WANT TO KNOW THE SOUL OF WALES? LISTEN TO HER MUSIC

Posted on November 16, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Perspectives and tagged Aled Jones, arts, Bonnie Tyler, British, Bryn Terfel, Catatonia, Charlotte Church, cool cymru, cwl cymru, cymru, Datblygu, eisteddfodau, featured, Feeder, Gorky’s Zygotic Mwnci, Gwenno, hiraeth, John Cale, Katherine Jenkins, mining, music, Pais Dinogad, pop, Rebecca Riots, rock, Shakin’ Stevens, Shirley Bassey, song, Stereophonics, Super Furry Animals, Thatcher, the Manic Street Preachers, tom jones, Trampolene, Wales, Wales Act, Welsh, Yma o Hyd, Ysgol Sul.

by Jonathan Lee

The oldest known song in the British Isles dates back 1,400 years and it’s written in Welsh.

Pais Dinogad was sung in Rheged, a kingdom of Yr Hen Ogledd (the old North), in what is now modern day Cumbria and the Scottish Lowlands. The song is a simple lullaby, telling a baby of his father, Lord Dinogad, who is out hunting in a time long before Anglo-Saxons or even Gaels had arrived in this part of Britain.

It probably wouldn’t be described as an absolute banger if we’re completely honest (although this lyre-wielding, tattooed, metal-head gives it a real good go). It’s nonetheless incredible that it’s still being sung at all today, and that its lyrics are broadly comprehensible to modern Welsh speakers.Continue Reading

REVIEW: BUTTERFLIES, THE DEBUT ALBUM FROM ZAIA

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged 21st century, album, Amy MacKown, Back to My Get Out, Barrington Levy, bass, brass, Butterflies, Challenge 145, choral, Chronixx, dancehall, Dark Days, David Rodigan, David Tomlinson, drum and bass, drums, dub, Fire in My Heart, folk, genre, Gentleman's Dub Club, gospal, Gregory Isaacs, guitar, James Bolton, Josh Hughes, keyboards, Letter from an Old Friend, live music, Marcia Richards, mastering, music, My House Grows in the Sun, new testament, Nubiyan Twist, Oxford, pop, reggae, review, rhythm, rock, roots, Simple Tune, Sister Nancy, spiritual, summer, The Ethiopians, The Skints, trance, Under the Tree, vocals, ZAIA.

By Rowan Gavin and Liam Hawkes

“We break the rules”

So says lead singer Amy MacKown on Simple Tune, the penultimate track of the debut album from Oxford’s current premiere Reggae outfit, ZAIA. We wouldn’t say they break the rules so much as blend and bend them, juggling genres and playing with preconceptions throughout this fascinating and infectious summertime record.

BEYONCÉ, HILLSBOROUGH AND UNITY THROUGH SONG

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged anthem, artist, arts, Beyonce, black women, BME, catharsis, charts, culture, Drake, empowerment, feminism, feminist, Game of Thrones, HBO, hillsborough, icon, LEMONADE, Liverpool FC, Malcolm X, media, Merseyside, MSM, music, music industry, Pitchfork, politics, pop, pop music, prince, radical, Taylor Swift, unity, VIEWS, Warsan Shire, women artists, You'll Never Walk Alone.

by Mike Vinti

It’s been a pretty big couple of weeks in the pop world. Prince died, Beyoncé pulled a well, a Beyoncé, and today (Friday April 29th) Drake has released his new album VIEWS. If ever there was a week to remind us of popular music’s impact on society and culture, this is the one.

While each of these moments are significant in their own right and worthy of articles of their own, of which there have been many, together they’ve demonstrated the power of music to unite people. Be it through, grief, shock or pure unadulterated hype, the three most significant cultural moments of the past eight days have used music to bring people together and for a few days at least, forget about those intent on tearing us apart.Continue Reading

BLAST FROM THE PAST – CHRISTINA AGUILERA: STRIPPED

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged album, Beautiful, bell hooks, binaries, body, Christina Aguilera, Dirrty, empowerment, equality, feminism, feminist, Genie in a Bottle, hip hop, love, music, pop, rap, relationships, review, revisit, sex positive, sexuality, slut shaming, stereotypes, Stripped, tbt, teenage, Terry Young Jr, The Hampton Institute, Top of the Pops, vulnerabilty, Xtina.

by Carmina Masoliver

I have a strange memory of Christina Aguilera performing Genie in a Bottle on Top of the Pops and my dad asking if I liked her songs. Strange, because it’s so unremarkable to be kept inside my head. At this stage I her career, she had made her big break, and soon enough I was listening to her album, with hits such as What a Girls Wants and Come On Over (All I Want Is You). Yet, it was three years later, when she released what I will always think of as her best album: Stripped.

I was having a hard time at school, and listening to this album was the very definition of empowering. I had been pushed out of a friendship group during a time where looking back, I honestly believe I was depressed, and this escalated to the extent where I felt I was a target for lots of different groups at school. I did make some new friends, and remember connecting with one of them through a shared love of this album. This was before we had learnt to talk about why it is that Beautiful holds so much resonance with us, but fourteen years later and we are still friends, now sharing a love of bell hooks.Continue Reading

THE CORPORATE UNDERGROUND

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged art, arts, brand, capitalism, Converse, corporate, creative freedom, expression, industry, internet, mainstream, Mass Appeal, Mike Vinti, money, music, music industry, music that matters, nme, O2, pop, promotion, punk, radio 1, Red Bull, Red Bull Music Academy, Reel Big Fish, Relentless, Rubber Tracks, Rude Kid, sell out, Sprite, trend, underground, wealth.

by Mike Vinti

The lines between the underground and mainstream music worlds have been blurring for a while now. As with the majority of issues facing the music industry these days, this is largely because of the internet. While it’s been an undeniably positive force on music itself, allowing fans and artists to connect more easily as well as opening whole new worlds of music to potential fans, it’s also made underground music more marketable.

This may not sound like a bad thing, and to a large extent it isn’t. While it would be great if musicians could live off credibility alone, in the ruthless world of capitalism in which we live, you need to be stacking that P if you want to survive. Where this increased marketability becomes less positive however is when corporations start getting involved.Continue Reading

SMASH THE CHARTS – POP, POLITICS, AND PUSSY RIOT

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged 70s, activism, artist, Beyonce, climate change, Eric Garner, fascism, feminism, government, journalism, kanye west, lady gaga, mainstream, music, music charts, music industry, music journalists, musicians, politics, pop, protest, punk, pussy riot, race, racism, Russia, Taylor Swift, Warhol.

by Mike Vinti

It often seems today that everything exists in its own sphere — music in one box, politics in another, and visual art in another still. This is self-evident when you take a look at a lot of popular culture. For example, the rise of TV shows and films, such as The Interview, that use politics as backdrop for their plot, yet fail to engage in any substantial political critique.

The same thing has been taking place in music for the past twenty years, and musicians who have attempted to rectify this have either been relegated from their illustrious chart positions, or left to the underground.

This separation has made it harder for writers and artists of all stripes to experiment with the boundaries of their medium, and there’s been a death of explicitly political works of culture which make into the mainstream because of this. Of course, challenging the dominant perception of your chosen field always creates a stir. However it seems now, more than ever, musicians aren’t even being afforded the chance to do that.

pop

WANT TO KNOW THE SOUL OF WALES? LISTEN TO HER MUSIC

REVIEW: BUTTERFLIES, THE DEBUT ALBUM FROM ZAIA

BEYONCÉ, HILLSBOROUGH AND UNITY THROUGH SONG

BLAST FROM THE PAST – CHRISTINA AGUILERA: STRIPPED

THE CORPORATE UNDERGROUND

SMASH THE CHARTS – POP, POLITICS, AND PUSSY RIOT

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