VulgarGrad (Melb) @ Camelot Lounge | Chris Gudu & Afro Pamoja @ Django Bar (Sat Only)

 

VulgarGrad bring you the old songs of the Russian thieves (blatnie pesny or blatnyak), along with punk classics of the Perestroika era. VulgarGrad arose in Melbourne in late 2004 out of a collaboration between some of Australia’s best musicians in underground ethnic styles and the incredible vocal talents of one of Australia’s most formidable stage and screen actors, Jacek Koman. (Children of Men, Moulin Rouge, Romulus My Father, Australia).

 

Throughout the twentieth century, criminal culture always played a strong, unofficial part in Russian cultural life, and this was never more highly developed than in the thieves’ songs, or blatnye pesni — performed by, for, and about criminals in the prisons, gulags and seedy bars of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. VulgarGrad bring their own inimitable sound, producing something that transcends the language barrier by aiming straight for your convict heritage and your dancing feet.

 

Since inception, they have caused a sensation on Australia’s live music and festival scene, proving that what Australian audiences really seem to need is a wild night of old-fashioned Russian criminality. After all, if Russia and Australia have anything in common, it’s convicts.

 

 

From Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Chris Gudu and his band bring the irresistible township jive rhythms to Django Bar for VIVID SYDNEY. Former lead singer and bass man of Jive Kayana, his up tempo and exuberant music ( Umbaqanga music) originates from the streets and shebeens of Southern Africa. Chris Gudu has toured and shared the stage with some of Africa’s greatest legends such as Hugh Masekela, Angelique Kidjo, Oliver Mtukudzi, Thomas Mapfumo and more. You can expect a highly charged, high energy and exhilarating performance from Chris Gudu and his band.