High-energy shamstep and cheerful protest tunes
– THE GUARDIAN
4 out of 5 stars
– ROLLING STONE ITALY
After the release of their full-length debut Balfron Promise earlier this year 47Soul – the Arab electronic hip-hop supergroup with members from Palestine and Jordan – have confirmed 2019 U.S. tour dates including globalFEST and SXSW 2019. See full list of dates below. Initially 47SOUL had planned a 2018 tour but their abrupt denial of entry to the US shed light on the many challenges artists face in the visa process. UK’s Observer went into detail about the band’s visa struggles and the negative implications of denying visas to foreign artists. Read more here.
47SOUL have become renowned for inventing their own genre Shamstep (also the name of their debut EP), which fuses hip-hop and pop lyrics in English and Arabic. The electronic creation, featuring elements of Arab roots music have been kicked up a gear on Balfron Promise, with cinematic soundscapes and menacing rock undertones creating an extra atmospheric edge.
The quartet have cultivated a fast-growing following from gigs around the world, including Glastonbury and WOMAD in the UK. Their distinctive hooks and powerful political lyrics resonate with their fans with the YouTube music video for their debut single Intro to Shamstep currently sitting on 5.4 million views.
They also have a formidable reputation as a live act built on their energetic and intoxicatingly otherworldly live shows. This is demonstrated by their most recent sold-out live teaser performance of their new album at London’s Village Underground.
Beyond their musical influence, 47SOUL are renowned as a voice on social issues – the band’s very name is an allusion to the occupation of Palestine. Their lyrics often tell stories of oppression and the efforts of normal people to combat it, not only in the Middle East but around the world.
47SOUL 2019 TOUR
1/4 – Tropicalia – Washington DC
1/6 – Copacabana / globalFEST – New York, NY
1/8 – The Sinclair – Boston, MA
1/9 – Old Town School Of Folk Music – Chicago, IL
1/11- The Opera House – Toronto Canada
1/12 – Babylon – Ottawa Canada
1/13 – Le Ministère – Montréal Canada
3/7 – BRIC Sessions – Brooklyn, NY
3/8 – Arab American National Museum – Detroit, MI
3/13 & 3/14 – SXSW 2019 – Austin, TX
ABOUT 47SOUL:
47SOUL is an Electro Arabic Dabke (Shamstep) band formed in Amman Jordan in 2013. The members are rooted in Bilad Al-Sham, spanning the divides from Amman to the Galilee to Ramallah and the rest of the Palestinian Diaspora. This new sound of 47SOUL has rapidly amassed fans in the Arab World, Europe, and around the globe by blasting the electric Arabic Dabke sound through alternative and street music scenes. On top of the beats that have been pumping in the Arab World for centuries, 47SOUL hypes it up with analog synthesizers, hypnotic guitar lines, group vocals, and melodic verses from the bands’ singers. Every show ends in relentless dance and trance from all audiences involved. Their lyrics, mixing Arabic and English, call to celebrate and advance the struggle for freedom and equality, inside Bilad Al-Sham and throughout the world.