Totallympics Annual International Song Contest 2016

[Wanderer 1,624]

I am fine with anyone

[mrv86 3,130]

I request a swap, however I think all other countries eligible for swap shall take precedence.

 

Also, (and of course, if it works for you) you could also reduce the voting times from 15 to 10 minutes... in my previous experience, if the jury will be on their specific time, if they indeed are not busy.

[Agger 1,653]

A swap with Azerbaijan could also be a good idea. It's getting a bit late there as well, though inside the limits

[hckošice 14,767]

5 minutes ago, Agger said:

A swap with Azerbaijan could also be a good idea. It's getting a bit late there as well, though inside the limits

 

well, 23:00 a Saturday is not so terrible time even in Baku but sure, you are right it could help, I´ll ask Mexico and Azerbaijan if they are fine with this swap.

 

so if everything will be ok between CAN and NZL, COL and INA and MEX and AZE, we will have just to find a place for the USA, but as I wrote, it shouldn´t be a problem to put them in the 3rd or 4th session instead of one european country.

[OlympicIRL 5,525]

It's a bit tricky for sure this time. Let's for example just say we start at the top and work down:

 

- Canada could swap with New Zealand (a nice idea too since NZ ended the last TISC, would be kind of nice if they then opened the voting in the next one)

- Colombia could swap with Indonesia

 

That leaves Mexico and the United States as the 2 remaining problematic postions. As Agger rightly said, Azerbaijan are in a little bit awkward time.... they could swap with Mexico / USA.

 

That would leave only Mexico / USA to resolve..... Croatia could hold the key as @dcro was hoping for an earlier slot in the voting order.

 

All of those juries should be contacted I guess and if everything seems fine then we could go with that.

Edited May 18, 2016 by OlympicIRL

[bestmen 2,785]

 

good idea but even if you swap   some users will not be able to send their votes ...I don't trust

[hckošice 14,767]

12 minutes ago, mrv86 said:

I request a swap, however I think all other countries eligible for swap shall take precedence.

 

Also, (and of course, if it works for you) you could also reduce the voting times from 15 to 10 minutes... in my previous experience, if the jury will be on their specific time, if they indeed are not busy.

 

ofc you are automatically eligible to swap. Are you ok with the exchange with Azerbaijan? I´ll try to ask Il-qar if he´ll be online in the next hours, day(s). In fact the only problem is that I want to have everything scheduled soon as possible, to start prepare the scoreboard.

 

well, I thought about a 10 min period, but as my first organizing experience I prefer let a bit of space if anything will go wrong

[mrv86 3,130]

16 minutes ago, hckosice said:

 

ofc you are automatically eligible to swap. Are you ok with the exchange with Azerbaijan? I´ll try to ask Il-qar if he´ll be online in the next hours, day(s). In fact the only problem is that I want to have everything scheduled soon as possible, to start prepare the scoreboard.

 

well, I thought about a 10 min period, but as my first organizing experience I prefer let a bit of space if anything will go wrong

 

Sure, that change could work for me... just hope Il-qar accepts.

[hckošice 14,767]

1 minute ago, mrv86 said:

 

Sure, that change could work for me... just hope Il-qar accepts.

 

Great then,

 

I already contacted Azerbaijan, lets hope he will answer soon as possible, I can wait to Friday, Saturday maximum.

[Wanderer 1,624]

 

Once one of the most prominent and powerful of Mali’s many ethnic groups, the Songhoy, who hail from the banks of the Niger River between the ancient cities of Timbuktu and Gao, have suffered a long slow decline since their apogee in the 6th and 17th centuries. Now largely living on the margins of the West African nation whose political and cultural life is dominated by the Bambara people of the south, they nonetheless retain a fierce pride in their history, beliefs and music.

 

Hailing from the heart of old Gao, Oumar Toure and Aliou Toure were, like most kids growing up in the ancient city, obsessed with hip-hop, R&B and bands like The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. By their early 20s, having met young guitarist Garba Toure (son of Oumar Toure, long term percussionist in Ali Farka Toure’s band), they began to make music while at university in Bamako.

 

Their deep attachment to the home grown songs and dances of the Songhoy, both traditional styles and the modern guitar based sounds popularised by the likes of Baba Salah and above all Ali Farka Toure, was helping shape their nascent music which sought to blend the trad and the modern, the homegrown and the foreign, the youthful and the ancient.

The growing unrest in the north of Mali saw Oumar, Aliou, Garba and many of their family take refuge down south in Bamako as hostilities worsened in early 2012 and Songhoy Blues were born from this adversity. “We met up (in Bamako),” remembers Garba, “and told ourselves we couldn’t just stay shipwrecked by a crisis like this. We had to form a band.” They roped in a young drummer called Nathanial ‘Nat’ Dembele from Bamako and baptised their band Songhoy Blues in celebration of their displaced people and culture.

 

Soon a fixture on the Bamako club and bar live music treadmill, their break came in September 2013 when French music manager Marc-Antoine Moreau was in the city to scout for musical talent on behalf of Africa Express. Prompted by local studio owner Barou Diallo. Aliou Toure cold-called Marc- Antoine – an audition quickly followed and subsequently the band were invited to record a song with Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the track, Soubour, ended up as opening track on the Africa Express album, Maison des Jeunes.

 

Invited to perform at the launch of the album in London in December 2013, the band later returned in the summer of 2014 to play shows in London, Glasgow and at the WOMAD festival, sign a deal with Transgressive Records and begin work on a full-length feature film about the banning of music in Mali.

 

All those old ‘world music’ prejudices have no place here. Songhoy Blues are four talented, hungry, sharp and outward-looking young men from a part of the world that has had more than it’s share and pain and conflict in recent years. But it has given far more than its share of music and joy to the world in return over the past four decades. That place may seem strange, alien and ‘exotic’ to some but deep down, Songhoy Blues are a familiar proposition: four young men, guitar, drums, bass and vocals, driving rhythms, big hearts and a story to tell.

 

 

Enjoy this fantastic rhythm....

 

Songhoy Blues - Soubour