Filed under: Morocco
For the 300th post, I wanted something special.
I have posted records by Morocco’s Abdou El Omari twice before – once for his first single and once with Naïma Samih. Since those postings, Radio Martiko has reissued his first two solo albums as well as an album of material he recorded with Naïma Samih – all three of which were originally recorded for the legendary Disques GAM label. But there is another album of material that has not been reissued: This cassette only release.
Cassettes are the last frontier for archivists / bloggers / collectors. Unlike vinyl – which had to be pressed – cassettes could be produced anywhere by pretty much anyone. And in many places they were more popular than vinyl since cassette players are more portable than turntables. But there is a lot less information of what’s out there.
Catalog number SH 1008 on Sawt El Hassania of Casablanca, Morocco. No release date listed.
Filed under: Eritrea
Compared to the other records that I have posted from Eritrea, this one is more Western sounding.
Ghirmai Kidane (AKA Wedi Filipo) and his Orchestra “I Cobra” only released two singles. This one is the only known recording released by an Italian film company, while the other being an entry in Esso‘s world-wide campaign of musicians promoting their petroleum products.
Catalog number CL1 / 2G0KW 16642 on Cinelux of Italy. Released 1970.
Filed under: Pakistan
When I was working on the Pakistan: Instrumental Folk & Pop Sounds 1966-1976 compilation, I remember seeing the name of this band listed on a website somewhere. At that point, I had not seen a record by them and just assumed that there was no way that EMI Pakistan would have released anything by a band with a name like that. I was dead wrong. They released three.
The band was led by Mohammed Yousuf who also played organ in The Mods as well as being the principle composer and arranger for The Abstracts.
Catalog number EKDE-20008 on His Master’s Voice of Pakistan. Released 1972.
Filed under: Réunion
This is one of those records where you have to wonder, did the guitarist show up for the wrong recording session? Or did the guy they were going to have play guitar not show up, and they grabbed someone else at the last minute. Who knows? But records like this is what I live for.
Les Pépitos – also seen listed as Pépitos Sound – recorded a total of nine singles. With the exception on one recorded for Disques Capricorne of Mauritius – the rest were for Disques Issa. Another song off this single – “B. B. Gasy” – was featured on Strut‘s compilation entitled Alefa Madagascar.
Catalog number 15014 on Disques Issa of Saint-Denis, Réunion. No release date listed.
Filed under: Philippines
Vilma Valera‘s career started off with being the second runner-up winner in the 1961 Miss Press Photography of the Philippines pageant. The following year, she was discovered by Alfonso Carvajal and had a role in the film Bakit Ka Nagtampo? Her biggest role was in 1964 in the movie, Salambao with Eddie Rodriguez, Sylvia Gumabao and Van de León. Besides acting, she recorded a handful of singles – all of which were covers of American songs. This James Brown cover was included in the soundtrack to the film Boogaloo.
Catalog number JRS-2051 on Jonal Records of the Philippines. Released 1968.
Filed under: Egypt
♬ De Alomr
Hany Mehanna – also seen spelled: Hani Mahani, Hani Mehanna, Hani Mhana, Hani Mhanna, Hanni Mehanna and Hani Muhanna – is an Egyptian composer, organist and a player of the accordion. He is also a producer and in 1977 he established his own record company, – Golden Cassette for Art Production. In 1988 he established his own studio, Golden Sound Studios in Cairo.
These two songs are from the soundtrack to the 1973 film titled الدوامه / Al Dawama – which translates to The Whirlpool. The song titles are not listed on the single, but these songs appeared on other releases by Hany Mehana. “Rawaeaa El Mossika 15” was on his cassette entitled Rawaeaa El Mossika Part One and “Ala Waraq Solefan” was on Rawaeaa El Mossika Part Two. The B side is “بدوية” / “Badaouiah” and can also be found on the recently reissued The Miracles Of The Seven Dances.
Catalog number 31-74146 / ٧٤١٤٦-٣١ on Sout El Hob of Cairo, Egypt, released 1974
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UPDATE: 11/09/21 Souma Records has released a compilation of Hany Mehanna’s recordings entitled “Music For Airplanes – A collection of instrumental showpieces and scores for Egyptian films and TV-series (1973-1980)“. Also, the first track I had previously listed as “Rawaeaa El Mossika 15” in error.
Filed under: Sri Lanka
The pop music of Sri Lanka is unlike anything heard on Earth. Whereas you can hear influences from neighboring India, there are many other cultures that have left their mark.
Probably the best – if not only – compilation of the music of that country would be Akuphone‘s “Sri Lanka : The Golden Era of Sinhalese & Tamil Folk-pop Music“. That compilation contains the title track from the lone single recorded by Nalino Nel: “Gavaskar The Century Maker“.
I have not been able to find any further information about Nalino Nel. If you have any information, please leave it in the comments below.
Catalog number 2296 – 0399 on Inreco of Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. Released 1979.
Filed under: Malaysia
Way back in 2005, before I started collecting the records that would eventually spawn the blog you are reading at this very moment, I used to trade CD-Rs with people all over the planet. There was a guy in Japan who had a GeoCities website that focused on singles from Southeast Asia. I believe his name was Yoshi. Unfortunately, in the intervening years I have lost his information. But this song was the first track on a CD-R he gave me. I spent years tracking down this single.
The Fabulous Falcons were from Ipoh – not to be confused with The Falcons (K. L.) from Kuala Lumpur. This is The Fabulous Falcons first single. They released one other instrumental single and they recorded two singles with Les Lee on vocals and one with Rubia Lubis on vocals.
Catalog number EE-001 on Tigerphone of Malaysia, released 1965.
Filed under: Ghana
♬ See Sane
Another one of those killer Polydor singles from Ghana.
Martin Luther Owusu was the band leader, songwriter and bassist for Adam’s Apple. While not always the lead singer, he provided the lead vocals for this song. Owusu was from the coastal city of Tema, 25 km east of Accra. Adam’s Apple recorded three singles for Polydor and two for Coret Records.
Catalog number PLD 2080114 on Polydor of Ghana. No other information available.
Filed under: Algeria
The person who sold this record to me said it was Raï. It’s from Algeria and sounds like Raï, right? But no. It’s Staifi.
Raï music started in western Algeria – most notably in Oran, as well as surrounding cities of Sidi Bel Abbès and Aïn Temouchent. Staifi music originated from eastern Algeria – primarily Sétif and other cities in the region like Annaba, Guelma and Tebessa.
Bekakchi Khier – also seen as Bekakchi El Khier – is from Sétif. He is apparently still active. Here is a performance from Algerian television from November 2020. Also, someone has uploaded a few of his more recent releases to SoundCloud.
Many thanks to Loïc Guillaume of Phono Mundial and “the Algerian guys working on the bathroom of the flat” for the help with this post.
Catalog number HL 46 on EtHerLux of Setif, Algeria. No release date listed.
