Showing 1 - 10 of 37
African voodoo vibes are resurrected on Antoine Dougbe Et L'Orchestre Poly-Rythmo
Life, John Clewley, Published on 14/03/2026
» Benin is little known for its influence on African popular music. It is better known as the home of vodun, an ancient religion native to West Africa and the root of the syncretic religion voodoo found in Haiti and New Orleans.
Passing of a giant
Life, John Clewley, Published on 11/10/2025
» Sad news reached the World Beat desk this week that Prof Dr Terry E. Miller of Kent State University in the US passed away on Oct 1. He was 80 years old.
Timbuktu calling
Life, John Clewley, Published on 20/05/2025
» Mali and West Africa dominate the Transglobal World Music Chart for May 2025, with the "desert blues" rockers Songhoy Blues leading the way in top spot with their new album Héritage.
The jazzman of Bangkok
Life, John Clewley, Published on 22/04/2025
» The Bamboo Bar at the famous Oriental Hotel was set up in 1953 during a period when the hotel had several owners, including pioneering photographer and social activist Germaine Krull, and the art collector and silk king Jim Thompson. It quickly became one of the Bangkok's top nightclubs, known for its live jazz sessions.
Remembering soul' s ' Sultans of Sweat '
Life, John Clewley, Published on 21/01/2025
» For twenty years, between 1961 and 1981, the hugely popular US soul and R&B act Sam & Dave, thrilled audiences with their all-action, stompin' soul music. Both singers were brought up singing in gospel choirs at church and they took their 'pleading preacher' call-and-response gospel style to secular audiences.
Echoes of Persia
Life, John Clewley, Published on 22/10/2024
» The santur is an ancient stringed instrument, a dulcimer, with 72 strings that can be dated to 500 BC. Assyrian and Babylonian stone carvings show the instrument back in 669 BC. The instrument spread widely in the Middle East and later further afield where it morphed into the hammered dulcimer, the qanun, cimbalom, Indian santoor and even the Thai classical instrument, the kim.
Bridging cultures
Life, John Clewley, Published on 18/06/2024
» In 2011, Iraqi musician, actor and writer Ahmed Moneka was working as an artist and actor. He studied at Baghdad's Institute of Fine Art and, according to Canada's The Globe And Mail, he was the first black TV presenter in the country. His father, also a well-known comedy actor, was the pioneer. Moneka went into the "family business".
And ya don't stop!
Life, John Clewley, Published on 16/08/2023
» On Aug 11, New York City celebrated the 50th anniversary the birth of hip-hop with exhibitions, concerts and street art across the five boroughs.
Top tunes this June
Life, John Clewley, Published on 20/06/2023
» Veteran kora master Toumani Diabaté and Kayhan Kalhor soar to the top spot on the June edition of the Transglobal World Music Chart with a new release on Real World, The Sky Is The Same Colour Everywhere. Diabaté is well-known for his cross-cultural collaborations, from his early days with Ketama, a flamenco, jazz, West Africa fusion, to later work with the London Symphony Orchestra (Korolen), while Kalhor is an award-winning Kurdish-Iranian master of the kamancheh (fiddle) and setar (lute).
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".