Rupa & the April Fishes on PRI's The World

Rupa
Originally uploaded by PRI's The World

Zoe Corneli of PRI's program "The World" interviewed Rupa recently about her album eXtraOrdinary rendition. The piece aired yesterday on public radio stations throughout the country.

Rupa speaks about why she named the album after a clandestine CIA practice and how writing in many languages is part of her artistic process.

The piece continues the excitement that is building around Rupa & the April Fishes. Recently, the new album hit #1 on iTunes for sales in the world genre and the video for "une americaine a paris" was featured on the youtube.com home page.

Listen to Rupa on PRI's The World:
http://www.theworld.org/pod/glohit/05222008.mp3

Rupa & the April Fishes Tour Europe May 29th-June 15th

After being featured on the home page of YouTube and reaching #1 on the iTunes world music charts, the buzz on the San Francisco musical adventurers is reaching a fever pitch

Born to Indian parents in California, raised in the US, India and southern France, and leading a double life as a musician and a doctor, singer/guitarist/composer Rupa and her polyglot band of musical renegades have taken the US and Canada by storm and are now bringing their music to Europe with the international release of eXtraOrdinary rendition on Cumbancha. With their enchanting mix of chic French nouvelle scene, rousing Latin alternative grooves, energetic Gypsy swing, and dreamy Indian ragas, the trend-setting band is spearheading a multicultural movement that is redefining the sound of contemporary music.

Beginning May 29th Rupa & the April Fishes cross the Atlantic to bring their musical mélange to Europe’s hottest clubs and festivals. The band’s sold-out shows have earned renown for their circus-like atmosphere that channels a modern-day Moulin Rouge. Their informal, acoustic lineup includes Rupa on guitar and vocals backed by upright bass, cello, accordion or bandoneon, percussion and trumpet.

While the music of Rupa & the April Fishes defies categorization, their intimate sound combined with a broad appeal has earned them comparisons to everyone from Manu Chao, Pink Martini and Lhasa to Beirut, Dengue Fever, Gogol Bordello and Keren Ann. Rupa’s nomadic upbringing has led her to write songs in a multitude of languages, including French, Spanish, Hindi and English. With themes ranging from love and death to politics and philosophy, the songs offer a magic carpet ride through time and place and embody Rupa’s goal of breaking down borders both real and imagined.

Besides being a songwriter and bandleader, Rupa is also a physician, splitting her time between her music career and caring for patients in San Francisco. She often finds inspiration from her patients. “A lot of my music feels like it derives its heart from these vulnerable encounters with people,” says Rupa. “Taking care of people is such a deep inspiration for so many things, but especially music.”

After completing their European tour, Rupa & the April Fishes will return to North America for high profile shows at New York’s Central Park SummerStage, the Montreal Jazzfest and the San Francisco Outsidelands Festival, among others. For current tour dates and updates on the latest news visit www.cumbancha.com.

Tour Dates

May 29 Satellit Café Paris, France www.satellit-cafe.com
May 31 Kulturarena Berlin, Germany www.arena-berlin.de
Jun 5 Sidecar Barcelona, Spain www.sidecarfactoryclub.com
Jun 6 Colonial Norte Madrid, Spain
Jun 10 Momo London, England www.momoresto.com
June 11 Alte Feuerwache Mannheim, Germany www.altefeuerwache.com
Jun 13 Clandestino Festival Göteberg, Sweden www.bwanaclub.org
Jun 14 30 CC Leuven, Belgium www.cultuurcentrumkortrijk.be
Jun 15 Amsterdam Roots Amsterdam, Netherlands www.amsterdamroots.nl

June 15 Live for Life Festival Arnhem, the Netherlands www.liveforlife.nl

Andy Palacio Tribute Tour Completes North American Dates; Continues on in Europe

The Andy Palacio Tribute Tour finished it’s North American run on a high note last week with a free concert to an enthusiastic audience at Lisner Auditorium in Washington DC. The tour was a celebration of the life and work of Andy Palacio, a tireless advocate for the music, language and culture of his Garifuna people, an Afro-Amerindian culture based in Central America. Palacio, who was experiencing a wave of critical acclaim for his 2007 album Wátina, died suddenly on January 19, 2008.

The tour featured members of the all-star, multi-generational Garifuna Collective, as well as singers from Umalali: The Garifuna Women’s Project along with special guests Aurelio Martinez, Lloyd Augustine and Paul Nabor. Throughout the tour, concert-goers recognized the significance of Andy’s work and experienced the strong foundation he set for Garifuna music on the world stage. The Tribute Tour continues in Europe this July with dates in Spain, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria.

Reviews of the tour have been unanimous in their praise. “The joyousness and spirit of community was palpable and it's hard to imagine that Palacio would have wanted it to be any other way,” wrote Tom Pryor of National Geographic Music in his piece on the tour’s opening date at Symphony Space in New York City. Brent Hallenback of the Burlington Free Press wrote of his deep sadness in the loss of Andy Palacio, however when the band came to the Burlington, Vermont nightclub Higher Ground, “riding the wave of Andy Palacio’s music, joy crushed sadness.”

Read Tom Pryor's review

Read Brent Hallenback's review

The Garifuna Collective and Umalali will be back in the states for a series of west coast performances beginning with Grand Performances in Los Angeles on August 29th. For regular news and current tour dates, visit www.cumbancha.com

Bringing the World to Vermont

WCAX Channel 3 featured Cumbancha and the Garifuna Collective on the 6 o'clock news recently in anticipation of the Andy Palacio Tribute Concert at Higher Ground. Shot in Charles Eller Studios on the Cumbancha campus, the piece focuses on a recording session and how Cumbancha is bringing musicians from all over the world to Vermont to record their music and share it with a global audience. Reporter Jack Thurston comments that Charlotte is poised to become the "Nashville of World Music".

Check out the news piece below.

Rock Music Press icon John Shelton Ivany's "mind blown" by Rupa and the April Fishes

In his four plus decade career in popular music press, John Shelton Ivany has seen many changes. A top level tastemaker, his weekly top 21 is published in over 200 newspapers nation wide. In his review of eXtraOrdinary rendition, he raves about the shifts in music exemplified by Rupa & the April Fishes. The full review is copied below.

Gypsy music is slowly but surely becoming the new hit thing. Rupa & The April Fishes are a perfect example, in the best way possible. While most of this style we get here at JSITOP21 is primarily genre-bending with either punk or indie rock, this is fairly iconic Gypsy music.
Perhaps there is a jazz inflection here and there, but this is remarkably straightforward. Rupa, a musician while a physician on the side, has an incredible voice, using a style that western ears are not accustomed to. It creates a drastic contrast between mainstream American music.
The April Fishes use an array of instruments, but rely primarily on accordion, horns, and odd percussion. For all of you local readers, Rupa & The April Fishes are based out of San Francisco, meaning that their live performance will be coming around soon, so be ready to have your minds blown.
***New Album of the Week***

Umalali gets "under the skin" of the UK's Fly

The influential UK web magazine Fly: Global Music Culture recently posted a rave review of Umalali: the Garifuna Women's Project

It feels every bit the kind of music you might hear sung on a Caribbean evening by a couple of guys with guitars coming back to the village and jamming with the women folk.

check out the rest of the review here.

"World Music's new champion"

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/music/904511,SHO-Sunday-palacio20a.article

Accolades keep rolling in for Cumbancha's work to bring wider recognition to deserving artists from around the globe. The latest piece comes from Mary Houlihan of the Chicago Sun Times. On Wednesday, April 23rd Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music hosts the Andy Palacio Tribute. Show starts at 8:30 pm.