Showing 1 - 10 of 10
EXCLUSIVE: Endangered flat-headed cat sighted after 29 years
Guru, Nianne-Lynn Hendricks, Published on 26/12/2025
» The endangered flat-headed cat, also one of the world's rarest wild felines, has been rediscovered in southern Thailand for the first time in nearly three decades, Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) and Panthera Thailand, the global wild cat conservation organisation, announced in time for Thailand Wildlife Protection Day, which is tomorrow.
Live gem resurfaces
Life, John Clewley, Published on 11/03/2025
» Cameroonian musician, composer and songwriter Manu Dibango passed away in 2020 at the age of 86. His career and life were extraordinary. He was one of the most celebrated African musicians alongside Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Fela Kuti, Frnaco and Youssou N'Dour. He was known as the most sampled of all African musicians.
The sounds of Kinshasa
Life, John Clewley, Published on 18/02/2025
» Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is one of Africa's centres for music. With a population estimated at 17 million, the city is a melting pot of ethnicities and cultures.
The day dams silenced Luang Prabang
Life, Wisa Wisesjindawat-Fink, Published on 19/02/2024
» While almost 10 hydropower mega-dams have been removed across the United States to revitalise rivers and people's lives, the governments of Laos and Thailand have reached an agreement to construct more such dams on the mainstream of the Lower Mekong River. Eleven dams are planned, despite the devastating consequences of two already operational dams on the river's ecosystem and the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on it.
Against the currents
Life, Vasana Chinvarakorn and Piyanan Jitjang, Published on 21/04/2021
» Through disasters, a fellowship was struck. Ormboon Thipsuna remembers the date well, Aug 12, 2008, when a deluge of water from the Mekong swept through her hometown of Nong Khai and seven riparian northeastern provinces. Considering the rainfall was rather small and the Mekong's gradual seasonal pace of fluctuations, many locals believed the sudden mega-flood, at times water levels went up as high as 13m, was caused by China's dams upstream. Importantly, Ormboon got to know Niwat Roykaew, aka "Kru Tee", founder of the Rak Chiang Khong group based in Chiang Rai province.
Wander through the desert
Life, John Clewley, Published on 28/04/2020
» The Transglobal World Music Chart for April features one of the most popular of the so-called desert blues bands of West Africa, with Tamikrest in the No.1 slot.
Irish shenanigans on Sukhumvit
Life, John Clewley, Published on 03/03/2020
» Irish music takes centre stage in this edition of the column. Long-time Bangkok resident Prof Mick Moloney featured in a previous column on the Sunday music programme at the Mercy Center in Klong Toey, Bangkok. It was a fun trip, but I didn't have the chance to see Mick play his beloved tenor banjo and sing some Irish songs.
Last band standing
Life, John Clewley, Published on 19/11/2019
» I first heard Orchestre Les Mangelepa's seductive and sweet sound on one of their songs from the late 1970s, Embakasi, which was a nationwide hit in Kenya and beyond. Initially, I thought they had recorded the song in what was then Zaire but in fact they were expatriate Congolese musicians who had settled in Nairobi, Kenya, mainly to take advantage of the sophisticated recording industry that had developed around East Africa's biggest commercial centre.
All dishes on deck
Special Publications, Published on 20/07/2018
» There’s something about being on or right beside the river that always seems to put life in a better perspective. As the water races purposefully to the sea, so one’s ruffles are rinsed away.
Killer rhythms from the Congo
Life, John Clewley, Published on 06/03/2018
» The influence of Congolese rumba, sometimes called soukous in the Anglophonic world, on East and Southern African music is considerable. You can hear the influence of Congolese guitars on Kenyan, Zimbabwean and Tanzanian popular music. Indeed, in my last column I wrote about how this guitar-based sound had even influenced the music of Orchestra Marrabenta in Mozambique.