Zaz returns to NYC this weekend for globalFEST
One of France’s most acclaimed artists, Zaz, returns to New York this weekend to perform for one of the first festivals of 2012! globalFEST runs Sunday, January 8th at Webster Hall from 7PM until midnight featuring 12 artists performing on 3 stages. NPR’s All Songs Considered recently called globalFEST “one of the best world music events in the U.S.” You can purchase tickets here.
This year’s edition features the velvet-voiced vocalist Zaz, who began singing blues (and Basque roots music) in Bordeaux. Soon after she found herself setting Montmartre street corners dancing, bringing Piaf to Siberia, and playing for Colombian salt miners and enthusiastic Egyptians as the front woman for several groundbreaking, globally-informed French bands. Zaz has since been swept to the top of the French charts, major music awards, and into the international spotlight. If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out Zaz’s video for her hit single “Je Veux“.
Three other artists with French backgrounds are slated to perform including Mayra Andrade, Wang Li, and SMOD. Mayra Andrade uses her light and stirring voice to evoke not only the distinctive sounds of Cuba and Cape Verde, but also to channel the beauty of many Lusophone, Latin, and European traditions. Andrade has drawn from Brazilian and French songs, as well as African sounds, to create music that engages jazz, acoustic, and chanson traditions. Now based in France, her musical curiosity has taken her from São Paolo to the streets of Havana. Wang Li hails from Tsinghao, a northeastern Chinese city where he grew up playing jaw harp, then bass. His life took a surprising turn when he ended up in an austere French monastery. Afterwards, he went on to study jazz at the Paris Conservatory and became fascinated with improvisation. He mastered circular breathing and the subtleties of the jaw harp, evoking an interior world rich with the echoes of his childhood. SMOD is named for the four high school friends and hip hop fans who founded the Malian group. The result is a distinct roots-rap hybrid sound that incorporates crunchy organic sounds, strong flow, and Afro-centric beats. Defying Malian and American rap orthodoxy, SMOD breaks into new musical territory with a flourish that caught the ear of producer Manu Chao.
Zaz and bureauexport have worked with one another to support her debut album’s international reception, assisting her recognition worldwide through promotional campaigns in Europe as well as the United States. In summer 2011, bureauexport helped Zaz launch a promotional campaign to create awareness for the U.S. release of her debut album as well as her first American concert dates.
