World Music Central, CalabashMusic Releases Exclusive Digital World Music >>
  CalabashMusic.com is breaking new ground by offering one of the first recordings by a world music artist to only be released in digital format. Thomas Mapfumo -an outspoken Zimbabwean living in exile in the United States of America- has chosen to bypass the middle men and even the manufacturer going direct from studio to MP3 on his new album, Rise Up. The album will be available exclusively as a digital download via CalabashMusic.com; making Mapfumo the first artist to release an entire world music album in digital format only.
I would add a strong musical influence filtered from the court dances of Europe, via the post-Islamic courts of Spain (this is particularly true of the 3/4, 6/8 forms which don't seem to me to be characteristic of Middle Eastern rhythms except in very basic forms....
Furthermore, the April 12 release will be accompanied by a download package of an entire catalog of his recorded music—over 130 songs—for $99.
The “Mapfumo Files”—as this unboxable set has been dubbed—contain the previously unreleased Rise Up, and fourteen other Mapfumo albums, including a never-released-before recording called Afropop Worldwide Presents Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited, Live in New York. Afropop Worldwide’s Sean Barlow says: “Our landmark live recording at SOB’s in 1991 catches Thomas and his band when they first achieved their fully matured sound. With two mbira players right up front, the repertoire alternates between traditionally based songs and uptempo dance tunes with the swing of African jazz in Thomas’ unique horn arrangements. One of Afropop’s most sublime recordings ever.” The recording features key band members Sebastian Mbata (drums), Charles Makokova (bass) and Ephraim Karimaura (guitar) who have passed away since the recording was made.
 “Here we have possibly the most prolific voice for a generation of social protest in Zimbabwe,” explains CalabashMusic.com founder Brad Powell. “He has tried the path of working with record labels and is now seeking a more direct route to fans, cutting out some of the middle-men in the process. He has spent recent months recovering the rights to his music and publishing. And now he has found our fair trade model which earns a higher royalty than any other record deal he has had in his life, in 40 years of being in music.”
CalabashMusic.com is the premiere world music only digital download website. The company has established a Fair Trade model in which independent artists get half of retail sales. Calabash is fast-establishing a reputation for creating forward-thinking strategic partnerships that bring the music industry into the modern age.
Calabash is the provider of content for the digital retail store of national radio program Afropop Worldwide. Afropop makes its exclusive recordings such as the live Mapfumo concert and the recent Festival in the Desert -- The Tent Sessions, a intimate set of live “field recordings” available as digital downloads solely through Calabash. The Tent Sessions were also released as a video documentary, which was broadcast exclusively by Link TV, the United State’s only national TV broadcaster of world music videos.
Calabash plays a similar role with Link TV, who also use Calabash’s catalog of music to power their online retail outlet. This satellite channel broadcasts up to four hours of world music videos each day. Viewers are directed to Link’s website where they can purchase MP3s and CDs by the artists performing on their screens. Calabash also just launched a weekly video premier of new music videos available as streams on the website, timed to coincide with Link’s broadcast of a new video.
-WMC News Dept. 04/04/05 >> go there
|
