Showing 1-10 of 14 results
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The country king
Life, John Clewley, Published on 01/03/2022
» In July 1973, songwriter and DJ Surin Paksiri organised a pleng luk thung concert at the Ratchadamnoen Boxing Stadium in Bangkok. He wanted to hold the event in a park or at a big cinema, but both of those options were too expensive. He settled on the boxing stadium, and he called the concert "Luk Thung Isan vs. Luk Thung Pak Klang" (Isan Country Music vs. Central Country Music).
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Ambuya!'s back baby!
Life, John Clewley, Published on 16/03/2021
» Piranha Records, a Berlin-based independent record label, was founded in 1987 to produce and distribute mainly African, Gypsy and Jewish music. The label expanded its roster to include various projects by 3 Mustaphas 3 bass player and crooner Colin Bass. His work with Sundanese (West Javan) musicians, under his Asian moniker Sabah Habas Mustapha, produced several excellent albums and one much-covered popular love song, Denpasar Moon.
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Blurring the boundaries
Life, John Clewley, Published on 21/07/2020
» The summer festival season has been cancelled as have many major sporting events. Under the current Covid-19 measures, some events like the Notting Hill Carnival in London, which is usually held at the end of August each year, have gone online. Sound systems and steel bands will still perform live but revellers will only be able to enjoy them online.
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Motown memories
Life, John Clewley, Published on 22/10/2019
» Songwriters pen the hits but the singers or bands are the big stars, and sometimes the producers are the ones who get the credit. I grew up with the Great American Songbook or "American Standards" at home, played on the piano by my father while we sang the lyrics. These were the songs that featured in Broadway theatre and in Hollywood musicals. What are now known as standards were crafted by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer and Richard Rogers.
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It's a transglobal affair
Life, John Clewley, Published on 10/09/2019
» The summer festival season in Europe, North America and Japan draws to a close this month as bands rest up from touring and take a break before the end-of-year festive season. Those bands that have put out summer releases hope that their albums reach the various charts and get decent airplay; others, meanwhile, have waited for the end of the season to release their new music, so we have a mixture of hot releases from the summer and new ones just released.
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Musical archaeology
Life, John Clewley, Published on 10/07/2018
» James Cagney is regarded as one of the first gangster tough guys of Hollywood. Films like The Public Enemy (1931) made him a big star and his tough-guy persona belied his background as a dancer. If you look at the opening scene to his 1932 film Taxi, you'll hear him speaking fluent Yiddish, a "High German" language that originated with Ashkenazi Jewish communities and was later fused with other German dialects, as well as the Hebrew, Aramaic and Slavic languages.
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Mesmerising molam
Life, John Clewley, Published on 09/05/2017
» Twenty-five years ago I joined a team from the Japan Foundation on a tour of Isan to meet and talk to molam artists, as part of a project on Lao music in the region. We met up with the then-president of the Molam Association, National Artist Kane Dalao, and his two female molam partners, Boonpeng Faiphewchai and Chaweewan Damnoen (both later awarded national artist status), and joined the trio as they performed concerts in villages for social ceremonies like weddings in and around Khon Kaen.
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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.
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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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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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