FELA! Featured In PBS' 'Soundtracks', Broadcast 1/25

SOUND TRACKS: MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS, a new magazine show about the intersection of music with life, politics and culture around the world, premieres today online at pbs.org/soundtracks
<http://www.pbs.org/soundtracks> and will be broadcast Monday, January 25, 2010 at 10 p.m. (check local listings) on PBS. Dedicated to reporting unheard stories that reveal how music is transforming politics and culture around the globe, the one-hour pilot crosses three continents and serves up a diverse menu of Russian pop, afrobeat, Portuguese fado, and symphonic work. Says executive producer Stephen Talbot, "Americans love eating the food of different cultures. We want to give people that same exposure to the world's incredible music with great stories that transcend cultural barriers."

SOUND TRACKS is produced by The Talbot Players in association with Oregon Public Broadcasting. Emmy Award-winning Public Radio International newsman Marco Werman hosts. Werman is a renowned international music expert who, like other SOUND TRACKS contributors, has covered
music, politics and culture for PBS' global affairs show FRONTLINE/World. Since 1997, Werman has
produced a feature on the weekday public radio broadcast of "The World," treating 2.8 million listeners to a "Global Hit." Radio can tell only part of the story, however, even when the subject is sound. "Years ago I was reporting a story about a musician in West Africa going back to his village to start a farm," remembers Werman. "On that trip everything became so visual, I started
dreaming of a TV show that would be about music interpreting the world."

The pilot episode of SOUNDTRACK: MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS tells three amazing stories:"A Man Like Putin" Reporter: Alexis Bloom

"A Man Like Putin" is a catchy pop song that topped the Russian music charts in 2002 and went on to become an anthem for a generation. It's still played at political rallies. Two gorgeous young women sing to a driving techno beat about their president:

I saw him on the news last night, He said the world's been "put in" a tough place, He's easy to be with at home and abroad And now I want a man like Putin...

SOUND TRACKS reporter Alexis Bloom travels to Moscow in search of the story behind the song. The songwriter, Alexander Yelin, is a Russian music promoter who took a $300 bet that he could create a mega hit without a big-ticket promotions budget. Bloom also interviews his producer and
the song's performers, Irina Kozlova and Yana Daneiko, who insist that Putin will always be their ideal president and their ideal man. The story reveals surprising insights about today's young Russians, the role of pop music and the runaway popularity of "A Man Like Putin."

"Black President"

Reporter: Marco Werman

Marco Werman began his international journalism career in Africa, and returns there for SOUND TRACKS to cover the living legacy of Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti. It's the universal story of a son taking on the mantle of his father's dreams.

In the 1970s, Fela combined the best of American funk and jazz, mixed it with West African juju and highlife and created some of the boldest, most original music ever made. But afrobeat was more than a musical style; Fela railed against the brutality of Nigeria's military rulers and the plundering of his country's oil profits as he toured with his band, Egypt 80. Over the course of his lifetime, Fela was arrested more than 200 times. He died of AIDS in 1997 at the age of 58. His youngest son Seun, then only 14, stepped forward to continue the band. It was an enormous responsibility, but many of Fela's veteran band members are still playing with Egypt 80, taking their cues now from Seun.

"The music is the legacy," said Seun. "To respect Fela, and if we're going to play his music, we
have to realize that this music has to be for some kind of change, part of some kind of positive movement."

"Oh Kazakhstan" Reporter: Arun Rath

When virtuoso violinist Marat Bisengaliev saw the 2006 movie Borat he was, like many
Kazakhstanis, offended. But while the Kazakhstan government banned the film and sent their president to Washington, DC, to salvage the country's battered image, the violinist went straight to Hollywood to "even the score."

He contacted Erran Baron Cohen, brother of Borat creator Sacha Baron Cohen. Erran had composed the music for his brother's outrageous comedy, including the fake Kazakhstan national anthem which includes lyrics like: "Kazakhstan's prostitutes cleanest
in the region, except of course Turkmenistan's."

Marat asked Erran to write a symphony for the aggrieved country. Erran thought it was a joke, but
Marat convinced him he was serious and Erran accepted the challenge, laboring over the job for months. His soaring, fresh, provocative piece "Zere" debuted in 2009 in Kazakhstan's premier concert hall with Marat Bisengaliev as soloist.

Marat was apprehensive about performing Erran's work in Kazakhstan but he agreed to schedule the piece if SOUND TRACKS would film it. "Zere" was a resounding success and appreciative audience members told SOUND TRACKS reporter Arun Rath how much they liked Erran's
symphony, and one declared that now, "Of course, we can forgive Borat." As Borat himself might put it, "benefit was made to the glorious nation of Kazakhstan," thanks to Marat and Erran's musical
collaboration.

"Global Hit: Mariza" Reporter: Mirissa Neff

SOUND TRACKS closes with a "Global Hit" segment, in which reporter Mirissa Neff introduces an exclusive performance by Mariza, Portugal's fado queen. Fado is the traditional music of the Portuguese soul, often sung in a bar by a woman dressed in black. Mariza performs to huge crowds
and is part of a new generation of young singers who are reinvigorating the traditional style.

Whether the subject is traditional music or the latest trend, reported from the steppes of central Asia or the most crowded cities in the world, SOUND TRACKS' combination of great music and serious documentary storytelling is electrifying. The producers and reporters behind the show are
music fanatics with the sounds of the whole world as their playlist, and they're poised to open the ears and minds of anyone who can feel the beat.

SOUND TRACKS: MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS is produced by The Talbot Players in association with Oregon Public Broadcasting. Executive producers are Stephen Talbot for The Talbot Players and David Davis for Oregon Public Broadcasting. The production is underwritten by AT&T and PBS, with
additional funding from the Center for Asian American Media, Pacific Islanders in Communications, Latino Public Broadcasting, Native American Public Telecommunications, and the National Black Programming Consortium.

SOUND TRACKS will also be available streaming online with additional content on the web at pbs.org.

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