Global Pulse: Ireland's Bell Rings Out For Eu

To welcome the 10 new countries entering the European Union this May, the Irish government has sponsored Bell X1 to tour Europe as part of Ireland's six-month EU presidency. The band, often described as an Irish Radiohead, has played in the Czech capital of Prague, the Slovak capital Bratislava, Hungary's Budapest and Poland's Krakow and Warsaw in January. Back at home, Bell X1 recently won Meteor Ireland Music Award nominations for best band and best album. The quartet had feared it would play to empty houses in central Europe, where its second album, "Music in Mouth" (Island Records), remains unreleased. But manager Roger Bechirian says, "The interest was way beyond our expectations. The shows were all full, and Polish and Hungarian affiliates now want to release the album." MARK ANDRESS



PASS NOTES: The exhausting 25-hour flight between New Zealand and the U.K. has its merits after all. It gave Te Awanui Reeder of Kiwi hip-hop act Nesian Mystik time to cram for his exams on the group's first U.K. visit last October. Reeder is taking a bachelor of business course at Auckland University Tech. "I tried to study while we were in London, but things were too busy," he says. "But I returned to Auckland a day before the exams and still passed." Meanwhile, Nesian Mystik's debut album, "Polysaturated," won two Tuis at the New Zealand Music Awards. The track "For the People" took song of the year at the Australasian Performing Right Assn.'s Silver Scroll Awards. The band is now writing its second album.

HEBREW RAPPERS: With the release of latest single "Street Kid" from platinum CD "The Light and the Shadow" (Helicon Music/TACT), Israeli duo Subliminal & the Shadow has cemented its position as the undisputed leader of Israeli rap. Its controversial, right-wing music, which has garnered a dedicated local following, conveys a message of Jewish religious and cultural pride. The pair was featured in a prize-winning documentary film, "Channels of Rage," which followed its career against a background of heightened conflict with the Palestinians and hardening political positions. Future plans include performances in Belgium and France, where the duo will rap in Hebrew, English and French. "The real language we speak is hip-hop," Subliminal notes. SASHA LEVY

IRON MAN: Entering the world of Even Johansen is a bit like opening the "X-Files"—and not simply because the Norwegian artist's ethereal music has featured on sister sci-fi show "Roswell High." Even Mulder and Scully would surely be baffled by his stage name, Magnet. It's a reference to an Indian healer who cured his childhood anemia by drawing iron into his body. The intriguing tale fits perfectly with the gently haunting music of his 2003 debut album, "On Your Side," recorded in Lockerbie, Scotland, and released through U.K. indie label Ultimate Dilemma. Magnet returns to Scotland during a headlining U.K. tour in February, ahead of the March 22 release of new single "Lay Lady Lay," a cover of the Bob Dylan classic, recorded with rising Irish songstress Gemma Hayes.

R.I.P.: Real World recording artist Hukwe Zawose, Tanzania's leading traditional musician, is dead at age 65. For the label, Zawose recorded the albums "Chibite" (1996); "A Spear to the Soul" (2000) with his nephew and pupil, Charles Zawose; and "Assembly" (2002), produced by Canadian producer/guitarist Michael Brook. Last year, he supported Peter Gabriel on tour, singing the track "Animal Nation" onstage with him. "He was an extraordinary musician, singer and composer and made some of the most beautiful music we have ever put out on Real World Records," Gabriel says. NIGEL WILLIAMSON