Innovative Line-Up Also Features The Arcade Fire, Si*Sé and
Extra Action Marching Band

KCRW'S WORLD FESTIVAL

Sponsored by 21st Century Insurance Company

The Hollywood Bowl launches KCRW's World Festival 2005 with David Byrne, creator of the Luaka Bop record label and co-founder of the influential Talking Heads, on Sunday, June 26, at 7 p.m. Featuring the Tosca Strings, Byrne headlines an evening of hand-pickedBowl debuts including a line-up that represents his extraordinary musical vision: Montreal's The Arcade Fire, New York's Si*Sé and the antics of the punk-influenced Extra Action Marching Band, a punk-rock group of musicians with a flair for the unexpected. Nic Harcourt hosts.

Garnering rave reviews across the country, Byrne has been touring with Austin's Tosca Strings since the 2004 release of Grown Backwards (Nonesuch), a richly melodic set of 15 original songs with strings, rhythm section and guitar. Ever funky and eclectic, Byrne remains one of music's most adventurous and experimental artists.

Perhaps the most exciting new band at the Coachella Valley Music Festival earlier this year, The Arcade Fire "nearly steals the day," raved the Los Angeles Times. Incorporating guitars and violins, keyboards and accordions, The Arcade Fire appear for the first time in concert with their primary influence David Byrne.

Funky bi-lingual ritmos unite Luaka Bop recording artists Si*Se, the duo of singer Carol C (whose family hails from the Dominican Republic) and programmer/DJ U.F.LOW. These New Yorkers infuse the atmospheric vibes of electronica with the crackle of live instruments, resulting in hip hop beats, Latin rhythms and down-tempo electronic music.

The Bowl's sixth annual KCRW World Festival continues on July 17 with Planet Electronica, hosted by Jason Bentley and featuring Basement Jaxx with a full live show, Röyksopp and Bossacucanova. On July 24, Femi Kuti, Mos Def and Daara J join host Garth Trinidad; August 7, KCRW's World Festival Program Director Tom Schnabel hosts Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble; the popular Reggae Night IV with host Ann Litt on August 28, with Israel Vibration, Hepcat, Maxi Priest and Culture. On September 11, Hawaii's biggest music stars join host Raul Campos for Destination Hawaii with Keali'i Reichel, Na Leo, and two local halaus: Hula Halau Keali'i O Nalani and Hula Halau O Kamuela 'Elua.

Oscar®-winning composer DAVID BYRNE is best known as the principal songwriter of Talking Heads (1976-1988), the influential New York-based band he co-founded with fellow art students Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth. Always challenging his fans to explore music from around the globe, Byrne - whose side projects have included documentaries, theatre and television - created the highly regarded record label Luaka Bop. Byrne also works as a photographer, film director, author and solo artist. He has been publishing and exhibiting visual art for more than a decade. Recent works include the release of EEEI-Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information (Steidl Publishing & Pace/McGill Gallery), the Lead Us Not into Temptation CD from the film Young Adam and the Talking Heads box set. In March 2004, Byrne released his Nonesuch debut Grown Backwards to rave reviews and subsequently began touring with Austin's Tosca Strings, also garnering massive critical acclaim.

THE TOSCA STRINGS consists of the Tosca String Quartet, with the addition of violinist Jamie Desautels (violinist, composer and arranger) and cellist Douglas Harvey (principal cellist of the Austin Symphony). Formed in 1997 as part of the Austin-based Tosca Tango Orchestra, the Tosca String Quartet has spent the last eight years building an international reputation for their versatile performances of many different musical styles. The quartet appears on the Dixie Chicks' Grammy-winning album, Home, and they have performed and/or recorded with artists as varied as Willie Nelson, John Cale, Terry Bozzio, Alejandro Escovedo, Ray Benson, Shawn Colvin, Friends of Dean Martinez, and …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. The 2001 South by Southwest Music Festival began a new chapter in the quartet's history, when the group added two colleagues to play a showcase with frontman David Byrne. After trying out various string sections on the road, Byrne finally chose this ensemble to begin a long-term collaboration. The Tosca Strings then embarked on two world tours (2001-2002 and 2004-2005) with Byrne and recorded his 2004 Nonesuch release Grown Backwards.

Hailed by The New York Times as one of the year's best indie-rock albums, THE ARCADE FIRE's 2004 debut Funeral landed on year-end critics lists across the country, garnering acclaim from Rolling Stone, Mojo, Q, Alternative Press, Entertainment Weekly and the Village Voice, among many others. The Montreal band founded by husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, who cite David Byrne as a primary influence, draw inspiration from memories of loved ones on their Merge Records debut. Their live performances continue to excite audiences and earn rave reviews, including their standout performance at this year's Coachella Valley Music Festival, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as music with "an epic yet deeply personal feel, blending lyrics about such heavy topics as death and fidelity with musical touches that span guitars and violins to keyboards and accordions to constantly flame the Fire." The New York Times said of their performance at Coachella, "the band's songs are full of characters surviving nights and winters and blackouts and fires, and so even in a field surrounded by mountains and a gloriously setting sun, the members seemed positively -- and thrillingly -- defiant."

Formed by singer Carol C and programmer/DJ U.F.LOW, SI*SÉ bring together the atmospheric vibes of electronica with the crackle of live instruments. The results are electric: "It's about mixing stuff up that's not usually mixed together," says Carol C. "We're a band from New York City and we try and combine all of its musical traditions including hip-hop beats, Latin rhythms and down-tempo electronic music because that's what we hear everyday of our lives. It's a prelude to the future." Their self-titled debut is a romantic stroll through the global barrio. Singing in both Spanish and English, stunning vocalist Carol C (whose family hails from the Dominican Republic) is at once sexy, smooth, soulful and completely unique. Programmer/producer/keyboardist Cliff Cristofaro a.k.a. U.F.LOW is a b-boy minimalist armed with a single MPC drum machine. But theirs is more than a beauty and beats story: Two viola players (Jeannie Oliver and Olivia Martinez), crack percussionist Neil Ochoa, spirited bassist Morgan Phillips, and live drummer Ryan Farley add an eclectic live punch to songs that range from deep drum 'n' bass to futuristic Latin ritmos and beyond.

Self-described as a mutant lovechild of traditional peripatetic music and ecstatic turmoil, THE EXTRA ACTION MARCHING BAND is a generously-portioned, smartly-attired group of up to 40 performers, including a hypnotic drum corps, a smoking horn section, a francophonic bullhorn virtuoso, an aggressively friendly pep squadron, and a sultry flag team who, know how to work the crowd into a fit of horny hilarity with their graceful, in-your-face antics and dizzying routines. Together the group delivers a deliriously engaging show of torrid rhythm, spontaneous and unrestrained expression, and thunderous upheaval guaranteed to remote-control the collective ass of any crowd. Their repertoire includes various booty-bouncing funk/street beats; afro-latin industrial free-jazz slo-jams; whacked-out, frenetic Eastern European gypsy numbers; big-band heavy metal waltzes; zany cartoon music; bipolar circus and carnival themes; hard-core tangos; bastardized Bollywood and Spaghetti-Western movie themes; mischievous and provocatively uplifting cheerleading; and much more.

One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and in 1991 gave its name to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. The 2004 season introduced audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 37th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and close to one million admissions have been recorded. In February 2005, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue at the 16th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards; it is no wonder that the Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers, and Disneyland.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 7 PM

KCRW's World Music Festival

HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood

DAVID BYRNE, FEATURING THE TOSCA STRINGS

THE ARCADE FIRE

SI*SÉ

EXTRA ACTION MARCHING BAND

Nic Harcourt, host

Sponsored by 21st Century Insurance Company

Tickets ($4-80) are on sale now at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office, by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, at all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons May, Tower Records and Ritmo Latino locations), or online at HollywoodBowl.com. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850.2050 for further details. For general information or to request a brochure, call 323.850.2000.

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