Showing 1 - 6 of 6
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.
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.
A farewell to icons
Life, John Clewley, Published on 30/07/2024
» Several great music masters made their final journey during the past few weeks, several of whom have been World Beat favourites since the early days of the column back in the 1990s.
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".
Mory Kante is gone, but not forgotten
Life, John Clewley, Published on 26/05/2020
» In 1987, the singer and kora (21-stringed African harp) player Mory Kante released his fifth studio album, Akwaba Beach. The Guinean-born musician included a number of interesting songs including an Islamic song, Inch Allah, but it was the 12-inch single from the album Yé Ké Yé Ké that caused a sensation as it became the first single from Africa to sell more than a million copies. The song swept into the charts across Europe, and if you were walking around the bars and clubs in Bangkok during that period, you could hear the song everywhere.
Remembering Kak Channthy
Life, John Clewley, Published on 03/04/2018
» The news last week that the lead singer of the Cambodian Space Project, Kak Channthy, had died in a car crash in Phnom Penh has shocked her fans in Cambodia and across the globe. She was 38 years old.