Home [Away From] Home

Home [Away From] Home
An Ethiopian and Eritrean Arts Festival in Oakland, CA

So excited to be a part of this brilliance brought together by Meklit Hadero, Sephora Woldu & Ellias Fullmore (in partnership with YBCA) next week in The Bay Area! Learn more about the project here, and don’t miss this absolutely free all-ages festival on Sunday, September 14th featuring musical performances by Gabriel Teodros, CopperWire, Melted States, Zena Konjo and more. There will also be a Braiding as Sculpture competition, Umbrella Painting, a Family Portrait Salon, traditional coffee served all day, food vendors and a children’s play area.

This is all taking place on Lake Merritt, next to the Gojo/Adgo we are building, which is housing events and new artwork created by the likes of Natasha Shompol, Zena Carlota Pearl Alen, Sedey Gebreyes, Esther & Noah Kibreab, Selam Bekele, Andre Jones, Joseph Gebre, Nesima Aberra and Mahader Tesfai for the entire week leading up to the festival!

I also wanted to point ya’ll to some cool interviews I did that went up over the last few months. The first one is in the July issue of Re-Volt Magazine where I talked to Big Hass in Saudi Arabia about style, influences and Hip Hop today. Before that I got to talk to Veronica Bayetti Flores at Feministing.com about redefining concepts of masculinity and home, and I also got a cool feature in the current issue of Seattle Magazine as one of "The 50 Bands Rocking Seattle Music Right Now". Much love to everyone supporting the new album! If you haven’t gotten Children Of The Dragon in your life yet, what are you waiting for? Bandcamp. iTunes.

There will be a lot more news about an even newer album with SoulChef on production very soon…

In the meantime check this out: Ferguson - Seattle Solidarity Cypher featuring EarDr.Umz the MetroGnome on production and raps from Gabriel Teodros, JDFlow, Spekulation, Zar, Ant, Orbitron, Yze & King Khazm.

See ya’ll in a minute,
- gt

"Pop Star Is Dead" - Gabriel Teodros

My solo contribution to the 47N122W35N139E: Reunion On The I-5 album, produced by Simonal, and recorded last summer on the day Michael Jackson died. This song's not really about MJ... it's more of an answer to the statement "Hip Hop Is Dead", and it also represents me breaking through a personal wall. In the time after recording the Lovework album (Spring of 2006) and before August 2009 when i started recording the Colored People's Time Machine album... that whole 3 year period... i only completed a total of 3 solo tracks. The song Tizita for The Kafa Beanz project released in the summer of 2008, the song Me & You with Silver Shadow D in January of 2009, and this song right here, which came right as the floodgates broke... and i've been making music constantly ever since! You could say i took my own advice and started writing songs about issues i was scared of talking about. When i wrote this, i remember thinking how symbolic Michael Jackson's death was, as he was referred to as the "King of Pop"... and how that idea of being of pop star can destroy a person's humanity... and how even the little fame that came my way with the last album, nearly destroyed my desire to continue making solo music. Me killing the pop star in my head, needed to happen just so i could breathe free on a microphone again. More centered, more grounded, and more focused then ever before.

The project this track ended up on, is a bridge between Seattle and Tokyo, a beautiful piece of music made in the summer of 2009, mostly in Daichi Diez's apartment overlooking Lake Union and the I-5 overpass. Producers T-Bone Steak and Simonal came to visit from Japan, and got down with Seattle producer EarDrumz, as well as emcees like myself, Khingz, ORB, Yze, Lateef Mozest, Phreewil, SistaHailStorm, Daichi Diez, Maf Maddix, and more... in a crazy 2 week recording session, that turned into an ILL 22 track album. It's amazingly cohesive considering all the people that came together to make it happen, and perfect summertime music. 47N122W35N139E: Reunion On The I-5 was released in Japan on Vuestro Record / Shamrock, and it looks like it can be found anywhere in Japan where music is sold... it's pretty easy to find in an internet search... and i can tell you, the CD is definitely worth the purchase. If anyone can name the other 2 projects i'm featured on that were released in Japan only... you get props.

Video - LIVE @ HIDMO featuring ORBITRON with Yze, Circle of Fire/Soulshifters & DJ Gumbeaux

If you missed Live @ Hidmo this last Friday i feel bad for you. I've never seen such a high percentage of people at a Hip Hop show with genuine smiles on their faces. One cause the music was so dope... Orbitron, Yze, Mozest, Free and DJ Gumbeaux all went so hard! but mostly cause the crowd was comprised of so many youth... some still with pacifiers... up front dancing the whole night. This Friday (8/7) is sure to be another classic night... as J. Pinder will be rocking it with brand new material off his Sky Is Falling EP! Peace to Derek Edamura, Case and Scott Macklin for the footage!

East African Hip Hop In Seattle! :: VIDEO & Review

So just this last Tuesday, March 10 2009... i had the honor of performing with K'Naan, Yze & DJ Daps1 over at Neumos. My first time performing with K'Naan (although we spoke on a lil panel together years ago) and this was also his first headlining show in Seattle. Sold the venue out in advance! probably could of done multiple nights. i think the crowd was a majority East African youth. i still get high thinking about it. one of the most beautiful nights i've ever had involving Hip Hop music. Scott Macklin did this blog-umentary about the evening... check it out! Here's Jonathan Cunningham's review of the show too... check him out in the Seattle Weekly! oh and Jonathan's been doing some consistent quality music coverage ever since he got to the Seattle Weekly... check for all this man's articles! for real. and finally, if you haven't copped that Troubadour album yet... stop sleeping!

* MARCH 10, 2009 :: K'NAAN + GABRIEL TEODROS in SEATTLE, WA!

Tuesday March 10, 2009

K'NAAN
Gabriel Teodros
Yze
DJ Daps1
hosted by One Be Lo

8PM
ALL AGES :: Bar w/ i.d.

Neumos
925 E. Pike St.
Seattle, WA

$10 adv / $12 dos
Tickets available at Ticketswest.com, select QFCs, Moe Bar & Rudys Barbershops


Somalia.

The name alone conjures up images of unbridled destruction, merciless warlords and ruthless terror. A place where nobody—children, the elderly, religious figures—is safe from the atrocities of war, and where the idea of “childhood,” where 8-year olds handle AK-47s like toys, exists in chronological terms alone. When Forbes magazine recently unveiled their “Most Dangerous Destinations,” Somalia, above Iraq and Afghanistan, topped the list.

But it’s also “The Nation of Poets,” where a poem can both inspire peace and end wars. Where every weekend, regardless of the climate, one can find a play or concert at a local theatre.

Growing up, it was both of these Somalias that informed musician/emcee K’NAAN Warsame, whose sophomore album Troubadour will be released February 24, 2009. The grandson of Haji Mohamed, one of Somalia’s most famous poets, and nephew of famed Somali singer Magool, the emcee is creating his own musical path through reggae, funk, pop, soul and, above all, hip-hop.

Recorded primarily in Kingston, Jamaica where K’NAAN was granted unprecedented access by his friends Stephen and Damian Marley to their father Bob Marley’s original home studio at 56 Hope Road and the legendary Tuff Gong studios Troubadour is a hip-hop album like no other. K’NAAN successfully blends samples and live instrumentation for a sound that’s both rooted in traditional African melodies and the classic hip-hop tradition.