• LIFE

  Independent in Indonesia

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 21/12/2022

  » Interest in recorded music, led by DJs and "crate-diggers", has shone a light on some fascinating popular music genres over the past 20-odd years. Soundway Records, set up by Miles Claret in the UK, released its first compilation in 2002 on Afrobeat, funk and fusion from Ghana in the 1970s, and since then has released compilations on African, Caribbean, Latin and Asian music (mainly focusing on the period from 1950s to 1980s, when popular genres were being created by newly independent countries).

• LIFE

  Pulsating percussion

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 20/03/2018

  » Musicians from Indonesia's premier gamelan fusion group SambaSunda recently celebrated their 25th anniversary with the release of a new album, Taramurag: The Story Of Rangkay (GNP, Indonesia).

• LIFE

  Preserving heritage

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 22/11/2022

  » Field recordings of ancient, traditional music in the Southeast Asia feature in this column. Northern Khmer Spirit Music in Thailand – Kantrum Dongman (Animist Records, 2022) covers the traditional music of "Northern Khmer" people in provinces like Surin, Buri Ram and Si Sa Ket that straddle the Thai-Cambodian border in Thailand's lower Northeast, while Exploring Gong Culture Of Southeast Asia: Massif And Archipelago (Sub Rosa, 2022) covers traditional gong music from 50 different ethnic groups in the Philippines, Borneo, Sulawesi, Vietnam's highlands and northeast Cambodia.

• LIFE

  Nora dance gets Unesco nod

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 21/12/2021

  » Nora, a traditional folk dance-drama from southern Thailand, was awarded intangible cultural heritage status by Unesco last week. The distinctive dance form joins khon and Thai traditional massage on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

• LIFE

  Shake Djibouti

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 07/07/2020

  » Djibouti, officially known as the Republic of Djibouti, is one of continental Africa's smallest countries. It has a population of less than a million spread out across an area that is just over 23,200km². For most people outside this part of the Horn of Africa, the city is known for its position as a bustling port, strategically located at the point where the Gulf of Aden meets the Red Sea.

• LIFE

  A whole different sonic vibe

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 09/06/2020

  » Sega is the traditional and popular music of the island of Mauritius, which sits in the vast Indian Ocean; some call sega the blues of the Indian Ocean but I think of it as the soundtrack to the sea.

• LIFE

  That's entertainment

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 28/01/2020

  » When we invoke the term "Jazz Age", we tend to think of the US in the 1920s and 1930s. But while its impact was felt most keenly Stateside, this major cultural movement was a global phenomenon.

• LIFE

  David Attenborough's longtime field-recordings passion project

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 27/11/2018

  » Sir David Attenborough is famous for his natural-history TV series and documentaries. Life On Earth, Living Planet, The Life Of Birds, The Private Life Of Plants, Life In The Undergrowth and, most recently, Blue Planet have all been shown in many countries. His hushed, almost whispered narration to all these fascinating films is now part of the broadcasting ether.

• LIFE

  The vinyl comeback

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 25/04/2023

  » Music fans and "crate diggers" enjoyed Record Store Day (RSD) last weekend. The inaugural event was first held in the US in 2007, on the third Saturday of April and on Black Friday in November. The idea, according to USA Today, was to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store" and indie outlets banded together with the support of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores and the Alliance of Independent Media Stores.

• LIFE

  Festive farewell

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 17/08/2021

  » The closing ceremony of the recent Tokyo Olympics was a surprise for many people. The organisers, recognising that many athletes were unable to explore Tokyo due to restrictions, transformed the Olympic stadium into a massive public park. The park featured typical Japanese leisure activities like yoga and rope skipping and a short film that showed the athletes what Japanese festival music and dancing is like, with clips from the Ainu in Hokkaido, Eisa dancing from Okinawa and Gujo Odori from Gifu, which led to live Bon Odori dancing in the stadium, driven by a booming taiko drum.

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