Johnny Kalsi @ Live8 | Sepia Mutiny

Even though I am in Sri Lanka away from all of the juicy news stories, I have been keenly made aware of the lack of multicultural representation in the originally planned musical lineup for the groundbreaking Live8 concert in support of debt relief for the various struggling economies of Africa. As of June 11, according to this protest letter/press release, only one confirmed act for any of the six international events was from a developing country.

Is it that uncalled for to ask that a couple of Asian or African bands be included in the line-up, it can’t be, can it?

Perhaps Live8 heard the complaints, because before I could get too worked up, I received a press release highlighting the involvement of pioneering Asian drummer, Johnny Kalsi, of the Dhol Foundation in the LIVE 8 Africa Calling concert with the legendary Peter Gabriel at the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK. The Africa Calling show, ran for more than ten hours and featured over 200 African artists as part of the worldwide LIVE 8 celebrations and afforded Kalsi the opportunity to pose with Angelina Jolie.

And if you don’t know about Kalsi, you should, because he has been on the scene for a long time. Kalsi is a former member of the legendary Asian Dub Foundation, and has, and continues to play an active part as member of the Afro Celt Sound System. His group, The Dhol foundation has released two full length albums Big Drum, Small World, and the newly released “DrumBelievable,” and Kalsi’s music has appeared on the official soundtracks for The Hulk and Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.

4 thoughts on “Johnny Kalsi @ Live8”

Thanks for posting about this — I had been following bits of news about the Dhol foundation for a while. It’s a neat project:

Johnny created the Dhol Foundation (TDF) – the largest dhol institute in Britain. The first Dhol Foundation class took place in 1991 in a community hall in Slough and within five weeks through word of mouth, it had become a forty-strong student class. TDF now runs a total of 12 classes throughout the UK and – with nearly 200 students already on the register – the numbers are still growing.

Thats nothing. Punjabi singer Hunterz was live on stage with UB40 at the London Hyde Park show and brought on about twelve dhol players lead by Gurcharan Mall of the old-skool bhangra band Apna Sangeet and did a wicked reggae bhangra version of some songs. Paul Mccartney was bopping on the side and the good thing was there were some teenage girls dhol players alongside the sardarjis…..followed on stage by Snoop Dogg. Birmingham Punjabi Boys & Girls Reprezent…

dosnt matter who was up on the stage… just think about it, it was not a formal gathering to represent solidairty/emotion/whatever… the goal was to get as many people to the venue… and think it was the right strategy… now if u say the same about the soccer world cup, i am on your side!!

I hope You guys remember my wife and I. We met @ Eden Project. I’m (Darryl) from New York. My wife, Nadia made sure I went to see your 9:00p.m. show. The one where your drummer on the left had the strap break on his drum and he sadly could’nt continue. AWESOME show nonetheless!!! will be searching for your CD in stores near me so I can turn on others. God Bless you all and will be attending more of your shows sould you be in the area. Please keep me posted. Thx Peace. Darryl & Nadia Bunch

Ennis on July 5, 2005 at 5:05 pm said:

Thanks for posting about this — I had been following bits of news about the Dhol foundation for a while. It’s a neat project:

Johnny created the Dhol Foundation (TDF) – the largest dhol institute in Britain. The first Dhol Foundation class took place in 1991 in a community hall in Slough and within five weeks through word of mouth, it had become a forty-strong student class. TDF now runs a total of 12 classes throughout the UK and – with nearly 200 students already on the register – the numbers are still growing.
Ranjha on July 5, 2005 at 5:45 pm said:

Thats nothing. Punjabi singer Hunterz was live on stage with UB40 at the London Hyde Park show and brought on about twelve dhol players lead by Gurcharan Mall of the old-skool bhangra band Apna Sangeet and did a wicked reggae bhangra version of some songs. Paul Mccartney was bopping on the side and the good thing was there were some teenage girls dhol players alongside the sardarjis…..followed on stage by Snoop Dogg. Birmingham Punjabi Boys & Girls Reprezent…
salil on July 28, 2005 at 3:23 pm said:

dosnt matter who was up on the stage… just think about it, it was not a formal gathering to represent solidairty/emotion/whatever… the goal was to get as many people to the venue… and think it was the right strategy… now if u say the same about the soccer world cup, i am on your side!!
Darryl on August 19, 2005 at 7:11 pm said:

I hope You guys remember my wife and I. We met @ Eden Project. I’m (Darryl) from New York. My wife, Nadia made sure I went to see your 9:00p.m. show. The one where your drummer on the left had the strap break on his drum and he sadly could’nt continue. AWESOME show nonetheless!!! will be searching for your CD in stores near me so I can turn on others. God Bless you all and will be attending more of your shows sould you be in the area. Please keep me posted. Thx Peace. Darryl & Nadia Bunch