K'Naan at Summerfest
Start waving your flags, Deep River: K'Naan is coming to town! The 2010 Juno award winner of both Artist and Songwriter of the year, and current nominee for International Entertainer of the Year, will be headlining Summerfest 2010 on Sunday August 1st.
Born in Somalia and now living in Canada, K'Naan is rapidly ascending as a new star in the international music industry. Somalia: the name alone conjures up images of unbridled destruction, merciless warlords and ruthless terror. A place where no-one - children, the elderly, religious figures - is safe from the atrocities of war. A place where 8-year olds handle AK-47s like toys and childhood exists in chronological terms alone. But Somalia is also "The Nation of Poets", where a poem can both inspire peace and end wars.
Growing up, it was both of these aspects of Somalia that formed the musician K'Naan Warsame, whose sophomore album Troubadour was released on February 17, 2009. Recorded primarily in Kingston, Jamaica where K'Naan was granted unprecedented access by his friends Stephen and Damian Marley to their father Bob Marley's original home studio and the legendary Tuff Gong studios, Troubadour is a hip-hop album like no other. K'Naan successfully blends samples and live instrumentation for a sound that's rooted in both traditional African melodies and the classic hip-hop tradition. "I'm not interested in being mediocre," declares the rapper. "If there's not a necessity to what I'm doing, I just wouldn't do it. If I don't have something to add to the conversation, I'm just not gonna talk." Luckily for us, he has plenty to say.
K'Naan's music draws from a tremendous mix of musical genres, including reggae, funk, pop, soul and hip-hop. K'Naan has collaborated with numerous artists, including Nelly Furtado, Mos Def, Mary J Blige, Metallica, Damian Marley, Keane, will.i.am, and Wale. His hit single "Wavin' Flag" reached number one on the Much Music Top 40 Countdown and has been selected as the anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. "Wavin' Flag" was also chosen by Young Canadian artists as a theme song to raise public awareness for the disaster in Haiti.
So, get ready to wave your flags with K'Naan, as Deep River Summerfest is thrilled to announce that immediately following his live performances at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, K'Naan will be coming to rock the Main Stage at Summerfest 2010!
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