This year marks the 20th anniversary of the World Beat column, which started in February 1994, way back in the last century. At that time, CDs ruled the roost and there were plenty of stores selling "world music" in Bangkok; international chains like Tower Records had a significant presence, supported by local chains selling Thai and international music. Cassettes were slowly being phased out in provincial towns, replaced by CDs, while downloads were in the distant future.
Artists like zydeco star Cedric Watson are increasingly performing at festivals in Thailand.
How things have changed. In Southeast Asia it is now much harder to find legal CDs of local artists, as these have been replaced by karaoke VCDs, pirated CDs and, the biggest change of all, digital downloads. In Asia, only Japan continues to sell large numbers of legit CDs. But who could have predicted the astonishing revival of vinyl and, to a lesser extent, cassette tapes?
Last year, more vinyl was produced globally than at any time since the early 1970s, and the demographic group buying the most is the 18-25 age group, not old vinyl junkies like myself.
What a turnaround. Perhaps young people are attracted to the sound quality and artwork of albums. I spoke with Miles Claret of Soundway Records last year and he told me he was thinking of ditching CDs altogether and offering vinyl with a digital download of the album as well. Even if you don't have a turntable, you can still download the album to your computer, and enjoy both the music and the artwork. When the larger music companies recognise this and adjust their financial models (particularly the royalty rate for artists), this may well be an important trend for the future.
Originally, World Beat focused on introducing world music to the newspaper's readers. In the 90s, this was important because there were so few mainstream articles on world music. I added African-American music that wasn't written about as well, like blues, R'n'B, soul and funk, plus regional US styles like zydeco and Cajun. Southeast Asian music was also an important theme because this is where we live _ again very little coverage on this music in the mainstream press _ and I started to report on luk thung, molam and kantrum and interview local country stars.
There have been some highlights over the past 20 years _ "discovering" Pouvieng Vattalisack in the morning market in Vientiane, interviewing National Artists Kane Dalao and Chaweewan Damnoen, blues harp legend James Cotton and Indonesia's SambaSunda, being sung to in the back of a samlor by the Cambodian Space Project as we sped through Phnom Penh and enjoying balmy nights in the Borneo jungle at the Rainforest World Music festival.
When I started World Beat I also tried _ and failed _ to get people interested in a world music DJ night. Perhaps the timing was wrong because that scene I was hoping would develop waited another 15 years before it took off. Now we have regular DJ nights, like the Isan Dancehall series set up by disc-spinners Maft Sai and Chris Menist, and a solid crowd that turns up to groove to sounds from around the planet. My radio show on the ZudRangMa Records website has proved very popular with local and international fans.
One of the running gags in the early years was the preponderance of "reggae bars" in Thailand that never played any reggae. I was also getting suckered by these places, but I'm happy to report that reggae and ska are now popular in Thailand _ DJs play it on their turntables and there are some good local reggae and ska bands. Times have changed for the better.
So, to celebrate the 20th anniversary, I'm planning a few trips to report on music in some far-flung places and there will be a special DJ night in Bangkok in May (date and venue to be confirmed later), at which I'll be spinning music that has appeared in the column over the past two decades. Maft Sai and Masa Niwayama have confirmed that they will be the support DJs, and there will be several surprise guests as well. More on this later as the details are sorted out.
Maft Sai told me this week that a number of exciting vinyl releases are planned for this year. He and partner Chris Menist will be releasing the follow-up to the hugely successful Sound Of Siam on Soundway, Sound of Siam 2, and ZudRangMa Records, Bangkok Paradise, Disk Union and M Records of Japan will be releasing a compilation that includes lots of early reissues of Aungkanang Kunchai. Look out for these releases as they tend to sell out rather quickly.
My new radio show is online at www.zudrangmarecords.com, click on radio and go to "Tuesday".
This column can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com
