The Right Side of Left

The Right Side of Left began life as a monthly session in Brixton, at The Ritzy, where I would play a mixture of Reggae, African and Jazz, and anything else that I felt fitted in. It was an idea I'd honed playing various venues round South London.
I currently live in Bangkok, Thailand. I used to live in Pakistan, but moved to BKK in January this year (2008). In Islamabad I had a radio show based on the same format as the club nights, that was broadcast every Thursday 12pm - 2am, on CityFM89
From July 2008 I can be heard on www.radiobangkok.net. Expect to hear everything from Lee Perry to Iggy Pop, Alice Coltrane to The Fall, Fela Kuti to J Dilla.
I've also recently contributed a track to the new B-Music comp, on Finders Keepers Records. The track concerned is a vintage piece of Lollywood film music, and is a precursor to a bigger project for the label. Watch this space...
www.finderskeepersrecords.com
About me :
My name is Chris Menist, and until 2006 I lived in London with my wife Sarah, and my twin boys, Ben & Ollie. I worked as a freelance writer and musician. I divided my time between playing improvised conga and djembe for the Laban Centre, a contemporary dance school in south east London, and The English National Ballet, as well as performing at various one off workshops.
In addition to this I wrote for various music publications, such as Songlines, Straight No Chaser and FACT as well as occasionally contributing to the Independent. I also wrote sleeve notes for record labels such as Soul Jazz, Union Square and Ace, as well as the Nuphonic and Strut labels.
Over the years I've had the pleasure of interviewing and hanging out with Herbie Hancock, Marshall Allen, Lee Perry, David Mancuso, Francois K, Danny Krivit, Grandmaster Flash, Mark 45 King, Patrick Adams, Juan Atkins, Bobby 'Blue' Bland, Pete Rock, Youssou N'Dour, Manu Dibango, Mulatu, Odetta, Mahmoud Ahmed, Plunky Branch (Oneness of JuJu), Susana Baca, Airto, Andy Bey, Nana Vasconcelos, Alemu Aga, Getatchew Mekurya, Branford Marsalis, Steve Reid + Kieran Hebden, Roy Ayers and Mad Professor.
http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/features/article496471.e ce
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20040215/ai_ n12751803
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20040701/ai_ n12803164
http://www.factmagazine.co.uk/da/27675
In 2005 I became a Timba endorsee (http://www.timbapercussion.com), purveyors of some of the finest conga I've had the pleasure to play on. I currently live and work in Bangkok, but I've brought two of the drums with me, so I can still practice and keep up my chops, to the occasional chagrin of my neighbours! I'm also currently working on some new music ideas so...watch this space.