My catalogue of field recordings from Asia at The British Library.

Between 1995 and 2004 I recorded several hundred hours of music and sounds from Asia for The British Library’s National Sound Archive – material from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, The Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, India and Nepal. I recorded mostly the music of minorities and musicians in remote rural locations. I released several CD collections of […]

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Apparently deluded author Jared Diamond sells stone dead notion of progress in book about tribal peoples

An interesting article on apparently deluded author Jared Diamond suggesting progress is an element intrinsic to human societies and that “tribal warfare tends to be chronic, because there are not strong central governments that can enforce peace” has been published in The Guardian. Sounds fascist to me and plays right into the hands of absolutist […]

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The Life of the Others – Thailand’s Minorities Under Threat

Thailand’s minorities are having a hard time, not least because of the nefarious activities of powerful and ruthless missionaries. The original story this feature is based on was published in German and ran to 2.500 words. This is a seriously cut edit. The German article on the same subject was published in MERIAN and Spiegel […]

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Let’s Visit Burma – Tom Vater on the pros and cons of tourism in Burma

As the Burmese generals celebrate another well-deserved victory today – no, not the election results which are a foregone conclusion, but the staunch support the regime receives from China, India and Thailand, while European and American businesses are doing their best to get around sanctions so that, they say, Myanmar does not become a province […]

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From the Archives: The Bunong – The Caretakers of Cambodia´s Sacred Forests – Part 4

In 2006, I researched and wrote a report for Fauna and Flora International (FFI) on the Bunong, one of Cambodia´s indigenous minorities. The Bunong live mostly in the north eastern province of Mondulkiri, an area of high barren plateaus, dense rainforests and virtually no roads, bordering on Vietnam. Traditionally, the Bunong practice swidden agriculture and […]

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From the Archives: The Bunong – The Caretakers of Cambodia´s Sacred Forests – Part 3

In 2006, I wrote a report for Fauna and Flora International (FFI) on the Bunong, one of Cambodia´s indigenous minorities. The Bunong live mostly in the north eastern province of Mondulkiri, an area of high barren plateaus, dense rainforests and virtually no roads, bordering on Vietnam. Traditionally, the Bunong practice swidden agriculture and domesticate elephants. […]

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From the Archives: The Bunong – The Caretakers of Cambodia´s Sacred Forests – Part 2

In 2006, I wrote a report for Fauna and Flora International (FFI) on the Bunong, one of Cambodia´s indigenous minorities. The Bunong live mostly in the north eastern province of Mondulkiri, an area of high barren plateaus, dense rainforests and virtually no roads, bordering on Vietnam. Traditionally, the Bunong practice swidden agriculture and domesticate elephants. […]

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From the Archives: The Bunong – The Caretakers of Cambodia´s Sacred Forests – Part 1

In 2006, I wrote a report for Fauna and Flora International (FFI) on the Bunong, one of Cambodia´s indigenous minorities. The Bunong live mostly in the north eastern province of Mondulkiri, an area of high barren plateaus, dense rainforests and virtually no roads, bordering on Vietnam. Traditionally, the Bunong practice swidden agriculture and domesticate elephants. […]

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