• LIFE

  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.

• LIFE

  The beat goes on

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 19/12/2023

  » Molam continues to evolve with time. Musicians, especially from Isan, are experimenting with new musical combinations, creating new hybrids and sounds.

• LIFE

  The beat of Soweto

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 04/07/2023

  » Simon "Mahlathini" Nkabinde, known as the "Lion Of Soweto", was not allowed to leave South Africa until the mid-1980s, when he was invited to perform at a pioneering festival of music in Angouleme, France, along with the three Mahotella Queens, the musical engine the Makgone Tsohle Band, and producer and saxophonist West Nkosi.

• LIFE

  The world beat goes on

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 04/01/2023

  » This year the entertainment business returned to some form of normality after the hard slog of lockdowns and lack of customers. It was good to see music lovers back at festivals and clubs. And the best festive season present of all was the performance of Ethiopian legend Hailu Mergia and his trio at Studio Lam on Dec 21.

• LIFE

  The sound of the Balkans

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 28/02/2023

  » One of the Balkan's best-known bands is Mostar Sevdah Reunion, whose 12th studio album Lady Sings The Balkan Blues (Snail Records, Bosnia and Herzegovina) is currently riding high on the World Music charts. The band is something of a Bosnian institution, carrying the torch for updated versions of folk music, in this case, sevdalinka music of Bosnian Muslims.

• LIFE

  Seen and heard

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 11/10/2022

  » It has been nearly 30 years since Dr Grace Nono released her first album on a new label, Tao Music, which she set up with her late partner, producer and guitarist Bob Aves. With her musical collaborator, she set about searching for her musical identity.

• 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

  Jungle music

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 08/10/2019

  » In 2017, I wrote about the wonderfully infectious dance music of Amazonian Peru, known as "chicha" (also Peruvian cumbia). Chicha is a funky version of cumbia, a style of music that mixes African roots and folkloric traditions found in Colombia and Panama. The collection I reviewed at the time, Roots Of Chicha, is an essential addition to any music collection.

• LIFE

  How world music fared in 2016

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 03/01/2017

  » The Merriam Webster dictionary named "surreal" as its word of the year for 2016. It's a relatively new word that was only included for the first time in 1967, which was around the time "psychedelia" emerged as a style of rock music; think of Jimmy Hendrix's guitar pyrotechnics from the time as an example. Psychedelic rock took off and rapidly split into subgenres like psychedelic soul and the whole Funkadelic/Parliament movement that brought psych guitars to the funk groove.

• LIFE

  Titbits from the Top 20

  Life, John Clewley, Published on 17/02/2015

  » This month's World Music Top 20 Chart of the year from the European Broadcast Union features some very interesting music, mainly from Africa, Europe (especially Spain) and Brazil. The February chart was taken from 45 radio DJs from 25 countries across Europe and the Top 20 was selected from 155 nominated recordings; there is no equivalent chart for Asia.

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