WOMAD 2009 Featured Artist:
Russ Jones, the Hackney Globe Trotter (UK)
Click to enlarge
World of Music Art and Dance 2009
13-15 March
Taranaki
Brooklands Park & TSB Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth
DJ Russ Jones has forged a new direction in mixing global beats and world/dance music with Future World Funk, embracing
eclectic cultural styles from mashed-up Brazillian 2-Step, Arabic Hip Hop, Afro-house, vintage reggae, Latin, ragga,
Japanese funk and Ghanian Hip Life to Moroccan Gnawa Dub.
Jones sources this eclectic material from travelling extensively and appearing at world beat clubs in every remote
corner of the world, in Beijing, Moscow, Sao Salvador, Oslo, Istanbul, Tokyo and Sao Paulo – then taking it to the big
metropolises of New York, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam and London.
Click to enlarge
Major recognition for Future World Funk came from being chosen from 350 acts to represent the UK at the 2003 World Music
Expo in Seville.
Russ is behind some of London’s most successful clubs – and he has been doing it for years with consummate ease. With
total dedication to the music Russ has founded some of London’s seminal club nights including London Calling and No Room
For Squares. Russ subsequently became the artistic director of the Blue Note and other venues across London. Around the
same time he also helped set up the celebrated Brazilian record label “Far Out Recordings’.
Russ is now programming and promoting the club night Future World Funk along with his partner in crime DJ Cliffy. The
Future World Funk project has led to eight highly successful and critically acclaimed compilation CDs which in turn have
led to gigs all over the world.
Alongside DJ duties Future World Funk and Russ have hosted and programmed festival stages at Glastonbury, Montreaux,
WOMAD and back in London host a monthly residency at the Notting Hill Arts Club and regularly appear in top venues.
In addition to all these activities Russ produces his own ‘World Carnival’ channel for digital broadcasters Music Choice
which is broadcast on the Astra satellite and cable TV across Europe and is working for the charity World Vision as an
advocate for their cause and consultant on youth marketing.
ENDS