Inside: The Vault

Jazz Jam Sessions at Ronnie Scott’s Upstairs Bar

Wednesday Night’s Jazz Jam Sessions at the historic Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club are an intimate, and relaxed, yet stimulating experience. Formerly one of London’s best-kept secret’s known only to seasoned jazz heads, this swinging yet sophisticated scene unfolds in the Upstairs Bar of the club, an elegantly lit oasis of tinkling glass and smoky mirrors. [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Gig review: L’Afrik c’est Chic (w/ Amadou et Mariam) @ Jazz Cafe, Sun 15th March 09

Inside there was a warm vibe as Eric Soul and Malian Djembeni-mix man  MoDJ were  trading seamless upbeat tracks;  the stage was  set with two enormous leather sofas, a drum-kit and various microphones. Then Amadou and Mariam were  led on to the stage,  coordinating chic outfits: I had never seen besant-cloth so burnished before, like [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Roll Deep, one of the original crews on the grime scene

One of the original crews on the grime scene, Roll Deep, return with a brand new double A-side single, ‘Moving In Circles’ and ‘Club 7’. Catch A Vibe visited their studio and sat down with two members of the Bow collective, producer and DJ, Target, and MC, J2K, to find out more about the new [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Conversation with Ty

Sitting down with UK rapper Ty, somewhere in South London, I start telling him about my sister Ira who recently lost her laptop at JFK Airport and didn’t  have a back-up!  Gone were all her  videos, pictures, music, documents… everything gone. Ty’s response is “You know what? Sometimes it’s good when you got to start [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Laura Izibor, Little Miss Soul Shines

For the past couple of years, Dublin-born soulstress, Laura Izibor (20), has been the talk of towns, on both sides of the Atlantic. Since winning the Hope for 2006 Award at the Meteor Music Awards (the Irish equivalent for the Brits), Izibor has been likened to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, and Alicia Keys, [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Gig review: Yolanda Brown @ Jazz Cafe, 15 Feb 09

With a venue renowned for its stellar acts and having heard good things about YolanDa Brown, my expectations were high. Judging from the queue already formed by door opening time (7pm prompt), it was clear I was not the only one who had been touched by her reputation.
Hosting the evening was up and coming comedian [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Rebel woman: an itw with Zimbabwean singer Chiwoniso

Momo’s basement is rammed in appreciation of Chiwoniso’s only London date. Mbiras, percussion, guitar, voice – it’s a semi-acoustic vibe that works the space well and Chiwoniso tells us just enough about each song, achieving a beautiful fusion between ancient tradition and singer songwriter sensibilities. Her songs are of struggle, respect and empowerment, sung in [...]

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Inside: The Vault

'My first job as a griot is to tell about our culture' says African musician N'faly Kouyate

N’faly Kouyate is the dynamic group leader of his band Dunkayan (The Voice of the World) and has been a core member of the Afro Celts Sound System. Talking to him from his home in Belgium, it is clear that this is a man who not only takes his music seriously for its own sake, [...]

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Inside: Issue 4

Nneka: “I’m no longer at ease with the situation”

Fresh from winning a well-deserved MOBO Award for best African Artist, Nneka is performing at ULU on 4 November.  To celebrate this well-deserved accolade, we dug into our Vault to bring up this interview, done back in November ‘07.

[Win tickets to Nneka's gig on Wed 4 Nov]
Victim Of Truth is not an obvious title for [...]

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Inside: The Vault

‘A Lot of people said that I couldn’t win’, Alexandra Burke, winner of the X Factor 2008

For all of you that don’t already know, Alexandra Burke could quite possibly be the best contestant on this series of the X Factor. The beautiful and talented Islington-born finalist has it all: the voice, the look but most importantly the humble attitude that will ensure that she will be loved wherever she goes. During [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Soul I-D: Soul on a mission

In an industry where formula rules, it is rare to find a band in the spotlight where friendship and music are at the core. Though boasting four identities, Soul:ID are not the machinations of a clever PR; so do not expect cute names and kitted out personalities to match. With their combined experience of studio [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Introducing French musician Spleen

Often referred to as an MC, French music-maker Spleen is actually one of the most atypical, and least categorisable, young artists currently operating in France. His only album to date, She Was A Girl, spans soul, rap, jazz, blues, folk and electronic experiminentation over a dizzying 22 tracks. The overwhelmingly positive critical response to that [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Yaabafunk, keeping the spirit of Fela alive

Yaabafunk have a clear vision – to spread highlife music from their basis in Brixton to the farther reaches of London and beyond. The ten piece band was formed in May 2006:  ‘Most of us were drummers in previous bands – Funk, Senegalese and Samba which we incorporate into our sound, but we all love [...]

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