Showing 1 - 6 of 6
When East meets West
Life, John Clewley, Published on 17/01/2023
» In 2017, the Japanese band Minyo Crusaders released their debut album, Echoes Of Japan (P-Vine, Japan), to great acclaim. The band's reworking and updating of Japanese folk music, or minyo, on a rhythmic bed of Caribbean, Latin and Afrobeat was truly inspired, and perhaps pointed the way for other fusion bands in East and Southeast Asia. The aim was to revive minyo as "music for the people", as quoted by World Music Central.
Sounds of the Hmong
Life, John Clewley, Published on 18/04/2017
» Chiang Mai archivist and musician Victoria Vorreiter published a book on tribal music, Songs Of Memory: Traditional Music Of The Golden Triangle, in 2009. Since then she has been busy travelling, researching and recording music from the tribal peoples of the mountains, and for the past six years her focus has been on Hmong music, mainly from tribal groups living in Thailand and Laos.
Fruit of the loins
Life, John Clewley, Published on 08/12/2016
» The annual Jim Thompson Farm Tour took place last weekend, kicking off with a Fun Run at the farm site in Pak Thong Chai District, Nakhon Ratchasima. Runners of all ages and skill level, from kids to serious joggers, lined up on the starting line at six in the morning to compete on one of the three circuits that ranged from a gentle 1.5km jog to a more serious 17km race.
All aboard for some big fun
Life, John Clewley, Published on 21/06/2016
» One of my favourite times of the year is when the dry season ends and the countryside is transformed into a sea of green. And nowhere is it more fun to be at this time of year than in Isan. I have happy memories of rainy seasons in Buri Ram, where as soon as the rains arrived the village teenagers would take me out at night with a miner's light fixed on my forehead to hunt for tiny frogs.
South to Louisiana – R&B on the Bayou
Life, John Clewley, Published on 15/09/2015
» Several fun-packed R'n'B compilations have sashayed their way onto the World Beat desk recently, led by a wonderful set of forgotten gems, Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou -- Mad Dogs, Sweet Daddies & Pretty Babies, and a superb collection of early hits by Memphis-born pianist and singer Roscoe Gordon. Both albums are on the Ace label.
Musicians for president?
Life, John Clewley, Published on 17/01/2012
» One of Africa's most well-known musicians, Youssou N'Dour, announced recently that he would run in Senegal's presidential elections next month. N'Dour was one of the first African musicians to ride the "world music" boom that started in the mid-1980s and his first international release, Immigres (Earthworks, UK), remains one of the standout albums of that period.