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: Colombia
Columna de Fuego was a rock group from Bogotá, Colombia.
The band was born in 1971 after the dissolution of Siglo Cero , a group made up of Humberto Monroy, Roberto Fiorilli – who was from Italy – and Jaime Rodríguez. Around this time, Fiorilli had also befriended César Hernández who had been in Los Beatniks.
Between 1971 and 1974, they recorded one album and three singles. They also were the backing band for Leonor González Mina, and toured Germany, Spain and the Soviet Union. While they were in Spain, they recorded their lone album “Desde España” for RCA. But the band broke up when they returned to Columbia.
Catalog number 2071011 on Polydor of Columbia, released 1971.
Filed under: Réunion
Les Souls Men – also seen Les Soul Men – were from Réunion. They were active from 1975 until 1980, releasing five albums and thirty five singles – most of which were backing such artists as Gaby Lai Kun, Georges Amaury, Jean-Claude Gaspard , Micheline Picot and Williams Justine as well as others.
Catalog number 4064 on Disques Issa of Saint-Denis, Réunion. Released 1975.
Filed under: Bangladesh
Bangladesh has always been on my radar. For some reason, I’ve always had difficulty finding records from there. But this record? I did not even know about it until I stumbled upon it.
Fakir Alamgir / ফকির আলমগীর was one of the leading exponents of Gono Sangeet – the songs of the masses – in Bangladesh. Synonymous with voicing out for the rights of the voiceless – the perceived weak, the workers and the voiceless, he was one of the most beloved artistes of his generation.
Alamgir was born in Faridpur in 1950 – which at that time was East Pakistan. He started his music career in 1966. During his student life, he was active in politics. He was a student of Mass Communication and Journalism in Dhaka University.
Alamgir played an important role as a member of the cultural organizations Kranti Shilpi Gosthi and Gono Shilpi Gosthi, during the 1969 uprising in East Pakistan. He also worked with Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra / স্বাধীন বাংলা বেতার কেন্দ্র (Free Bengal Radio Centre) which was the radio broadcasting center of Bengali nationalist forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
Catalog number MLP-0031 on Bangladesh Gramophone. No release date listed.
Filed under: Mauritania
Surprisingly, this is my first post of the music of Mauritania. But other than the fact that Mohamed Ould Nana avec L’Orchestre National Mauritanien recorded two albums and three singles – as well as two singles L’Orchestre National Mauritanien recorded without Mohamed Ould Nana – is that they are NOT the same band as L’Orchestre National de Mauritanie.
If you have any further information about this artist, the label or anything else about this recording, please leave it in the comment section below.
Catalog number MB24 on Boussiphone of Casablanca, Morocco. No release date listed.
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UPDATE: 02/03/23 Radio Martiko has reissued both of L’Orchestre National Mauritanien’s records, which you can find HERE.
Filed under: Dahomey
♬ Béthel
One hit wonder from Dahomey – now Benin. There’s only three mentions of this single out there on the web: YouTube, Discogs and the Oro God blog… In the comments of the YouTube posting, Victor Hountondji said that he was 19 when he recorded that song and that it was arranged by someone named Wellborn Henry – who I have not been able to find anything about.
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 SAT 022 on Disques Tropiques of Dahomey – now known as Benin. Released 1972.
Filed under: Ecuador
♬ Insesita
Polibio Mayorga is an accordionist, organist, poet and composer born in 1944 in the city of Ambato, Ecuador. A pioneer of the Moog synthesizer in Tropical music – most of which was credited under the pseudonym – Junior Y Su Equipo. He was also the former director and producer at the label Fadisa.
I’ve been wanting to post a record by Junior Y Su Equipo for a while, but as far as I know just about all of the music that Polibio Mayorga released under that moniker has been reissued. A handful of his best tunes were also included on Analog Africa’s “Saturno 2000 – La Rebajada de Los Sonideros 1962 – 1983”.
Surprisingly, there is no Wikipedia page for Polibio Mayorga, but he does have facebook and Instagram and is apparently still active as of this posting.
Catalog number 700030 on Melpro of Quito, Ecuador. Released 1979.
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UPDATE: 06/13/23 Analog Africa has released a compilation of Polibio Mayorga’s recordings entitled “Ecuatoriana – El Universo Paralelo de Polibio Mayorga 1969-1981“.
Filed under: Egypt
The Jets / الچيتس were founded in Cairo by musician, composer and arranger Samir Habib / سمير حبيب in 1975.
The best source of information that I have been able to find is a biography on the band that you can find over at ƮᏲҾ дևծιστøρία. You can also find their discography over at Arab Tunes.
Catalog number SP 210 on Super Cassettes of Egypt, released 1978.
Filed under: Indonesia
♬ Oh Dara
Favourite’s Group was formed by Aloysius Riyanto with his band mates from Band 4 Nada and singer Mus Mulyadi in 1973. Soon after, the rest of the members of Band 4 Nada decided to leave to continue on under that name. Riyanto then enlisted his two cousins, Is Haryanto on drums and Harry Santoso (AKA Harry Toos) on guitar, and a friend of his, Tommy WS on bass, to complete the band’s new line up.
Although the principal musicians of the band have passed away – Aloysius Riyanto in 1995, Is Haryanto in 2009 and Tommy WS in 2013 – Mus Mulyadi still occasionally performs as Favorite’s Group.
Catalog number RLL-403 on Remaco Records of Indonesia. Released 1975.
Filed under: Uganda
Charles Ssonko – better known as Charles Sonko – was from Uganda. He began his musical career in the 1950s. In the 1970s, he fled to Kenya after Idi Amin overthrew the Ugandan government. He remained active throughout the 1980s. His sister, Freda Ssonko, was also a recording artist.
Catalog number EU 7-117 CW 532 on Equator Records of Nairobi, Kenya. No release date listed.
