Filed under: Thailand
Thailand… I was pretty sure that all of the music that I thought I would have be interested in had pretty much been covered by the time Subliminal Sounds had issued their third Thai Beat A Go Go disc. I picked up some Johnny Guitar, Pocket Music / Son of P.M. and Sodsai Chaengkij records, and I figured I was done.
The first clue that I was wrong, was Sublime Frequencies‘ second volume of their Molam: Thai Country Groove From Isan compilation. They had also released the first volume of their Thai Pop series around that time as well. Not too long after, I happen to stumble on Peter Doolan’s Monrakplengthai site. Not too much longer, as Angela Sawyer was writing her guest post on Luk Thung, ZudRangMa started their Thai Funk series… By then, it was crystal clear that I had only scratched the surface.
The music of Thailand is reflected its geographic position at the crossroads of China, India, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia, as well as the country’s long history of trade with The West. Though Thailand was never colonized by colonial powers, pop music was imported from America and Europe, and pressed on local labels. This had a direct influence the indigenous music. Thailand is one of a handful of few countries where the electric guitar was integrated not only into the local popular music of the day, but regional forms of music – like Luk Thung and Molam – as well.
Suphap Daoduangden (สุภาพ ดาวดวงเด่น) was, and as far as I can tell, still is from the town of Selaphum in Roi-Et Province. She started singing Molam at the age of 15, and this may be her first album. But beyond that, I can not tell you anything more.
If you have any further information on the band, please contact me or leave a comment.
Thanks to Peter Doolan for the information and translation.
Release by Orient Records Ltd. Partnership of Thailand. No catalog number or release date listed.
Filed under: Bangladesh
♬ Africa
Besides Libya, the other country that I have been really wanting to cover has been Bangladesh. When I sent out the call back in January, Peter Doolan – who curates the amazing Monrakplengthai – sent me this track. Originally I had intended for him to write a guest post, but then he up and moved to Thailand. So, he left it in my hands to fill in the blanks. All he could tell me was that “I found the tape in a sort of Bangladeshi plaza at Jackson Heights in Queens, New York.”
Bangladesh is a relatively new country, only officially being established in 1971. The country, which had previous been called East Pakistan after the partition of Bengal, won it’s independence in the Bangladesh Liberation War. After independence the new state endured famines, natural disasters and widespread poverty, as well as political turmoil and military coups.
Bangla music has been traditionally classified by the region of origin and / or the creators of the musical genre, such as Nazrul geeti (written and composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam), ghombhira (unique to a specific area in Bangladesh), etc. But in the post-independence period, several new minor musical groups emerged, mainly as playback songs for movies. These songs failed to fit into any particular genre, but seemed to be tied together by common theme of “music for the masses”. Most of the music tended to be aimed at the mainstream audience – popular catchy tunes with simple words that were far moved from the classical ragas. Hence, a miscellaneous category called Adhunik songeet – or Modern Song – was created.
M. A. Shoeb, along with Nazibul Haque, Kumar Biswajit, and Andrew Kishore released some very first Bangla pop songs in the beginning of 1980s. Shoeb has recorded at least a dozen albums, with a total of somewhere around 500 songs – some of which were for film and television soundtracks. His son, Saifullah Shoeb, has recently followed in his father’s footsteps in the music industry. As of 2007, M. A. Shoeb was living in Los Angeles, California and was still performing around the United States.
Catalog number D001 (listed as DV01 on the front cover) on Disco Recording. No other information available.
Filed under: Libya
I have been dying for a post on the music of Libya pretty much since day one. It is one of those countries that stares back at me from the map. Just a big blank. Nothing. Having never even seen a record from there, I figured that I would have someone write a guest post. But something would always come up. E-mails went unanswered, connections missed, and so on until I started to think that it would never happen… Until now!
There’s not a whole lot of information available about the music of Libya. The Wikipedia page only talks about Ma’luf, Chaabi and Arab classical music, as well as the music of Tuareg – which is a whole other thing all together. But no mention of modern popular music. In an interview I conducted with Alan Bishop for Chunklet Magazine, I asked him why there was such a lack of music from Libya. His response was: “Libya is perhaps a wrong geographical colonial creation to be judged musically as a nation. The borders or the way Libya was carved give it far less population and therefore, less cultural possibilities to produce as many interesting styles and ideas as Morocco, Algeria, or Egypt – all much more heavily populated and culturally diverse musical powerhouses…”. But that is not to say that there is nothing to be found.
Nasser Omar el Mizdawi was born on September 5, 1950 in Tripoli. He studied at the Jamal Eddin Elmeladi Institute of Music there. Mezdawi’s first band was called Annusur, which translates to The Eagles. The band released their first album, Ughniyat an Elghurba, in 1975 which went on to become a gold record.
Mizdawi’s popularity grew outside of Libya, especially in neighboring Egypt. So popular in fact, that a fellow Libyan – Hamid El Shari – made a career out of doing Mizdawi’s songs, even going so far as to name his band Al Mizdawyia. Meanwhile, Mizdawi was touring the world, playing shows in Europe and both North and South America. But he was also known to vanish throughout the years, to the extent that people thought he was dead – only fueling El Shari’s career. He eventually moved to Egypt in the Eighties to escape Ghaddafi‘s rule. There, he has worked with Amr Diab. Mizdawi’s last live performance was at the Cairo Opera House.
Thanks to Azzam Ben Hmeda and Hany Zaki for the information.
Catalog number MIZ 2 – MT 10589 on Mizdawi Music, pressed in Greece by EMI, released 1983.
Filed under: Cameroon
I have to admit, it is a wonderful time to be alive for music freaks like myself. Only a mere ten years ago, I had very little clue of what was out there. I had only really focused on the music of America and Europe. But thanks to a handful of compilations and reissues – and the Forced Exposure website – I was slowly led down the rabbit whole that resulted into the convoluted mess you see before you.
Now, there are plenty of arguments over royalties and copyrights… And yeah, that is a touchy subject – one I am not going to get into here. I will admit that trying to go thru the proper channels in reissuing this stuff, you would probably never get to hear this stuff – unless you were lucky enough to find a copy of the original vinyl yourself. And for that you have to accept that the rules do get bent a tad now and again.
But, I do take issue with someone taking material directly from this site. Yeah, I have been known to – oh, let’s say borrow – a phrase or two from other websites in my ramblings, but I try to at least link back to the original source. Where as it’s nice to be quoted, it’s an entirely different thing to have something you wrote printed as the liner notes of an album – and not properly credited, much less even being asked. I also suspect that a particular record company has taken audio files from this site and used them on their releases… But that is only a hunch.
Sorry. Just had to get that off my chest.
If you would like to find out more information about Pierre Didy Tchakounte, please check out this previous posting.
Catalog number SAF 1533 on Sonafric Records of Paris, France. No release date given.
Filed under: Pakistan
♬ Mahiya
The history of 60s and 70s Rock and Roll in Pakistan – at least within the focus of this site – is quite brief. The mix of influences that created the music of that time and place are unlike anything to be heard anywhere else on earth. And luckily, just when I think I have found the last piece to the puzzle, another record finds it way into my hands – or, in this case – my e-mail inbox.
The first pop song of Pakistan was “Ko Ko Ko Reena” from the Urdu film Armaan in 1966. The song, which was sung by Ahmed Rushdi and composed by Sohail Rana, is a mix of bubblegum pop and Pakistani filmi music. Not too long after, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Socialist Pakistan Peoples Party began a countrywide movement against Ayub Khan’s decade long dictatorship, which he eventually defeated. By 1969, bands that were playing American and British pop covers became popular in Karachi’s burgeoning night club scene as well as at hotels and private dance parties. Long hair came into fashion among young men and hashish became popular drug of choice on college campuses across Pakistan. And hippies from America and Europe flocked to Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar.
That all ended in June 1977, when Bhutto’s Military Chief General Zia-ul-Haq – backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami – toppled Bhutto in a coup d’état and declared Martial Law. Zia-ul-Haq denounces the Bhutto regime’s “un-Islamic” ways and declares Nizam-e-Mustafa or Sharia law. This marked the end of the “Swinging ‘70s” in Pakistan, as night clubs and alcohol were banned throughout the country. Television and cinema, as well as popular music, were now subjected to government censorship. After the clamp down, most musicians moved away – many moving to America, Canada and England.
As for The Abstracts, I do know that composer / songwriter Mohammed Yousuf also worked with The Mods. But beyond that, I have not been able to fins anything further information about the band.
If anyone has contact information for EMI Pakistan, please get in touch.
Many thanks to Milan Hulsing for contributing this selection.
Catalog number EMPP 5006 on EMI of Pakistan, released in 1976.
Filed under: Brunei
I’ve been meaning to update the previous post on Kugiran Irama Perindu for some time now, but I figured I’d just do a whole new post. Over the past year or so, I’ve been corresponding with Merv Espina – my contact for Brunei. Merv has been researching Gema Dari Menara (Voice from the Minaret) – the only motion picture produced in Brunei. In the process, our research has overlapped uncovering Brunei’s lost rock and roll history.
In 1962, A. M. Azahari was the leader of the Parti Rakyat Brunei – or Brunei People’s Party. PRB rejected the proposed federation with Malaysia. This opposition led to the failed Brunei Rebellion, which resulted in a strict curfew period from 1962 to 1965. During that time, many musicians moved to Singapore – which would explain why almost all of the earlier records from Brunei were on the Olympic label. But between lifting of the curfew in 1965 and Pengiran Kamaluddin, who was also responsible for initiating Gema Dari Menara‘s production, stepping down as the head of Department of Religious Affairs in the 1970s, there was a small window. It was during that brief period that rock and roll happened in Brunei.
There were only two bands in Brunei: Dendang Teruna and Kugiran Irama Perindu. There were also a few musicians who recorded with bands from Malaysia and Singapore – like Hussen Hj Tuah. But Dendang Teruna – to the best of anyone’s knowledge – never recorded. They did perform regularly on Brunei Radio and were featured in the film Gema Dari Menara (as seen in this still from the video transfer). But, Kugiran Irama Perindu recorded three singles before Dayangku Aminah left the band to go solo.
The personnel of Kugiran Irama Perindu – as seen on the cover of their first single – is as follows: Standing up, wearing the white jackets is Jafar – whose last name or title is unknown (bass) and Sari Hj Besar (guitar). Seated is Norsiah A. Hamid (vocals), Awangku Tajuddin (vocals), Awangku Yussof (drums) and Dayangku Aminah (vocals). A quick note about Brunei honorific titles: Awangku (Ak), for the men, and Dayangku (Dk), for the women, are titles bestowed on unmarried individuals connected to the royal bloodline. Once married, they adopt the title Pengiran (Pg). All of the members of the band were all single when the first Kugiran Irama Perindu EP came out, but soon after Pg Tajuddin married Norsiah A. Hamid. They both recorded – together and separately – with The Sandpipers, The Sand Blues and Kugiran Irama Perindu. The couple are featured on the cover on this single.
Catalog number T.R.C. 1051 on Olympic Records of Singapore. No release date given.
Filed under: Iraq
This week’s guest post is by Jeremy Toomey. Jeremy heeded the call in an earlier post for submissions from places we have yet to cover, or needed to be covered more. And he delivered Iraq. If you have any interesting records or cassettes that you wish to share from some of the countries that we have yet to hear from – say like Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Kazakhstan, Libya, Somalia or Tanzania – or countries that we need to hear more from – like Laos, Sudan or Syria – please get in touch.
Born July 2, 1949 in Baghdad, Ashur Bet Sargis began playing music as a teenager on the organ at the local Assyrian church. Under the influence of established Assyrian musicians such as Evin Aghassi and King Biba (Edward Yousif), as well as western artists, in the late 1960s Ashur began composing nationalistic songs that have since become classics of modern Assyrian music. As Ashur recalls of his early days in the biography written for his 4-CD set “So far” (2003):
“Music was being redefined out in the rest of the world, and stars like Elvis, Paul Anka, and of course The Beatles were shining all over the place. I wanted to be a part of this transformation, and offer its fruition to my people.”
In 1969, Ashur fled the unstable political situation in Iraq, ending up in Chicago, IL in September 1970. In 1971, he formed his first band, “East Bird Band”, which released its first recording in 1973. In 1976, after relocating to Los Angeles, Ashur became the first Assyrian artist in history to tour overseas when he and his band played three sold-out shows in Australia. Soon afterwards he would travel to Iran, which at that time had the second largest population of Assyrians in the Middle East, and had long been a large producer of Assyrian music on the record labels that flourished in Tehran in the days before the Islamic revolution such as Irangram and Monogram. After two weeks of performances there, he returned to Los Angeles to record his second album, “Ashur Sargis Sings for Ancient Assyria”, which included re-recordings of hits from the first album like “Tanilee Ly-Ly” (“Sing Me A Lullaby”, with lyrics by Assyrian nationalist martyr Dr. Freydun Atturaya) and “Bet Nahren”, as well as several other songs that have since become staples of his catalogue and concerts. The version of “Bet Nahren” posted here comes from this LP, released in 1978.
Ashur Bet Sargis continues to tour (including a two week tour of northern Iraq in 1997 during which he gave five concerts which were attended by thousands of Assyrians from all over Iraq) and release albums from his current home in Phoenix, Arizona.
For more on the life and career of Ashur Bet Sargis (including the biography from which this information is taken), please see the artist’s official website at http://www.ashurbetsargis.com/.
For more information and examples of Assyrian music, past and present, visit the largest archive of Assyrian music on the internet at http://www.qeenatha.com/.
Catalog number NIN-109 on Nineveh Records of San Francisco, California. No release date listed.
Filed under: Mali
I just got to get this off my chest: The Goldmine Rating System is for idiots and liars.
Record collectors are a nefarious bunch. It’s a moniker that I have generally shied away from, preferring music nerd. I am no vinyl purist. The only reason that I have return to the vinyl wonderland is that was the only way to find what I was looking for – which was something that was not available anywhere else. And I will admit that vinyl does sound the better than any of the other options – that is, if the vinyl is in good shape. But since I do not have to resources to travel the world scouring flea markets from Tokyo to Timbuktu, I have to rely on record dealers…
Now don’t get me wrong, there are some honorable dealers out there. In fact, the person who sold me this record has been known to throw an extra record or two in with my orders. But more than a few records have fallen short of their description. This record was listed as Very Good Plus, which is: “Cover suffers from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discoloration… Now the signs of age and handling are starting to show. You can notice some clear wear on the surface, there is some noise (pops and crackles) but no skips or major warps”. Here’s the criteria of what classifies as Bad: “The cover and contents are badly damaged or partly missing. Cover can also be missing. The record does not play properly due to scratches, bad surface noise, etc… Unless it is something very rare it is not worth listing in this condition”. And there’s the catch – this record is rare. And due to the scarcity of the records like this one, I have learned to live with some fairly noisy recordings.
As for Tentemba Jazz du Mali, I do know that the band consisted of members Sékou Kanté – who later joined the Rail Band – Ousmane Diabaté and Amadou Touré. They released two albums in 1977 and one more in 1978. As far as I know, this was the second of only two singles that the band recorded.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number B B 229 on Badmos Records of Côte d’Ivoire, released 1977.
Filed under: Malaysia
The film songs of Bollywood are the pop music of India. It is only in the last couple of decades that the film industry of India has come to the attention of the Western World, and even more recently – Hollywood. But those films – and the songs contain there in – have influence music around the world for many years. The films have been popular in Africa, Asia and the Middle East dating back to the 1950s. Besides being popular with Indians who have migrated around the world, millions of non-Indians enjoy Bollywood films for many years.
I have seen an Israeli album of filmi songs in Hebrew. Then there is a live album by Usha Uthup that was recorded in Nairobi. I have a Malay pressing of S. Hazarasingh album and a South African pressing of Van Shipley album. As for M. Shariff, I have seen one other single by him performing songs from the film Bobby, on what is apparently his own label.
If you have any further information about M. Shariff, or his Bombay Orchestra, please contact me or leave a comment.
Catalog number MSF 5020 on M. Shariff Scope Trading of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. No release date listed
Filed under: Iran
This week’s post comes to us from Jesse Kaminsky. His weekly radio show – The Intercontinental – can be heard on WMBR in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For those of us who do not live within range, the show is available as a podcast. He also has a rather extensive collection of Iranian singles.
Information on the popular music of pre-revolutionary Iran is hard to come by if you don’t read Farsi. Most reissues of the music are in Farsi and have little to no liner notes, save for Göhkan Aya’s well researched essay for the Raks Raks Raks compilation released last year on Raks Discos. This is perhaps due in part to the political situation surrounding the music and culture, much of what was recorded prior to the 1978 revolution became illegal with the new regime and was destroyed when found by the police. Performers who had substantial careers prior to the revolution had to flee the country or risk persecution as even the simple act of a woman performing as a soloist became illegal, not to mention the performance of westernized Persian music that had become increasingly popular under the last years of the Shah. Records that you find now from that period in Iran have likely survived many hardships and they almost always show it in one way or another.
Stuart has already covered much of the cultural history of Iran in his previous posts so I’ll leave that for now and say that this track from the singer Pouran. She began singing in 1951 at the age of 18, using the stage name of “Unknown Lady” or “Lady Anonymous Singer, ” depending on how you translate the Farsi. She married her vocal instructor, violinist Abbas Shapouri, and altered her stage name first to “Lady Shapouri, ” then to the simpler “Pouran, ” collaborating with Shapouri for the duration of their seven-year marriage to produce some of her most popular songs. At the height of her career, she was well regarded as an actress and singer, possibly recording as many as 2000 songs, although that’s really an impossible number to confirm. After her divorce, she continued to perform and record, often appearing on Iranian National Radio, until the late 70’s, when the revolution forced her to stop performing and flee the country. She died in 1991 during a visit to Iran and is buried in the Imamzadeh Taaher cemetery in the city of Karaj.
As an example of the difficulty in finding information on this era of recorded music, this line from the Google translation of her Wikipedia page jumped out at me: “Art said his toe in Salt Lady nephew heartsome other is born of that era” in reference to her musical association with her first husband.
Without much of a discography available, I’d guess that this record is from the later part of her career. It’s released on Ahang Rooz, the first and largest of pre-revolutionary Iranian record labels, and has the analog synthesizer sound that seems to have enjoyed some popularity in the later 70’s. The single includes the two songs: “Shahr-e Paeez” (The City of Autumn) and “Ye Roozam Maa Ra Faramoosh Mikoni” (One Day You Will Forget Me).
Thanks to Hamineh, Kourosh and Ramin for their help on this post as well as for all the other information that they’ve helped me with. Any factual errors or misunderstandings are mine.
Catalog number AR-2519 on Ahang Rooz of Iran. No release date listed.
Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe 
