When you sample speech and put it on a loop, we stop paying attention to the meaning of the words. We start paying attention to the sound, the rhythm and the melody. We hear speech as music.
Rising amapiano star DBN Gogo performs in Dakar, Senegal.
John Wessels/AFP via Getty Images
Most people have strong opinions on what makes a song good or bad. But is anyone actually right?
Heidi Mellington, performing here with Anthony Smith in Dizzygothica in 2007, has spoken about the importance of a supportive local music scene for emerging artists.
Rachel Cobcroft/flickr
One of popular music’s most influential artists, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, turned 80 this year. It is a good time to acknowledge his work as irreducibly complex, deeply layered, subtle and nuanced.