Club Couscous is a bi-monthly live world music night based in Manchester UK. The night grew up around Paula Darwish & The Country and Eastern Band and specialises in artists with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences. The night has live music from Paula Darwish, her band and guests aswell as a DJ playing trashy Arab and Turkish pop. We like to start out the night with some mellow more tradtional sounds and then gradually pump up the tempo.Club Couscous has already provided a warm welcome to several artists who would otherwise struggle to get a gig outside of their own communities.
From humble beginnings in a back room at Jabez Clegg in 2006, Club Couscous has moved to its current regular home at the Kings Arms in Salford. Club Couscous also tours with The Country and Eastern Band and tries to find local guest musicians wherever it goes. Our guests to date are listed below and have included UK based artists originally from Iraq, Kurdistan, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.
The club is also keen to work with crossover artists fusing musical styles from Britain's diverse ethnic communities. With so many people with roots all over the world living together on the small area that is Britain, it's surprising that the "Indie" music scene is still so starved of influences from any countries apart from Britain and America . Groups like Cornershop and Asian Dub Foundation are few and far between and Club Couscous is all about creating more opportunities and supporting musicians who think outside of the box. There simply isn't enough diversity in the UK music market or live circuit and by providing our Couscous artists with a regular place to play we are doing our bit to change this. The world is full of kids with mixed race parents who are Arab-French, English-Turkish, Somali-Dutch - the list is endless ... so as Natacha Atlas said way back in the 90's " where the fuck else can music go..".
As Club Couscous expands, we hope to bring 'under the radar' world music artists from Europe to the UK. Some British cities are lucky enough to get the odd visit from superstars like Khaled and Sezen Aksu but there are thousands of other less well known but nevertheless successful world fusion artists living on our doorstep in Europe.
Musicians wanting to be part of the night please send us a brief email telling us what you do. You don't need to be part of a band - instrumentalists/ vocalists are welcome to guest with The Country and Eastern Band. Please send your enquiries to Leyla Celik
Gig goers wanting to be part of the night join our mailing list to be kept in touch with events in your area. Even better suggest a local venue and we'll look into bringing Club Couscous to you. Join our mailing list here.
The only borders are in your mind. For future dates and tickets go to our gigs page.
The Kings Arms is only 5 mins walk from Deansgate in Manchester city centre. Map
Previous guests:
Nasser Althefferi
Sirwan
Dilgeş Amedi
Beyrem Tounsi
Shervin Tebrizli
Hasan Bulut
Sarmed Alwadi
Aleyn
Hevi & Heva
Ed Wolstenholme
Adam Warne
Mohammed Ibn Sina
Maghribibeat
