Showing 11 - 20 of 22
Roots of rumba Congolais
Life, John Clewley, Published on 13/10/2020
» Soul Jazz Records' recent compilation on the early years of Congolese popular music, Congo Revolution - Revolutionary And Evolutionary Sounds From The Two Congos 1955-62, is a must have for fans of African popular music.
Top of the world
Life, John Clewley, Published on 05/02/2019
» The European Broadcast Union's Top 10 Chart for February -- taken from radio DJ playlists across the continent -- has just been released and there are some stunning new albums for world music fans to check out.
Ry Cooder returns to gospel roots
Life, John Clewley, Published on 16/10/2018
» American guitarist Ry Cooder released his first studio album for six years recently. The Prodigal Son (Fantasy Recordings, USA) has put aside his more politically engaged music -- as heard on a series of albums, Chavez Ravine (2005), My Name Is Buddy (2007), Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down (2011) and Election Special (2012) and returned to a more-gospel oriented sound that he created on his early albums.
Vibrant East African beats
Life, John Clewley, Published on 15/11/2016
» The eagerly awaited follow-up to Soundway's compilation of Kenyan popular music, Kenya Special, which came out in 2013, Kenya Special: Volume Two – Selected East African Recordings From The 1970s & '80s was recently released. The first compilation introduced fans of African music to the wide range of styles that were performed by different bands and artists during the "golden era" of the 1970s and into the early 1980s.
All aboard for some big fun
Life, John Clewley, Published on 21/06/2016
» One of my favourite times of the year is when the dry season ends and the countryside is transformed into a sea of green. And nowhere is it more fun to be at this time of year than in Isan. I have happy memories of rainy seasons in Buri Ram, where as soon as the rains arrived the village teenagers would take me out at night with a miner's light fixed on my forehead to hunt for tiny frogs.
Allen Toussaint's obituary
Life, John Clewley, Published on 17/11/2015
» Last week saw the sad news that the legendary New Orleans musician, songwriter, arranger and producer Allen Toussaint had passed away, aged 77, after a concert in Madrid.
Anniversary for the godfather of Afrobeat
Life, John Clewley, Published on 04/11/2014
» This year marks the 50th anniversary of Nigerian drummer Tony Allen's debut with pioneering Afrobeat master Fela Kuti. Allen played with Fela's band Africa 70 as drummer and musical director until 1979. Mention Afrobeat and Fela's name immediately pops up but without the fantastic drumming skills and funky mentality of Allen, Fela's music would not have reached the heights it did during this period; something Fela was quick to acknowledge.
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.
No pigeonholes for Ry Cooder
Life, John Clewley, Published on 11/03/2014
» In the early part of his career, during the 1960s, master guitarist Ry Cooder could walk down any street in the US and not be recognised. Born in Santa Monica, as a young guitar prodigy he played rhythm guitar as Ryland Cooder for Taj Mahal’s blues band. After this he played with Captain Beefheart and his slide guitar work attracted the attention of many big stars during the 1960s; he played on the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed albums and Van Morrison and Van Dyke Parks also used his services.
Kenya Special is a holy trinity of East African sounds
Life, John Clewley, Published on 24/09/2013
» One of the best compilations of African popular music I've come across in a long time, Kenya Special _ Selected East African Recordings From The 1970s & 1980s (Soundway, UK, 2013), found its way on to the World Beat desk recently. The 3-LP vinyl set is part of Soundway's African Special series which has so far produced gems on Ghanaian and Nigerian music.