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  • LIFE

    Echoes of Isan

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 12/03/2024

    » Sombat Simla is one of Thailand's top khaen players. He's been bending the notes of his khaen baet (eight rows of double pipes, sixteen in total) for more than 50 years.

  • LIFE

    Celebrating three decades of discovery

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 27/02/2024

    » World Beat celebrates 30 years on the music trail this month. The column started in Feb 1994 when Chuan Leekpai of the Democrat Party was in his first term as Prime Minister.

  • LIFE

    The sound of a new era

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 16/01/2024

    » It's been eight years since Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band released their last studio album Planet Lam, in 2016. This followed their debut album 21st Century Molam, released in 2014. In early December, the band soft-launched a vinyl version of their new album Arayalam on the Zudrangma Records label.

  • LIFE

    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.

  • LIFE

    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.

  • LIFE

    Remembering an icon

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 01/08/2023

    » On July 13, luk thung singer, actor, movie/TV producer and label owner Phanom Nopporn passed away in hospital at the age of 77. One of the giants of the "country music" genre, fans and stars of the luk thung industry attended his funeral on July 18 at Wat Bang Rak Noi Ban Sai in Nonthaburi.

  • LIFE

    The beat of Soweto

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 04/07/2023

    » Simon "Mahlathini" Nkabinde, known as the "Lion Of Soweto", was not allowed to leave South Africa until the mid-1980s, when he was invited to perform at a pioneering festival of music in Angouleme, France, along with the three Mahotella Queens, the musical engine the Makgone Tsohle Band, and producer and saxophonist West Nkosi.

  • LIFE

    Travel notes

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 23/05/2023

    » Cambodia, like many Southeast Asian countries, enjoyed a golden era of popular music during the 1950s and 1960s, when Phnom Penh, known as the "Pearl of the Orient" became an important cultural centre, a breading ground for the meeting of Western rock and pop and Cambodian music. Author Dee Peyok in her fascinating new book Away From Beloved Lover: A Musical Journey Through Cambodia (Granta, UK, 2023) notes that "the music of East and West merged across Southeast Asia to the most fascinating mélange of instruments, attitudes and expressionism".

  • LIFE

    The sound of the Balkans

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 28/02/2023

    » One of the Balkan's best-known bands is Mostar Sevdah Reunion, whose 12th studio album Lady Sings The Balkan Blues (Snail Records, Bosnia and Herzegovina) is currently riding high on the World Music charts. The band is something of a Bosnian institution, carrying the torch for updated versions of folk music, in this case, sevdalinka music of Bosnian Muslims.

  • LIFE

    Country comes to the city

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 31/01/2023

    » The All-Thidsa Molam Band was in Bangkok this past weekend to perform at the Thailand International Jazz Conference. World Beat caught up with band last Friday when they played two sets at Isan Spicy BBQ, a rooftop bar at the Jim Thompson Art Center.

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