Glastonbury Festival Of Contemporary Performing Arts - Areas - West Holts

West Holts showcases an outernational selection of future roots music. From Afro grooves to hip hop, reggae to techno, dubstep to soul, this is the stage for people who know that bass is the place. Pay us a visit any time but the stage is programmed to take you on a journey from deep in the musical underground to some of the biggest names on the scene today. One of the many factors that unites all the acts is that they can truly kick it live. Roll on showtime!

Visit the West Holts Facebook Page for updates and discussions

Friday 24th
Cee-Lo
Chase and Status
Jimmy Cliff
Heliocentrics with Mulatu
Little Dragon
Ghostpoet
Dengue Fever
Ziriguidum
Plus, Shlomo will be doing rolling skits between bands

Saturday 25th
Big Boi
Janelle Monai
Aloe Blacc
Fools Gold
Omar Souleyman
The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble
Nicolas Jaar Live
Narasirato
London Afrobeat Collective

Sunday 26th
Kool & the Gang
Hercules and Love Affair
The Go! Team
Duane Eddy
Bellowhead
Jah Wobble & the Nippon Dub Ensemble
Jamie Woon
Hidden Orchestra

W E S T   H O L T S  F R I D A Y  2 4 TH  J U N E

Cee Lo Green
The big man with the huge voice and personality to match is one of the most distinctive and seemingly omnipresent figures in contemporary music right now. Starting out as a rapper with the Goodie Mob, Cee Lo really got the world’s attention when Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy became the biggest record of 2006. However it was the release last year of The Lady Killer that has really sealed his position at the top table. The qualities of that unique voice have been much discussed but one thing is clear – no one else could have got away with singing Fuck You with such heartfelt life-affirming defiance.

Chase & Status

With the huge success of their new album No More Idols, Will ‘Status’ Kennard and Saul ‘Chase’ Milton have cemented their position as the leading purveyors of riotous dance anthems for the post-rave generation.  It’s a closely guarded secret who their special guests will be for their West Holts debut but with recording collaborators such as Dizzy Rascal, Cee Lo Green, Plan B, Liam Bailey and Tempa T it’s bound to be a stellar line-up.

Jimmy Cliff
A welcome return for the veteran Jamaican star who made his name starring in and providing the soundtrack for the film The Harder They Come. Expect a set chock full of anthems from one of reggae’s biggest names.

Shlomo will be performing looping skits between the bands on Friday night.

Heliocentrics with Mulatu Astatke
Despite a career that has spanned over 40 years, the founder of Ethio-jazz, Mulatu Astatke has only recently emerged as the most influential African musician since Fela Kuti. This overdue recognition originally stemmed from the series of reissues put out by a small French label under the Ethiopiques banner. These astonishing recordings have been sampled by musicians including Nas and Damien Marley, Quantic, Madlib and K’naan and had a huge influence on artists as diverse as the Budos Band and Dub Colossus.
Mulatu has played with several bands over the last few years but no collaboration has been as successful as the one he formed with the Heliocentrics which resulted in the heavyweight Inspiration Information album.
Led by powerhouse drummer Malcolm Cato, the Heliocentrics are perhaps best known as DJ Shadow’s live collaborators but their hypnotic blend of hip hop, funk, jazz, psych and dub has seen them much in demand all over the world. This unique show will see the Heliocentrics perform tracks from their own new album as well as showcasing the best of their collaborations with Mulatu.

Little Dragon
Hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden this four piece collective offer a mixture of glittering electronica and free thinking soul beautifully showcased in their third album, Ritual Union due out this spring. Singer and percussionist Yukimi Nagano collaborated with Damon Alburn on two tracks for the last Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach and the band have honed their acclaimed live shows with a relentless touring schedule including support slots for the Scissor Sisters and the Gorillaz. One magazine described hearing their music as “stepping into a world of multi-hued musical possibilities”.

Ghostpoet
Rising British rapper who was added to the bill when Gonjasufi was forced to pull out.

Dengue Fever
Take four seasoned LA musicians and one gen-u-ine Cambodian pop star, Chhom Nimol and you have the unique band that is Dengue Fever. Think surf guitar, psychedelia, lounge jazz and the kind of cinema scope rock n’ roll that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Tarrantino soundtrack - and all this shot through with beguiling Cambodian exotica. They’ve just brought out their 5th album, Cannibal Courtship which is set to propel them beyond their well established cult status.

Ziriguidum
Kicking off things on West Holts this year we have the Anglo Brazilian 50 strong force of Ziriguidum. Closely linked and sharing members with the Rio institution, Monobloco, Ziriguidum showcase the variety and vitality of samba with a set packed full of big tunes, pounding drums and amazing carnival dancers.

W E S T  H O L T S   S A T U R D A Y  2 5 TH  J U N E 

Big Boi

Last year finally saw the release of Sir Lucious Left Foot: The son of Chico Dusty, the long awaited solo album from Big Boi that topped many critic's end of year picks as well as being a huge commercial hit. Of course, as one half of OutKast alongside Andre 3000, Big Boi is no stranger to success. OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below won three Grammys and sold 15 million worldwide. OutKast’s other five albums were also multi platinum affairs making them the most successful hip hop act of all time.
With Janelle Monae being one of the featured guest artists on the Sir Lucious Left Foot album we can expect to see her alongside Big Boi in what will be a riotous full live band show of his own and OutKast’s material.

Janelle Monáe
One of the most fascinating and important new stars to emerge in recent years, Janelle Monae really does justify the torrent of hype that’s befallen her. From her original break as a backing singer for OutKast to the release last year of her debut album, The Archandroid she has redefined the possibilities of what’s expected from a black woman in contemporary music. The album is an extended sci-fi fantasy that draws musical influences from pastoral folk to James Brown inspired funk.

Rumours of a forthcoming graphic novel just confirm the fact that Janelle is as much a visual artist as a musical one. All this creativity manifests itself in her exhilarating live performances that have to be seen to be believed. NB Big Boi will join her on stage for Tightrope (see video below)
 
Aloe Blacc
With the worldwide success of his anthemic I Need a Dollar, Aloe Blacc has crested the wave of quality new soul music currently pouring out the States at the moment. Echoing the social consciousness of Marvin Gaye, the smooth baritone of Bill Withers and the stylistic diversity of Stevie Wonder, Blacc creates a forward-thinking yet retro synthesis of soul music with modern hip-hop and funk influences.

Fools Gold
Like fellow Americans Vampire Weekend, Fools Gold’s music is underpinned by African music, with joyous grooves taking central place. With klezmer influences sometimes appearing and lyrics part sung in Hebrew (one of the founding members was born in Israel) they could be viewed as the ultimate world music band.  However their sound is a reflection of LA where they’re based – a cosmopolitan melting pot basking in strong sunshine. Their second album will be released in July but this is a band definitely best experienced live.
    
Omar Souleyman
There probably won’t be any other acts at Glastonbury who have released over 500 albums, but you’d need to visit the cassette kiosks of Souleyman's native Syria to track them down. What helped make Souleyman the biggest star in Syria (and lead to his signing by Sublime Frequencies) was his introduction of electronics into the local folk-pop. The result is like an intense Arabic techno. File under Happy Hardcore.
May will see the release of a much-anticipated collaborative record with long time admirer Bjork

The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble
They might sound like a firm of Stuttgart solicitors but BBF are three classically trained musicians who have created organic, acoustic and orchestral techno. Although composed with pianos, drums, glockenspiels and even a rainstick, their live performances are usually (for obvious reasons) performed by the trio alone with laptops and drum pads. At Glastonbury though, we’re very proud to present them as they should be heard, with a 12 piece orchestral ensemble - and they will for one track, be joined by a small company of ballerinas.

Nicolas Jaar LIVE
Nicolas Jaar is to house music what James Blake is to dubstep. Not just because they’re both very young, outrageously talented and enjoying huge critical acclaim after the release of their debut albums, or that both producers marry cutting edge electronica with highly resonant vocals and are both masters of leaving space to help shape their music. What really links the two is that while they are allied to their respective genres they have really taken their music to somewhere far beyond them.
Jaar has produced a series of stunning singles for Wolf & Lamb and his own Clown & Sun imprint that are future club classics, but his album Space is Only Noise mines deeper more other worldly paths. The live set combines the best of both these sides and is another UK festival first.

Narasirato
Surrounded by virgin rainforest and idyllic lagoons, the Narasirato Pan Pipers live at the end of a mangrove forest in Oterama Village, at the remote southern end of Malaita Island, in the Solomon Islands. Their village is only accessible by canoe or overland by foot. They are proud of their Are'are traditional roots, together with their exciting contemporary music, featuring dance, traditional costumes, soaring vocals, wooden drums, conch shells and many unique bamboo instruments including pan pipes, thong-o-phones, mouthbow and stomping tubes.

London Afrobeat Collective
Fifty years after a young Fela Kuti came to London to further his musical education, LAC was formed to celebrate the legacy of the original black president. Expect a molotov cocktail of blazing horns and twisted drum beats, skanking guitars and soul-deep bass, pounding rhythms and politically charged vocals for these troubled times.

W E S T H O L T S   S U N D A Y  2 6 TH  J U N E 

Kool & the Gang

In a career spanning over 30 years Kool and the Gang notched up over 100 million record sales, perhaps making them the second biggest selling act at this year’s festival after U2. Still led by founding members, brothers Robert Bell (known as "Kool") on bass and Ronald Bell on sax the band have had many chart topping hits including Jungle Boogie, Summer Madness, Celebration, and Get Down On It. Guaranteed to close West Holts this year in hands-in-the-air disco-tastic style.

Hercules & Love Affair
While Hercules lynchpin Andy Butler constantly references his dance music inspirations from 70s disco to classic 90s house, his two albums, the 2008 self-titled debut and particularly this year’s Blue Songs are absolutely of the moment. This will be a hedonistic, euphoric celebration for the Glastonbury party people.

The Go! Team

Guaranteed to stoke the energy levels as we go into Sunday night, The Go! Team’s big bold brash mash up of day-glo sound has been best captured in their third and best album, Rolling Blackouts. Fronted by the irrepressible rapper, singer and electrified cheerleader, Ninja, the band always deliver live.

Duane Eddy
In the 1950s Eddy formed his own group, the Rebels, and devised a technique of playing lead on his guitar's bass strings to produce a low, reverberant "twangy" sound. According to legend, the Beach Boys borrowed the riff from his ’57 hit Moovin’ n’ Groovin’ for Surfin’ USA, so the man arguably invented surf guitar as well.
The bona fide rock n’ roll legend churned out many hits in the early days including Rebel Rouser, Cannonball and the mighty Peter Gunn which topped the charts again thirty years later when he collaborated with the Art of Noise.
Last year Eddy returned to London for the first time in twenty years for a sold out and much acclaimed gig where he was joined on stage by Jarvis Cocker, Richard Hawley and Ellie Golding.

Bellowhead
Bellowhead provide a delirious amalgam of schooled musicianship and uproarious, anarchic abandon. The 11-piece band lead by John Spiers (melodeon, concertina) and Jon Boden (vocals, fiddle) honour centuries of English musical tradition while at the same time creating a uniquely contemporary blend. The band’s live prowess has seen them invited to play the BBC Proms in front of 40,000, Jules Holland’s Hogmanay show as well as countless festivals. They’ve also won the best live act category in the Radio 2 Folk Awards an unprecedented four times.

Jah Wobble & the Nippon Dub Ensemble
The former Public Image bassist and Cockney musical maverick has followed up his recent Chinese dub explorations with the launch of the Nippon Dub Ensemble. The band features a flower arranger who will be practising his craft through a set heavy on ritual, traditional Japanese instrumentation and, er, dub,

Jamie Woon
Scoring high in the BBC Sound of polls doesn’t always guarantee a glittering future, but Woon's gorgeous almost spiritually tinged neo soul seems ringfenced for success. His rich and often multi-layered vocal is coupled with a very contemporary dubstep edged production that oozes crossover appeal.

Hidden Orchestra
If you like the Cinematic Orchestra or Bonobo then you’ll love the Hidden Orchestra. Their acclaimed debut album for Tru Thoughts, Night Walks revels in cinematic jazz-noir. Joe Acheson’s Edinburgh based outfit will be expanded into a nine-piece for this exclusive Glastonbury performance.

Bookings and notes – Steve Symons