PlayUp 06

16 brand new football songs exclusively written and recorded for PlayUp

Football is Music, Bob Marley

Release Germany, Austria, Switzerland: May 12, 2006 // check www.playup.org

Exclusive pre-release at iTunes! // check iTunes

Get the CD at: www.amazon.de ..

For the legendary Bob Marley two places on this world combined passion and rhythm in the same way: The stage and the football ground. Playing and dancing belonged together. There are many artists from all over the world who still do agree with his point of view. Because of their love of football and of music, the project Play Up came together: Musicians from Brazil, US, Portugal, Italy, France, Angola, Japan, Spain, Senegal, Turkey, Ivory Coast and Germany joined in and exclusively wrote and recorded football-songs for this project: Play Up!
How It All Came Together
If that quote from Bob Marley is correct, nobody can be surprised about the German team and that they play how they play. After the official German Football songs of the past like Fuball ist unser Leben (Football Is Our Life) and Buenos Dias Argentina a musical revolution is more than necessary. With Play Up we are filling the gap: 16 musicians from all over the world composed and/or recorded new songs lead by their own passion for the game. All songs on this album are released here for the first time.
The idea for Play Up came as early as 2001, when we worked on a separate project regarding football. In this context we saw football as a cultural phenomenon: lights, rites, architecture, Brazil, samba quickly we came to the role of music in connection with football. From here it was a natural step to Bob Marley who defined both the stage and the football field as sources of inspiration for his life and art. We started to ask the musicians amongst our friends such as Patrice and Ayo to write songs about football and they feel inspiring about the game. The result showed us that this idea had the potential for a whole album. Especially in Europe. We dont have the tradition of inspiring football songs, like they can be found in Brazil. A good example is Chico Buarques song O futebol here interpreted by Arto Lindsay. But perhaps Play Up is the starting point to found such a tradition over here as well.
Early in 2005 we were already working heavily on the project. All talking to friends, artists, managers making phonecalls, all word to mouth. After almost a journey around the world, the team was completed: The artists involved created 16 recordings of songs about love, fight, passion, lost, friendship, fame and game. Play Up!!
We sincerely thank all who helped us to make it happen, too many to name, hope we didnt forget somebody. Beloved thanks go to Bisrat Negassi www.negassi.com , Wolfgang Lbbert, Helmut Klinkenborg, Markus Asam, Wolfgang Greter, Torsten Krger, Frank Wache, Shnke Lohse/Electric Chair, Hendrik Lorenzen, Ale Dumbski, Borja Torres/Lovemonk, Cristina Villa/Sonar Festival, Anna von Hagen/Piranha, Christoph Astier, Jonathan Miltat/ Deluxe Productions, Alpay Taskin, Vincenzo Marzotti, Petra Gehrmannn/Metisse, Albert Niymolen, Michela Cucco, Fatou Sow, Emilie Joseph-Edouard, Daniela Pinto, Michael Brook, Shafiq Saddiqui, Giuseppe Asaro, Hal Willner, Richard Chadwick, Michela Cucco, Ricky Ojijo, Christoph Fellinger, Bjoern Staschen, Jana Buchholz, Noemi, Mallence, Nile, Robert, Herbert, Michi, Ann, Belen, Stephanie and Charlotte and of course - all artists involved!
Bjoern Lux & Dirk Lange