Filed under: Singapore
♬ Wall / 牆
Su Hui / 蘇慧 was a well-known hostess, singer, and performer in Singapore. This single was produced by 莎利明 and backed by The Fabulous Continentals, the record was promoted in Nanyang Siang Pau as representing “The New Style.” Upon release, the EP sold out in a single day. Five days later, her success was celebrated with a dedicated “Su Hui Night” at the nightclub 置泉夜褪會. The song itself was originally written and composed by Xie Tian / 谢添 () and first performed by Bai Guang / 白光. The song also appeared in the film Haunted House No. 13 / 十三號凶宅, in which Xie Tian served as both director and male lead, while Bai Guang played the female lead and the ghost haunting House No. 13.
Source: Grooves of Nanyang.
Catalog number UEP 0010 on URCRecords os Singapore, released 1969.
Filed under: Singapore
Charlie & The Boys – also seen as Charlie & His Boys, Charlie & His Go-Go Boys and Charlie Electric Guitar Band – were a studio group from Singapore. Charlie was most likely musical director Charles Lazaroo. But despite the fact that they released roughly 36 albums and 48 singles, there is practically no information available.
If you have any further information about this artist or anything else about this recording, please leave it in the comment section below.
Catalog number FM-1270 on Sakura Record of Singapore. Released 1969.
Filed under: Singapore
Siti Zaiton & The Twilites were part of the Yeh-Yeh Pop movement in Malaysia in the 1960s.
Siti Zaino recorded one other single with The Twilites, one with The Firebyrds, one with The Hornets, and a fifth single that does not list the banking band. Besides the two singles The Twilites recorded with Siti, they recorded three more singles with a singer who went by the name Zam Zam.
If you have any further information about these artists or anything else about this recording, please leave it in the comment section below.
Catalog number 437866 PE on Philips of Singapore. Releases 1968.
Filed under: Singapore
The band Hell Angels – no relation to the Hells Angles – only recorded two singles. This one backing M. Huzdin and another backing Norhaini Hashim. But other than that, I have not been able to find anything about this band.
If you have any further information about this artist or anything else about this recording, please leave it in the comment section below.
Catalog number MEP 405 on TNA Record of Singapore. Released 1968.
Filed under: Singapore
Kamaliah Latiff & The Teepees were from Singapore. Kamaliah Latiff recorded three the singles – two with Band Pancarama and one with Mustakim Orchestra – plus an album for KissMe Cosmetics of Japan. The Teepees only released one other single – which includes a version of the song “Rindu”.
If you have any further information about this artist or anything else about this recording, please leave it in the comment section below.
Catalog number RYY 101 on Ray Records of Singapore, released 1973.
Filed under: Singapore
I first became aware of The Siglap Five on Grey Past‘s “Steam Kodok” compilation.
The band formed in the Siglap neighborhood of Singapore in 1963. They were only together for five years before the members had to serve in the National Service. In 1998, they reformed to record some songs with Raden Jeffrydin Raden Imbromsoekaman – AKA Jeffrydin – who the band had backed up on their first four singles.
Of the 13 singles they recorded, this is the only one that did not feature a guest vocalist.
Catalog number 437827 PE on Philips of Singapore, released 1967.
Filed under: Singapore
As far as I know, this was the only single by The Atoms.
If this sort of thing tickles your eardrums, I highly recommend tracking down Grey Past‘s “Steam Kodok” and Sublime Frequencies‘ “Singapore A Go Go“. The former of those two compilations opening track is Ali San by The Trailers – which sounds somewhat similar to this song.
If you have any further information about this artist or anything else about this recording, please leave it in the comment section below.
Catalog number TK-1024 on Eagle Record of Singapore. Released 1967.
Filed under: Brazil, Chile, Guyana, Hong Kong, Nicaragua, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Trinidad & Tobago
I thought I’d start the new year off with something a little different. First, this post has ten songs by nine different artists. Second, the only thing that connects them is that they covered music by Ennio Morricone from one of the three Sergio Leone‘s Spaghetti Western films: A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – a.k.a. “The Man with No Name” trilogy. Third, this post is the first to include music from South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean Islands. Originally, this blog focused only on Africa, The Middle East, India and Asia. But in the almost 14 years since this blog started, I’ve become increasingly interested in the music from South and Central America and the Caribbean.
♬ Titoli
I was first introduced to Hong Kong‘s Man Chau Po Orchestra [seen above] on Thrift Score Records’ sole release: Teen Dance Music from China and Malaysia. which had just about all of the tracks from this single. Also, Thailand’s Suang Santi‘s “Phu Ying Yai” sampled this version of the opening song from A Fistful of Dollars – not the original Morricone track.
Catalog number MEP. 5 on Man Chi Records Co. of Hong Kong, released 1966.
Chile‘s Los Sonny’s are the only other group that I was able to find to cover the theme from the first film of the trilogy. This track is from their second album which consisted entirely of songs from Spaghetti Westerns – including Stelvio Cipriani‘s theme to The Bounty Killer.
Catalog number CML-2638-X on RCA Victor of Chile, released 1968.
Bumble & The Saints were from Guyana. Aubrey Cummings was the leader of the band before leaving to become the lead singer for The Rhythmnaires. The flipside of this single is a cover of “Theme from Django”.
Catalog number I-28 on Ideal. No country of origin or date listed.
The Bad Boys – also seen as Los Bad Boys – were from Managua, Nicaragua. The band consisted of Humberto Hernández “El Gordo Beto” (vocals), Freddy Sequeira (bass, vocals), Francisco “Chico” Alvear (also known as Frank Alvir, guitar, vocals), Roman Cerpas (drums). They recorded 10 other singles for the Discosa label.
Catalog number 62 on Discosa of Nicaragua. No release date listed.
The Spitfires were from Columbo, Sri Lanka. I had been looking for their other single on Decca for ages. I only recently stumbled on this record. The line up for the band as listed on the back cover: Manager: Marcy Perara, Leader: Chinti Perara, Lead Guitar: Ronald Boustead, Rhythm Guitar: Donald Seneviratne, Bass Guitar: Felix Fernando, Electronic Organ: Claude Fernando, Drums: Chinti Perara, Vocals: Budrin Musafer, Sohan Pieris, Desmond se Silva.
Catalog number JVPC 1028 on Philips. No release date listed.
The Cassanovas – also seen as The Guinness Cassanovas – were from Trinidad & Tobago. They released nine other singles and an album. The rendition borrows heavily from Dominic Frontiere‘s “Hang ‘Em High“.
Catalog number ATM-57 on Atman Records of Trinidad & Tobago, released 1968.
Hélcio Milito was a Brazilian jazz samba/bossa nova drummer and producer who worked with musicians like Luiz Bonfá, João Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto and Luíz Eça. He has also helped make film scores for several Brazilian movies.
Catalog number 37.600 on CBS of Brazil, released 1969.
♬ The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Relly Coloma is from the Philippines, but – according to his website – currently lives in Los Angeles. Although his bio says “over 70 albums”, Discogs only lists 23 – plus 7 singles.
Catalog number MLS 5186 on Villar Records of the Philippines, released 1970.
Here’s another one by Los Sonny’s with the title track to the album posted above.
♬ The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Happy Melodians were from Singapore. This was most likely Maurice Patton & The Melodians. This song was included on Finders Keepers‘ compilation B-Music – Drive In, Turn On, Freak Out. Many other bands from Singapore covered these songs: Charlie & His Orchestra, D’Starlights, The Quests, The Stylers and The Vigilantes.
Catalog number JS 1001 on Jazzson Records of Singapore, released 1968.
This is by no means a definitive list. I was unable to find anything from the African continent and the only thing I was able to find from the Middle East was Selçuk Alagöz’s “Ringo” – which I have previously posted. There is a version of “A Few Dollars More” by The Tremolos from India. Whereas Discogs has a listing for a band called The Motion from Thailand who’s only single contains covers of both “For a Few Dollars More” and “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”, I have not been able to find any proof that the record exists. And lastly, while countless songs from Jamaica reference the titles and actors of these films, I have not heard an actual cover of a Morricone tune from there as of this posting.
If you would like to listen to all 10 tracks in one uninterrupted mix – as well as a couple of other mixes – check out Radiodiffusion Internasionaal’s SoundCloud page.
Filed under: Singapore
A good friend of mine gives me a lot of grief for posting Christmas music on the site. Besides the fact that he does not care for Christmas music, he says that he think people from “countries outside the US have no idea how Americans celebrate Christmas. They tend to not realize Christmas music is for shoppers at malls.” And for the most part, I have to agree with him there.
At the same time, I find it very odd that musicians from countries where Christianity is not the majority would choose to record these songs. Then again, if you look in the news as of late, you’ll see that the ‘most expensive Christmas tree ever‘ is in Adu Dhabi and that people are starting to celebrate Christmas in China… The religion of Consumerism – and it’s soundtrack – is the gift that keeps on giving.
I have not been able to find anything about The Impossible – who are not to be confused with The Impossibles of Thailand. If you have any information about the band, please get in touch or leave a comment.
Catalog number SMR 111 on Sima Records of Singapore. No further information available.
Filed under: Singapore
♬ 爱情感气球
Back in October of 2007, I posted a single by The Vampires of Singapore. I did not have any information back then, but I have since been contacted by one of the members of the band. Her name is Connie Fong. We did a little e-mail interview back in July of last year.
Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Which instrument did you play?
Connie Fong I played the guitar.
RI Do you remember when the band first got together?
CF 1964/5 when we met as music students under Harry Martinez (Harry also formed several boys band those days).
RI Do you recall how the band decided to call themselves The Vampires?
CF There was another all-girl band named ‘Angels’ at that time, and we cheekily decided to be different
RI I know that the band recorded two singles, the one that I have posted on my site and the one on Philips that is by Dorothy & The Vampires. Did the band record any other singles?
CF No, those were the only two recordings we did.
RI Is there any reason that the second single was credited as Dorothy & The Vampires versus just The Vampires?
CF No reason I believe, as everything were arranged by our mentor and manager, Harry Martinez. The other single recorded by Philips was all instrumental with all the titles composed by Harry, therefore Dorothy was not featured in that single.
RI When did the band decided to break up?
CF There was no breaking up, we are still friends except that we grew tired going for our regular band practices and after playing together for five years.
RI Did you play in any other bands? Did they release any recordings?
CF No.
RI I am guessing from your e-mail address that you are back in Singapore now, right?
CF Yes.
RI Have you stayed in touch with any of the other members? If so, do you know if they stayed in Singapore, or moved away?
CF Yes, they are all in Singapore except Dorothy Sin, I don¹t know her where about, have lost touch with her.
Catalog number 43802 QE on Philips. No release date listed.
Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe 