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In 2010, singer & composer Ravid Kahalani founded the rare combination of top musicians we now call Yemen Blues. From the start, Yemen Blues created an original sound that became a new language in contemporary music. The intense musicians hail from NYC, Uruguay & Tel Aviv. This includes the core members of creation: Rony Iwryn, Itamar Doari & Shanir Blumenkranz. Each member comes from a different background and brings their own sound and arrangements to Ravid's compositions. The result of this amazing group is a powerful energy that mixes Yemenite, West African & Jazz influences and what Ravid likes to call "New Age Culture Music". The mambo and North African rhythms create a joyful and deep foundation, while the vocals remind the listener of ancient Arabic chants mixed with funk & blues. For their first album, the group collaborated with the well-known maestro Omer Avital who served as a musical director & producer. Since then, Yemen Blues keeps magic alive with a constant stream of new songs and their world-renowned exciting live performances!!


Dubi Lenz, the well-known Israeli journalist, was the first to listen to Yemen Blues’ music. He immediately felt the power of the project while the band was still in its exploration phase. He helped to get Yemen Blues’ first who at the influential festival and expo - Babel Med - in Marseille, France. It was then that something truly incredible happened. The band received a hugely positive respond from people all over the world and the name “Yemen Blues” began to spread like wild fire. The band was hailed as the biggest success story of the festival by the well-known newspaper Liberation. Since then, Yemen Blues has been called “the most exiting and unique live show you can see” by several news outlets including National Geographic, Time Out Chicago, NPR and many more.
We were amazed and thankful when we started to tour and have performed over 150 shows from 2011-13! These performances have taken place all over the world on some of the biggest and well known stages including: Womex World Expo, Roskilde Festival Denmark, New York Central Park’s Summer Stage, Grand Performances Los Angeles, Millennium Park Chicago, Luminato Toronto Canada and many, many more. Top musicians from around the world are taking notice as well including Kronos Quartet, Oxmo Puccino, Matisyahu and more.. Yemen Blues first album was also named The Best “world music” album of 2011 at "Le Devoir" Canada, and the Best album of 2011 by Sweden’s SvD newspaper.

CURRENT BAND IS 

RAVID KAHALANI / SHANIR EZRA BLUMENKRNZ / RONY IWRYN / DAN MAYO

THE place to get unreleased tunes and demos by Brooklyn psychonauts WEIRD OWL.
New album Wet Telepathy out NOW on Little Cloud Records!
 
GET WEIRD!

Billy Birmingham’s comedy creation 'The 12th Man'.

Rook Records is Hackney Wick record shop specialising in 2nd hand imports. The shop launched in 2016 initially online, and in 2023 has opened its doors up to the public for the first time. Expect to find jazz, soul, disco, house, rock, reggae and hip hop, with a huge range of US and Japanese imports.

Rook Records,
9b Riverbank House,
455 Wick Lane,
London E3 2TB

Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 12-5pm.

Rook run's monthly in-stores with guest DJ appearances. Follow our instagram to stay updated with the next upcoming events, as well as new stock drops!

In 2018 we launched Rook Radio, which is a brand new channel for filmed sets from DJs around the world. The channel is strictly DJ focussed, with artists being encouraged to be totally free in their music selection. The result is a collection of mixes in a wide range of genres, joining the dots between world music and dance.
If you're interested in submitting mixes / demos please contact us at info@rookrecords.co.uk.

New album from The Black Keys 'Dropout Boogie' out now.

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