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.
Filed under: Egypt
♬ Abdel Monim Madboly / طيب يا صبر طيب • Tayeb Ya Sabr Tayeb /عبد المنعم مدبولي
♬ Mounir Mourad / موسيقى المصنع • The Factory Theme / منير مراد
The guest post for this week is by Hany Zaki – my man in Cairo. I am not quite sure how I originally got in touch with Hany. I think it may have been that Baligh Hamdi single. But once I mentioned Omar Khorshid, we hit it off and have been in contact ever since. Besides being an encyclopedia of Egyptian music, he runs a website dedicated to Omar Khorshid.
The simple concept of friends stealing for an evil boss who meet someone who wants to straighten them out and make a musical show about their lives. This was the basic idea of the last quality musical of the 70s titled Mold Ya Donia (What A Bewildered World) that was a box office smash in 1976.
The film, which stared the singer Afaf Rady, was highly produced by Baligh Hamdy, who had a number of hit singles a few years earlier. They were joined by a comic actor, Abdel Monim Madboly, who ironically performs a melancholic song moaning and crying about the good old times of being a carriage driver. The title name is Tayeb Ya Sabr Tayeb, and he appears in his stable drunk and whipping all over the place while he sadly sings… Surprisingly, it was a big hit for a soundtrack and deserved a single release and was filmed for TV later.
On the other side two themes appear, titled The Factory Theme and Train Whistle Theme, adding cheerful unmistaken 70s beat of organ and percussion. Both were composed by Mounir Mourad, who was a pretty underrated multi-talented artist coming from a Jewish background with an artistic family of singers. Mounir Mourad was also a singer, as well as an actor and director but was most famous as a composer who made a new happy sound to the Middle Eastern ears thanks to his talents plus his wide knowledge of international music. He composed to almost every singer from the 50s till he died in 1980.
Catalog number XSP 460 / 31-76009 – 45 S 230 on Soutelfan of Cairo, Egypt. Released 1976.
Filed under: Dahomey
♬ Winoukin
In Benin, records must grow on trees. For such a small country, there seems to be hundreds of records from there – and most of them are really good. There were loads of small labels both in Benin and in neighboring Nigeria. And in 1973, the Societé Africaine de Techniques Electroniques – or SATEL – pressing plant opened it’s doors on the highway between Cotonou and Porto Novo, which became one of the most popular pressing plans in all of Western Africa.
One of those labels was Albarika Store, which was also then name of a chain of record stores, was ran by Seidou Adissa. Samy Ben Redjeb interviewed Celestin Houenou Seza, who was Adissa’s right hand man, for the liner notes of the African Scream Contest compilation on Analog Africa.
I was giving lessons to Adissa’s children during holidays and I guess I made a good impression on him because as soon as I finished school in 1969 he asked me to help him to manage his new project. He loved traditional music from his tribe, the Yoruba and he wanted to produce a few artists and see if he could make a business out of it. The first artist recorded was Yedenou Adjahaoi, who was the most popular traditional artist in the region. His first single was recorded in Nigeria and distributed by Badejo in 1968. That record was a hit. As a consequence Adissa came to see me and offered me a chance to join his music company. I had just finished school and was a seventeen-year-old boy full of ambition and he was a great businessman who couldn’t read or write. He showed me the whole procedure – from the recording to the pressing plants via the distribution network, and by the time we did our first modern recording. which was by Gnonnas Pedro, I knew how to run the whole label by myself.
In 1969 the students from the University of Porto Novo were going crazy for a track from Ghana called Sock It to Me (by The Super Eagles) and they were bombarding us with requests. We never experienced that kind of reaction so we were wondering what kind of song could that be? So I traveled to Accra to buy a small stock of that record which we would resell in Dahomey. I purchased about a hundred 45s, and in two days they were all gone. We didn’t want to go back to Accra to get some more. Instead, we thought of recording our own version for the Benin market. El Rego had a guy called Eddy Black Power who could do that kind of stuff, so we approached him. We left for Lagos with El Rego et Ses Commandos where they recorded four songs We sold three thousand copies of the title Feeling You Got (the cover version of Sock It To Me) which was a huge success at the time, so we decided to look for the band members of the Super Eagles to buy a license. Despite many trips to Ghana we never managed to find them Then, one day we found out they were actually from Gambia!
A few months later we signed Orchestre Poly-Rythmo. Adissa wanted the song Angelina, so we traveled to Lagos for a recording; that was in early 1970. Adissa hadn’t even noticed the other songs we recorded that day, but I felt something would happen with the track Gbeti Madjro. Man, it spread like wildfire. We sold a lot – not sure how many, but a lot. I believe that song revolutionized the music industry in this country.
At that time we had decided not just to focus on bands from Porto Novo, or Cotonou, but also to travel all over the country to locate and record the best bands. I was in charge of those kinds of operations – I was actually in charge of everything, but that’s the part I am most proud of. I would travel to every corner of Benin looking for groups. In Parakou, which is located in the northeast of the country we bumped into an excellent band led by Alidou Boukari called Anassoua Jazz, Their first recording with us was a Jerk called Fatouma Na Alidou recorded in 1971. We had huge success in the Borgou state with that one, which encouraged other bands from the region to seek our production.
One day I found (Moussa) Mama Franco in front of my door. He explained that he had a group called Super Borgou de Parakou, and that he wanted us to record them, Moussa seemed to be a serious guy with a positive attitude, so I traveled back with him, and found out that the band was having enormous success with its live performances. They had an incredible drum’ mar I forgot his name, and their lead singer had a golden voice; we used to call him “Saka”. It was with Super Borgou that we made our first extended play 7” inch record. Some of the bands we recorded over the years were rebels and I spent a lot of time checking the lyrics and censoring offensive words I had to make sure the songs could be played on the radio. When El Rego covered Sock It to Me, I changed the tide to Feeling You Got. Some of the groups we produced simply didn’t want us to touch to any of their lyrics, so we would just drop the title and get on with our business. But to release a song with naughty lyrics would have given us bad press, and my job as to make sure that didn’t happen.
This interview is just about the only mention of Orchestre Anassoa Jazz de Parakou. The only other information that I have been able to find is that the main person behind the band was Alidou Boukari – who would later go on to form Orchestre Anos Band. Also, Orchestre Anassoa Jazz de Parakou released at least two other singles, both on the Albarika Store label.
Catalog number ASB29 on Albarika Store of Lagos, Nigeria. No release date listed.
Filed under: India
Information. Much like history, it depends on who you ask. And everyone has different story. You know the saying, “written in stone”? Well, it’s not a solid thing. It’s very fluid. You pick up little bits here and there, learning as you go. And just when you think you’ve got it, something will come along and change what you think you know.
It goes completely against the obsessive compulsive nature of the record collector. There’s supposed to be a list. You get all the records on the list, and then you’re done. Mission accomplished. But when it comes to records from far flung corners of the world, it’s not that simple.
I thought I had all of the information I needed when I wrote the liner notes for the Bollywood Steel Guitar disc for Sublime Frequencies. I was positive that I had found every steel guitar player in India and had included them in the compilation. I was wrong.
Even though I asked everyone I could find about the players and their records, I still did not have all of the pieces of the puzzle. Since then, I have discovered a whole slew of other players – some only recorded Classical Tagore songs, but others recorded Filmi songs as well – dating back to the 40s all of the way up to the present. Besides Kazi Aniruddha, Kazi Arindam, Gautam Dasgupta, Sunil Ganguly, S. Hazarasingh, Charanjit Singh and Van Shipley – who were included on the Bollywood Steel Guitar disc – there was Mohon Bhattacharya, Himanshu Biswas, Barum Kumar Pal, Batuk Nandy, Ranjit Datta, Sujit Nath, Robin Paul, Dipankar Sen Gupta… And who knows? There could be more.
As I have said before, there is no book you can go look this stuff up in. Well, that may not be true. But if there is one, I’m not the only one looking for it – especially when it comes to records from India. Karl-Michael Schneider maintains a site that is trying to catalog all of the releases that were issued by the The Gramophone Company Ltd. While there were other small labels like Hindusthan and Megaphone up until about the 40s and then Concord, Polydor and Super Cassettes popped up in the 80s, The Gramophone Company of India had a virtual monopoly on recordings in India for almost all of the 1900s. According to the Society of Indian Record Collectors, it has been estimated that during the last century that about half a million different titles were released in India. And since they were pressed in numbers from as few five hundred to a few hundred thousand copies – many of these recordings remain unheard by more than just a few people.
As for Barum Kumar Pal, this seems to be his only release. Of course… I could be wrong.
Catalog number 2392 899 on Polydor of India, released 1979.
Filed under: Sudan
While many people debate the superiority of vinyl over compact disc – or vice versa, the true format in many corners of the globe is the cassette. Thought to be extinct, banished like it’s elder cousin the 8 track and replaced by the CD-R, cassettes still remain popular to this day.
Since some countries did not have record industries or pressing plants, the primary way to distribute music was by cassettes that were copied. Only recently has copying CDs has become inexpensive, but dubbing cassettes has always been easy. Also, in many other countries there was a gap between when vinyl was popular and CDs became affordable. And during that time, there is a vast amount of music that was released – some of which you can find on other sites like Awesome Tapes from Africa, Fish Stalls in the Pear River Delta and Monrakplengthai.
Another reason for the continued popularity of cassettes, is that unlike turntables and CD players, tape decks can usually take more abuse – especially while in use. They also tend to be more affordable than the other machines. And while cassettes themselves can be temperamental, they do hold up to the elements fairly well compared against other formats.
Cassettes are still available online and in shops around the world. Recently while in Singapore and Indonesia, every music shop that I visited had cassette racks – many of which were copies on blank 60 minute tapes. And online, you can find many releases, including Omar Khorshid’s first album, which has never been issued on disc.
If you have any information about Sedeek Metwaly (also seen transliterated as Sadek Metwaly) or the Munsphone label, please contact me. You can find another track (as well a couple of Alèmayehu Eshété tunes) over at Yawning and Balafon.
Catalog number MUNS 602-86075 on Munsphone of Sudan, no other information available.
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UPDATE: 09/06/26
I’ve uploaded this entire cassette to my Hi-Drive. You can download HERE.
Filed under: Thailand
The guest post for this week is by Angela Sawyer. If I weren’t spending all my money on the records you see here, I’d be buying up all kinds of great stuff from her Weirdo Records site. Angela is also the person behind the truly bizarre Cantonese Opera blog – Fish Stalls in the Pearl River Delta. When I asked a few folks if they wanted to write for my site, Angela had hers to me lickety split.
Although the post-it which came with this record identifies it as String Band music, Suriya Fapathum was in fact a rather obscure Luk Thung singer. Even if you’re quite familiar with the Thai language (which I’m not), information about this record is extremely scant.
Luk Thung arose after the end of WWII, blending together folk songs, classical music and folk dances, and echoing the emotional concerns of rural Thais. Luk Thung is often compared to the country music of the USA, and Suphanburi is the genre’s Nashville. Early stars include king and queen Suraphon Sombatjalern and Pongsri Woranuch. It’s usually molasses slow, and the focus is meant to be on the singer as he or she stretches vowel sounds like taffy.
As the Vietnam war sped up the urbanization and modernization of Thailand, hordes of people began to move to cities, especially Bangkok. This process both fostered and hampered Luk Thung: creating access to up to date music equipment and distribution, creating a populace with some money who missed the countryside, but also eroding the very community life the songs reflected. During the 60s and 70s the style blended over and over again with Mo Lam and Thai pop. Influences started popping up from the rest of Southeast Asia, as well as American pop like Gene Autry and Hank Williams, and even such far flung stuff as Xavier Cugat. By the 1980s Luk Thung sported an entire techno-ish subgenre meant specifically for danceclubs, and by 2000 ‘real’ 50s Luk Thung began enjoying a wave of retro hep.
Although there are some slow funk burners on this lp, I chose these two songs for their unusual use of sound effects. In one, the singer imitates a monkey, and in the other the sound of gunshots is heard. I’m especially fond of the ‘ptchoo ptchoo’ mouth sounds the singer makes, presumably to beef up the gunfire. Such gunfire would have been heard by folks in rural Thailand due to the increased involvement in the Vietnam War and growing US military presence that military dictator Thanom Kittikachorn allowed in his campaign against communist guerillas during the 1960s. The corruption of this government eventually resulted in a growing peasant’s movement, and then the October 14, 1973 student democracy uprising.
Much thanks to Peter Doolan of Monrak Pleng Thai for tranlisteration help. All helpful ideas were his, and all mistakes mine.
Catalog number T 148 on ห้างแผ่นเสียง ทองกำ จัดจำหน่าย (Haang Phaen Siiang Thaawng Gam Jat Jam Naay – which means something like ‘Grab the Golden Sound and Arrange to Distribute it’) of Thailand. No release date listed.
Filed under: Pakistan
♬ Malkaus
♬ Bihag
When researching the music that is featured on this site, there are usually many more questions than answers. As I type this in an airport in Indonesia – having spent the last four days fruitlessly searching for someone who even knows what a record is – information, even more so than the records themselves, is hard to find.
But over the years, I have occasionally heard from a number of the artists that I have written about. In those rare instances, there are moments of clarity and a few more pieces of the puzzle fall into place… Of course they usually ask me, how did you find out about this stuff and why do you care?
Back in December of 2008 when I posted a song by The Bugs from Pakistan, the floodgates opened. O.K., that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I was contacted by a handful of musicians who had been in bands in Pakistan during the late 60s into the early 70s. Two of them – Ahsan Sajjad and Fasahat Hussein Syed – were in The Panthers.
Radiodiffusion Internasionaal: Most people don’t realize that Pakistan had such a great scene with quite a few bands. Besides The Bugs, The Fore Thoughts, The Mods, The Slihouettes and The Thunders, do you recall any other bands from that time?
Ahsan Sajjad: The bands were The Black Pirates, Talismen, In Crowd, Moonglows and an older band called The Keynotes before the surge.
RI: When and where did the band get together?
AS: We got together in the year of ‘67 in Karachi. It started with Norman and myself and then we went looking for other members. We had played around with different players but the two of us stuck together. When we released Folk Tunes and had a sit in, Javaid Allahditta, play the sitar we realized we had to go get a sitar player and make him a member. I had known Eric (bass player) for a while and had jammed with him. So I invited him to join us and to switch from lead to bass and then met Fasahat who played the sitar and was versatile on the keyboard. There was the formation of “The Panthers”.
RI: Who was in the band, and what instruments did they play?
AS: Norman Braganza on lead guitar and vocals, Fasahat Hussein on sitar, keyboard and tabla, Eric Fernandes on bass and Ahsan Sajjad on drums and lead vocals.
RI: Which record was recorded first, Folk Tunes of Pakistan on Electric Sitar and Western Instruments or East Goes West? Do you recall which years those records were released?
AS: Folk Tunes first and then in June 1969 EMI released East Goes West. East Goes West shows the versatility of the band. This was a well thought out record where local instruments and ragas were utilized as a modern day tune and to show the meeting of the East tunes and West beats/tempo. The bands ability and creativity also comes forth as they employ different beats in sync with the ragas. Sarangi is utilized an instrument that is a very much into the Indo/Pak culture as the intro to each of the three ragas has a very Eastern tone and creates a haunting melody.
RI: What type of venues did The Panthers perform in Pakistan? Was there a night club scene?
Fasahat Hussein Syed: The first performance of The Panthers was at “Mahapara” outdoors lounge at the swimming pool of Midway Hotel near the airport. We got a contract in the same hotel ballroom afterward. We also played at the Metropolitan Hotel, with some other bands (do not remember the occasion), played at San Patrick’s High School.
AS: Venues were limited… So most bands played at house parties and at the limited outlets.
RI: I recently saw a copy of The Fore Thoughts first single that was pressed in Iran. Did The Panthers ever perfrom outside of Pakistan?
AS: Never made it out of Pakistan. But performed and recorded for Radio Pakistan a tune that was used for their foreign broadcast. The music had to be danceable as that is how the public understood its fancy. But this was also in its infancy and was being perfected as it was being performed or as the target to learn harder songs grew.
RI: Fasahat, you said that The Panthers broke up when Ahsan left for America. That’s when you and Eric joined The Black Pirates with Bashir Balouch from The Fore Thoughts. How long were The Black Pirates together?
FHS: After Ahsan left for United States, Eric and myself joined The Black Pirates, we played for a fashion show in Metropolitan Hotel, we played at Adamji Auditorium at the Marine Engineers Graduation Party in 1970. I joined the Merchant Marines and left the country, group was broken up. After four years, I signed off from Merchant Marines and joined The Black Pirates again with some new members and played in Horse Shoe Restaurant Lounge on a contract. After the contract expired, group broke up again. I left the group to pursue a Marine Engineering Career and eventually migrated to United States in 1979.
RI: What have the members been up to lately? Are you still involved in music?
AS: Norman lives in Mississauga, Canada and is very much into Rhythm and Blues, performs guitar and sings at invitational parties and has put out a CD for friends, doing cover tunes. Fasahat plays keyboard and tabla with a fusion band called Tulsi out of Chattanooga, TN. Me, I am still honing my skills on the guitar. Have performed locally at invitations. Very much into Folk/Blues. Working on putting a performing band.
Thanks to Ahsan Sajjad and Fasahat Hussein Syed for their help.
Catalog number EKCE-20016 on EMI / Columbia Records of Pakistan, released 1969.
Filed under: Senegal
Senegalese popular music can be traced back to the 1960s, when nightclubs hosted dance bands that played Western music. Star Band was the most famous orchestre. After beginning by playing American, Cuban and French songs, Star Band gradually added more indigenous elements, including the talking tama drum and Wolof (Senegal’s predominant dialect) or Mandinka language lyrics. Star Band disintegrated into numerous groups, with Number One du Senegal being the best known of the next wave of bands, followed by the still active Orchestre Baobab.
In 1975, Omar Pene (also seen spelled Oumar Pène) formed Le Diamono in Dakar. The band fused mbalax rhythms and militant populism with blues, jazz and reggae influences. The other members at the time included Dama Faye (guitar), Baila Theophile (bass), Samba Dieng (keyboards), Almamy Bary (tenor sax, flute), Thierno Kouate (alto sax), Mamadou Mbengue (drums), Xalifa Fall (vocal, percussion), Baye Diagne (vocal), Bassirou Diagne (vocal), Papa Mboup (vocal, percussion).
Le Diamono released an album and this single in their first year, before changing their name to Super Diamono du Senegal, and then Super Diamono de Dakar. By the Eighties they had shortened it to Super Diamono, until recently when they became known as Omar Pene Et Le Super Diamono. They are still active to this day.
Catalog number SP 10513 on Musiclub/Soul Posters of France. No release date listed.
