- XPS on BBC The World show
- 29th of March: Faza Nelly memorial
- New X Plastaz track on National Geographic compilation
- Featured on Landrover Go Beyond (Sweden)
- Interview on P3 Soul (Sweden)
- XPS back from succesful Gabon tour
- Video Nini Dhambi on MTV Africa
- X Plastaz perform in Gabon, June 2006
XPS FEATURED ON BBC'S THE WORLD RADIO SHOW
ARUSHA, 27 APRIL 2007 - X Plastaz among other artists were featured in a special on BBC's The World (April 26) about the National Geographic 'Georemixed' compilation.
Listen here (Windows media player).
While the 'Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki' music video has been viewed over 16.000 times on Youtube and we recently uploaded a report from Dutch tv (Netwerk) about the group, the new video to 'Cheza' is nearing completion! Keep an eye on this site for the stream link, some time soon.
A MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR FAZA NELLY - MEMORIAL DAY IN ARUSHA
ARUSHA, 29 MARCH 2007 - "Brothers and Sisters of the world, it’s end of march again. If we go back to our memory, last year date like today is the day we lost our brother, an ambassador of world music, African hip hop and Arusha music. It’s time to pray for him and arise his spirits. To support that lets join together at Via via tonite and talk to him though the world language of music."
On the 29th of March, it is exactly one year since X Plastaz member Faza Nelly died from a knife attack by a violent neighbour. To remember and honour him, a memorial gathering will take place including a musical gathering at Via Via in Arusha town. The program on thursday the 29th: at 10 in the morning, all artists in Arusha will join the family of Faza Nelly to the graveyard to Nelly's grave, afterwards they will have lunch together at home.
At night (8:30 PM) the show at Via Via will start with a short introduction about the life of Faza Nelly, followed by a moment of silence. Then there are performances by mc Blak (Kenya) and Giza, Watengwa, Mama Charlote O’neil (former Black Panther), Nako2Nako, Eric Mushendwa, Yuzzo, X Plastaz and at 23:30 a freestyle session will close the night. Emcee of the night is R.I.C from Achong Pong Clan, dj is Alex of radio Triple A FM.
NEW X PLASTAZ TRACK 'CHEZA' ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC COMPILATION
AMSTERDAM, 22 MARCH 2007 - At last, a couple of new X Plastaz tracks from their forthcoming second album are available to the public! First up are 'Ndani ya sherehe' and 'Hiyo!' which are available from the X Plastaz Myspace page. Then there's Cheza, the dance track combining Yamat's infectuous Maasai chorus with a beat reminiscent of Jdilla and Slum Village, as cooked up by heavy weight producer Kid Sundance. The latter was selected by the mighty National Geographic (the US based, worldwide magazine and tv channel) to feature on their compilation 'GeoRemixed: Big Beats For A Small Planet'. Buy this mp3 album, or the seperate tracks, from the National Geographic website now!
X PLASTAZ ON LANDROVER GO BEYOND
ARUSHA, 10 SEPTEMBER 2006 - X Plastaz are among a handful of musical acts from around the world to be featured on the all-new Landrover Go Beyond website.Go Beyond is an online multimedia experience which highlights cutting edge music and culture from the far corners of the world. X Plastaz have a long working relationship with Landrover, for example in the making of the music video of 'Nini dhambi' when they rented one to take them to the remote crater highlands around the Lengai volcano.
Other news: the music video 'Nini dhambi' continues to get playback on MTV Africa and Channel O. It is also the most popular Tanzanian hip hop video on Youtube.com.
Stay tuned for new X Plastaz releases in the coming months... the XPS flame is still burning! Also drop us a line at www.myspace.com/xplastaz
X PLASTAZ ON P3 SOUL
This coming Sunday (11 June 2006) the legendary radio presenter Mats Nileskar (Sweden) will feature X Plastaz in his radio show P3 Soul on national Swedish radio. P3 Soul has been in existence for nearly 20 years and receives the world's biggest soul & hip hop stars including James Brown, KRS One, Damian Marley, Nas, Mary J Blige... and now X Plastaz!
It's also the last interview that the late X Plastaz member Nelly (R.I.P.) gave as he was interviewed by Nils in December 2005 during a Swedish tour. See http://www.sr.se/p3/soul/index.stm
X PLASTAZ BACK FROM SUCCESFUL GABON TOUR
On 3 and 4 June, X Plastaz played in Gabon during the Gabao Hip Hop festival. They were the first East African rap group to play in French speaking Africa. Despite the language barrier, their universal message and the fusion of hip hop and Maasai music was well received. They played for an audience of 10.000 people at Gabon Expo, and the day after for a VIP crowd at the French Cultural Center of Gabon next to Congolese-French superstar Lokua Kanza and hip hop artists from the region including Krotal from Cameroon.
X Plastaz were also interviewed on national TV, and international tv stations such as TraceTV featured them in reports to be broadcasted soon. Their performance included a segment where the late X Plastaz member Nelly was honored. The organization of Gabao Hip Hop had also dedicated the entire festival of this year to Nelly and had printed a huge poster with his picture which could be seen on the stage.
More photos of the trip can soon be seen at this site.
VIDEO NINI DHAMBI ON MTV AFRICA
The music video Nini Dhambi kwa Mwenye Dhiki (watch it on the Listen/watch page), which last week rose to number 7 in Tanzania's Channel Ten video chart, will be premiering across Africa on MTV Base Africa in the first week of June. At that time, the group will be on tour in Gabon (see update below).
MTV Base Africa will also start playing Msimu kwa msimu, a video from last year which can still be seen regularly on Tanzanian TV.
X PLASTAZ PERFORM AT GABAO HIP HOP FESTIVAL 2006, GABON
X Plastaz write history again as the first East African rap group to perform in French speaking Africa. They have been invited to perform at Gabao Hip Hop 2006, one of the five big hip hop festivals in West Africa which takes place from 1 to 4 June 2006 in Libreville, the capital of Gabon. Other groups on the bill include Daara J (Senegal), Sinik (France), Baponga (Gabon), Krotal (Cameroon) and singer Lokua Kanza (Congo). X Plastaz perform with dj Precise, the legendary Dutch/Ethiopian dj/producer with whom they recorded tracks in 2002.
As this is the first performance of X Plastaz without Faza Nelly, the whole festival is dedicated to the memory of Faza. A dedication has also been included in the program brochure.
Click here to download the Gabao Hip Hop brochure (4,4 Mb, PDF format, you need Acrobat reader to open this).
Older news here
About the passing away of X Plastaz member Faza Nelly
