Filed under: Vietnam
Born in Gò Công Province (now Tiền Giang Province), Phương Dung moved to Saigon where she began her singing career in 1960. Her first big hit was “Nỗi Buồn Gác Trọ” in 1962, which was written by Hoài Linh and Mạnh Phát. She was awarded the “Gold Award for Female Artists” in 1965. In 1968, she married and gave up her music career for motherhood, having eight children: six boys and two girls.
In 1977 the family moved to Australia and her daughters followed in her footsteps into show business. Phương Vy had worked with the Thuy Nga Center and has done some acting – including a small role in the film Romper Stomper. Hoàng Ly worked with Trung Tâm Asia before becoming a model.
Catalog number M 3375-76 on Việt Nam. No release date listed.
Filed under: Iran
Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh / اسفندیار منفردزاد was born in Tehran, Iran. He is a film composer, songwriter and filmmaker.
He started his career early the late 1950s with the National Iranian Radio Children’s Program. He work his way up to the Youth Orchestra of National Iranian Radio and was eventually put in charge of all the music arrangement and the conductor duties.
From an early age, he was fascinated by cinema and filmmaking. He shared this dream with his lifelong friend Masoud Kimiai who eventually became a film director, screenwriter and producer. In 1967, Masoud Kimiai got a chance to direct his first film, Come Stranger, and Monfaredzadeh was asked to compose the score. Their second collaboration – 1969’s Qeysar / قیصر – was a box office success. Monfaredzadeh won the Best Film Score award for Qeysar at the second Sepas Awards ceremony – which would be repeated the following year for their collaboration Reza Motorcyclist / رضا موتوری. That same year, Monfaredzadeh joined the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults where he contributed to establish the Children’s Film Training Center as well as writing music for audio books, animations and short films produced by the institute.
In 1972, Kimiai asked Monfaredzadeh to compose the soundtrack to the film Baluch / موزیک متن – their fifth film working together – which is the single posted above. All four songs have the same title: “Effect” / “اثر”.
In 1973, he was sentenced to prison for his social and political ideas. However, after his release he would not remain silent and with his film and music, he accompanied and supported people in the upcoming revolution.
Monfaredzadeh is still active as of this posting. You can find out more about him as well as his film and music at his website (which is all in Farsi) here: https://www.monfaredzadehmusic.com/
Catalog number Catalog number ۰۰۱۹۰۵/۹۰۲۰۴۲ on Disco record of Iran. Released 1972.
Filed under: Ethiopia
♬ Marewa
The only thing I can tell you about Assegdeetch Kassa is that she was from Ethiopia and that this is her only recording. Also, she should not to be confused with Assegdetch Asfaw – who recorded two singles with Belaynesh Wubante. But beyond that? Nothing.
But the backing band for this records was Lèmma Dèmissèw & Group. Dèmissèw was a pianist, singer, composer and band leader originally from Waliso. He was an army commander as all as the leader of the Armed Forces 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 PH 7 – 142 on Philips. Released 1972.
Filed under: Honduras
When I finally got around to researching what I could find in Honduras, I did not expect to find a bunch of Rocksteady and Ska groups. And, like the original scene in Jamaica, Los Robbins reference Sergio Leone‘s “Man with No Name” films – specifically dialog from “A Fistful of Dollars” for this song.
Los Robbins released eleven singles – not all of them Ska. They also recorded Ballads, Flamenco and Surf music. The majority of their recordings have been compiled on “La Maravilla Musical de Honduras” released by Munster Records.
No catalog number listed on Industria Musical Pacheco of Honduras. Released 1970.
Filed under: Malaysia
Zaleha Hamid was born in the Sungai Pinang neighborhood of George Town, Malaysia.
She got her start the lead singer of Orkes Zindegi – who originally from Singapore and accompanied many Malay and Jawi Peranakan artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the 80s, Zaleha became a solo artist singing traditional pop and dangdut. She eventually earned the title of “Queen of Dangdut”.
As for Orkes Zindegi, the bass guitarist was Rickieno Badjuri – originally a member of the band The Cliffters in the mid-1960s. Also, the word ‘Zindegi’ means ‘Life’ in Hindi.
Catalog number GES 103 on Sea Lion Record of Malaysia. Released 1970.
Filed under: Kenya
Muta Musical Club – listed here as Muta Musicol Club – were from Kenya. They were a Taraab group, which is more common in neighboring Tanzania. They released four singles on the Pwani label of Mombasa between 1973 and 1975 – this one being their last.
If you have any further information about this artist or anything else about this recording or the record label, please leave it in the comment section below.
Catalog number PIN 7 – 117 on Pwani of Kenya. Released 1975.
Filed under: India
♬ Sujan Majhi Re / সুজন মাঝি রে
Senkar Kumar Sarkar was, to the best of my knowledge, from India. This is his sole recording, released by the Ashoka label – which was in business from as early as 1940 and lasted to the early 1980s. Yet, there are only a handful of releases listed on their Discogs page. There must be more records out there…
If you have any further information about this artist or anything else about this recording or the record label, please leave it in the comment section below.
Catalog number 45-JCP 2058 / 7XLE 9782 on Ashoka Record of Calcutta, India. Released 1979.
Filed under: Libya
♬ Maktub Ealayna / مكتوب علينا
Hamid El-Sha’eri / حميد الشاعري was born in Benghazi, Libya on November 29th, 1961.
He, like many musicians from Libya, moved to Cairo to start his career. But Hamid took a detour to London along the way. The music scene there introduced him to the synthesizers that were being used in music of the early 1980s – and he took those ideas to Egypt with him and incorporated them into his sound. His first album – Euyunuha / عيونها- was released on SLAM!
SLAM! Records was founded by Hany Sabet in the early 1980s. They were one of the first labels in Cairo to focus on cassette tape releases – which is still a popular format in the Arab World to this day.
Habibi Funk released a compilation of El-Sha’eri’s music from his years on SLAM!.
Catalog number ٩۲/٩۲/٤١٢ on Slam! of Egypt. Released 1983.
Filed under: Thailand
Amphon Phonphrom / อัมพร พรพรหม was from Thailand. To the best of my knowledge, he only recorded two songs – both of which were B sides to Yotrak Salakchai / ยอดรัก สลักใจ singles. Beyond that, I have not been able to find anything on him or the songwriter Prasit Phramklang / ประสิทธิ์ พราหมกลาง.
If you have any further information about this artist or anything else about this recording, please leave it in the comment section below.
Many thanks to Peter Doolan of Monrakplengthai for the translation.
Catalog number PSS 02. No release date listed. But since his other single – which is catalog number PSS 04 – says 1981, it would be safe to assume that his single was released the same year.
Filed under: Mozambique
Conjunto Blue Star were from Mozambique. I’ve been hunting for something – anything – from Mozambique for ages. But other than Manuel Rosário das Neves (also known as Vum Vum) – who was from Mozambique, but moved to Portugal before he started recording – I have not had much luck until now.
This was the lone single by Conjunto Blue Star and one of roughly two dozen singles released by the Afro Som label. 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 MLSP 130 on Afro Som, released 1975.
