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  • News & article

    Her soul is immortal

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 21/08/2018

    » Singer, composer, social activist and "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin died last week. She was 76 years old. I was spinning vinyl last week at a DJ night when the news filtered through. I didn't have any of her music with me but nonetheless let everyone know that one of the greats had gone; cue to clubbers quickly searching on their smart phones for news on the First Lady of Soul.

  • News & article

    Music for the soul

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 29/08/2023

    » Highlife was one of the first popular styles to emerge in post World War II sub-Saharan Africa. It came out of Ghana's clubs and bars in the 1950s, where big swing bands, pioneered by the "King of Highlife" ET Mensah, whipped up one of West Africa's best loved urban dance genres.

  • News & article

    Latin soul with a Thai twist

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 29/03/2022

    » Amaru Tribe, a Latin band based in Melbourne, Australia, released their second studio album, Between Two Worlds, on March 18. The band visited Thailand in 2019 for a mini-tour, which culminated in a full band concert at Studio Lam, for which they jammed with phin and khaen players from Toom Turn Molam Band.

  • News & article

    Suphanburi Soul

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 30/04/2019

    » It's been a while since Bangkok-based Zudrangma Records has released any new compilations. Last week, the label put out two compilations that will be of great interest to fans of Thai (Central Plains) traditional music and molam from Isan.

  • News & article

    Goodbye reggae legend

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 15/09/2020

    » Toots Hibbert, the soulful leader of the legendary ska/reggae band Toots and the Maytals, died last week in Kingston, Jamaica, at the age of 77 from complications related to the Covid-19 pandemic. His death, following the recent release of Got To Be Tough, his first studio album for 10 years, shocked the global music community.

  • News & article

    A tribute to Manu Dibango

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 31/03/2020

    » Just after the World War II, in 1948, a gangly youth arrived in Strasbourg, France, after a long trip from Douala in Cameroon. He had 3kg of coffee in his luggage and a burning desire to be a saxophonist like Lester Young (later he would don a Young-esque pork pie hat and blow smoke rings like the acclaimed master). His name was Manu Dibango. Sadly, this veteran musician died last week of complications from the Covid-19 virus. He was 86 years old.

  • News & article

    The beat goes on

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 19/12/2023

    » Molam continues to evolve with time. Musicians, especially from Isan, are experimenting with new musical combinations, creating new hybrids and sounds.

  • News & article

    A joyous sound

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 07/11/2023

    » In 2001, the legendary US Gospel group Blind Boys of Alabama released an album on Peter Gabriel's Real World Records label. It was a hugely popular album which garnered the band a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album. It included their version of Tom Wait's song Way Down In The Hole, which was the theme song for the TV miniseries The Wire. Their version is better than Waits' in my view.

  • News & article

    Lift up your voice

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 10/10/2023

    » South Africa has a long tradition of harmony singing, stretching back to Soloman Linda's famous 1933 song Mbube, which created a genre of its own to isicathamiya folk singing that led to one of the country's most potent popular genres, mbaqanga and on to gospel choirs.

  • News & article

    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.

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