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  • LIFE

    A tribute to Jamaican heritage

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 30/01/2024

    » Studio One, one of Jamaica's most influential recording studios and labels, was founded by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd in the 1950s on Brentford Road, Kingston. His first recordings were made in 1963 and for the next 20 years, he would help reshape Jamaican popular music and propel it around the world.

  • 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

    Honouring a pioneer

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 04/08/2020

    » Sonia Pottinger was a trailblazing pioneer in Jamaica's male-dominated music industry as she played an important role in the development of popular music in the Caribbean island. She was the first female record producer in Jamaica and her pinnacle came during the 1960s, beginning with the ska era after which she made a transition to rocksteady and finally reggae.

  • 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

    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

    When East meets West

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 17/01/2023

    » In 2017, the Japanese band Minyo Crusaders released their debut album, Echoes Of Japan (P-Vine, Japan), to great acclaim. The band's reworking and updating of Japanese folk music, or minyo, on a rhythmic bed of Caribbean, Latin and Afrobeat was truly inspired, and perhaps pointed the way for other fusion bands in East and Southeast Asia. The aim was to revive minyo as "music for the people", as quoted by World Music Central.

  • LIFE

    Haiti – Caribbean roots music

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 23/02/2016

    » The island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean archipelago has a colourful and rich musical history. There are two countries on the island -- Haiti and the Dominican Republic -- the former has its compass, mini jazz and twoubadou popular musical genres, while the latter boasts merengue.

  • LIFE

    African releases enchant

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 01/02/2022

    » The World Beat desk has been inundated with new releases in the past few weeks as record labels begin to get back on track. Three outstanding albums from Africa have been playing regularly on the World Beat sound system: Pape Nziengui's Kadi Yombo (Awesome Tapes From Africa); Rokia Kone and Jacknife Lee's Bamanan (Real World); and the Ano Nobo Quartet's The Strings Of Sao Domingos (Ostinato).

  • 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

    Forging his own path

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 22/06/2021

    » When Ethiopian music maestro Hailu Mergia toured the US with the Ethio jazz and funk Walias Band in the early 1980s, he had no idea he would become a taxi driver in his adopted country.

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