ARI-UP (from THE SLITS) - Punky Reggae Queen at Zaphod Beeblebrox

Summary: Zaphod Beeblebrox presents A Dub-Punk-Reggae-Dancehall-Hip-Hop Party >From New York CIty Collision/ Echo Beach Recording Artists ARI-UP & THE TRUE WARRIORS featuring ARI-UP (from the legendary band THE SLITS) Tuesday, July 5/ 2005 (Doors 8pm)

Zaphod Beeblebrox
presents

A Dub-Punk-Reggae-Dancehall-Hip-Hop Party

>From New York CIty
Collision/ Echo Beach Recording Artists
ARI-UP & THE TRUE WARRIORS
featuring ARI-UP
(from the legendary band THE SLITS)

Tuesday, July 5/ 2005 (Doors 8pm)

Zaphod Beeblebrox
http://www.ZaphodBeeblebrox.com
27 York Street, Ottawa, Canada.
Age 19+/ General Admission
ADVANCE TICKETS: $15 at Ticketmaster .
(http://www.ticketmaster.ca/venue/131202/)

Queen of the punky reggae party scene, the outernational superstar known as Ari-Up is an extraordinary and provocative artist. Her commanding stage presence and agile steppers dance moves are as unique as her distinctive crown of tumbling dreadlocks and the sexy, flamboyant fashions she designs and rocks on and off stage. Memorable and original, Ari's sound is as fresh and futuristic as her style.

There are basically two camps of aging punk rockers. First are those who continue to make music that rarely rivals their previous successes (Joe Strummer, John Doe, Wire, etc.). Second are those who have drifted off mainstream radar to become romanticized cult figures (Adverts, X-Ray Spex, Subway Sect, etc.). The Slits and their lead singer, Ari-Up, have been part of the latter category since their split in 1981. The all-girl group began to take shape in the mid-'70s when 14-year-old Ari-Up (Ariane Forster) met drummer Palmolive (Paloma Romero) at a Patti Smith concert and agreed on the spot to sing with her band. With guitarist Viv Albertine and bassist Tessa Pollitt, the Slits made one of the biggest, wildest rackets in British punk. They toured with the Clash, recorded sessions for John Peel's influential radio show, transformed from a raw punk band to a dub reggae conglomerate, played with Nina Hagen and Neneh Cherry, and left behind just two studio albums (after Palmolive's departure) before their demise. Ari-Up briefly performed with producer Adrian Sherwood's New Age Steppers in the early '80s, and Palmolive played on the first Raincoats album in 1979, but after that, not much was heard from the former members of the pioneering punk band.

What a treat it was, then, when Ari-Up briefly turned up in a 1990s "history of rock" documentary, still decked out with crazy hair and living in Jamaica. In her years out of the spotlight, she had mothered three sons, become a clothing designer, and continued to perform in Jamaica under the name Medusa. Now going by Ari-Up in the States, she divides her time between Jamaica and Brooklyn, and is looking to reclaim the Slits' impressive legacy. To that end, she has performed a number of live shows in New York (with a recent stop in Chicago) and recorded a song for the 9/11 benefit album Love Songs for New York with her eight-year-old son, Wilton.

So, should we now add Ari-Up to that first category of old punks, the ones who keep recording but never quite reclaim that old magic? No way. Ari-Up is one of the few former punks who has somehow managed to capture the spirit of her classic period while taking her music in new, modern directions. Synthesizers and drum machines are now used to create the full sound for which the Slits required an extended live band, but for the most part this makes the music sound up-to-date rather than mechanical. The fact that Ari has chosen to record reggae-influenced material adds to the freshness of the sound, since dancehall and dub remain underrepresented musical styles in America and Britain.

Ari-Up is the raw & real deal, full-on. She and her band of disparate gypsies kick up a blazing sunstorm unrivaled in its authenticity. Ms. ARI serves UP the most passionate hybrid of Dub, Punk, Dancehall, & Hip-Hop, out there right now. The cavalcade of gangsta-ho's, ladder-climbers, & pop-princesses can't even touch her. ARI-UP is shockingly talented and intuitive on a shocking number of instruments, in a shocking number of sub-genres. She is based in New York right now, and I am very glad to report that she is going to be kicking down doors big-time on a slew of levels. First & foremost artistically, perceptions of what makes truly great music great, in an industry hoarded by people peddling the most disposable product disguised as "art". Fashion-plates & plastic surgery disasters with nary a voice, let alone talent, backed by corporate teams the size of small towns providing the inauthentic "content" used to hoist a "face" to the top of the charts. Ari-Up, amongst a sadly small handful of others, actually composes the work straight from her head, heart, and EXPERIENCE. These visions are hard-earned, profoundly universal & illuminating, while remaining fiercely personal & individualist.

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