English
Possibly one of the most curious and interesting happenings on the European musical scene in the last ten years has been the appearance of the always surprising and refreshing band Irie Révoltés, who after nearly five years of elaboration, will present their latest album, ´Mouvement Mondial´, at the Apolo Theatre in Barcelona, on the upcoming Thursday, November 4th. (http://www.sala-apolo.com/localizacion.asp).
The fact that it´s a band from Heidelberg made up by nine people, although the original band members were four, which makes vibrant music located in the genres which go from reggae/ska to dance hall going through ska and hip-hop, without excepting touches of punk and R&B, shouldn´t strike us as strange, as it shouldn´t their intense and heartfelt social commitment, especially in relation to the situation in Africa (their support for organizations such as Wheelchairs for Africa is well known), declaring as such in a series of rebel and libertarian lyrics as well as their constant appearance in festivals and concerts for solidarity and against racism.
What makes them even more peculiar is the fact that, despite being a German band, most of their songs are written in French, a circumstance which goes to show both their multicultural nature as the rich and deep influence that the vigorous and prolific music and culture from the French banlieues has on them. French is also of course present in the name of the band (´Irie´ makes reference to the Jamaican word which designates a feeling of happiness and goodness identifiable with the connexion with divinity, and ´Révoltés´ is the plural for the French word for protester, angry or rebellious), whose members like to present themselves as citizens of the world, above any national consideration.
Possibly this is one of the reasons why Irie Révoltés are not very well known in the United States, despite a minority yet growing group of people which hasn´t been able to avoid hearing about the extraordinary cult reputation that this band has in Europe. Actually, it´s not possible to limit the repercussion of the band anymore to their traditional and loyal fans, because more and more all the time, the number of places where you can listen to their stimulating and energetic music is growing. A music which is characterized, despite its free eclecticism for a decided will to have fun, because that´s probably the impression which has left the bigger mark on those who attend their memorable concerts, the mark of seeing nine individuals enjoying greatly what they do and adamant to change every show into an authentic and unique experience, which inevitably feeds back the relation with their crowd in a very intense way which reached one of its peaks in their concert against the latest G-8 summit, which was labelled ´legendary´ by word of mouth by its very own right.
It has a lot to do directly with their conception of revolution as a way towards happiness which can´t be governed by rancor or anger. You too can participate with the undoubted benefits of their happy revolution if you rent apartments in Barcelona on these dates.
Translated by: aleixgwilliam
