• LIFE

  Cool Colombian compilation

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 01/05/2012

  » Colombia has produced some memorable music and musicians over the past hundred years; it is certainly one of Latin music's powerhouses. Blessed with a unique geography _ Atlantic coast, savannah, Andean mountains and the lush Pacific coast _ and a mixed population of native Indians, Spanish, Africans and Caribbean immigrants, the country has a vast array of different musical styles from bambuco on the Atlantic coast to the savannah-based harp music llanera to the Afro-Colombian sounds of champeta and currulao from the Pacific coast to salsa and all kinds of Spanish-language pop.

• LIFE

  Cambodian retro

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 29/05/2012

  » The Cambodian Space Project burst on to the scene with a maxi-single vinyl release, I'm Unsatisfied, Cambodia's first vinyl for 30 years, in 2010.

• LIFE

  Time to get Zani

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 11/09/2012

  » Zani Diabate was the first musical super hero I met. The bandleader and ace guitarist, who passed away in Paris last year while recording his final album, often wore a dark beret with an enamel brooch of Superman pinned to it. When I asked him if he was Superman during an interview many years ago, he replied: "No, it's not Superman. It's Super Zani."

• LIFE

  Southeast Asia's kaleidoscope of sounds

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 23/04/2013

  » The Asean Economic Community (AEC) is due to open the markets of 10 countries in Southeast Asia in 2015 and much has been written about how best to prepare to take advantage of the opportunities the economic union will bring.

• LIFE

  Kenya Special is a holy trinity of East African sounds

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 24/09/2013

  » One of the best compilations of African popular music I've come across in a long time, Kenya Special _ Selected East African Recordings From The 1970s & 1980s (Soundway, UK, 2013), found its way on to the World Beat desk recently. The 3-LP vinyl set is part of Soundway's African Special series which has so far produced gems on Ghanaian and Nigerian music.

• LIFE

  The sound they saw

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 04/10/2016

  » Jazz and photography were born for each other. Since the early days of jazz, photographers have tried to capture the energy and artistry of jazz musicians and their social milieu. Think of Herman Leonard's iconic image of Dexter Gordon, with its dramatic side lighting and low-angle perspective, trails of cigarette smoke, Gordon's sax resting on a trumpet, and the man himself, zoot-suited and quintessentially cool.

• LIFE

  All there at the square

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 05/03/2019

  » Busy Victory Monument, with its buses, taxis and motorcycles, is one of Bangkok's few traffic circles (or roundabouts, as we call them where I come from). It's a busy intersection of roads that lead to all points on the compass.

• LIFE

  Global genius honoured

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 14/05/2019

  » The summer festival season kicks off in Europe, Japan and North America early next month, with many bands from developing countries joining the festival circuit. There are lots of festivals that celebrate musical diversity, which is, I believe, important in these times of rising intolerance and xenophobia.

• LIFE

  Keep on rockin' in a lockdown

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 14/04/2020

  » The sonic landscape of my life in central Bangkok has changed dramatically over the past few weeks of social distancing. Gone are the sounds of construction drills, booming pile drivers, honking horns, unmuffled motorcyles and throbbing tuk-tuks. I can hear birdsong of all kinds in the mornings and, at dusk, the whirring and squeaking of different bat species as they zoom around hunting for insects.

• LIFE

  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.

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