| Massive Töne, German Old School Rap in Harare |
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| Music & Dance - World |
| Thursday, 12 November 2009 16:07 |
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A special treat for young music lovers is brewing in the Zimbabwean capital. Next week Harare welcomes Massive Töne – ‘the Old School of German Rap’, three artists who together are one of Germany’s oldest and most popular Hip Hop groups for a performance and a workshop with selected Hip Hop artists from Zimbabwe.
Founded in Stuttgart in 1991, when its members were still in school, Massive Töne comprises Showi (Jean-Christoph Ritter), Ju (João dos Santos), and DJ 5ter Ton ("DJ Fifth Note", Alexander Scheffel). They started out rapping in the city streets - first the texts of their idols and soon thereafter their own rap lyrics. They worked on maturing their style and skills, performing in clubs, parties, and at local concerts. While gaining experience and finding their own sound they always maintained a tongue-in-cheek approach to Hip Hop, and for the most part, steered clear of conflicts among underground elitist trends such as the hard-core school and gangsta rap. As explained by a local young Hip Hop artist who is eagerly waiting their visit, “Hip Hop is a culture, and Rap is the voice, the lyrical element of that culture. It’s kind of a rebellious culture, rebelling against conforming to past musical styles and expectations, and demanding freedom of expression.” Massive Töne gained national recognition in Germany with their 1994 debut album, Kopfnicker (Nodding Heads) which is still considered to be a classic in Germany, and in which their characteristic talent for puns and wordplay is very evident in hit singles such as Mein Job (quoting a popular German TV series) or Topmodel - a lampoon against the modelling industry’s castigation of the body, and later, socially critical songs like Deutschland, Deutschland. In a subsequent album their hymn to cool cars, Cruisen (Cruising), advanced to become the most successful German Hip Hop single in the year of its release, and in 2005 they released their album Zurück In Die Zukunft (Back to the Future), and have expanded their activities to include their own label ‘Kopfnicker Records’ and sound studio, and the 0711 booking agency in Germany. A review from the website Amazon.com said, “With their lyrical extravaganza and some of the newest and crunkest beats to be heard from Germany yet, MCs Ju and Schowi flow tight as usual on the sound-collage supplied by their DJ 5ter Ton. Massive Töne include urgent social and political messages in their lyrics. For example, they rap about Neo-Nazism and other problems in Germany today ("Deutschland, Deutschland"). Party Hip Hop, however, has always played an important role in the band's songs, too. Tracks like Im Club (exclusively produced by New York's DJ P.F. Cuttin', an old-time friend of the band) or Mach Mal Lauter (which means: turn it up) keep you bouncin' on the dance floor.” This will be Massive Töne’s first visit to Zimbabwe, brought to Harare by the Zimbabwe-German Society and Goethe-Institut, as part of a wider tour in Africa, including Namibia, DRC (Bujumbura and Kigali), Kenya and Tanzania. They will perform at The Mannenberg, and, in partnership with Pamberi Trust, will impart some of their knowledge to their local counterparts through a workshop to be held a day before their act. The Zimbabwe-German Society / Goethe-Zentrum (ZGS/GZ), was established in 1983 and is a non profit-making, membership-driven organisation, which has been partnered with the Goethe-Institute since 1996. Its aim is to foster mutual knowledge and understanding between the people of Zimbabwe and the people of Germany. Currently two Hip Hop initiatives feature at The Mannenberg each month – ‘The Circle’ and ‘Mashoko, The Spoken Word Event’. The Mannenberg hosted Danish Hip Hop artists Bikstok Rogsystem in July 2009, and is one of only a few venues in the city which features Hip Hop artists and events, a genre widely seen as a sub-culture. ___________ More Info: Share this bit of jam with your friends:           |
From the Picture Archives
Sheer Literature. Owen Sheers reads from his award winning book, The Dust Diaries, at the Book Café, Harare, 24 November 2009. |
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