Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Björk and Baez Headline 2012 Fes Sacred Music Festival

Icelandic artist Björk and American folk music legend Joan Baez are two of the big names announced for the 18th Fes Festival of World Sacred Music (Festival de Fès des Musiques Sacrées du Monde 2012). 


UPDATE: SEE CONCERT PHOTOS AND REVIEW HERE  


Björk's contribution will draw heavily on "Biophilia", a musical project and title of her and eighth full-length studio album. The album was released on 10 October 2011, over four years after her previous studio album, Volta (2007).

The album, partly recorded on an iPad as well as a standard CD release, was released in the form of a series of apps. Biophilia is the world's "first app album" in collaboration with Apple.  Björk has described the project as a multimedia collection "encompassing music, apps, Internet, installations, and live shows" After fifteen months of development, and three months of teasing, the album was released on October 12, 2011.


Joan Baez (born January 9, 1941), the other big name to be announced, also has an "Apple" connection. Baez recently paid tribute to late Apple boss Steve Jobs, revealing he kept her supplied with free laptops and iPhones right up to his death. The computer genius passed away in October after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, and Baez - a close friend of Jobs since the 1970s - reportedly performed a song at his memorial service.

Joan Baez is universally respected as an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice.

Baez began her career performing in coffeehouses in Boston and Cambridge, and rose to fame as an unbilled performer at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. She began her recording career in 1960, and achieved immediate success. She performed three of the songs at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, helped to bring the songs of Bob Dylan to national prominence, and has displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights and the environment. Baez has performed publicly for over 53 years, releasing over 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish as well as in English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages.



See the full Festival programme here:

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