Real World

An exciting new discovery for us has been the Chinese singer Mamer. Introduced to us by English producers Robin Haller and Matteo Scumaci, Mamer is a cult figure at home, an underground hero playing venues of Beijing's leftfield music scene. His debut album 'Eagle' is haunting, lyrical, ambient and subtle - a modern soundtrack to the wild open Kazak grasslands.

There is a touch of the renegade spirit here - of everyone from The Flying Burrito Brothers to The Velvet Underground and Nick Cave. Here are traditional Kazak folk songs and Mamer's own compositions, and guests including Grammy winner Bela Fleck (on a Chinagrass duelling-banjos-style duet) and the late, great French producer Hector Zazou.

Mamer is revitalising the ancient songs and instruments of his heritage in windblown western China, with an alt-country aesthetic.

As a special offer, available only from our online shop, we are giving away a download of a track not available on the final album, 'Proverbs' (Hector Zazou remix) to anyone who pre-orders the album.

WOMAD New Zealand 2009 saw laughter, dancing, crazy outfits and an audience that almost reached 40,000 over the three days.

WITNESS has been collecting signatures on a petition asking Mexico's President Calderon to resolve the disappearances and murders of hundreds of women on the Mexico / U.S. border. Put your signature on the petition that Peter will deliver to the Mexican government on March 27th. Please sign it if you haven't already and send to your friends asking them to do the same. We only have until March 27th to grow this petition!

Unsigned? Under 25? How about entering Sharp Shotz Unsigned 2009? Could you write a completely original song about either Guns and Knives or Drugs?

Two winning songs will be chosen as end title tracks for the winning animation films. Your song will be recorded and mixed at Real World.

If you are not on our mailing lists, you won't have recieved our recent newsletters, but fear not, they are available to read on-line.

Daby Touré and Skip McDonald are seen here during an impromptu performance in The Wood Room at Real World Studios. This was the first time we had seen them perform together, a totally spontaneous meeting of two musicians and an unrehearsed rendition of 'Baye' from Daby's 'Stereo Spirit' release.

As Skip later said, "To meet a brother like this..." He shakes his head. "It's a rare, rare thing." Their collaboration continues to grow, first with a release through The B&W Music Club, then with 'Call My Name', now available for pre-order on Real World Records.

Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara are on the bill for both WOMADelaide and WOMAD New Zealand next month. You can get an early taste of their music with the Afrobilly Sessions, this month's release on the Real World curated Bowers & Wilkins Music Club. Sign-up for the free CD quality EP download, or join to download the full album each month.

The Afrobilly Sessions, the new sound of Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara. It is the sound of a nation with no borders - a place that needs no passport, no visa. The deep roots of African music nourish the raw electric groove of rock and roll, Gnawa spirit rhythms come up against Chicago distortion and snaky N'awlins rhythm has a West London howl, and a Sahel Wail.

You'll be hearing more from Justin and Juldeh with a release on Real World Records slated for May 7th.

Real World Records is proud to announce the release of the new collaborative mini-album by Daby Toure and Skip McDonald on 9th March entitled 'Call My Name'. Daby Toure is a well established Real World artist with two albums released on the label, 'Diam' and 'Stereo Spirit'. Skip McDonald, an old-school bluesman from Dayton, Ohio is the driving force behind Little Axe, also with 2 albums on Real World Records,'Champagne and Grits' and 'Stone Cold Ohio'.

Having met and jammed one night at Real World they kept on meeting up and jamming at various festivals around the world. A recorded collaboration was inevitable and this is the result, a joyous 6-track mini album that captures the spirit of that union.

Daby Touré will be touring throughout March and April in Europe with dates in the UK between 12th and 21st of March. Daby will be joined by Skip on selected dates. Please see our tour dates page for further details.

The mini-album will be released physically in the UK and selected European territories and digitally across the globe on March 9th.

The latest sample pack available on Real World Remixed is Peter Gabriel's 'Games Without Frontiers'. The sample pack also features Kate Bush on backing vocals and has two new parts - Lord Jamar's rap for the recent Winter X Games version of the track and Peter's new backing vocal, also from the X Games version.

A competition around the mixes submitted in the run up to the Summer X Games in August is in the pipeline, but the fine details are still being picked over. Any mixes uploaded before an announcement will be included in the competition. We'll be keeping Peter and the people at X Games up-to-date with mixes as they come in. We hope you enjoy it.

Peter Gabriel talks about a spate of award nominations and ceremonies including the Golden Globe Awards, the Grammy Awards and the Oscars's, all of which have 'Down To Earth' from Walle in ther short lists. Enriching 'brain food' is recounted, having been eaten both at The World Economic forum and TED in the last couple of weeks. There is news of music from Charlie Winston and Spiro, whose track 'Antrobus' features in this months video. If that and the details missing from this description were not news a plenty, Peter also has an update on the forthcoming tour dates, 'Games Without Frontiers' on Real World Remixed and his work on the 'Scratch My Back' covers project in the studio.