• LIFE

  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.

• LIFE

  A tribute to Jamaican heritage

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 30/01/2024

  » Studio One, one of Jamaica's most influential recording studios and labels, was founded by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd in the 1950s on Brentford Road, Kingston. His first recordings were made in 1963 and for the next 20 years, he would help reshape Jamaican popular music and propel it around the world.

• LIFE

  A tribute to Manu Dibango

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 31/03/2020

  » Just after the World War II, in 1948, a gangly youth arrived in Strasbourg, France, after a long trip from Douala in Cameroon. He had 3kg of coffee in his luggage and a burning desire to be a saxophonist like Lester Young (later he would don a Young-esque pork pie hat and blow smoke rings like the acclaimed master). His name was Manu Dibango. Sadly, this veteran musician died last week of complications from the Covid-19 virus. He was 86 years old.

• 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

  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.

• LIFE

  The day the music died

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 09/07/2019

  » The legendary leader of the famous and influential Petch Phin Thong Band, Noppadon Duangporn, died last week at the age of 77. He was well known across the country, not just as the founder of one of Isan's biggest bands but also as a comedian, radio DJ and movie actor.

• LIFE

  Great Little Otis

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 02/10/2018

  » Otis Rush, the legendary blues guitarist, singer and bandleader, died last week, following a long illness. He was 84 years old. Not as well-known as Chicago blues legends like Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Howling Wolf, he was, nonetheless, a major player in the development of the Chicago "West Side Sound" and his unique, guitar style influenced rock musicians like Mike Bloomfield, Duane Allman, Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton.

• LIFE

  The roots of Chicha – Peru's jungle beat

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 19/09/2017

  » Ever since Paul Simon used the Peruvian orchestral tune El Condor Pasa in his song of the same name, the image of Andean music is one of locals playing panpipes, dressed in traditional costumes. Think also of soprano Yma Sumac and her exotica music from the 1950s.

• LIFE

  The grooves of Cameroon

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 01/08/2017

  » When it comes to popular African music from Central Africa, the DR Congo is most often considered as the most important in the region for developing many of the dance crazes that swept the continent and made waves on international stages; think of Congolese rhumba or any of the dances that followed, from soukous to ndambolo. But what about some of the other countries in the region?

• LIFE

  Tunes from out of space

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 23/08/2016

  » The cosmic connection in music has spawned colourful characters and great musicians like Sun Ra and George Clinton. The innovative bandleader Ra said he'd been born in outer space, a claim also made by Clinton (although the latter's sister reportedly said that she thought he had been born in North Carolina). Listening to their music or watching Clinton's huge Mothership descend onto a stage that included at least one musician dressed in adult diapers, you'd certainly be excused for thinking these talented musicians were indeed from outer space.

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