Re:Definition, Create11 festival - Kano Headliner 7/7/2011 Hackney Empire, London

July 1, 2011 - PRLog -- CREATE and URBAN DEVELOPMENT PRESENTS:
RE:DEFINITION 2011
Part of the CREATE11 Festival - Friday 24 June to Monday 25 July
www.createlondon.org
A BARBICAN co-commission
In association with Theatre Royal Stratford East

RE:DEFINITION
Featuring Headliner KANO
Thursday 7 July, Hackney Empire

On Thursday 7 July, as part of the CREATE11 festival, Hackney Empire will host the third Re:Definition showcase headlined by east London rap star KANO, who recently finished touring with Damon Albarn’s GORILLAZ.

Re:Definition, a co-commision by CREATE and the Barbican, is presented by the Stratford based organisation Urban Development. It unites world-class acts with emerging talent from east London, blurring the boundaries between music hall, theatre and revolutionary underground sounds. Alongside Kano this year’s edition will feature grime legend Ghetts, MOBO-nominated Donaeo, soul boy Mike Hough, grime MC and rising star RoxXxan (Mike Skinner’s Band of the Day for the Guardian), and more to be announced. Visuals come from music video director Jak Frsh, who has worked with Maxsta, Tinie Tempah and Wiley. Directed by Matthew “Excalibah” Xia, the night will weave together live performance and adventure on a journey that encompasses love, conflict, tradition and aspirations in east London by using lyrical content from some of Urban Development’s loyal supporters.

 Urban Development Video link: http://www.urbandevelopment.co.uk/blog-categories/music-v...

Over the past ten years; Urban Development has supported many of east London’s young artists, producers, and songwriter and has long been championed by artists like Kano.
"Events like this don't come around often, especially in your home town” says Kano, “so it's great to be able to celebrate east end music and culture which is where it all began for me. Anyone who's been to an Urban Development club night will know Re:Definition is gonna be one not to miss." .
“I've known about Urban Development for 12 years now”, says Matthew "Excalibah” Xia, Director of Re:Definition, “and I love the support they give to the industry and up and coming artists as well as established. Re:Definition is a platform for sharing stories in a musical form which I worked on last year and I'm happy I'm doing again this year. It’s a staged concept album where each song is a story created by artist experience. Last year’s feedback was amazing so this year it's all about stepping it up…”

“CREATE is committed to supporting new talent across all art forms,” says Hadrian Garrard, Festival Director, “and over the past three years the festival, with the Arts Council's support, has not only presented a series of stand-out, live music events (working with partners such as Urban Development and featuring artists like Devlin, Scorcher, Ms Dynamite, Bashy, Ed Sheeran), but has supported invaluable behind-the-scenes music industry training for hundreds of aspiring young music creatives, who have received mentoring from some of the biggest names in the UK music industry.  Cutting edge, internationally acclaimed artists hailing from east London like Labyrinth (Hackney), Tinchy Stryder (Bow) and Plan B (Newham) are turning the UK music scene on its head, dominating mainstream charts, and are now one of east London's most important cultural exports.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:
Re:Definition
Thursday 7 July, 8pm
Hackney Empire
291 Mare Street, E8 1EJ
£10/£12.50
Tickets from: http://www.hackneyempire.co.uk/
For more information and to book tickets for Re:Definition and other CREATE events please see www.createlondon.org.
Check http://www.urbandevelopment.co.uk for updates

For further information contact CREATE press office: Sarah Harvey sarah@sarahharvey.info / Hélène Muron at helene@sarahharvey.info
Phone: 020 7232 281.
About Urban Development
http://www.urbandevelopment.co.uk/
“Our mission is to ‘refix, remix and refresh’ urban music.” Urban Development
Based in Stratford, Urban Development is the one-stop organisation for London's new urban music talent.  Combining business acumen with an understanding of youth culture, it stands at the crossroads where the creativity of underground music meets the professional music industry.  Specialising in professional development, live events and education, Urban Development has built a reputation for inspiring young people and championing some of brightest names on the local and national scene. 

About Barbican Blaze
Blaze, the Barbican's summer contemporary music festival, returns in June and July 2011 with a thrilling range of events in the Barbican and across East London. Major international artists, commissions and new works mark this third Blaze festival that takes place at the Barbican, Hackney Empire, Gillett Square, Wilton’s Music Hall, XOYO and Rich Mix. Part of the CREATE festival, Blaze features new commissions and collaborations, artists and projects such as Hugh Masekela’s tribute to Mama Afrika, Ludovico Einaudi’s Taranta! (as part of a weekend exploring Mediterranean music and culture), Gregg Allman, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Band of Gypsies (Taraf de Haïdouks & Kocani Orkestar), Esperanza Spalding, Congotronics vs Rockers, and a stellar cast of singers and musicians who revisit Tom Waits' classic album Rain Dogs. Blaze also features a feast of free music with visits to Gillett Square, Shoreditch Festival and Canary Wharf – plus the Barbican FreeStage which will be in action throughout the summer.
For more information visit www.barbican.org.uk  
About CREATE11

CREATE is the annual summer festival that celebrates Europe’s largest cultural quarter: the Olympic Host Boroughs where over 12,000 artists live and work. Now in its fourth year, CREATE takes place between 24 June and 25 July in east and south east London. The festival will stage major projects include:
·    The Bank of America Merrill Lynch CREATE Art Award worth £40,000, which this year has been awarded to Assemble’s 'Folly for a Flyover.' Part stage set, part host space, Folly for a Flyover re -imagines a disused motorway undercroft in Hackney as a space for workshops, performances and film screenings. Assemble is a not-for-profit collective of artists, designers and architects living and working in east London. Their first project was Cineroleum (2010), a project that suggested possibilities for the reuse of the UK’s 4,000 empty petrol stations. The Bank of America Merrill Lynch CREATE Art Award is the largest participatory art award in the UK, offering a £40,000 fund to artists based in the host boroughs to involve local people in the realisation of a public art commission. Folly for a Flyover has been developed in partnership with the Barbican and muf architecture/art.
·   ‘Restaurants in Residence,’ over four weeks, four of the very best restaurants from London’s underground pop-up dining scene will present the finest seasonal British food in an amazing hidden venue.
·   Live music events crossing classical, contemporary and pop music including Re:Definition featuring Kano in an event which blurs the boundaries between music hall, theatre and revolutionary underground sounds and Alina Ibragimova / The Quay Brothers, a co-commission with the Manchester International Festival and the Barbican