Senegalese Artist Fallou Dieng and San Francisco Rockers Deerhoof Open the Show
SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2008 AT 7 PM
Generously Sponsored by WaMu
Media Sponsor: KCRW
The 10th anniversary season of KCRW’s World Festival at the Hollywood Bowl continues on Sunday, July 27, at 7pm, with a psychedelic-African-rock triple threat. Eclectic rock duo Gnarls Barkley makes their Hollywood Bowl debut, along with Senegalese artist Fallou Dieng and experimental rockers Deerhoof. KCRW DJ Garth Trinidad hosts.
Gnarls Barkley, the two-time Grammy-winning combination of Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton and Cee-Lo Green, perform in support of their acclaimed 2008 LP The Odd Couple. Their Hollywood Bowl performance marks their only summer appearance in Los Angeles. The Odd Couple follows the international breakthrough of their 2006 debut release St. Elsewhere, which included the chart-topping single "Crazy." Paste magazine says, "the duo's avant garde pop sensibility challenges other musicians to unlock their own creativity and make truly unique music." Danger Mouse also produced Beck's latest release Modern Guilt; Beck performs at the Hollywood Bowl on Sept. 20.
Senegalese artists emerging from the groundbreaking trail blazed by the country’s most famous son, Youssou N’dour. Fallou is known as le “Roi de l’ambiance” for creating some of Dakar’s most thrilling dance music: where cracking ‘sabar’ drums, driving polyrhythms and punchy horn stabs all blend perfectly with Fallou’s dynamic and versatile voice. Fallou’s dynamic powers as a singer, composer, arranger and bandleader are showcased in his album anthology African Classics, a comprehensive collection of Fallou’s commercial hits and critical successes in Senegal.
Deerhoof is many things to many people. For the past 14 years they have excited audiences with their one-of-a-kind mix of pop hooks and ridiculous rhythms. With such epic releases as The Runners Four and Friend Opportunity for the legendary Kill Rock Stars label, this part American, part Japanese group has toured the globe numerous times endearing themselves to audiences of all kinds of music. From performing at music festivals such as Coachella and Fuji Rock in Japan, to international tours with Radiohead and The Flaming Lips, and performances with hip-hop buddies The Roots, the energy, fun and excitement of Deerhoof continue to inspire fans and newcomers alike.
These three internationally recognized acts fit perfectly into the KCRW World Festival series, one that presents non-traditional, one-of-a-kind, concerts by pairing artists from different genres and locations from around the globe.
GNARLS BARKLEY, an enigmatic presence in the entertainment business, formally introduced himself in 2006, to the tune of the popular song "Crazy." He released the acclaimed LP St. Elsewhere, garnered two Grammies (and six nominations), and became a global phenomenon without ever appearing in public. With fame came attention, and to protect himself from the public gaze, he split himself in two, the yin and the yang. This opened a tunnel through the forbidden underworld of popular music and human psychology, a world explored on Gnarls Barkley's second LP, The Odd Couple. To represent one side, Gnarls ordains Danger Mouse, one of the most creative and fearless artists and producers currently at work. Danger Mouse is a musical polymath – his broad comprehension of pop music's codes and patterns is eclipsed only by his irrepressible urge to circumvent them. Danger Mouse likes his privacy and keeps his own counsel. He has maintained Barkley’s confidences through a long association, which has included a successful collaboration on St. Elsewhere and many early-morning patty melts at various Waffle House franchises. After Gnarls visited his home and left a potted philodendron and a large collection of Swiss film soundtracks at his doorstep, Danger Mouse agreed to score The Odd Couple. As the other side, Gnarls casts Cee-Lo Green, the soul machine. A versatile singer reared on the raw streets of Atlanta, Cee-Lo taught himself gospel, R&B, hip-hop, lightning-bolt charisma, and the finer points of the human condition. Cee-Lo captured worldwide attention for his performances on St Elsewhere, and offered his unmistakable voice for The Odd Couple project after Barkley reimbursed him for a dinner at the Atlanta Cheesecake Factory. In the labyrinth of The Odd Couple, Cee-Lo is both diplomat and savior. He also appears as the passionate escape artist, the reluctant concierge, and the confused adolescent. Gnarls Barkley is The Odd Couple, a gloriously complex and eternally restless mix of sound and enigma. It finds comfort in the strange and mystery in the familiar. It awakens souls, gives a voice to the most complex emotions, and defies the most imaginative expectations.
Born in 1960, at the dawn of Senegal's independence, FALLOU DIENG is the son of a marabout (spiritual leader). He was named after the distinguished marabout, Serigne Fallou Mbacké, the son of Cheikh Amadou Bamba Mbacké, the legendary Sufi founder and leader of Mouridism. Certainly, this pedigree seems to have influenced Fallou’s magnificent onstage presence: he bears a graceful and elegant manner as he sings and leads his fervently exuberant and exceptionally gifted young band, the DLC. Also on stage with Fallou Dieng is an absolutely outstanding dancer, Mor Talla Samb. Samb is a human explosion of buoyant, whirling, levitating, turbaned energy whose voluminous blue robes balloon with air whenever he alights on stage. Fallou Dieng has an overall sense of well-being that emanates from his sweetly gruff voice as he croons, implores and scats away in Wolof, Serer and Toucouleur, reaching out to Senegal’s various ethnicities. Fallou’s steady stream of releases and incendiary live shows have kept him in the limelight since his first hit record 15 years ago, when Fallou’s career was launched with the help of his Medina neighbor and mentor Youssou N’dour and his business partner Cheick Tall Dioum. Fallou’s dynamic powers as a singer, composer, arranger and bandleader in classic, down-home-roots Senegalese musical styling known as mbalax dur et pur (hard and pure mbalax, the Senegaese pop genre based on sabar drumming) are at last reaching a wider audience with a full North American summer tour and a new album anthology African Classics, recently released on the Sheer Sound label.
DEERHOOF includes Satomi Matsuzaki (vocals and bass), John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez (guitars) and Greg Saunier (drums). Although typically classified as indie rock due to their having been on an indie rock label (Kill Rock Stars) for the entirety of their career, the mercurial and unconventional nature of Deerhoof's music makes genre identification difficult and probably inappropriate. But several recurring features can be said to constitute Deerhoof's distinctive sound: unassuming vocal delivery set against hyper-expressive instrumental playing; an elastic approach to group dynamics and rhythm more akin to the rubato of classical music performance practice than rock; odd but memorable melodies; harmonic sophistication and dissonance; disjointed, condensed, asymmetrical and otherwise unconventional song structures; raw and at times strident sound surfaces; improvisation; and general creative restlessness. Deerhoof has come to be widely recognized as musical innovators and trendsetters.
One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and in 1991 gave its name to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. The 2004 season introduced audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 40th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and close to one million admissions have been recorded. In February 2008, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the fourth year in a row at the 19th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards. The Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers, and Disneyland.
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2008, at 7 PM
HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood
KCRW World Festival
GNARLS BARKLEY
FALLOU DIENG
DEERHOOF
Generously Sponsored by WaMu
Media Sponsor: KCRW
Tickets ($10 - $96) are on sale now at HollywoodBowl.com, at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office (Tuesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.), or by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, and at all Ticketmaster outlets. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850.2050 for further details. For general information or to request a brochure, call 323.850.2000.
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Adam Crane, acrane@laphil.org, 213.972.3034; Lisa Bellamore, lbellamore@laphil.org, 213.972.3689; For photos: 213.972.3034