Showing 1 - 10 of 19
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.
Isan sound goes global
Life, John Clewley, Published on 13/09/2025
» Last month, World Beat was invited to join a government sponsored event to promote molam music from Isan on the international stage. The event was held on Aug 12 at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok as part of the National Science and Technology Fair 2025.
Flamenco fusion
Life, John Clewley, Published on 03/12/2024
» Flamenco is one of the musical delights of southern Spain. It developed out of folk traditions of the Gitano subculture of Andalusia and features dramatic guitar, singing and dancing, often supported by some kind of percussion, especially handclaps and castanets.
Say it loud
Life, John Clewley, Published on 27/08/2024
» On Oct 30, 1974, US boxer George Foreman, then the undisputed heavyweight champion, and challenger Muhammad Ali entered a ring in a stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to fight for the title.
Satanic sounds from the jungle
Life, John Clewley, Published on 02/07/2024
» In the 1960s in Peru, a funky popular style emerged in the oil-boom cities of the Amazon. It was largely based on Colombian cumbia and Andean tropical music but using the pentatonic scale of Andean music. Additional ingredients include highland huayno, Cuban percussion, psych and surf rock (especially twangy guitars, with as many as three playing together) and plenty of spacey keyboards.
Celebrating three decades of discovery
Life, John Clewley, Published on 27/02/2024
» World Beat celebrates 30 years on the music trail this month. The column started in Feb 1994 when Chuan Leekpai of the Democrat Party was in his first term as Prime Minister.
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.
Womad festival returns in style
Life, John Clewley, Published on 30/08/2022
» In 1982, the first Womad music festival was held in Shepton Mallet, UK. The organisation, which stands for World Of Music Arts And Dance, was set up in 1980 by English rock star Peter Gabriel (Genesis), Thomas Brooman, Bob Hooton, Mark Kidel, Stephen Pritchard, Martin Elbourne and Jonathan Arthur.
A modern-day bard
Life, John Clewley, Published on 07/12/2021
» John Cooper Clarke, Britain's "punk poet" has had an interesting life. Now 72, the "Bard Of Salford" recalls the highs (and there were a lot) and lows in a rambling, funny autobiography, I Wanna Be Yours (Picador), which was published in 2020.
Tale of the tape
Life, John Clewley, Published on 30/03/2021
» Lou Ottens, inventor of the humble cassette tape, died on March 11. He was 94. Ottens was a Dutch design engineer who worked as a product development officer for Philips. Before the cassette tape, he created the company's first portable tape recorder (reel-to-reel) and it was his irritation with the lack portability and clumsiness of reel-to-reel tape recorders that led him onto a path to the cassette tape. From 1963 to the late 1980s, 100 billion cassette tapes were sold.