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  • LIFE

    Farewell to a maestro

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 10/04/2024

    » The world of molam has been in mourning since news emerged that Thailand's greatest phin player Thongsai Thap Thanon passed away on March 20 at his home in Warin Chamrap district, Ubon Ratchathani, at the age of 77. The phin is a two- or three-stringed Isan Lao lute that is part of the trinity of molam instruments, along with the iconic khaen (free reed bamboo mouth organ) and the sor (fiddle).

  • LIFE

    Root of the matter

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 20/07/2023

    » Earlier this year, Craft Recordings released the 2CD compilation Birth Right: A Black Roots Music Compendium with the aim of introducing the astonishing variety and depth of black roots music in the US in just 40 songs. Historian Dr Ted Olson and producer Scott Billington have done a great job of presenting a wide range of styles and genres -- from trad jazz to gospel to Louisiana la-la to Gullah music to country blues to brass bands. It's a fascinating musical ride for the listener.

  • LIFE

    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).

  • LIFE

    Independent in Indonesia

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 21/12/2022

    » Interest in recorded music, led by DJs and "crate-diggers", has shone a light on some fascinating popular music genres over the past 20-odd years. Soundway Records, set up by Miles Claret in the UK, released its first compilation in 2002 on Afrobeat, funk and fusion from Ghana in the 1970s, and since then has released compilations on African, Caribbean, Latin and Asian music (mainly focusing on the period from 1950s to 1980s, when popular genres were being created by newly independent countries).

  • LIFE

    Time to do the soukous

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 12/10/2021

    » Congolese rumba, sometimes called rumba Lingala or rumba Congolais, is likely to join khon, a Thai masked dance drama, khaen music of Laos, chapei dang veng of Cambodia, Cuban son and Dominican bachata on Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. In August this year, the two countries from the Congo Basin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of the Congo (ROC), announced a joint bid to add Congolese rumba to the list.

  • LIFE

    Christmas carols, Isan music end troubled year

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 22/12/2020

    » This has been a tough year for everyone involved in the music business, here in Thailand and everywhere else.

  • LIFE

    Honouring a pioneer

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 04/08/2020

    » Sonia Pottinger was a trailblazing pioneer in Jamaica's male-dominated music industry as she played an important role in the development of popular music in the Caribbean island. She was the first female record producer in Jamaica and her pinnacle came during the 1960s, beginning with the ska era after which she made a transition to rocksteady and finally reggae.

  • LIFE

    RIP to a legend

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 12/05/2020

    » Little Richard, one of the pioneers and originators of rock'n'roll, has died at the age of 87. His family made the announcement on May 9 from Nashville, bringing the final curtain down on the life of one of the great innovators of popular music in the 20th century.

  • LIFE

    Revolutionary's road

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 02/04/2019

    » Poet, novelist, piano player. And that was before Gil Scott-Heron had reached 20. He wrote and recorded his best known song, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, in 1971, and from then on produced a unique and polemical body of prose, poetry and music that led him to be dubbed the "Father of Political Rap", the originator of "nu soul" and many more titles. He preferred being called a "bluesologist".

  • LIFE

    David Attenborough's longtime field-recordings passion project

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 27/11/2018

    » Sir David Attenborough is famous for his natural-history TV series and documentaries. Life On Earth, Living Planet, The Life Of Birds, The Private Life Of Plants, Life In The Undergrowth and, most recently, Blue Planet have all been shown in many countries. His hushed, almost whispered narration to all these fascinating films is now part of the broadcasting ether.

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