Showing 1 - 6 of 6
Universal language
Life, John Clewley, Published on 24/10/2023
» The Transglobal World Music Chart for October has some excellent new releases for the coming cool season. And if there is a theme that runs through the Top 20, it is one of reflection and understanding in a world that is full of pain and hurt. This is exemplified by the No.1 album Jarak Qaribak by Dudu Tassa and Jonny Greenwood.
Let the good times roll
Life, John Clewley, Published on 06/06/2023
» Last month, one of the great explorers and producers of American vernacular music, Chris Strachwitz, passed away. He was 91 years old. He was the founder and co-owner (with Tom Diamant) of Arhoolie Records which since its first release in 1960, Texas Sharecropper And Songster by Texan bluesman Mance Lipscomb, has put out an astonishing 44,000 records.
Amid chaos, world music still rocks
Life, John Clewley, Published on 19/01/2021
» Riding high at the top of this month's Transglobal World Music Chart is the Isreali-Persian singer, songwriter and social activist Liraz Charhi.
Keep on rockin' in a lockdown
Life, John Clewley, Published on 14/04/2020
» The sonic landscape of my life in central Bangkok has changed dramatically over the past few weeks of social distancing. Gone are the sounds of construction drills, booming pile drivers, honking horns, unmuffled motorcyles and throbbing tuk-tuks. I can hear birdsong of all kinds in the mornings and, at dusk, the whirring and squeaking of different bat species as they zoom around hunting for insects.
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).
From Phnom Penh to Detroit
Life, John Clewley, Published on 08/10/2013
» The Cambodian Space Project's eagerly awaited third album is "in the can", according to leader/guitarist Julien Poulson. The band spent part of the summer in Detroit and just finished recording the new album in the city that gave the world the "Motown Sound".