Showing 1 - 5 of 5
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.
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.
Holy trinity
Life, John Clewley, Published on 14/02/2023
» The banjo is a key instrument in Western folk music -- from US bluegrass to Irish trad -- and over the past 20 years, research into the roots of this three-stringed instrument have revealed its west African lute origins, with two instruments, the ngoni and the ekonting, now understood to be the closest ancestors to the banjo.
Festive farewell
Life, John Clewley, Published on 17/08/2021
» The closing ceremony of the recent Tokyo Olympics was a surprise for many people. The organisers, recognising that many athletes were unable to explore Tokyo due to restrictions, transformed the Olympic stadium into a massive public park. The park featured typical Japanese leisure activities like yoga and rope skipping and a short film that showed the athletes what Japanese festival music and dancing is like, with clips from the Ainu in Hokkaido, Eisa dancing from Okinawa and Gujo Odori from Gifu, which led to live Bon Odori dancing in the stadium, driven by a booming taiko drum.
Dance, love, sing, live
Life, John Clewley, Published on 11/02/2020
» Father Joseph Maier, an Irish American priest who has dedicated his life to helping marginalised and abused children in Klong Toey, Bangkok, will be well-known to long-time readers of the Bangkok Post. His short stories on these children and their struggles are, in my view, among the best written in the Bangkok Post. They present some of the saddest yet most uplifting tales you'll read about. Father Joe’s stories pull at the heart strings and make you take notice.