Music world

Hip-hop emcees GRITS will release their eighth full-length album, Reiterate, July 29th, a debut of sorts on their own newly launched Revolution Art label. Major distribution to retail for this album and the ensuing label releases will go through the Provident–Integrity Distribution arm, a division of Sony-BMG.

In support of their Reiterate release GRITS will go out on the road for the 30 Day Tour, which will take them nationwide mid-July through mid-August. They also will be hitting the summer festival circuit including Agape Fest, Ichthus Festival, Crossover Festival, Rock The Desert, Spirit West Coast, and the NewSong Festival. Plans for the Art Attack tour are also underway for September where GRITS will be joined by other Revolution Art music acts.

Toby “TobyMac” McKeehan, one of their biggest champions says, “GRITS has changed the face of positive and spiritual hip-hop. They are relevant and have a knack for discovering talent that stretches our industry to places I love seeing it go.”

5-time Dove Award winners and 2-time GRAMMY nominated act GRITS has cracked MTV2’s Top 10 Most Requested and Top 5 Handpicked and received favorable media coverage in the pages of XXL, Spin, Vibe, Billboard, The Source, URB and other major publications and media. Over the course of their ten-year plus career, GRITS has sold over 500,000 albums and shared the stage with the likes of OutKast, Jay-Z, Ice Cube, Skillet, A Tribe Called Quest, and Monica.

The GRITS song “Ooh Ahh” remains a hot commodity as a digital single and has sold over 160,000 downloads to date. The song, from their 2006 release simply titled 7, was also used on the big screen in both “The Fast And The Furious: Toyko Drift,” and “Big Momma’s House 2” featuring comedian actor Martin Lawrence. Rappers Coffee and Bonafide have seen their music grace the movies before with the single “Here We Go” featured in “Something’s Gotta Give” starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, as well as music used in independent films including “Devious Beings”, “Lockdown”, and “Road Dogz”. GRITS’ songs have also been used extensively on television including shows like “MTV CRIBS”, “The Real World”, “Pimp My Ride”, “Tough Enough”, and “Boston Public”.

Revolution Art has a solid roster already in place including Stefan Moss a.k.a The SYNTYST (Scientist), and 18-year old powerhouse JADE.

Integrity Music launches the first ever Christian artist iPhone Application in support of multiple GRAMMY, Stellar and Dove Award winner, Soul Train Award winner and double RIAA certified Gold-selling artist Israel Houghton and his critically acclaimed album, The Power Of One, releasing March 24 on Integrity Music/Columbia Records. Launching this week and available for FREE at the iPhone App Store, Israel’s app is on a short list of recording artists that have their own apps, including Akon, David Cook, P!nk, Fall Out Boy and only a few others.

Millions of iPhone or iPod Touch users can now take advantage of the advanced capabilities of their user interface to discover new music from Israel Houghton, and much more. Included in the application are direct iTunes store links to buy Israel’s The Power Of One, as well as purchase Israel’s entire discography. iPhone users will also be able to listen to 30-second previews of every song spanning Israel’s catalog of six acclaimed albums, read real time updates on Israel’s touring and other news from his website, see and share video streams from YouTube, such as song stories, live performances, etc., and flip through pictures of Israel. Additionally, users will have access Israel’s blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

The app further allows users to access Israel’s new social justice site, http://didyoumakeyourmark.com, where people are encouraged to be “the power of one” and share their videos about what they have done to create positive change in their communities.

“As a media company, we strive to serve our customers through new media technologies,” says Mike Coleman, Integrity Media CEO/Founder. “The iPhone application store is a new frontier that allows us to deliver a unique mobile experience. I believe we are seeing the beginning of a new media channel that will continue to grow.”

“We are thrilled to be the first Christian Music label with an artist iPhone application,” adds John Coleman, Integrity Music VP. “We will continue to serve our audience with these rich media experiences. This is a focus area of development for our artists that I believe will bring a new level of exposure while using a compelling technology.”

“As a digital marketer, I’m always looking for ways to deliver our content in new and innovative ways,” says Chris Estes, Integrity Music director of digital sales and marketing. “I believe if you can hear it, you should be able to buy it. That is why I’m thrilled to use a new technology that facilitates that experience. The iPhone platform gives us a way to directly connect with fans with a device that is always with them. This application has harnessed all of the multimedia content into one place so the consumer experience is meaningful. When you tie in the easy touch points for consumers to purchase, this really becomes the best of both worlds…a great marketing tool with a solid sales channel built in.”

Israel Houghton is currently on a national major market, 37-city tour with Chris Tomlin that began Jan. 22 and has already logged 10 sellouts, including at Houston’s Berry Center, San Antonio’s Municipal Auditorium and Los Angeles’s Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk. With other venues across the country at, or near capacity, the latest tour information can be found at http://www.myspace.com/israelhoughtonmusic.

Israel’s The Power Of One marks his first solo studio offering after a string of highly successful New Breed live concert projects and features guest vocals from such genre-leading artists as tobyMac, Martin Smith of Delirious?, Mary Mary and Chevelle Franklyn. From its genre-blending roots reggae and heavy rock to sanctified funk and power pop, the album features songs of hope, redemption and revelation.

Active as worship leader in his local church, Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, Houston, Israel has written or co-written 11 CCLI Top 500 favorites, served as worship leader at Hillsong conferences, Franklin Graham crusades and is a featured CompassionArt songwriter and artist. Israel also ministers through concerts in the U.S. and around the world, including accompanying Alicia Keys at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards for a performance of George Michael’s “Freedom ’90,” and as a performer at the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards, taking part in a segment saluting Gospel music.

In 1995, Israel and Meleasa Houghton founded New Breed Ministries, an organization they continue to run and that is comprised of noted musicians and singers who serve within their respective churches and together serve the Church at large. Since then, Israel has amassed a legion of followers that bridges generational lines with popularity across African American, Latin and Caucasian listener lines. While blasting down barriers, he has been fittingly graced with 2 Gold-selling albums, 6 Dove Awards, 2 Stellar Awards, a Soul Train Award and 2 GRAMMY Awards, one for “Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album” for A Deeper Level and one for “Best Traditional Gospel Album” for Alive In South Africa. He also penned his first book with New Breed, A Deeper Level (Whitaker House), and wrote a chapter in the recently released The Art of Compassion charity book.

Israel Houghton is signed to Integrity Music, distributed to Christian retail by Provident-Integrity Distribution and to the general market by Columbia Records/Sony Distribution. For more information, go to www.israelhoughton.net.

International superstar Krystal Meyers will see two of her songs used by an online multi-player video game, called Audition, starting December 18. “Only You Make Me Happy” and “Live,” from Meyers’ latest album, Dying For A Heart, will be available as part of the anime “dance battle” game. Check out Audition online at www.nexon.net.

Read our interview with Krystal here.

NEW YORK – U2, Glen Hansard, Damien Rice and the Script are among the Irish pop musicians featured in the second installment of the documentary series "Music of Ireland," scheduled to roll out nationwide on public television stations in September and all through the fall.

"Music of Ireland — Welcome to America" begins where "Welcome Home," which first aired on PBS in February, left off: in the early 1980s, when U2 was budding as a world-renowned act. It goes on to profile the careers of Sinead O’Connor, the Corrs and the Cranberries, and the international influence they cultivated. The hourlong documentary also features interviews with Academy Award winner Hansard, of the Swell Season, and songwriter Rice.

"The thing that charms me the most is that this tiny little island of 4 million has been able to turn out (this) number of top-selling artists and influential artists," says Denny Young, president and founder of Elevation Group and executive director of the series. "That was the story that hadn’t been told in totality and something I felt the general public would find very interesting."

According to Clannad’s Moya Brennan, who hosts the documentary, the series shows how wide the scope of Irish music is. Part 2, she says, illustrates the role America has played in the preservation of Celtic musical traditions.

"The people that (emigrated to) America were able to record and treasure what they brought with them," Brennan says. "(America) helped us sustain and remember."

An old Czech stronghold town converted by the Gestapo into a ghetto and transfer camp/way station for prisoners intended for other camps, often Auschwitz who had something to do with a secret literary magazine called Vedem.

Of the regarding 100 Jewish youth, ages 13-16, who had donate to Vedem, a weekly underground journal full of poems, stories, satire and picture published under the noses of Nazi guards, youthful Taussig was the only one who had not been banish to another camp. Practically all the other boys had died somewhere else, most in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

But the day Zdenìk establish himself on the way to Auschwitz, a chief named Rahm pulled him off. Zdenìk’s father, Terezín’s blacksmith, frequently shod Rahm’s black horse, and Rahm believed Zdenìk’s story that he assist out at the shop.