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Charlie Gillett's World Of Music

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BBC World Service DJ Charlie Gillett has died after a long illness at the age of 68.

BBC World Service DJ Charlie Gillett - the man who helped coin the term "world music" - has died after a long illness at the age of 68.

BBC World Service DJ Charlie Gillett - the man who helped coin the term "world music" - has died after a long illness at the age of 68.

The Lancashire-born broadcaster passed away in a London hospital on Wednesday 17 March 2010.

Gillett is credited with discovering Dire Straits in 1976 after playing Sultans of Swing from their demo tape on his Radio London show Honky Tonk.

He also wrote an acclaimed history of rock 'n' roll, The Sound of the City, in the 1970s.

World Service director Peter Horrocks said Gillett was an inspiration whose spirit of adventure and passion for the rich diversity of global music opened the ears of the world.

"His broadcasts brought together music and radio fans from far flung corners of the globe," he said.

"His postbag was one of the biggest, most affectionate and diverse in Bush House, which confirmed his special place in listener's lives. He was a very special broadcaster and he will be sorely missed."

Charlie Gillett's World Of Music: 05 December 2009

05 December 2009

BBC World Service - Charlie Gillett's World Of Music, 05 December 2009

Top Albums of 2009 from Congo, Greece, Czech Republic, Brazil, Japan, Angola& New Zealand.

Contemporary and classic tracks from around the world. Playlist at bbcworldservice.com

This week Charlie presents a selection of seven CDs which he considers to be the best albums of this year because of their consistent quality: one fabulous track followed by a lot of mediocre ones won’t do here. 

He starts with Staff Benda Bilili, a Kinshasa-based group of mainly wheelchair bound musicians. Also from Africa there is Bonga, whose voice put Angola on the musical map back in the 1970s and who is still going strong four decades later. 

The two European entries in the list are both relatively new artists with their first albums: the musical and linguistic twists of DVA from the Czech Republic range freely over central and eastern Europe while Imam Baildi have reworked and remixed classic rembetika tracks from half a century ago.

CeU’s hauting Brazilian voice hovers just on the edge of what one critic called the ‘samba cool’. From Asia, Japanese producer Makoto Kubota has a long track record of updating tunes from all over the continent: his latest foray is into the traditional music of Okinawa. Fat Freddy’s Drop (pictured below) are currently one of Wellington’s best known cultural exports whose two most recent albums both topped the charts.

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Charlie Gillett's World Of Music

05 December 2009

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