion. The workshop with Five Alarm Funk and Grupo Fantasma, two of the groups with the most members, was great, even if the band members looked a bit like sardines all squished onto the small Boogie Barn stage. Fred Penner definitely won the award for evoking the most childhood nostalgia when he performed many of the classic songs that most Canadian teens and young adults remember from either his various CD releases or from Fred Penner’s Place. I managed to sit down with Fred, and the interview can be heard or downloaded here.
Fred made mention of K’Naan in the interview saying: “I love K’Naan. He was here two nights ago. Man, he’s on the top of my list, he’s just brilliant. As a performer, as a songwriter, his heart is seriously in the right place. He’s bringing the message to the table… He’s taken it another notch.” It was good to hear that
The final evening was headlined by Gord Downie (previously the singer/songwriter of the Tragically Hip) on the mainstage. Before going to that, I caught the Wassabi Collective on the Barn stage. Their performance was slightly disappointing. They do party rock very well and their main female vocalist was on point. The problem was their “reggae” songs. The guitarist who sang on these had a terribly phony faux-Jamaican accent and simply didn’t fit the role . The result was high energy party tunes, which worked, punctuated by reggae song, which didn’t. I think they would do well to focus their efforts away from reggae.
Gord Downie’s performance was fantastic. Though I’ve never been a huge fan of his voice, he was an excellent performer and the dry humour of his banter between songs was very entertaining. It’s always good to see a band having a good time together on stage, and this was no exception. Maybe it was because it was the last show on their tour, but they all seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves and eachother’s company. The clincher for me was that at one point one of the guitarists pulled out a theremin (check out what that is here).
The whole festival was a great place to find new styles of music and expand my tastes. Though I won’t be moving away from hip hop any time soon I was certainly given ample opportunity to experiment with other genres over the weekend. I would say is the Roots and Blues’ strong suit is the great diversity of music they draw together into one place for three days. Overall, it was an excellent weekend at the festival and I hope I’ll be able to make the pilgrimage out again next year.
This movie looks inspiring to say the least. Looking forward to it’s release.
Jay Electronica – Swagger Jackson’s Revenge
The Roots ft. John Legend – The Fire
Reflection Eternal – Ballad of the Black Gold
Shad – Exile
Rascalz ft. K-Os – Top of the World
Jay Electronica – Dimethyltriptamine
Nas ft. Jay Z – Black Republican
Nas and Damian Marley ft. K’Naan – Tribal War
Common – New Wave
Grand Analog – Play My Kazoo
Langdon Auger – The Function
Jay Electronica – Bitches and Drugs
Blu & Exile – Show Me the Good Life
Whosane ft. Pangaea (Jimmy Flexx and Nonku) – Dancing in the Rain
K’Naan- Wavin’ Flag (Celebration Remix)
We’re posting it up here on the website today in memory of a legend that passed on yesterday (April 19th) after a long battle with cancer.
Rest in Peace Guru.
Listen online or Download Here
Below is an interview I did with Guru and Solar over a year ago. It was my first major interview with a hip hop artist and I was pretty nervous, but after a few bumps over Gangstarr questions, we managed to have a decent interview other than how nervous I sound! May Guru Rest in Peace.
Listen online, or Download Here.
Listen to the interview online, or Download Here for your iPod.
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Whosane- Where I’m From- Off the “Prelude to the Black Diamond”, Buy it on iTunes!
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Pangaea (Whosane, Jimmy Flexx, Nonku)- Pangaea Movement
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Whosane and Mos Def- Taxi- From New Ski Beatz project “24 Hour Karate School” (Get the downlow on Frolab.com)
We made the beat in his hotel studio (pictures coming soon) and then he spat the freestyle after we watched some old Hieroglyphics and DPG freestyles from Rapcity on youtube. I edited it down from over 6 minutes to a 4 minute version and added a little intro, but otherwise it’s un-altered and it’s completely freestyled.
Here’s the Del the Funky Homosapien interview we did when Del was in town on April 7th. I was hanging out with Del for a few hours before his set, making beats and talking hip hop, and he’s a super chill dude. Also check out the Del Made You Look Radio Exclusive Freestyle. If you want to download the Mp3 of this interview to listen to it on your iPod, right Click Here and press “Save As.” I’m also going to make Mp3’s available for all of the past interviews, so stay posted that should be available in the next couple days.
