Filed under: Mauritius
Mauritius is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometres east of Madagascar. First settled by the Dutch who then abandoned it, the island was taken by the French who lost it the English in the Napoleonic Wars in 1810. Over a century and a half later, Mauritius gained independence in 1968.
The island of Mauritius – as well as the islands of Réunion, Seychelles, Comoros, Mayotte and Rodrigues, along with parts of Madagascar – are best known for Sega music. Sega evolved out of the culture of the Western Indian Ocean islands, in the mid-18th century that were influenced by an influx of polka and quadrilles from Europe. The music’s traditional form was largely improvised and intensely emotional and expressed the tribulations of a subjugated, initially enslaved, people. It was also used as a dirge and as part of traditional exorcisms.
Although John Kenneth Nelson is considered one of the first big names in Sega, there is very little information available about him. He was included on Playasound’s Air Mail Music series compilation “Les Mascareignes” that was released in 2002. He also is credited as playing on Harold Nelson’s album “L’Amitié des Îles” that was released in 2007, which was the same year that he passed away at the age of 57. A street in the capital city of Port Louis, where he and his family has lived for over forty years, now bears his name.
Catalog number C. 47002 on Disques Capricorne of Madagascar. No release date listed.
Filed under: North Korea
♬We Always Look Up to The Central Committee of The Party
There are places that I thought I would never find records from, like Brunei or Iraq. Then, there were countries that I didn’t know what I would find… Let’s say, Eritrea. And then there are places that I thought I would have no problem finding records from, but haven’t had any luck… For instance, Burma. Of course some of these countries have had Civil Wars or Cultural Revolutions, where most of the recordings were destroyed. But then there are other regions that just never had a recording industry, or the musicians did not venture out to other countries.
The best weapon for hunting records, is information. That was one of the reasons I started this whole mess. The more you know, the easier it is to find what you are looking for in the endless depths of the vinyl jungle. And, where you can find one band or artist… You can usually find another. Where I have discovered the more interesting music scenes, there tended to be a handful of musicians, a record label or two, and a studio to record. Studio being a somewhat loose term, for example most of the great music from Benin was recorded live to two track on a portable reel to reel tape machine.
On the other hand, be it governmental control, religious restrictions or what have you, some places you just aren’t going to find anything. North Korea is a prime example of that. Since the government controls all aspects of the media, any recordings would have to be approved. The only real “band” from that country would be the state sponsored Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble, who make Tangerine Dream sound like Black Sabbath. Only recently has what Westerners would consider Modern Pop Music has been exposed to the outside world as heard on the Sublime Frequencies’ Radio Pyongyang disc.
But with compilations popping up like The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru, 1970’s Algerian Proto-Raï Underground, and bands like Konono N°1 coming to light after being in existence for a quarter century, it makes you wonder: What else is out there? What have I missed? Maybe there were some kids in a basement somewhere with an electric guitar, or keyboard or even some kind of electrified gayageum making some unholy racket. And maybe, just maybe, there’s reel to reel, cassette recordings or possibly even some bootleg X-Ray records floating around with those unimaginable sounds. That is what keeps people like me, and other obsessive types like myself, constantly searching.
Catalog number ㄱ – 809804 ᄆ– 28015 / ᄆ– 28016 on the Korean Gramophone Record label of Pyongyang, in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. No release date listed.
Filed under: Tunisia
♬ Yendam
Writing about music, at least for me, is a somewhat laborious process. It is definitely much less enjoyable than actually just listening to it. Even though in high school I was voted most likely to write for Rolling Stone, I’ve always thought that my writing skills were… Well, let’s just say it could use some work. But I keep slugging away at it, like a monkey with a typewriter.
For the most part, in these posts I try not to pass judgment on the music. I usually try to find as much information as I can, slap it all together, and voila – another post is hurled into cyberspace. Although I do think that the historical and geographical context is important and can temper the listener’s opinion, I believe that the music pretty much speaks for itself. But there are many times when I get a record and have nothing to go on. I start searching the interwebs, e-mailing a few contacts… Nothing. What then?
Unlike the record that I thought was from there, I am pretty sure that these guys were actually from Tunisia. The record was self released with no information about where the songs were recorded, or the address of the label that released it – only a phone number. On the back, it lists the musicians including the principle singer / songwriter “Mahjoub H.”, who also released the record. The only real clue, is that it says “Presse Ennagham” on the bottom of the back cover. Disques Ennagham was a Tunisian label that had their own pressing plant. Other than that, I know the band’s name, Omnya, translates as “Hope”, but song title “Yendam” means “Regret”.
Thanks to Alan Bishop, Anis Bousbia and Hicham Chadly for their help. If you any information about the band, please contact me.
Catalog number A. 77 001 on Omnya, pressed by Disques Ennagham of Tunisia, released 1977.
Filed under: Cameroon
The urbanization of Cameroon in the 1940s had a major influence on the country’s music. Up until that point, other than imported pop music and French-style chanson, there was the indigenous guitar based Ambasse Bey, which was developed in the costal city of Douala. But the migration to the capital city of Yaoundé, was a major cause for the popularization of Bikutsi music. Bikutsi is a native folk music based on a war rhythm played by three to five balafon players and various other percussion instruments. The vocals were usually sung by women, and the lyrics were about everyday problems and featured sexually explicit lyrics. During the 1950s, bars sprang up across the city to accommodate the influx of new inhabitants, and soon became a symbol for Cameroonian identity in the face of colonialism.
Anne-Marie Nzie was perhaps the most important of the early innovators of Bikutsi, followed by Messi Me Nkonda Martin and his band, Los Camaroes, who added electric guitars. Messi Martin had been inspired to learn the guitar by listening to Spanish language-broadcasts from neighboring Equatorial Guinea, as well as Cuban and Congolese rumba. Messi changed the sound of his electric guitar by linking the strings together with pieces of paper, giving the instrument a “thudding” sound that emulated the balafon. His style was instantly popular, and his songs “Mengalla Maurice” and “Bekono Nga N’Konda” became radio favorites throughout the country beginning in the early 1960s.
In the late 60s, Ekambi Brillant scored the first major Cameroonian hit, “N’Gon Abo”, and set the stage for the development of Makossa. Manu Dibango took Makossa worldwide popularity with his 1972 single “Soul Makossa”. Also, during the same time, a local variant on palm wine music called Assiko was popular. By the 1970s, Bikutsi performers had started adding brass instruments and more explicit lyrics. At the same time, Mama Ohandja was bringing Bikutsi to new audiences in Europe.
As for Les Kilts… I have not been able to find any information, other than what I can decipher from the record sleeve. This record was a promotional item for the local branch of the Bastos Cigarette Company, which was based in Belgium at the time. According to the liner notes, it was recorded at “Radiodiffusion Nationale du Cameroun Studios in Yaoundé and Douala”. Maybe side one was recorded in Yaoundé and the other was recorded in Douala? Who knows? The only credits, other than the recording information, is to the songwriters: Geo Duala for “Jerk Bastos” and Bob Ronald for the B side “Bastos Oyè”.
If you any information about the band, please contact me.
Catalog number… Well, there isn’t one. Released by the Bastos Cigarette Company. There is a matrix number engraved in the vinyl: AST PPN 4263 380. No other information available. Bastos, tourjous jeune!
Filed under: Cambodia
♬ Sinn Sisamouth • The Favourite Belonging of The Heart
♬ Ros Sereysothea • The Star of My Heart
From the first time I heard “A2“ on Paul Wheeler’s Cambodia Rocks compilation on Parallel World, I knew something wasn’t quite right. It didn’t hit me until many years later, but something in my brain made a note and filed it away somewhere… Thankfully, due to an onslaught of Khmer Pop compilations in recent years, I have since learned that the name of that song was “I’m Sixteen“ by Ros Sereysothea.
By now, anyone with even a passing interest in the popular music of South East Asia and / or Sixties Garage music has probably at least heard of Ros Sereysothea and Sinn Sisamouth. They were the Queen and King of Khmer Pop. That is, until the Khmer Rouge overthrew the Cambodian government on April 17, 1975. And while the rest of the world is only now discovering their music, their popularity in Cambodia has never really faded.
Not too long ago, I stumbled upon a number of channels devoted to Khmer Pop on YouTube. There, you will find loads of songs by Ros Sereysothea and Sinn Sisamouth as well as others. But on most of the songs, they have left the original vocals and replaced the music with a synthesizer and a drum box grafted on top of older recordings. How long have Cambodians been recycling their pop songs?
Since most of Khmer Pop collections of Sixties pop are compiled from old cassettes that have been floating around, most being dubbed copies with little or no liner notes, the sound quality is lo-fi at best. And as a fan of the music, you come to accept that. There are no master tapes. They’re all gone. But because of that fact, on many of these compilations the vocals and the instrumentation sometimes sound as if they were recorded at different times – perhaps even different decades.
My suspicions were piqued even more when I picked up a copy of the “Cambodian Psych-Out“ compilation, released on Defective / El Suprimo. Besides the spelling discrepancies (Ros Sereysothea is spelled four different ways in the liner note – Sinn Sisamouth seven different ways), is the inclusion of the song “If You Wish To Love Me Don’t Laugh Or Cry“. This same song was entitled “If You Wish To Love Me“ on “Cambodian Rocks Vol. 2“, except their version does not have the xylophone (or is that a glockenspiel?) in the first part of the song. You can also tell that the guitars and drums have been re-recorded over the old track. When was this done? Who knows?
I suspect it was not when these songs were originally recorded. And now as I go back thru looking for clues in the liner notes of previous compilations, it was right in front of me all along. They are only briefly mentioned phrases like “overdubbed percussion and keyboards“ and “re-recording“…
I know that the people who put these things together cherry pick the best cuts. The songs they choose may not have been the most popular songs of their day, but to modern ears, they pick out what sounds to them like the best track. And I can tell you, having listened to some of the original vinyl records from Cambodia, as well as records from neighboring Vietnam and Laos, from that time period – I have yet to hear anything remotely similar to the psychotic sounds found on “Cambodian Psych-Out” compilation – especially the first track “Month After Month Always Busy, Can’t Go Out”. Now I am not talking about all of the songs of that compilation, or the others on Khmer Rocks, but for a lot of those songs the studio production just doesn’t match up. The guitars, keyboards and drums that were recorded during mid 1970s just don’t sound like that. The original songs? Yeah. But those searing guitar and keyboard solos? I am not so sure…
Hopefully, whenever the documentary “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten“ is finally released, maybe then will some of my questions be answered.
Thanks to Vatthana Lim for the Khmer translation.
Catalog number P. T. 111 on Bayon of Cambodia. No release date listed.
Filed under: Lebanon
Prior to the Civil War in 1975, Lebanon enjoyed a period of relative calm and prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, and banking. At that time, it was considered one of the banking capitals of Western Asia, which some even referred to as the “Switzerland of the East“. The country also attracted large numbers of tourists, so much to the point that the capital city of Beirut became known as the “self-proclaimed Paris of the East.”
From the late Sixties up until the Civil War, Lebanon was the center of music for most of the region. Musicians from Egypt, Syria and even Armenia came to Lebanon to record and perform there. A handful of record labels sprung up, and even for a short while the country had it’s own pressing plant – Société Libanaise du Disque. During this time, there were concerts and festivals featuring artists from all over the world, including Charles Aznavour, Joan Baez, Gilbert Bécaud, Dalida, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Julio Iglesias, Mireille Mathieu and many more
I do know that this record is from Lebanon. But as for Jacques Kodjian, I am not so sure. I do know he was of Armenian descent, but whether or not he was born in Armenia or Lebanon is unclear. Besides being a pianist, composer and conductor, he also ran his own record label “JK” and worked with other Armenians in Lebanon. When the Lebanese Civil War started, he left for America. There, he worked with Adiss Harmandyan. In 1996, Jacques Kodjian performed in New York City accompanying the Shushi Armenian Dance Ensemble.
Many thanks to Hany Zaki for the information.
Catalog number GVDL34 on Voix de l’Orient series for A. Chahine & Fils in Lebanon, manufactured and distributed by EMI of Greece, 1972.
Filed under: Ethiopia
Obsession. That is the word that describes Francis Falceto. He is the man behind the twenty three volume, and counting, Éthiopiques series on Buda Music. In April of 1984, a friend of his lent him a copy of a Mahmoud Ahmed album. A month later, he went to Ethiopia. Although it would be over a decade before the Éthiopiques discs started showing up in record shops around the world, he was responsible for the first release abroad of modern Ethiopian music with the reissue of Mahmoud Ahmed’s 1975 album “Erè Mèla Mèla” for Crammed Discs in 1986. But it is surprising, that in the span of the twenty three discs and two DVDs that have been released since 1997, that there is still plenty of territory that has yet to be covered.
The music of Ethiopia is the result of a very specific series of events. First, there is Emperor Haile Sellassie’s visit to Jerusalem in 1923. While he was there, two significant things happened: He heard brass band music for the first time and he met the “Arba Lijoch”. The “Arba Lijoch” were a group of forty Armenian orphans (Amharic “forty children”) living at the Armenian monastery in Jerusalem, who had escaped from the Armenian genocide in Turkey. They impressed Haile Selassie so much that he obtained permission from the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem to adopt them and bring them to Ethiopia, where he then arranged for them to receive musical instruction. They arrived in Addis Ababa on September 6, 1924, and along with their bandleader Kevork Nalbandian to become the first official orchestra of the nation. Nalbandian’s nephew, Nerses Nalbandian – who was a composer, arranger, chorus leader, and music teacher, would go on to become a core person to develop modern music in that country. Throw in Peace Corps volunteers bringing records from America, as well as the American military radio at Kagnew Station in neighboring Eritrea broadcasting the latest R & B, Soul, Rock and Pop hits, and you have a potent combination of influences that produced one of the most unique musical movements found in any country at that, or really any, point in time.
But all of that ended in 1975, when the Derg ousted Emperor Haile Selassie from power. The Derg, which means “committee” or “council” in Ge’ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army and was a communist military junta led by a committee of military officers. Under their rule, the nightlife of Addis Ababa faded away and the record labels disappeared. The musicians were unable to leave the country, since emigration became almost impossible and they needed an exit visa to leave the country. The music may never have left Ethiopia, if it were not for the few vinyl records that managed to find their way out into the rest of the world.
The only information that I have been able to find about Tezera Haile Michael, is that he was primarily a songwriter and arranger, who’s songs that were recorded by Bezunesh Bekele, Mahmoud Ahmed (on all of his self released singles) and Tilahoun Gessesse. I have also seen him credited as a back up singer for some of the early recordings of the Imperial Body Guard Band, who are the backing band on this record. As far as I know, this was his only recording where he was the featured vocalist.
Catalog number PH 7-161 on Philips Records Ethiopia. No release date listed.
Filed under: Vietnam
One of the more frustrating things about the internet, is that sometimes there is too much information. But you can’t find the answer to your question, being led in about a billion directions at once. What you were looking for could right under you nose… But you would have no idea. Even if you are able to find a fragment of some kind of information, you may not be able to decipher it.
Researching the music of Vietnam on the web is a good example of this. There is almost no information in the way of biographies or articles from that time period (1963 – 1975). But then you can find literally hundreds of videos on YouTube and DailyMotion. And it doesn’t help that you almost have to already know Vietnamese to be able to use the online translation program.
But since the last posting on Hūng Cuōng, some information has turned up. Apparently, he is alive and well living in “Little Saigon” (not sure if that is the Orange County “Little Saigon” or the San Jose “Little Saigon”), California in the United States. His granddaughter and grandson have also started a MySpace page for him. He still performs live, occasionally with Mai Lệ Huyȇn̅ . They even have re-recorded this song, and made a video for it.
Other than that, all I have be able to find are some great songs by both Hūng Cuōng and Mai Lệ Huyȇn̅, played over footage of the South Vietnamese Military here and here.
Thanks to Greg McWhorter for the information.
Catalog number M.3671.72 on Viet Nam Records. No release date listed.
Filed under: Algeria
The Kabyle group Agraw consisted of two Algerians: Boudjema Semaouni and Hassen Zermani.
Boudjema (also spelled Boudjemâa) was born in Semaoun, Algeria in 1952. He began his career as a singer for Radio Berber Channel 2 and released a single for the Vogue label before moving to Paris in 1980.
Hassen Zermani, is better known as Takfarinas. He was born in Tixeraine in 1958. Takfarinas took his name from the Ancient warrior of North Africa – Tacfarinas (which is how his name is spelled on this record) – who fought against the presence of the Romans in Algeria. He formed first band was band in Algiers in 1976, and three years later moved to Paris to record a solo album titled “Yebwa Reman”. That same year, he met Boudjema Semaouni and the group Agraw was formed.
The band only released two albums before going their separate ways in 1984. Both records were produced by Idir, who also played flute on their recordings, and released them on his Azwaw label.
Boudjema Semaouni kept the name of the band, and became known as Boudjema Agraw. He continued recording, replacing Takfarinas with Karim Tizouiar – who went solo soon after. Boudjema currently lives in El Kseur, Algeria.
Takfarinas had a successful career in the Eighties. He became most recognized for playing the ‘takfa’, which is based on a traditional lute-like instrument which he modified by adding a second neck. He still lives in France, where he records and even has his own website.
Thanks to Anis Bousbia and Hicham Chadly for their help.
Catalog number AZW200 on Azwaw Records of Paris, France. No release date listed.
Filed under: Dahomey
♬ Se Djro
I have always been amazed by the sheer volume of great records from Benin. For a country about the size of a postage stamp (actually 43,483 square miles – but small nonetheless), the country formerly known as Dahomey produced major bands like Orchestre Poly-Rythmo (who released somewhere around 150 records) as well as many lesser known bands that released one or two singles. Unlike Nigeria and Ghana, where Highlife was the most popular form of music, the music of Benin was much more raw.
One of the best compilations to capture the sound of Benin, as well as neighboring Togo, is “African Scream Contest” on Analog Africa. In the liner notes, Samy Ben Redjeb explains how the musicians of the region integrated regional and foreign influences to produce a sound unlike anywhere else.
Like most modern music in French-speaking West African countries, the music of Benin and Togo was influenced by a few main musical currents: Cuban, Congolese and local traditional music, as well as Chanson Francaise. Additionally, the geographical location Benin and Togo – sandwiched between Ghana and Nigeria – exposed Beninese and Togolese musicians to Highlife music.
Benin’s two primary music importers – Afissoulai Lowani and Gbékin Hilaire, the founders of the labels Aux Ecoutes and Voix Africaine, respectively – were chiefly responsible for the development of the distribution channels for importing music into Benin, Highlife was imported from Accra and Lagos via the Philips and Decca record companies. Congolese rumba arrived from France via Khan (based in Marseille) and Sonodisc (based in Paris), as well as direct imports from Kinshasa and Brazzaville.
Cuban records were imported from New York and Miami via distribution plants in Abidjan. Chanson Francaise (especially Charles Aznavour and Johnny Halladay) was imported from France; French music was taught in schools and constantly played on national radio.
The cultural and spiritual riches of traditional Beninese music had an immense impact on the sound of Benin’s modern music. Benin is the birth place of Vodun (or, as it is commonly known in the West, Voodoo) and some of the rhythms used during traditional rituals – Sakpata, Sato, Agbadja, Tchenkoumé and many others – were fused to Soul and Latin music on early as the mid-60s and Later to Funk. Vodun was formally recognized by the Government of Benin in February 1996, and Ouidah remains its epicenter Ouidah is also home to a large Brazilian community – or, as they are called in Benin – Agoudas. Members of that community are descendents of slaves who returned from Brazil at the end of the 19th Century. Their dances (such as Kaléta and Buriyanii) and songs are still being preformed and fused into Beninese rituals. That, too, can be heard in modern Beninese music. Performers such as Ignace De Souza and Charles Rodriguez are Agoudas.
By 1968 a few labels – Albarika Store, Poly-Disco, Gretaissy and Aux Ecoutes – started recording local musicians using Nagra reel-to-reel recorders borrowed from the national radio station. The reels were then to Ghana, Nigeria, Belgium or France, where the matrices were manufactured and the vinyl pressed and released on such labels as Philips, Badejos Sound Studios, Songhoi, Riveria, etc. The first Benin artists who started recording were G. G. Vickey, Gnonnas Pedro, Picoby Band and Super Star de Ouidah, followed by El Rego, Sunny Blacks Band and Ignace De Souza.
In the late 60s Funk and Afrobeat started creeping into the region. In particular, the music of James Brown became immensely popular with university students. That’s when the music scene in Benin really started to take off. Most, if not all of the groups, started fusing all the genres mentioned above into a very distinctive sound that can only be found in that country, and made Benin into an incredible music melting pot unequalled in Africa. Bands combined Latin with Soul, Sakpata with Funk, Sate with Afrobeat, Punk with Break Beat – you name it and they probably tried it!
Other than the fact that Orchestre Black Dragons were from Porto-Novo, there is not a whole lot of information about them. They did release two other singles, both on the Albarika Store label. The song “E Sa F’Aiye” was included on the compilation “Off Track Vol 2 – Queens” which was put together by the crate diggers Kon & Amir.
Catalog number ASB 85 on Albarika Store of Cotonou, Dahomey, pressed in Lagos, Nigeria. No release date listed.
