Showing 1 - 10 of 10
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.
The sound of a new era
Life, John Clewley, Published on 16/01/2024
» It's been eight years since Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band released their last studio album Planet Lam, in 2016. This followed their debut album 21st Century Molam, released in 2014. In early December, the band soft-launched a vinyl version of their new album Arayalam on the Zudrangma Records label.
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".
Where cowboys rule
Life, John Clewley, Published on 05/07/2022
» The Colombian writer and journalist Gabriel Garcia Marquez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982. At his award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, a delegation of Colombian musicians performed for the event. Harp player Carlos "Cuco" Rojas, the founder of the Cimarron band, and lead singer Ana Veydo joined the musicians, adding their festive joropo dance music from plains of the Orinoco River (in Colombia and Venezuela) to the music on the Nobel stage.
Longing for the homeland
Life, John Clewley, Published on 04/01/2022
» Mali emerged on international stages in the mid-1980s with singers like Salif Keita and bands like Bamako's legendary Rail Band du Buffet Hotel de la Gare (which launched the careers of both Salif Keita and the late Mory Kante). These singers are from the central region, they perform music of the Mande people and have been joined by music from other regions, notably from the southern Wassoullou region (music from megastars like Oumou Sangare) and northern and eastern Mali, the latter of which was promoted by the late guitarist/singer Ali Farka Toure.
Queen of Molam honoured
Life, John Clewley, Published on 28/09/2021
» The late National Artist Bunpheng Faiphiuchai featured on Google Doodle last week, as the search engine celebrated what would have been her 89th birthday on Sept 22. She was one of the most influential molam performers of her generation, and a pioneer in the recording of molam on vinyl. According to Google Doodle's blurb, by 1955 she had recorded "more full-length albums than any other woman in the genre" and that is why she was the first molam to be given the title "Queen Of Molam".
Rediscovering forgotten grooves
Life, John Clewley, Published on 05/01/2021
» Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia and the country's most populous city has a long history as an important Indian Ocean port connecting traders. As we saw with my recent review of the first international release of popular Djibouti music, The Dancing Devils Of Djibouti by Groupe RTD on the Ostinato label, ports at the western edge of the Indian Ocean region played a crucial role in developing popular genres of 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.
Verbal duels and bawdy lyrics
Life, John Clewley, Published on 18/04/2018
» World Beat was at the Korat Festival recently to check out the activities based around paying homage to the Thao Suranari Monument, or Ya Mo, as it is known locally. Korat, or Nakhon Ratchasima, is often thought of as the gateway to Isan, the northeastern region of the country.
Rediscovering an African legend
Life, John Clewley, Published on 16/01/2018
» In recent years, several master photographers, whose work captured the post-independence rise of popular music, have emerged from West Africa. The first was Seydou Keita, who was born in Bamako, the capital of Mali, and died in Paris in 2001. He set up a studio in Bamako in 1948 and took portraits there until 1963. His trademark hand-painted backdrops (modern roads with skyscrapers, kitchens with mod cons) and props (scooters, suits) provided the setting for Malians to show that they were modern.