Reports of the demise of Puerto Rican salsa/R&B quartet Son by
Four were an exaggeration, lead singer Angel Lopez and
manager Edwin Medina told the San Juan newspaper El Nuevo Día. Rumors were flying this week that
brothers Javier and George Montes and cousin Pedro Quiles did not want to continue with the vocal group, whose "Cuando Seas Mia (Miss Me So Bad)" this week tops the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks survey, where their "A Puro Dolor" is #3 in its 44th week on the chart. Explaining that Son by Four were just trying to negotiate new contracts in the wake of their great
success, Lopez said, "We are artists concerned with our public, but also
we are workers who have the right to decide what is important to us." ...
Femi Kuti, along with his band Positive Force, was among the
acts at the Nobel Prize Peace Concert on December 11 in Oslo, Norway. The
event honored Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kim Dae Jung, President of
South Korea. The other acts included popsters Westlife, rocker
Jon Bon Jovi, techno star Moby and country singer Lee
Ann Womack. The concert will air in its entirety tonight (December 22) on the Fox Family Channel. ...
Beres Hammond, the Jamaican singer best known for his smooth lovers' rock style, will release his 15th album, Music Is Life, on February 6. Tracks include the single "They Gonna Talk" and "Dance4Me," which boasts a guest appearance by Fugee Wyclef Jean. ...
Los Super Seven, the part-time featuring David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas from Los Lobos will release a new album in March. Guests will include Brazil's Caetano Veloso, Peruvian singer Susanna Baca and Raul Malo of country band the Mavericks. The record will include new versions of songs by Veloso, traditional Latin material and new material from Hidalgo and Rosas. The band's eponymous debut won a 1998 Grammy for Best Mexican-American Music Performance. ...
Edmund Ntemi Piliso, 75, an influential musician who defined the South African jazz sound, has died. In the early 1950s Piliso and his brother, Shadrack, combined their love of Duke Ellington's music with the African tribal sound known as marabi. Playing tenor saxophone, Piliso led his own band prior to becoming a member of the African Jazz Pioneers in the '80s. The band recorded several albums including Sip and Fly and Afrika Vukani. Piliso died of a long illness related to diabetes. ...
Japan's Kodo drummers will celebrate their 20th anniversary next year with a remix album and U.S. tour. The record, Kodo Tataku: Best of Kodo 2, will be released January 23. On January 30 the 20-member troupe will begin a 31-date trek across the United States beginning in Eugene, Oregon, and ending March 22 in Washington, D.C. ...
The seventh annual World Sacred Music Festival will take place June 1-10 in Fez, Morocco. Brazilian star Gilberto Gil will headline the opening ceremony. Among the festival's 17 performers are France's Ensemble Naguila, Pakistan's Abida Parveen, Egypt's Sheikh Ahmad Al Tuni and American gospel stars the Edwin Hawkins Singers, who will close the event. ...
Asian Dub Foundation Education, the youth-oriented organization conceived by Anglo-Asian band Asian Dub Foundation, will receive financial help from the British government's National Foundation for Youth Music. Based in Brent, outside London, Asian Dub Foundation Education aids young bands seeking tuition, musical education and recording facilities. ... Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera will release a duet single next year. The pair are filming a video for "Nobody Wants To Be Lonely" (RealAudio excerpt), a track from Martin's Sound Loaded album. ...
— sonicnet.com staff report
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