Filed under: Syria
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night, thinking “I gotta get that record!”? No? Then you are what they call sane. What’s that like? Really. I would like to know.
I’ve often joked that record collecting is a type of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It completely takes over every other train of thought. According to Dr. Louann Brizendine, the average male thinks about sex every 52 seconds. Well, I’d be willing to bet that record junkies beat that.
This album – as you may have figured out by now – is a record that I do not have (Yet!). But man, do I want it. Baaaaad. And for other collectors, um, I mean researchers, we all have “the one that got away”. Well, actually there’s always more than just one. But for some reason, this record is one that haunts me not only in my waking hours, but in my dreams as well. I must possess it!
I can’t tell you how many people I’ve pestered for a copy of this. I’ve accosted anyone who has told me that they were going to – or anywhere even remotely near – Syria. I have even tried to contact Mozart Chahine, who used to run the label and now lives in Beirut… But nothing.
The source for this sound clip, as is the picture, is from the listing on eBay. When the person who transferred the vinyl lifts up the needle, it rips out my heart every time.
Catalog number BL912 on Byblos of Syria, pressed in Greece. Released 1978.
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Update: April 17, 2010
I got it! Oh man, the tingly sensation of pulling the cover of what had been the top of my Want List out of the cardboard packaging…
The name of the song is Al Ghaba. You can here it in its entirety HERE.
The liner notes on the back of the album cover read (typos and all):
The organ adapted for Oriental music
Assad Khoury plays an electronic organ adapted for oriental music, according to the system invented by the late Abdallah Chahin, who was the pioneer in this field, when he adapted the piano for oriental music, in addition to western music.
This converted electronic organ has been accepted by authorities on music such as Father Xavier Collengate: Father Louis Al-Haj: Prof. Louis Haba: and Marius Schneider, in addition to famous Arab composrs, such as Mohammad Abdul Wahab: Farid Al Atrach: Father Joseph Khoury: Tawfik Sukkar: and Rahbani Broters. They all have praised the sound quality of this organ.
It is noteworthy that, for the last 5 years, Farfisa Company has been using Chahin’s System in building musical instruments for Oriental music, among which, the electronic organ takes the lead.
Filed under: Brunei
The word Kugiran is abbreviation of “Lively Guitar Group” from the Malay words “Kumpulan Gitar Rancak berirama”.
As early as 1960 the Kugiran bands began to emerge in Malaysia and Singapore. The standard instrumentation for these bands at that time, was three electric guitars – lead, bass and rhythm – and a drum set. Normal six stringed guitars were used to play the bass line roughly until 1963, when proper four-stringed bass guitars became available in Malaysia.
These “electrified” guitar bands were much louder than the earlier folk oriented Skiffle groups and the more Lounge type bands as typified by P. Ramlee with accordions and bongos, which quickly fell out of fashion. The Kugirans eventually replaced the jazz trios and quartets in hotels and club circuits across Malaysia. It was P. Ramlee himself who christened these early rock groups with the name kugiran.
The era of the Kugirans was short lived. Around 1969, there was influx of bands and singers – like Ernie Djohan and Lilis Suryani – from neighboring Indonesia who started to get more airplay on radio stations in Malaysia and Singapore. The following year, Radio Television Malaysia unofficially banned Indonesian music and initiated a policy that gave preference to Malaysian artists. But by that time, most of the Kugiran bands had gone out of style and the musicians had either moved on or given up.
But not all of the Kugiran bands were from Malaysia or Singapore. One of these bands was from Brunei – Kugiran Irama Perindu. The band released three singles on the Olympic label of Singapore. After lead singer Dayangku Aminah left the band, she was featured along with three other singers – or “penyanyi” – on a single with the band The Sand Blues. Later she recorded least on single with The Sandpipers as her baking band, both of these records were also released by Olympic. As for The Heavy Machine or the label United Enterprise, there is no information available.
Catalog number UE 111 on Sharikat United Enterprise of Malaysia. No release date given.
Filed under: Eritrea
For those of you who have been following the site with any sort of regularly, you know that one of the things that has really blown my mind, is the music of Eritrea. Of the four singles I have been able to find from there, three of them have left me utterly gobsmacked.
I am sure I have uttered at some point in these hundred eighty some odd posts, that the process of discovery is what I live for. And when you discover something entirely new – at least to your own ears – it makes it yours. Of course, this music was never supposed to be “yours” in the first place. This music was never intended for you or I to ever hear… That is, unless you are Eritrean. And even then, these records were hard to find.
Eritrea wasn’t even recognized as a country until 1993, two years after they gained their independence. Conquered by Italy in 1890, then invaded by the English in WWII, Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia in December 1950. In 1959, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I handed down an edict making the teaching of Amharic, the primary language of Ethiopia, in all Eritrean schools mandatory instead of the native Tigrinya. The Eritrean Struggle for Independence began two years later, following Haile Selassie I’s dissolution of the federation and shutting down of Eritrea’s parliament. And conditions only worsened under the Marxist military junta known as the Derg after they deposed the Emperor in 1974.
Music from Eritrea, as well as the northern territory of Ethiopia of the Tigray people, was heavily suppressed by the Derg. According to the liner notes of Buda Musique’s Ethiopiques, Vol. 5: Tigrigna, records “were sometimes buried in peoples’ yards to avoid detection” and that many of the musicians went on to fight in the war for Eritrean independence.
I have not been able find any information about Wendyifraw Weretta or the label Kothari. Tekle Adhanom, who was the arranger on this single, was a well known guitarist who also recorded with Alèmayèhu Eshèté and Beyene Fire.
If you have any further information, please contact me or leave a comment.
Thanks to Adamantios Kafetzis.
Catalog number K1 on Kothari Records of Eritrea, released 1976. Manufactured in Greece by EMI.
Filed under: Malaysia
Instrumentalia was not just limited to Indonesia, but can also be found in neighboring Malaysia – although with notably different results. The best example of this – at least in my opinion – is Band De-Fictions.
The band were from Muar, Malaysia – about halfway up the Malay Peninsula between Kula Lumpur and Singapore on the Straight of Malacca. They got their start as the backing the singer A. Halim as part of the Pop Yeh-yeh movement of the early 1960s. The band released a handful of singles, as well as a few albums before going out on their own. As far as I know, they only recorded two albums, both for the Tatex company – that also released The Brothers Hawk album Let’s Do The Funky.
According to the Google translator, the members of the band were S. Dina on lead guitar, Zaideen on rhythm guitar, Idris Talib on organ, Wahid H. on drums, Kassim on percussion and A. Murad on “guitarist behavior”? Not quite sure what that is. Air guitar? But if I had to guess, I’m thinking that A. Murad must have played bass guitar.
If you have any further information, please contact me or leave a comment.
Catalog number TLP-1010 on Tatex Records of Singapore. No release date listed.
Filed under: Lebanon
This week… I got nothing.
O.K., that’s not entirely true. I can tell you that Taroub (or as seen here, Tarup), along with her sister Mayada, were from Lebanon and were of Turkish descent. They had recording careers both in Lebanon and Turkey, where this single is from.
But beyond than, I can not tell you anymore.
Writer’s block? Perhaps.
I looked up writer’s block, and one of the major causes is “A project may be fundamentally misconceived, or beyond the author’s experience or ability”… This may be true. Guess we’ll find out.
If you have any further information, please contact me or leave a comment.
Catalog number MT-574 on Moda Plāk of Turkey. No other information is available.
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I received some more information from our friend Hany Zaki. Here’s what he had to say:
Her real name is Amal Jarkas from Turkish roots, as you mentioned. From time to time she used to go to Turkey for making records, or films, or to fall in love. In 1968 [could be the time around when she made that single] she was in Istanbul taking a part in Lebanese -Turkish production film titled Gang of Women with Sabah as the film star and a Turkish actor. His name is Jonette Arkan. He is pretty much looking like Alan Delon [likely that’s what drove him to acting]. The film ended with Arkan and Taroub romancing reached the limit of marriage concept, but eventually it appears to be it was crush.
Thanks Hany!
Filed under: Côte d'Ivoire
♬ My Love
Côte d’Ivoire gained it’s independence from France in 1960. With the highest production of cocoa and third highest coffee production in the world, and becoming the lead exporter of pineapples and palm oil, Côte d’Ivoire was the most prosperous of the French West Africa territories. But while in other countries in Africa, Europeans were driven out following independence – in Côte d’Ivoire, they poured in. The French community grew from only 30,000 prior to independence to 60,000 in 1980, most of them teachers, managers and advisors. For 20 years, the economy maintained an annual growth rate of nearly 10% – the highest of Africa’s non-oil-exporting countries.
While Ernesto Djédjé is considered the father of Ivoirian popular music, there are many other artists who have had success both at home and abroad – Amédée Pierre, Eba Aka Jerome, Guéhi Jean, Paco Sery and Zakri Noël – to name a few. One of the defining traits of Ivoirian popular music is the use of the folk rhythms of the Bété people, which has been prevalent since Côte d’Ivoire’s independence. Also, Djédjé has long been a vocal advocate of Ivoirian music, rallying against the “Congolization” of the Abidjan scene.
The only information that I have been able to find about Audio Rama Orchestre National (also seen as L’Audiorama Orchestra) is that Anon Anon Joseph was the primary songwriter and vocalist. According to what he says in the song, he was “born In the United States of America” and apparently started college when he was twelve years old… Currently, he sits on the Bureau Ivoirien Du Droit D’Auteur, along with Amédée Pierre and Zakri Noël. I’ve only seen one album by them, titled Extraordinaire Surprise Partie on the label Safie Deen, and at least one other single. The label that released this single – Djima Iyanda – was the name of the Yoruba producer who was based in Abidjan in the early 70s. If you have any other information, please contact me.
Catalog number DAD 948 on Djima Iyanda of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Manufactured in France. No release date listed.
Filed under: Singapore
This week’s guest post is by the illustrious Dustin Drase. Dustin is the mastermind behind PlusTapes. The label has released a very diverse roster of artists – from the French pop of Anna St. Clair and Peruvian psych of Los Holy’s, to the lo-fi thrash noise of the Chicago Thrash Ensemble and seaworthy folk-rock of Death Ships, as well as legendary Asian garage bands like Dara Puspita and The Travellers. Dustin saved the day by swooping in to fill a last minute cancellation for this month’s guest post. Also, Dustin decided to post the entire album – a first here at Radiodiffusion Internasionaal – and I was in no the mood to argue.
The Brothers Hawk were an Asian, mostly instrumental, band that played and recorded throughout Singapore and Malaysia in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Brothers peddled in the popular “Hala Hala” or “A Go Go” styles much like other contemporaries of their time, The Travellers or The Stylers. Like these bands, the Brothers also served as the backing band for popular vocalists, in their case on three records with Wong Shaiu Chuen.
Let’s Do The Funky, on the Tatex Records label was curiously distributed by the similarly named Tatet Records Trading Co. throughout Malaysia, and Victory Records in Singapore. As is the case with many 60s and 70s records from Singapore, the covers are more exciting than the actual music. There are a number of sites around the net that post covers of records from the 60s Singapore scene, but David Greenfield’s ever growing collection is perhaps the most impressive.
The Hala Hala / A Go Go style (sometimes also referred to as Off Beat Cha Cha) takes traditional Chinese surf-style twang and mixes elements of Rumba, Foxtrot, and Quick Step rhythms. The music was made to be fairly breezy “Teen Dance Music”, and is nowhere near as heavy on the funk or psychedelic as Indonesian and other Malaysian music of its time.
I first came to the music of Singapore through the Girls in the Garage: Oriental Special compilation, which shows an admittedly slanted view of the Singapore music scene. Whereas much of the music on that compilation was meant to show Westerners the silly, broken-English side of Singapore, the Brothers Hawk seem to sidestep that pitfall and actually can sing in English as evidenced by the cowboy ballad “One Way Wind”, and the ultra groovy “Co-Co”.
Many of the Singapore bands had recurring night club gigs and were tied to one specific recording studio. They would churn out a multitude of hits and cover songs, which were sometimes released repeatedly on differently packaged albums (see discography below for a good example of this). Let’s Do The Funky is labeled as The Sound of the Brothers Hawk Vol. 2, which leads one to believe there is a Vol. 1 out there somewhere, but I have yet to see evidence of this record existing.
Track Listing
1. Flying Machine
2. Bombay Duck
3. One Way Wind
4. My Lady
5. Co-Co
6. Funny, Funny
7. Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum
8. Where Are You? The Jilted
9. Forgive Me, Darling
10. Wonderful Life
11. To the Frontier
12. Only You
13. Nothing in My Life
14. The Fated Dream
Discography
*special thanks to the ongoing discography project by the folks from Scarce Sounds – reprinted by permission
TATEX (Singapore)
TATEX (Singapore)
TLP-1011 • The Brothers Hawk • Let’s Do the Funky – The Sound of The Brothers Hawk Vol. 2
PEAK RECORDS (Singapore/Malaysia)
BCLP-8004 • The Brothers Hawk • Popular Hits Party ‘70
WHITE RABBIT RECORD (Singapore)
HE-1975 • Wong Shiau Chuen + The Brothers Hawk
HAPPY RECORD COMPANY (H.R.C.) (Malaysia) – “Happy Record Electronic Enterprise Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia”
HE-1975 • Wong Shaiu Chuen + The Brothers Hawk
HE-1976 • Wong Shaiu Chuen + The Brothers Hawk
HE-1978 • Wong Shiau Chuen + The Brothers Hawk
PEAK RECORD (Singapore)
BC-7097 • Lin Zhen + The Brothers Hawk
ORIENTAL RECORD (Singapore) – “Oriental Record Co., Singapore”
ORC-9901 • Jia Jia + The Brothers Hawk
Catalog number TLP-1011on Tatex Records of Singapore. No release date listed.
Filed under: Iran
♬ Shirley
The British Invasion was the term applied by the news media – and subsequently by consumers – to the influx of rock and roll, beat and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in not only in the United States, but in Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well. But the music was popular all over the world, and influenced musicians everywhere.
One of the more interesting places that these influences turned up, at least in my opinion, was Iran. Iran’s openness to The West in the 60s and 70 was due most in part to the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – that is until the Islamic Revolution of 1979. But up until that time, there was a scene in Tehran with a handful of bands and small record labels – that not only released local music but music from America and Europe as well.
Although I have seen the name of this band transliterated as Ojubeha, Ojoobe-Ha, Aajubehaa Ajoobehaa and Ajubehaa, the most common version seems to be Ojoobeha. But the name translates from Farsi into English as The Remarkables. To the best of my knowledge, they only recorded two singles, both for the Ahang e Rooz label. Their lead singer was Jamshid Alimorad, who went on to become an actor and have a solo career. He currently resides in New York City and still performs live around the U. S. His most recent album Jashn Maa (Celebration) was released in 2007.
Ojoobeha, as well as Flowers, Golden Ring, Googoosh, Kurush, Littles, Maha Jamin, The Rebels, Shabah and a number of others are featured on the recently released compilation Raks! Raks! Raks! on Discos Raks – the same people who produced the Waking Up Scheherazade compilation.
Catalog number ۲۰۹۵۱ on Iran Gram Co. of Tehran, Iran. No release date listed. This single was also released by the Ahang e Rooz label in 1971. Which pressing was released first is unknown.
Filed under: Ethiopia
I would guess that for many folks, their first introduction to the hypnotic sounds of Ethiopian Jazz would have been the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers. The soundtrack was heavy with instrumental songs of Mulatu Astatqé. I will admit, at the time I was only starting to delve into the music of Ethiopia when a friend lent me a copy of Ethiopiques Volume 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale 1969-1974. But soon after, I started checking out as many of the series as the Washington State Library system could lend me. Eventually, I came across Ethiopiques Volume 13: Ethiopian Groove and was blown away by The Walias Band’s instrumental Muziqawi Silt.
From the Ethiopiques website:
The Walias Band • Active from the early 1970s, until the beginning of the 1990s, The Walias Band was a seminal band on the Ethiopian scene. Made up of musicians from the Venus Band (so called because they were employed by the Venus Club) and later Shèbèlé’s Band (from the Wabi Shèbèlé Hôtel) it was one of the first independent groups able to impose their own name upon the venues that hired them. Its longest lasting members were the saxophonist Mogès Habté, bass-player Mèlakè Gèbrè, drummer Tèmarè Harègou and trumpeter Yohannes Tèkola. Girma Bèyènè was also an active member of Walias.
In 1981 The Walias Band was the first modern Ethiopian group to tour the community of Ethiopian exiles in the USA. Deciding not to return to Mengistu’s dreadful ‘paradise’, Girma Bèyènè, Mogès Habté, Mèlakè Gèbrè and Haylu Mergia chose to remain in exile on the East Coast. There, Mogès released a CD accompanied by a booklet rich in biographical and historical information. In it he credits his major influences: King Curtis, Junior Walker and Maceo Parker. For a further ten years Yohannes Tèkola and Tèmarè Harègou continued to play, making the Walias Band, together with the Roha Band and Ethio Star, one of the best modern groups during the sombre ‘Derg’ period.
As for Alemayehu Borobor, I know that he recorded as a backing vocalist with The Ibex Band, and is on the song Belaya Belaya which appears on Ethiopiques Volume 19: Altèmeyé with Mahmoud Ahmed. He also preformed along with Yohannes Afewerq, Mammo Demissie and Kebbede Welde-Maryam on the track Goraw on the Orchestra Ethiopia compilation, Ethiopiques Volume 23.
Catalog number fx7643 / fx7644 on Kaifa Records of Ethiopia. No release date listed.
Filed under: Laos
♬ 
Laos is the forgotten land. Compared to their neighbors – Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, even Burma – no one really ever mentions Laos.
The Land of a Million Elephants was a French protectorate up until it gained independence in 1949. But only four years later, the country fell into a brutal civil war. During this time, both South Vietnamese and the North Vietnamese Army as well as American and Thai forces became embroiled for two decades. In 1973, the US pulled out of Laos and less than two years later the Pathet Lao overthrew the royalist government and established the Lao People’s Democratic Republic – only a few months after the Fall of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese and Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge.
But through all of this unrest, there was music. There is always music. How else would people survive while their country was ripped apart from all sides? Even though all the upheaval, the records – rare as they are – still exist. But for all of what you can find about the history of Pop music in Cambodia – even after the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, there is next to nothing about Laos – outside of the realm of traditional folk and opera. And much of it has been forgotten.
Laos shares much of its musical heritage with Thailand. Molam (or Mor lam), Lam luang and Lam ploen – which was influenced by Luk thung – can be found in both countries, especially the Isan region. And the most distinctive musical instrument, other than the ching (finger cymbals), is the bamboo mouth organ called a khene. According to legend, the instrument was invented by a woman trying to imitate the calls of a bird called the garawek.
Kuntung Lathparkdy was born in Vientiane, Laos – but most people know him as K. Viseth (ก.วิเสส). He got his start in music during the early 1970s where he was the lead singer of a school band, which was sponsored by Kong Lae, a former Lao Royal Army General and ex-Pathat Lao army officer. After that, he moved on to the Lao army band, ราบอากาศวังเวียง (Rap Akat Wang Wiang), and then later joined the band of Thai luk thung star กังวาลไพร ลูกเพชร (Kangwanphrai Lukphet).
Besides being a musician, he also acted in film and on television. His first movie was titled Ruk Ther Smer (Love You Eternally), and his second was Namperng Prachan (Sweat & Beautiful), both of which were made in Thailand. His most well known film was Tai Dum Lum Pan is the title of a Lao movie that co-produced between Lao and Thai companies. This song, which was his biggest hit, is from that film.
The song is sung in Thai, however alot of these words are from the Isan dialect (basically Lao). It’s about the ethnic group the Tai Dam, and was under suspicion in Thailand for having lyrical content of a potentially Communist nature. In the song, a traveling Lao man. He has been away for 15 years, reminiscing about his home. He speaks to other travelers and emigrants that he meets along his journey, and asks them to recall their home and where they have came from. He sings about Lao unity – which at that time, was something the country was missing.
Here are some of the lyrics (in Thai script and transliterated):
สิบห้าปี ที่ไตเฮา ห่างแดนดิน (เดินกันไป) จงเอ็นดู กุ่งข้าน้อย ที่พลอยพลัดบ้าน
sip ha pi thi tai hao hang daen din (doen kan pai) chong endu kung kha noi thi phloi phlat ban
เฮาคนไทย ย้ายกันไป ทุกถิ่นทุกฐาน จงฮักกันเด้อ ไตดำเฮานา
hao khon thai yai kan pai thuk thin thuk than chong hak kan doe tai dam hao na
สิบห้าปี ที่ไตดำเฮา เสียดายเด (เดินเข้าไป) เมืองเฮาเพ แสนเสียดาย สูเจ้าเพิ่นหล้า
sip ha pi thi tai dam hao sia dai de (doen khao pai) mueang hao phe saen sia dai suchao phoen la
เฮือนเคยอยู่ อู่เคยนอน ต้องจรจำลา ปะให้ปาหนา น้ำตาไตไหล
huean khoei yu u khoei non tong chon cham la pa hai pa na nam ta tai lai
สิบห้าปี ที่ไตเฮา เสียแดนเมือง (เดินกันไป) เคยฮุ่งเฮือง กุ่งข้าน้อย อยู่สุขสบาย
sip ha pi thi tai hao sia daen mueang (doen kan pai) khoei hung hueang kung kha noi yu suk sabai
ลุงแก่งตา ได้สางสา บ้านเมืองไว้ให้ บัดนี้จากไกล ไตเสียดายเด
lung kaeng ta dai sang sa ban mueang wai hai bat ni chak klai tai sia dai de
K. Viseth recorded much of his songs in Thai, and they were released on a Thai record label. Many of his songs were recorded by other artists in Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand. He now he resides In Arizona, in the U.S. where he still records and releases his own music.
Thanks to Joi Po Dee, Salina Keomanyvong and Erik Gergis for their help and translation. Special thanks to Peter Doolan for all of the information, links and lyrics.
Catalog number… Well, there isn’t one. Released by Wong Dohndri Ga Vang Vieng (Wong Music Company from Vang Vieng). There is a matrix number engraved in the vinyl: EP – 1001 / Y.M.S. 70070 x 7. No other information available.
Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe 