Over three years in the making, ZIK ZAK is an African musical odyssey, featuring some of the freshest talent from ten countries on the mother continent. Tying this remarkable range of artists together are German production team ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS, weaving the vocal talents of the African singers into their distinctive “Boom Dub” sound. Drawing on Hip Hop, Dancehall, Roots Reggae, Bass Music, Soul, Electronica and Breakbeat, the production incorporates live instruments and musical influences from all over Africa and its diaspora. 

The concept behind all these tracks is ZIK ZAK (“Zig-Zag” in English), mapping out each artist’s life of tragedy and success, of compromise and integrity, in a context of global inequality and ruthless capitalism. This album responds to the urgent need to understand the daily struggle for survival by creative artists and musicians from the global south. Each artist gives a unique voice to their rocky way through the contemporary African landscape, revealing a new perspective from a different city, country, religion, and ideology. This is ZIK ZAK.

It's easy to forget how much harder it is for artists and musicians to survive away from the relative comfort of the richer parts of the world. In Africa, employment levels are shockingly low and the welfare state non-existent, so that most artists live in a state of constant precariousness, with nothing to fall back on when the music industry fails to pay. Yet the mainstream African music industry constantly feeds us a capitalist wet dream, with fantastical images of artists living a “bling-bling” lifestyle of fast cars, swimming pools and supermodels with inflated chests. The artists featured on ZIK ZAK have all rejected this preposterous mythology, instead bringing us real messages from their everyday lives, demonstrating more talent, creativity and authenticity in a single album, than in a lifetime of over-produced, commercial music videos.

In ZIK ZAK, particular focus is on the intense and vibrant scene in Uganda, where local, mutant forms of Afrobeats and Dancehall have evolved away from the more familiar, globalized products of Nigeria and Jamaica. ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS established a base and partnership with local studio East African Records, allowing them to dig deep in the wells of talent in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Elsewhere, they established friendships and musical relationships with enlightened artists as far afield as Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Togo, Guinea and Senegal. 

The ZIK ZAK project has provided these underground African artists an opportunity to reach a new worldwide audience, building on the success of ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS. This German production duo – aka DOGU and KABANJAK - have been working together since 2001, producing and touring with some of the biggest names in the alternative music scene: The Pharcyde, Tippa Irie, Akua Naru, The Jungle Brothers, Raashan Ahmad, DJ Brace, Nickodemus, Thievery Corporation, BANTU and many more. They are respected for their ethical and activist stance, as well as for their ground-breaking music: recently they were commissioned by Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Ian Urbina to work on the soundtrack to his important environmental book: “The Outlaw Ocean”. 

For the ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS, thus new album is an important project both musically and ideologically. In their own words: “With ZIK ZAK, we want to give a platform to young talents from Africa that are too good to ignore – they must be heard internationally. Africa is our motherland too, in the end. Civilization comes from Africa and that´s where rhythm comes from. After too many years of slavery and exploitation of the African countries, it is time to shine light on the great talent of Mother Africa.”

Stream & Buy

Ancient Astronauts present ZIK ZAK

A tune I put together in a couple of hours as a tribute to Stefano Puzzer. If you know you know... I am not gonna explain.

La Gente Come Noi

Track composé lors de la visite des Awaké au Temple des 1000 bouddha inspiré de la sagesse indienne .

Prière Awaké des indiens du nouveau monde

➤ RELEASE INFOS :
@patadeperrolive
Label : @cosmovisionrecords
Original concept by @elextravagante
Compiled by @elextravagante & @don-mescal
Full compilation will be released on 05/05/2023
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➤ About this VA:
100 years ago the world lived in chaos. Huge wars between humans, as well as great advances in technology that changed forever the face of the world, a world that according to many artists, lived as a prisoner of the rational mind and that did not allow us humans to understand life and the Universe in its wide spectrum.

This is how, with its mystical origin in Dadaism, Surrealism was born. A movement that sought to explore and venture into the limits of the human mind through art. Initially literature, but also reaching the visual arts and so much more. Then decades later, the first psychedelic artists were born, much closer to music in its origins and who represented a rebellion against the established norms in the face of a world in chaos.

Today after 100 years, the scenario is complex again. There are wars, there is a technological revolution and the world is coming out of a great chaos caused by a virus that produced a great crisis. Can we perhaps learn something from the ideas of surrealism, to understand today's world?, remove ourselves from the entirely rational mind to which technology and the "information society" push us, to finally understand the world from an alternative perspective?

Making this compilation was a leap into the void, a mixture of psychic automatism and cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse) that ended with a very free, authentic and very fresh result, with the wonder of the unexpected, including very purely electronic songs, with ideas of techno and even psy trance, like other more tropical ones with psychedelic cumbia, of course others more pop and the others, those that are usually there in our music, the ones totally trippy.

We hope you enjoy this great compilation full of freedom and unusual ideas, which will help you connect with another world through music, rhythm and love, thank you eternally!
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➤ Follow & Support:
SC : @cosmovisionrecords
FB: facebook.com/cosmovisionrecords
IG: instagram.com/cosmovisionrecords
⋘ ────── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ────── ⋙

Premiere | Pata De Perro | Aluxes [Cosmovision]

◊ ◊ Double compilation Hadra Trance Festival 8 ◊ ◊

> With the CD1 (alternative stage) and CD2 (main stage).
> Out now on streaming ! Coming soon for download and/or physical CD on Hadra Shop, Psyshop, Beatspace, Beatport, Itunes...etc

□□□□□□□□□□□□

■► More info on : http://www.hadra.net/label_releases.php?view=HADCD45&&lang=fr

■►  See you at the Hadra Trance Festival ! 
http://www.hadratrancefestival.net/

<a href='https://theartistunion.com/tracks/df4597'>Download for free on The Artist Union</a>

Free Download

VA - HTF2014 - CD1 - 06 - VLASTUR - Sonic Chakras Dub (Hadra Rmx)

Quand l'Orage Tonne (1).mp3

dreamryyde - Mold like Clay (prod. by godlee.)

Looks like the rat's out of the bag! 

After half a year of hard work, we are delighted to present our debut album, 'Out Of The Bag'. The album traverses through many styles and genres and we feel it does a good job of representing the various sounds we create together. We hope you enjoy listening and please do share it with your friends, play it at parties and generally continue to help spreading the word. The support of our fans is what keeps us going. 

We have had CDs printed but due to most of the band being away traveling over the winter we will not be running an official mail order service until spring 2018. However if you missed the Crowdfunder campaing and you're desperate to get a copy of the CD, give us a Facebook message or email and we'll see if we can get one out to you! 

Fellow rats, we must sincerely thank you all. Everyone who has supported the crowdfunding campaign, danced to our music, spread the word or helped us in any way, we truly would have no purpose without you. Special thanks to all the hard working festivals, venues and promotors who have booked us to come and play. Your work is what keeps the music alive! 

Find us on most social media platforms and please do keep in touch! 
Contact us at thecabarats@gmail.com
credits
released December 2, 2017 

Shelley Polaine - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar 
Leo James - Oud, Flugelhorn, Guitar, Clarinet 
Dan Lotoczko - Accordion, Glockenspiel, Piano 
Jake Leonard-Williams - Bass Guitar 
Rich Palmer - Drums 
Oliver Bignell - Duduk in Freakshow 

Written and arranged by The Cabarats 
Recorded, produced and mixed by Leo James 
Mastered by Anti-Logic 
Rat illustration by Alex Lucas 
Designed by Jake Leanord-Williams

© all rights reserved

Time Is Not Wasted + Outro

Petite track pour fêter les 100 000 écoute ! :D

L'oeil Du Cyclone

06-De Lado a Lado

En Lefko Round Midnight Mix 2 (Frenic)

ZIK ZAK

Upliftment Skit Feat. C Wyne Nalukalala

Basonyiwe Feat. Spyda MC

Pagliacci´s Reprise Feat. Joyce Olong

Ghetto Youth Never Give Up Feat. C Wyne Nalukalala

Pump Up The Sound Feat. Bani Fyah

The Ancient Astronauts are Kabanjak and Dogu, a bulletproof production and DJ duo hailing from Cologne, Germany. The phenomenon of “ancient astronauts, “a belief that extraterrestrial beings visited Earth in ancient times to mingle and trade ideas with early human civilizations”, isn’t an alien concept to these Ancient Astronauts.  The cross-pollination and mash-up of ideas, sounds, styles, and a collaborative spirit are their modus operandi.
Although, the long-time friends are quick to admit that they are not followers of the German music scene, Kabanjak notes, “for us music is and will always be an international phenomena”, and Ancient Astronauts are certainly not afraid to draw on influences from international artists and styles.
Self described as a “mash up of the distant past and far future”; these time travelers´ music is a mystic brew born out of an eclectic mix of ideas, sounds and styles. 
Already having remixed and collaborated with AM & Shawn Lee, Nickodemus, Fort Knox Five, Ladybug Mecca (Digable Planets), Zion I, The Pharcyde, Azeem, Analogik, Subatomic Sound System & Anthony B, Bajka, Vieux Farka Toure, Raashan Ahmad, Bajka, DJ Brace and Tippa Irie, the Ancient Astronauts always link up with a quality selection of sonic collaborators. 
 “At an early stage we realized that we are both big music heads so we started running parties in our hometown together”. Those parties became the catalyst for a production team that never forgot its roots. They specialize in diversity loosely glued together by a single thread. Like a good party, you don’t just listen to the music, you experience it. 
In 2001 Dogu of Ancient Astronauts started his own label Switchstance Recordings, which was developed as a way of allowing them total musical freedom. The label soon gathered momentum and built up an impressive international fan base. Switchstance Recordings is now famous in international club circles for the integrity of its production and style.

www.ancientastronauts.de


Pagliacci´s Reprise Feat. Joyce Olong

Ancient Astronauts

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