midem Festival to Rock Cannes

PARIS, Nov. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The inaugural midem Festival today announces the initial line-up of international artists who are set to rock Cannes during three days of live performances, January 28-30, 2012, marking the first time that midem concerts have been open to a paying public.

The combo of international headliners and up-and-coming artists includes The Ting Tings, 2 Many DJ's, Selah Sue, Shaka Ponk, Brigitte, Stuck in the Sound, OrelSan and Skip The Use. They'll play in a specially-constructed, 3,500 capacity venue set up on Cannes' Palm Beach Croisette esplanade.

With hit titles "That's not my name" and "Shut up and let me go," British dance-oriented indie pop duo The Ting Tings' debut album "We Started Nothing" went straight to #1 in the UK charts in May 2008, selling over two million albums worldwide, while their single, "That's Not My Name" also entered the UK charts at #1.

The midem Festival appearance kicks off The Ting Tings (Katie White and Jules De Martino) 2012 European tour and will feature tracks from their up-coming second album "Sounds From Nowheresville."

International Belgian stars of the electro stage 2manyDJs, aka Soulwax groove-gurus David and Stephen Dewaele, have put together a collection of 24, one-hour remixes of classic hits from around the world. Remixing 45 songs together in one hour of music is one thing. Making that hour a consistent exploration of the history of pop music is quite another. The Dewaele brothers' work includes acclaimed remixes of The Stooges' 'No Fun' with Salt 'N' Pepa's 'Push It' and Basement Jaxx's 'Where's Your Head At' with Emerson Lake & Palmer's 'Theme From Peter Gun.' They've become two of the busiest, most in demand DJs/remixers/musicians/producers in the world and have toured consistently, both as a live electronic rock band (Soulwax) and as 2manyDJs (and often both at the same time).

21 year old Belgian singer Selah Sue said she was not destined to become an artist. "I grew up in a really little town in Belgium, and none of my family was into music." Released in March 2011 and sung in English, her first album "Selah Sue" reached Platinum Record status in France and was the biggest surprise of the year, to the point that the young prodigy of white soul music received the prestigious Prix Constantin for best young musical talent of 2011.

Red Hot Chili Peppers meet Frank Zappa, Manu Chao meets ZZ Top, AC/DC meets Talking Heads. And once all those meetings have taken place...welcome to Shaka Ponk, the French rock band obsessed with sound, image, video and design, recognisable in its omnipresent iconic virtual monkey and spokesperson Goz. With an invigorating and restless energy, hip hop fuses with electro, metal uses sequences and rap phrasings, and puzzle-pieces from across the globe are brought together into the fiery-hot Shaka-mix.

French retro folk duo Brigitte (Sylvie Hoarau and Aurelie Maggiori) saw their 2011 debut album "Et vous, tu m'aimes?" go Platinum in France. In 2010, Brigitte recorded a glitzy cover version of French rap king JoeyStarr's hit song "Ma Benz" and gained a huge buzz on social networks for it. Retro, funny, glamorous and crazy about hip hop, ABBA and Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte is considered by many as one of the hottest sounds to come out of France in recent years.

Four-piece Parisian indie rock band Stuck In The Sound released their debut album "Never Mind The Living Dead" in 2006 and gained a growing reputation for incredibly energetic live performances. After "Shoegazing Kids" in 2009, Stuck In The Sound will unveil its third album, "Pursuit," at the midem Festival.

Often called the 'French Eminem,' 29 year old hip hop and rap artist OrelSan is fast gaining notoriety on the music scene since his 2009 debut album "Perdu d'avance." No stranger to controversy, some of his most radical lyrics have seen him banned from  festivals and stages. However, his writing style and arrangements have garnered him a faithful following among hip hop and rap fans. Released in September 2011, "Le chant des sirenes" is OrelSan's second album.

Driven by their emblematic lead singer Mat Bastard, the French electro-rock band from Lille, Skip The Use, is known and praised for robust and wildly entertaining stage performances. In 2011, Skip The Use launched a special blog detailing the recording of their new album "Sound From The Shadow" and up-coming album "Can Be Late," scheduled for release in early 2012.

For more information on the midem Festival, please click here.

ABOUT REED MIDEM

Founded in 1963, Reed MIDEM is a leading organiser of professional, international tradeshows. Reed MIDEM events have established themselves as key dates in professional diaries. The company hosts MIPTV, MIPDOC, MIPCOM, and MIPJUNIOR for the television and digital content industries, MIDEM for music professionals, MIPIM, MIPIM Asia and MAPIC for the property and retail real estate sectors.

Reed Exhibitions is the world's leading events organiser, with over 460 events in 36 countries covering 44 industry sectors. In 2010 Reed brought together over seven million active event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, and organised by 34 fully staffed offices.

SOURCE Reed MIDEM