Showing 41 - 50 of 52
The Karnatik Story should be heard by all
Life, John Clewley, Published on 23/09/2014
» I was recently in Bangalore in Southern India on a business trip. It was my first visit and I thoroughly enjoyed the city. It was, first of all, delightful to be in a big city which has lots of tree-lined boulevards and roads, although like Bangkok they always seem to be bumper to bumper with all kinds of vehicles. The food was terrific, the tea delicious and people everywhere were very friendly.
Rumba rock in the Congo
Life, John Clewley, Published on 24/06/2014
» Congo was the place to be in the late 1940s. On both sides of the Congo River, in Leopoldville (later renamed as Kinshasa) and Brazzaville, Congolese musicians began to develop a distinctive popular music based on their own tribal rhythms, Cuban music (popular at the time throughout Central and Western Africa), and Western jazz and pop. The music they developed was called rumba and in the following decades it would mature into Africa’s most potent dance music, spawning some of the greatest big bands and orchestras the continent has known.
Inside one Talking Head
Life, John Clewley, Published on 10/06/2014
» In 1999, former frontman of art-rock band Talking Heads David Byrne wrote an angry article called I Hate World Music, for The New York Times, in which he criticised the term “world music” as both absurd and reductive. I remember the article well and agreed with much of what he wrote, particularly the notion that such a term lumped together Congolese dance music and Bulgarian choral ensembles on the same rack in record stores. Reducing, say, the entire music of a continent like Africa to such a term is another issue that seemed to annoy Byrne (and from my experience many African musicians as well).
Make it funky
Life, John Clewley, Published on 17/12/2013
» Funk music features on two excellent compilations this week: New Orleans' funk on New Orleans Funk Experience (Nascente, 2010) and Diablos Del Ritmo _ The Colombian Melting Pot 1960-1985 (Analogue Africa, 2012).
Songs of the 'babaylan'
Life, John Clewley, Published on 10/09/2013
» At last year's Penang World Music festival I had the opportunity to talk to Grace Nono, a most versatile singer, researcher and writer from the southern Philippines. After the event she sent me a copy of her first major publication, The Shared Voice (Anvil Publishing, Philippines), and I enjoyed reading it immensely. The book is about 10 traditional chanters, whom she terms "oralists", and Nono's 15-year journey to find her "own" voice.
Photos evoke Chicago in its influential heyday
Life, John Clewley, Published on 04/06/2013
» Chicago was the birthplace of the electric, urban blues which became known as "rhythm and blues" or just plain "Chicago blues"; it was the precursor of rock 'n' roll. The blues may have come from the US south with the "great migration" of African-Americans that began in 1920 and gathered pace during and immediately after World War II, but it was transformed in the late 40s and early 50s into an electrified dance music in the north by Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Bo Diddley, Little Walter and their contemporaries, as well as by new labels like Chess Records.
Night Tripper steps up
Life, John Clewley, Published on 19/02/2013
» At 72, Dr John is one of the grandees of New Orleans music. Since he returned to a healthier, drug-free lifestyle some years ago, he has released an album every few years, either in a stripped down "voodoo" funk style as on albums like Television (1992) or on New Orleans' musical heritage on albums like Goin' Back To New Orleans (1992).
Howlings of a haunted Wolf
Life, John Clewley, Published on 09/10/2012
» Howlin' Wolf was one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. His music influenced rock 'n' roll and the development of modern popular music; his stage act, in which he dropped to all fours, crawling and howlin', inspired countless imitators, as did his deep, rich baritone voice. But unless you were, to paraphrase a line from one of Willie Dixon's songs (expressly written for the Wolf), over 300lbs (135kg) and wore size 14 shoes, you would be hard-pressed to measure up to one of the USA's great musical icons.
The Grace of spiritual music
Life, John Clewley, Published on 26/06/2012
» One of the main reasons I went to the recent Penang World Music festival was to see the Filipina singer Grace Nono and her band perform, which I wrote about in my review of the event. I also had the chance to chat with her about her remarkable career and work.
New angle on Angola
Life, John Clewley, Published on 03/04/2012
» They say that war is hell and for Angola the four decades of civil strife the Angolan people went through from the 1960s was horrific. After fighting for independence from Portugal, a civil war broke out and the various sides in the protracted conflict virtually destroyed the country. And yet while the fighting was going on, musicians were still playing and recording brilliant music.