Peace One Day

Lenny Kravitz

Regarded as one of the preeminent rock musicians of our time, Lenny Kravitz has transcended genre, style, race and class in his 20-year musical career.

Kravitz's multiple talents as a writer producer and multi-instrumentalist have resonated through eight studio albums, establishing him as one of rock's most respected songwriters. All of Kravitz's albums have been certified gold or better, with three of them certified multi-platinum. He has scored multiple # 1 singles on the Billboard Top Singles chart, and has won four Grammy awards (setting a record for most wins in the "Best Male Rock Vocal Performance" category, from 1999-2002). Kravitz has earned an unparalleled collection of awards throughout his career across a variety of artistic institutions, including the American Music Awards (2002, Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist), the MTV Video Music Awards (1993, Best Male Video), Radio Music Awards (2001, Artist of the Year), and the Billboard Awards. Kravitz has worked with Madonna, Slash, Aerosmith, Jay-Z, N.E.R.D., Mick Jagger, P. Diddy and Alicia Keys.

Twenty years ago, Lenny Kravitz wrote, recorded and produced his iconic debut album, Let Love Rule, striking a chord around the world and propelling him to international stardom. The title song's signature line, "It's time to take a stand, Brothers and Sisters join hands" is a theme Kravitz feels is still relevant to this day. To commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Let Love Rule, Kravitz and Virgin/EMI released a re-mastered original album earlier this year.

Over the course of his two-decades long career, perhaps the most remarkable of Kravitz's achievements is how he has managed to maintain the measurable consistency of being a quality singer, songwriter and performer.

Keziah Jones

Originally from Nigeria, the young Keziah travelled to London to pursue his education, leaving his country to become a musician, and not a doctor as his family would have liked. In 1992, he was signed to Delabel after being spotted in the Paris Metro. The following year, his first album, Blufunk Is A Fact, was an immediate success, with the surprise triumph of Rhythm Is Love, a single that became a worldwide hit.

In 1995, his second album, African Space Craft reinforced his standing as an exceptional artist. It was followed in 1999 by the experimental Liquid Sunshine.

In 1997, the year of Fela Kuti's death, which affected him deeply, Keziah left Paris and Lagos to settle in London. In 2003, with Black Orpheus, he offered up an eloquent homage to Fela's Afrobeat legacy.

Nigerian Wood is an album of pride and love. Recorded for the most part at the legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York, this fifth opus radiates a spectacular energy. It's difficult to talk about Nigerian Wood without stressing the crucial contribution of its producer, Karriem Riggins, a prodigious jazz drummer (Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown) before becoming one of the best Nu Soul producers (Common, Erykah Badu).

With fluid, acrobatic vocals, plus discreet percussion and brass to create an elegant, effective production style, Nigerian Wood sets up an impressive dynamic for itself, moving us from Keziah's Afro funk to Keziah's own soul.

With a constantly reinvigorated talent for composition, Keziah Jones generously offers us all of his influences, as if to gain more freedom from them and allow himself to again reinvent his musical shades of black and blue.

Olivia Ruiz

Born in 1980, Olivia Ruiz grew up in the south of France near Carcassone.

In 2001, she rose to prominence on the French reality show Star Academy when she finished in the semifinals.

Her first album came out in 2003: ‘J'aime pas l'amour‘. However she soon fell in love with Mathias Malzieu, the lead singer of the band Dionysos. They collaborated on her second album, ‘La femme chocolat' (2005), an upbeat mix of rock, accordion, violins, tango, clarinets and Latin rhythms. It was a fantastic success.

In 2007, Olivia Ruiz was recognised by the ‘Victoires de la musique' as the female artist of the year and also won the award "Spectacle musical, la Tournée ou le Concert de I'année".

For her third studio album, ‘Miss météores' (2009), Olivia recruited a number of guests stars, including the Canadian hip-hop artist "Buck 65", French band "Coming Soon", British Indie rockers "The Noisettes" and the Austrian-Spanish group "Lonely Drifter Karen".

Before recording "Miss Météores", Olivia Ruiz went on a humanitarian trip to Burkina-Faso, recording a hip hop record with local artists and assisting in setting up a school. ‘It changed me a lot,' she says.

Ayo

Ayo, born in 1980, is half Nigerian and half German. Her captivating, magnetic voice has stolen the hearts of her audience since the beginning of her career.

Her debut smash single, Down On My Knees, saw debut album Joyful rise to the top of the album chart. Close to 500,000 copies of the album were sold in France alone (over 750,000 worldwide) and the album spent more than 30 weeks in the Top 20. She has been nominated for ‘Best Female Act of the Year' at the Victoires de la Musique Awards in 2007 and she also received a nomination for best video ‘Down On My Knees.'

By early 2008, she locked herself away in the Compass Point Studios, formerly owned by Chris Blackwell, founder of the renowned Island Records. Jay Newland returned to co-produce with Ayo after their successful collaboration on Joyful. With further collaborations from Lucky Peterson on keyboards, and former Bob Dylan collaborator Larry Campbell on guitar, 13 songs were finalised as the album, Gravity At Last.

Gravity At Last is more complex than it would appear from the African heat of I Am Not Afraid. With the aching blues of Maybe and the intense ballad ‘Better Days', Ayo has broadened her range of influences.

Her first single, Slow Slow (Run, Run), helps to demonstrate how she is adapting to the speed at which her level of fame is rising. Ayo explains this sentiment, ‘The title of this album also refers to a feeling of relief. At Last indicates that I'm happy to be untroubled today, that I feel stronger and more confident now that I have left my past behind.'

Ayo was named a God Mother of UNICEF, France in January 2009.

Kasabian

Platinum selling, NME award-winning, stadium-shaking Mercury Music Prize nominees Kasabian; Serge Pizzorno, Tom Meighan, Chris Edwards and Ian Matthews, friends from Leysland High School in Countesthorpe, Leicester, originally formed the band in the mid-90s under the name Saracuse.

In 1999 they changed their name to Kasabian, after Linda Kasabian, a member of the Charles Manson cult.

In 2004 Kasabian recorded their debut album, Kasabian, at Bedrock Studios. The album, which featured the hits Club Foot, Processed Beats and Reason is Treason, received critical and commercial acclaim and won the band a place at Glastonbury's Other stage in 2005.

Kasabian's second album Empire, a self-described ‘call to arms', was released in 2006. The album focused on the horrors of war, and featured the songs Shoot The Runner and Empire.

Kasabian's reputation as masters of the live show was cemented in 2007 with live appearances at Glastonbury, Live Earth, Isle of Wight and T in the Park helping to secure the title of Best Live Act at the NME Awards.
2009 has been Kasabian's biggest year to date. West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum won a Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize nomination for best album, sold 73,021 copies within the first four days and went platinum.

In August Kasabian made history by taking part in Asia's first MTV World Stage concert in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They also racked up nine stadium dates supporting Oasis, a third number one album and their highest chart position for single Fire.

"With new songs that take them to a new level, Kasabian are earning their place at rock's top table," Evening Standard, London.

Charlie Winston

Charlie Winston's life has been marinated in music from his early years. His parents were folk musicians. Swept up in the heady excitement of the '60s, they fell in love and formed a duo, once even appearing on long-gone TV talent show ‘Opportunity Knocks'.

At 17 he left home and went to university to do a music foundation course. He spent two years in lodgings as a hermit obsessing over jazz and minimalist music, "practising all day every day to be the greatest jazz pianist in the world". Charlie then moved in with his older brother, Tom Baxter. Scraping by on a pittance they played gigs with their band, Baxter. However, with a desire to explore his own creativity Charlie soon disappeared to India, whilst back in the UK, his brother's career had started to fly.

Tom Baxter signed to Sony and Charlie agreed to play on his first album and accompanying tours. It turned out to be a great experience. Recording the album at Real World Studios he met owner Peter Gabriel. The result was a Real World recording contract then an album ‘Make Way'. Although never given a full release Charlie performed it daily on London's bridges, just for kicks. He then used his newfound publishing money to begin his hobo adventures, funding the notion he could build a career by utilising community rather than ego-driven ambition.

It seemed he could; whilst in Paris in 2006, on his ongoing ‘hobo' mission, Charlie ran into Medi, a French singer-songwriter acquaintance. They played a spontaneous celebratory jam after France won a match in the World Cup. The audience went mental for their song Like A Hobo and the pair agreed to set up gigs for each other in England and France. Medi suggested he step in as sticksman with his friend Daniel Marsala on bass. Charlie's old friend Ben Edwards played harmonica and everything just clicked. Charlie distilled his music to its raw essence, straight-talking lyricism, and soul, all laced with beat-boxing and quirky instrumentation.
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"I'm not interested in wealth or people knowing my name, I'm interested in being involved in the Great Conversation of life."

Saul Williams

Saul Williams is a poet, musician and actor from Newburgh, NY. He grew to world-wide acclaim as a poet and actor through his award-winning film Slam in 1998. The film won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and the Camera D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
Since Slam, Saul has published three books of poetry through MTV Books, translated into three languages, and recited his poetry in over 30 countries and hundreds of universities around the world.

Working with legendary producers Rick Rubin, Trent Reznor, and Mickey Petralia, Saul has released three albums of music. His music, although experimental, has been widely acclaimed and opened the door for Saul to tour and perform with a wide range of artists (NIN, Nas, Patti Smith, Gil Scott Heron, Les Claypool, The Roots, De La Soul, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, My Morning Jacket, TV on the Radio, The Mars Volta, Devotchka).

Saul has worked closely with Swiss composer, Thomas Kessler, on two symphonies based on Saul's books of poetry. The symphonies, written for 80-piece orchestra and a small choir, and a string quartet, respectively, feature Saul's poems and have been performed and recorded with Saul and the Symphony Orchestra of Cologne and with the renowned Arditti String Quartet.

Saul's work has been aligned with many fronts of political activism and cultural expression. His anti-war poem The Pledge Of Resistance was popularised as part of the Not In Our Name global coalition and movement to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has spoken in support of several peace and justice-seeking initiatives, and has been outspoken on issues regarding education and the rights of children.

Elsa Zylberstein

Mutli-award winning French actress Elsa Zylberstein first appeared in the 1992 Maurice Pialat feature film Van Gogh, which was selected for Cannes Film Festival. Her performance earned her the first of her three Cesar nominations for Best Young Actress.

Elsa has worked with some of the greatest young female directors such as Laetita Masson, Diane Bertrand and Martine Dugowson. It was the Dugowson film Mina Tannebaum which saw her awarded the Prix Romy-Schneider in 1993.

Her passion for strong, ambitious films has enabled her to play a diverse range of characters. Appearing in films such as Farinelli, Lautrec, Jefferson In Paris alongside Gwyneth Paltrow and Modigliani, in which she played the lead opposite Andy Garcia.

In 2008 she was part of the cast of two very contemporaneous chronicles presented at the Berlin Film Festival: Jean-Marc Montout's La Fabrique Des Sentiments and Il y a Lontemps Que Je'Taime which Philippe Claudel especially wrote for her and in which she plays opposite Kristin Scott-Thomas. For this film, she was awarded the Cesar of the Best Supporting Actress.

She was recently in La Maison Nucingen directed by Raoul Ruiz

In September she will appear in Antoine Rault's play Le Demon D'Hannah.