2024-12-13
17 分钟Monocle’s Mae-Li Evans talks to DJ Norsicaa, curator of ‘Ayo Ke Disco: Boogie, Pop and Funk from the South China Sea’, the newest album by independent label Soundway Records. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello and welcome to the Monaco Weekly Ayo Que Disco, Boogie, Pop and Funk from the South China Sea is the newest album from independent label Soundway Records.
Disco funk, City pop and synth tracks from the 70s and 80s jostle side by side in the cross genre compilation.
Curated by Alice Whittington, also known as DJ Norsica, the album highlights the ways in which Southeast Asian countries were establishing a new national identity post independence, as well as the burgeoning music industry in the region at the time.
To discuss the album and accompanies in the documents the history and discoveries made along the way of producing it, Ellis joined Monaco's Mailie Evans in the studio here at Midori House.
My mother is Malaysian and I've spent a lot of time in Malaysia with my family out there.
And a very long time ago I just started buying records at the bottom of department stores in basement bins and that kind of thing with no sort of clear direction other than I just really liked these sounds that I was picking up and I just couldn't find it anywhere else outside of Asia.
It was just not a popular genre or region of music for quite a long time.
But I feel like probably in the last five, 10 years, with the rise of K pop and a lot of Japanese culture and a little bit accessibility to Southeast Asia as well, that people outside of Asia are finally starting to see it as having some value.
About five years ago, when I was in lockdown, was doing a lot of live streams with the Vinyl Factory and a couple of other platforms and did quite a few Asian specific mixes which resounded really well, especially because a lot of people of Asian origin were experiencing a lot of hate during that time.
I just thought there's something there.
I feel like it's connecting to a community that I hadn't been connected to before.
The focus for this record is sort of from the mid-70s to the late 80s.
You're bringing these tracks together, all coming from totally different areas.
Local labels.
What was that like?
Trying to find these people?
Were they still making music?
Were these labels still running?
What was that search like?
It was really difficult to be totally honest because firstly there's a language barrier and trying to get hold of these different releases and labels and work out whether they still existed, even that they were still going.