Showing 51 - 60 of 81
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.
Irish shenanigans on Sukhumvit
Life, John Clewley, Published on 03/03/2020
» Irish music takes centre stage in this edition of the column. Long-time Bangkok resident Prof Mick Moloney featured in a previous column on the Sunday music programme at the Mercy Center in Klong Toey, Bangkok. It was a fun trip, but I didn't have the chance to see Mick play his beloved tenor banjo and sing some Irish songs.
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.
Cumbia comes to Bangkok
Life, John Clewley, Published on 05/11/2019
» Amaru Tribe, a Latin cumbia band based in Melbourne, Australia, made their full-band debut in Bangkok on Oct 23 at Studio Lam. The six-member outfit come from Australia, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela, but all have been resident in Australia for many years.
Motown memories
Life, John Clewley, Published on 22/10/2019
» Songwriters pen the hits but the singers or bands are the big stars, and sometimes the producers are the ones who get the credit. I grew up with the Great American Songbook or "American Standards" at home, played on the piano by my father while we sang the lyrics. These were the songs that featured in Broadway theatre and in Hollywood musicals. What are now known as standards were crafted by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer and Richard Rogers.
It's a transglobal affair
Life, John Clewley, Published on 10/09/2019
» The summer festival season in Europe, North America and Japan draws to a close this month as bands rest up from touring and take a break before the end-of-year festive season. Those bands that have put out summer releases hope that their albums reach the various charts and get decent airplay; others, meanwhile, have waited for the end of the season to release their new music, so we have a mixture of hot releases from the summer and new ones just released.
Lovely Latin flavours at Flamenco
Life, John Clewley, Published on 27/08/2019
» World Beat was out and about this past weekend to sample some locally made Latin music at Flamenco, a bar/entertainment venue in The EmQuartier on Sukhumvit Road. Flamenco is a fairly new venue, according to senior entertainment manager Anton Schutte. The bar is linked with another entertainment space, Escape Bangkok, found in the same building.
A global meeting for music buffs
Life, John Clewley, Published on 30/07/2019
» The 45th International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) was held at Chulalongkorn University earlier this month. The premier global meeting for ethnomusicologists was held in Southeast Asia for the first time in its history. As the secretary-general of the ICTM Prof Ursuka Hemetek said: "This is a special occasion for us to be in Southeast Asia for the first time."
The doctor is out
Life, John Clewley, Published on 11/06/2019
» Dr John, the High Priest of New Orleans' hoodoo, the Night Tripper and one of the heirs to Professor Longhair's legacy, died last week at the age of 77. He was widely regarded as one of the Crescent City's most accomplished musicians -- a master bandleader, songwriter, guitarist, voodoo showman and pianist. He was comfortable moving between blues, jazz, funk, boogie-woogie and anything else he fancied, and he was known as a keeper of New Orleans' piano traditions.
A colourful hybrid
Life, John Clewley, Published on 28/05/2019
» It was the barefoot diva Cesaria Evora who put the Cape Verde Islands on the musical map, with her breakout albums and international tours in the 1990s. She sang a melancholic and intimate style called morna, a hybrid music fused from Portuguese fado music and local traditional styles.