Showing 1 - 9 of 9
Rhythms of the Northeast
Life, John Clewley, Published on 21/02/2026
» The first Maha Morlum Festival, a showcase soft power event, was held in Maha Sarakham from Feb 13-14 and World Beat travelled to the Isan province to enjoy the two-day, one-night immersive experience promised by the event's organisers.
Genre-bending greats
Life, John Clewley, Published on 16/07/2024
» Swamp Dogg (real name Jerry Williams Jr) is a well-known black American singer, songwriter, producer and Williams Jr's alter ego. A few years back, I wrote about Blame It On The Dogg: The Swamp Dogg Anthology 1968-1978, which features some of his hit R&B songs (put out under his real name and alter ego), such as She's A Heartbreaker by Gene Pitney and Stop Knocking by Ruth Brown.
Cambodian rock via LA
Life, John Clewley, Published on 21/11/2023
» Los Angeles-based band Dengue Fever has released a new studio album, Ting Mong (Tuk Tuk Records, USA), their first for eight years. The release marks the Cambodian-US band's 20th anniversary since their acclaimed self-titled debut in 2003.
Travel notes
Life, John Clewley, Published on 23/05/2023
» Cambodia, like many Southeast Asian countries, enjoyed a golden era of popular music during the 1950s and 1960s, when Phnom Penh, known as the "Pearl of the Orient" became an important cultural centre, a breading ground for the meeting of Western rock and pop and Cambodian music. Author Dee Peyok in her fascinating new book Away From Beloved Lover: A Musical Journey Through Cambodia (Granta, UK, 2023) notes that "the music of East and West merged across Southeast Asia to the most fascinating mélange of instruments, attitudes and expressionism".
Adventure in new lands
Life, John Clewley, Published on 26/04/2022
» British-Sudanese writer Jamal Mahjoub's latest novel The Fugitives is a delightful tale of a fictional Sudanese dance band, the Kamanga Kings, and how the son of one of the founders, an English teacher called Rushdy, reforms the band and goes on a raucous road trip to play their music in the US.
808s in Tamil Nadu state
Life, John Clewley, Published on 10/11/2020
» This month's Transglobal World Music chart has an Asian flavour with an Arabic twist as Ammar 808 took the top spot with a fusion of South Indian music from Tamil Nadu state that has been through an Arabic blender.
What 2020 has already brought
Life, John Clewley, Published on 07/01/2020
» Likay in Klong Toey seemed like a good way to kick off the New Year. I spotted a very small stage while I was down at the market earlier last week. It was in the old part of the market, which is about to be upgraded. I asked around and was told that the likay troupe Mere Da Tam was performing last Saturday, in the early evening.
Motown memories
Life, John Clewley, Published on 22/10/2019
» Songwriters pen the hits but the singers or bands are the big stars, and sometimes the producers are the ones who get the credit. I grew up with the Great American Songbook or "American Standards" at home, played on the piano by my father while we sang the lyrics. These were the songs that featured in Broadway theatre and in Hollywood musicals. What are now known as standards were crafted by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer and Richard Rogers.
Likay lives on
Life, John Clewley, Published on 07/08/2018
» My first experience of popular theatre in Thailand was a likay performance in the main market in Chumpon. I had not been in Thailand for long and was on my way back from a trip to Malaysia, travelling by local bus and train.