Showing 11 - 13 of 13
How world music fared in 2016
Life, John Clewley, Published on 03/01/2017
» The Merriam Webster dictionary named "surreal" as its word of the year for 2016. It's a relatively new word that was only included for the first time in 1967, which was around the time "psychedelia" emerged as a style of rock music; think of Jimmy Hendrix's guitar pyrotechnics from the time as an example. Psychedelic rock took off and rapidly split into subgenres like psychedelic soul and the whole Funkadelic/Parliament movement that brought psych guitars to the funk groove.
The man who put the funk into Congolese music
Life, John Clewley, Published on 07/07/2015
» Congolese music is one of the cornerstones of African popular music. This irresistible dance music is loved across the African continent, and its biggest stars, like the late great icons Franco and Tabu Ley Rochereau, were mobbed wherever they played. Musically, the genres that have emerged from the Congo region, including Congolese rumba and all the various dance style from soukous to ndambolo, have been hugely influential on the popular styles in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe and many other African countries.
Compilation showcases Congolese pop pioneer
Life, John Clewley, Published on 12/08/2014
» Bandleader, songwriter and singer Joseph Kabasele, known by his nickname "Le Grand Kalle", was one of the pioneers of Congolese popular music. He certainly blazed a trail for Congolese rumba, the most popular style in Central and East Africa during the 1960s and 1970s, which he, and a few others, developed from the marriage between local tribal rhythms and Cuban music (which came originally from Congolese music taken to Cuba by slaves). With his seven/eight member band, African Jazz, he created the blueprint for many bands ("orchestras") to follow, and he was the first to place the Africanised electric guitar at the heart of his music (in the 1950s), with his two master guitarists Dr Nico and Papa Noel being key in developing the characteristic intertwining guitar sound of Congolese rumba.