XPS SCANDINAVIA TOUR - NOVEMBER 2005 AMSTERDAM, NOVEMBER 2005 - On 4th and 5th of November 2005, Norway and Sweden are introduced to the sounds of Maasai Hip Hop. On these two days, X Plastaz will play in Oslo and Stockholm. Invitation came from two festivals: the Oslo World Music Festival in Oslo (Norway), and the Selam Festival in Stockholm (Sweden). The group will perform with one of their regular live guests, dj 360 from Amsterdam. They will play tracks from their album 'Maasai hip hop' as well as a few tunes from their upcoming second album! They will be joined on stage in Oslo and Stockholm by Wageble, a hip hop crew from Senegal, while in Stockholm they will be introduced by Iron African, an Ugandan origin Swedish rapper who's quite well known around Sweden and who has recently worked with Ziggy from X Plastaz. Venues: 4 November - Oslo World Music festival, Parkteatret, Oslo 5 November - Selam Festival, Kägelbanan, Stockholm  XPS ON PRIME TIME DUTCH NATIONAL TELEVISION AMSTERDAM, JUNE 2005 - During their stay in Holland in June 2005, X Plastaz were the subject of two reports for Dutch television. The first report was a half-hour special on African hip hop, broadcast by MTNL (Multicultural Television) in the Dutch cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. The second one was a report about the group's studio recordings and performances, shown in Netwerk on the public channel Nederland 1 with an estimate of 1 million viewers. View the Netwer item online: Netwerk: windows media for slow connections or fast connections - item starts at 15 minutes! Other news about the 2005 summer tour: X Plastaz have finished recording the first half of their second album! The tracks, recorded with dj 360 and Kid Sundance, take the musical and lyrical concepts of the group to a new level. In between recording sessions, the group performed at Festival Mundial, Afrique-Carib and B-Connected festivals, and were invited to radio shows such as the national hip hop show on Radio 3 (3voor12 XL with Kees de Koning, Drew and Wix) and the NPS programs of Lijn 5. To draw up some inspiration, X Plastaz also went to see the blastmaster KRS-One who performed in Amsterdam for the first time in 10 years to a sold-out and steaming crowd.  X PLASTAZ EUROPEAN TOUR 2005 AMSTERDAM, APRIL 2005 - Several dates for the X Plastaz 2005 European tour have been confirmed! The schedule so far looks like this: May 29: B-Connected to Africanhiphop, Melkweg (Amsterdam), Holland (other artists: Wa BMG44 (Senegal), dj 360, dj Precise, Das Primeiro, Ziggy) June 18: Festival Mundial, Tilburg, Holland 18.30-19.10, stage Brabants Dagblad Wereldvenster. Other artists performing at Mundial: Daara J (Senegal), Duvelduvel (Holland), Ali B, Krezip and more... June 25: Festival Afrique-Carib, Almere, Holland During their stay in Holland X Plastaz will also record new tracks for their upcoming second album. They are still available for concert bookings in June in Europe! Contact the management for enquiries and to receive promo materials.  INTERVIEW IN LEADING BRAZILIAN NEWSPAPER AMSTERDAM, MARCH 2005 - X Plastaz were interviewed for a 2-page story in O Globo, one of Brazil's leading newspapers. Click here to read the article in Portuguese (will open in new window): Page 1 Page 2 Also have a look at the Tim PercPan 2005 website.  PERFORMANCES AT PERCPAN FESTIVAL, APRIL 2005, BRAZIL AMSTERDAM, MARCH 2005 - At last, X Plastaz will perform in Brazil! A world premier: it's the first time for an African hip hop group to perform in Latin America. After last year's cancellation of X Plastaz' Brazilian tour, they have been invited again to come and play at the annual PercPan festival (World Percussion Panorama) which in 2005 was renamed Tim PercPan after its sponsor. PercPan is the biggest event of its kind in Brazil, and every year it has the cream of the crop of artists from Brazil and other countries where focus is on percussion and rhythm, though there's always a less traditional group such as last year's Tony Allen and his afrobeat band. X Plastaz will leave for Brazil on the 4th of April and they are back in Tanzania on the 12th. In Brazil they are joined by group member Ziggy who is currently in Sweden, and dj 360 and manager Juma4 who live in Holland. More info about the festival can be found on the updated official PercPan website. Dates: the PercPan concert in Sao Paulo has been moved to Rio de Janeiro, so that X Plastaz will now perform in Rio (Teatro Carlos Gomes, April 8) and Salvador (Teatro Castro Alves, April 10). Get ready for a video shot on location in Brazil!  MSIMU KWA MSIMU ON DUTCH MUSIC TELEVISION AMSTERDAM, FEBRUARY 2005 - The video for 'Msimu kwa msimu', a favorite on the popular Dutch urban radio station Fun-X, is currently on Dutch television. The Box, one of three national music broadcasters, has entered the Maasai hip hop artists into their 'Urban Vibes' playlist. If you're in Holland you can request the video every monday from 21 hrs by sending an sms or phoning (clip code: 171), see The Box for details. Meanwhile, a new video is in the final staged of editing... to be released around April. Other news is that the X Plastaz album in January was the best selling album with UK music distributor Stern's - it was on the first spot of their top 20, and is still in the high regions of the chart.  DUTCH RADIO COMPILATION CD FEATURES X PLASTAZ ARUSHA, DECEMBER 2004 - Another compilation out with an X Plastaz song on it. The popular Dutch 'urban' music radio Fun-X, which in the past year grew out to be Holland's most popular especially among the multicultural youth of the big cities, has been playing the X Plastaz track 'Msimu kwa msimu' for months now. So when Fun-X put together their first compilation cd, featuring tracks from their high rotation playlist, they included the song. The compilation, titled 'X-change vol. 0', is now available in Holland in all Free Record Shops and most other music stores. Other artists on the compilation include Beenieman, Darine, K-Liber, THC, Masta and many more.  HOW TO ORDER MAASAI HIP HOP IN THE UNITED STATES ARUSHA, DECEMBER 2004 - After UK, now USA is also ready for X Plastaz. Distributor Forced Exposure has started to stock the Maasai hip hop album! Check out this page to order directly. If you're in America, this works out cheaper than ordering from abroad because of shipping costs and the rate of the dollar!  X PLASTAZ ALBUM NOW AVAILABLE IN THE UK AMSTERDAM, NOVEMBER 2004 - Good news for the many X Plastaz fans in the UK... You can now buy the Maasai Hip Hop album directly from Sterns music, the well known African music store and distributor based in London! Just check out their website and order online, or visit the store (just take the northern line tube and get off at Warren Street): Stern's Music 74/75 Warren Street London W1T 5PF, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7387 5550 Sterns also does distribution in UK, so in the coming days you should be able to order the album from your local record store.  X PLASTAZ ENTER THE EUROPEAN CHARTS AMSTERDAM, OCTOBER 2004 - The international media are picking up on Maasai Hip Hop! Since the release of Maasai hip hop, tracks from the cd have been played by many dj's and stations around the world such as John Peel (BBC Radio 1, UK), Funkhaus Europa (Germany), Triple J (Australia)... And they have entered a number of charts including Holland's popular youth radio Fun-X (top 20 of October 22nd) and the World Music Charts Europe of October 2004. The group was recently interviewed by media from Australia (SBS), UK (BBC), South Africa (YFM), Holland (FunX), Denmark and more. Also have a look at the Agenda for more news about X Plastaz releases!  HOW TO ORDER THE MAASAI HIP HOP CD AMSTERDAM, OCTOBER 2004 - We received many e-mails from people wanting to buy the new X Plastaz cd, asking what is the best store to order from. At this moment you can buy the album at different spots in Europe, or order it trough the internet: Germany In Germany, the album is available or can be ordered at most music stores. The distributor is Hausmusik/Indigo. If you speak German and want to order through the web, use one of the following links: Amazon.de Hausmusik.com Austria In Austria, the cd should be available for orders in stores. You can also place online orders with Soul Seduction store (English language website). Holland/Belgium In Holland and Belgium, distribution started in October through XMD (Xango). You can buy or order the cd from most specialized music stores. Xango also has a store in Utrecht, and you can order the cd directly from their website (in English). Fat Beats, the famous hip hop store in Amsterdam, also sells the cd (not through their website though). UK In UK, Stern's Music in London distributes the album and you can buy it in their store. They also have a very good and reliable web store, click here to go directly to the Maasai Hip Hop order page. Other countries (worldwide) We'll add distribution news as soon as we get it. Meanwhile you can easily order the cd from these web stores: Sterns Music in London (UK): www.sternsmusic.com and Xango in Holland: www.xangomusic.com Still not sure where to buy a copy? Mail us!  X PLASTAZ ALBUM NOW AVAILABLE INTERNATIONALLY On August 16, X Plastaz released their first full album Maasai Hip Hop internationally. The cd, released through German label OutHere records, features 13 tracks and two bonus videoclips which can be watched on a pc. The 12-page booklet gives a history of the group and song lyrics. Four years in the making, Maasai Hip Hop is like a 'greatest hits' of the group, featuring no less than six former number-one hits from the Tanzanian radio charts: Bamiza, Ushanta, Aha, Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki, Wachaga piga chata and Msimu kwa Msimu. Production is in the hands of Tanzania's beat maker P-Funk, dj 360 (Holland/USA) and Kid Sundance (Holland). In tracks like Dunia Dudumizi and Aha, the group's unique fusion between Maasai vocal traditions and hip hop can be heard, while Msimu kwa Msimu sounds more like a Hindi film score. Kitita and Not ready feature the legendary Tanzanian emcee Hashim, and Ommy who's known to be a ghost writer to some famous emcees in Dar. More info about the tracks & the album Click here to read more about the album and the tracks, or check below for snippets of the tracks. The tracklist Click the speaker button next to each song to hear an mp3 sample (30 seconds): 1. Dunia dudumizi   2. Msimu kwa msimu   3. Wachaga piga chata   4. Ushanta   5. Kutesa kwa zamu   6. Aha!   7. Kusanyikeni   8. Haleluya   9. Not ready (feat. Ommy & Hashim Dogo)   10. Bamiza   11. Kitita (feat. Hashim Dogo)   12. Shika lako   13. Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki    RECEIVE THE LATEST NEWS, JOIN THE X PLASTAZ MAILINGLIST! To subscribe to the X Plastaz newsletter, click here and fill out the form in the pop-up screen. Your e-mail address is treated confidentially and won't be used for anything other than sending the latest news about the group.  SHRINE/TONY ALLEN REMIX AVAILABLE ON POPDEUROPE COMPILATION AMSTERDAM, JULY 2004 - This is a good summer for those wanting to buy X Plastaz music, as their album Maasai Hip Hop will finally be out on August 16. But another X Plastaz track will become available in July! The exclusive Shrine remix of Dunia Dudumizi is featured on the Popdeurope compilation. Popdeurope is Germany's annual festival where modern sounds from all over meet, and the line-up includes the Shrine deejays from London: Max Reinhardt and Rita Ray, who have been playing afrobeat and other grooves for ages. Last year they invited X Plastaz to play at their Shrine club night, and they reworked Dunia Dudumizi, a tune built around a traditional Maasai chant which did well on the dancefloor. The all-new Shrine remix adds a deep reggae bass and drums by Tony Allen, the Afrobeat legend and former drummer of Fela Kuti. For availability keep an eye on Xplastaz.com as we'll add an order link soon, or visit the popdeurope website.  Also read: Msimu kwa Msimu video released  Reports of the 2003 Europe Tour  and the performance at Belgium's Couleur Cafe (June 2003)  or click here to read older news articles