Filed under: Morocco
Many Berbers call themselves some variant of the word Imazighen (singular Amazigh), meaning “free men”. This is common in Morocco, but elsewhere within the Berber homeland a local, more particular term, such as Kabyle or Chaoui, is more often used instead. The Imazighen have lived in North Africa for thousands of years, long before the Phoenicians, Romans or Arabs arrived. They’ve survived a constant stream of foreign occupation with their culture and language intact.
The Imazighen are intermittently distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Between fourteen and twenty-five million live within this region, most densely in Morocco and becoming generally scarcer eastward through the rest of the Maghreb and beyond. They speak various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the Afroasiatic language family.
Now, for the band Imazighene… The person who sold me this record, said that they were from Algeria. But after I had asked a few people what they knew, I discovered that he must have had this band confused with the Algerian band Imazighen Imula, which was formed by Kabyle singer and political activist Ferhat Mehenni.
The only clue, other than the Moroccan record label, is the text on the record itself. Apparently, only Moroccan Imazighen use Arabic lettering. Algerian Imazighen, who are more radical and against Arab culture, tend to use Latin letters or Tifinagh, or even French.
What little I have been able to find out about the record label Boussiphone, is that it was founded by Saïd Boussif. The company would eventually become the production company Boussivision, which later changed its name to Tamgharet Ouragh.
Thanks to Anis Bousbia and Hicham Chadly for their help. If you any information about the band, please contact me.
Catalog number MB 197.70 on Boussiphone of Morocco. No other information is available.
Filed under: India
Bollywood film music of India is commonly refered to as “filmi music” (from Hindi, meaning “of films”). Songs from Bollywood movies are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers, with the actors then lip synching the words to the song on-screen, often while dancing. Playback singers are prominently featured in the opening credits and have their own fans who will go to an otherwise lackluster movie just to hear their favourites. Their songs can make or break a film and usually do.
Songs typically comment on the action taking place in the movie, in several ways. Sometimes, a song is worked into the plot, so that a character has a reason to sing; other times, a song is an externalisation of a character’s thoughts, or presages an event that has not occurred yet in the plot of the movie. In this case, the event is almost always two characters falling in love.
Bollywood films have always used what are now called “item numbers“. A physically attractive female character (the “item girl”), often completely unrelated to the main cast and plot of the film, performs a catchy song and dance number in the film. In older films, the “item number” may be performed by a courtesan (tawaif) dancing for a rich client or as part of a cabaret show. The dancer Helen Jairag Richardson Khan was famous for her cabaret numbers. In modern films, item numbers may be inserted as discotheque sequences, dancing at celebrations, or as stage shows.
As for Charanjit Singh, there is not a whole lot of information available. According to the liner notes of his “One Man Show” album which was recorded in 1977, he had apparently been playing live for two decades. But his first single was not released until 1973. Unlike other performers who chose to pay tribute to the songs of Bollywood, Charanjit played a variety of instruments. He would feature either bass, steel guitar, the electric violin or the Transicord electric accordion as the prominent instrument on each song. He would eventually switch to the synthesizer, covering entire soundtracks.
Charanjit Singh has been featured on Bombay Connection’s “The Bombay Connection Vol. 1: Funk from Bollywood Action Thrillers 1977-1984” and Sublime Frequencies‘ “Bollywood Steel Guitar”. In 2010, his only non-Filmi record from 1982 “Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat” was reissued by Bombay connection. If you any further information, please contact me.
Catalog number S/MOCE 4204 on Odeon / EMI of India, manufactured & distributed by The Gramophone Company of India Limited in 1975. No other information is available.
Filed under: Angola
During the early 1960s, the Portuguese government that ruled Angola realized that they needed to silence the musicians and other artists who were breeding resentment against their colonial authority. Instead of ostracizing Angolan culture, the Portuguese started to encourage it, although in a very controlled way. A small local recording industry began, and radio stations started to play Angolan music. At the time, the music of Angola was heavily influenced by the popularity of Congolese music from the neighboring country as well as Portuguese Fado, Latin Merengue and American Jazz.
Originally a locksmith by trade, Antonio Urbano de Castro started out in show business as a side show performer. He and his friends Dikembé, Fakir and Silva would run shows of acrobatics, lifting barrels with their teeth and other exercises. Shortly afterwards, De Castro and Dikembé formed a vocal duo, and would sing for small auditoriums at funerals and other rituals.
But that changed when Luis Montês caught De Casto performing at the N’gola cinema in Luanda. Montês would go on to arranged for De Castro to perform at the “Kutonoca”, a programme of popular music that occurred on Saturdays in different districts of the capital.
In a career that only lasted five years, De Castro recorded over fifty songs. He also was able to record with the best known groups existing at the time – Os Kiezos, Jovens do Prenda, África Ritmos, África Show, Super Koba and Águias Reais.
When Portugal’s Carnation Revolution happened in 1974, there was a sudden withdrawal of administrative and military personnel from Portugal’s overseas colonies. As a result, Angola would enter into a decades-long civil war. During this time, De Castro illegally moved to Congo-Brazzaville. Upon his return to Angola, he joined the anti-Communist Union for the Total Independence of Angola political party.
On May 27, 1977. Urbano De Castro was killed by members of the opposing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola party that has ruled the country since its independence.
The song “Revolução De Angola “ was included in Buda Musique’s “Angola 70’s: 1974-1978“ compilation, and three of De Castro’s songs were on the “Soul of Angola Anthology: 1965-1975” on Lusafrica.
Catalog number R:- 1003 on Rebita, pressed by Fadiang (also known as Rádio Reparadora do Bié) in Silva Porto for Discoteca de Angola in Luanda. No release date listed.
Filed under: Japan
When The Ventures returned to Japan in January 1965, they had become household names. The impact of their music on Japanese teenagers was enormous. Unhindered by the language barriers inherent in performing American or British vocal music, hundreds of Eleki (Japanese English for “electric”, as in electric guitars) combos sprung up all over the country.
Domestic guitar manufacturers such as Guya couldn’t keep up with the demand, so companies usually associated with other industries such as Victor (better known as JVC in the U.S.) began producing electric guitars. In 1965, 760,000 guitars were made in Japan, a record that has yet to be broken.
All I can tell you about The Spacemen is that they recorded a handful of singles (most of which you can view here), and at least three albums (one of which you can listen to here). If you any information about the band, please contact me.
Catalog number JAEP-6 on JVC Nivico. No release date listed.
Filed under: Sudan
Abdel Karim El Kabli (also seen as Abdel Karim Al Kabli) is from Sudan.
Sudanese music is based on the pentatonic scale: scale with five notes to the octave, like the black notes in the piano (in contrast to an heptatonic, seven note, scale like the gypsy or Egyptian scale). It is similar to the Scottish, Chinese and Puerto Rican music. Celtic folk music, American blues music also utilize the pentatonic scale music. Well, here… I’ll let Abdel Karim El Kabli explain.
Contemporary Sudanese music might be a potpourri of diverse traditions, but it has emerged as a unique blend, with a character all of its own. It is rooted in the madeeh (praising the Prophet Mohamed in song). The genre filled out into something quite irreverent in the 1930s and 1940s when Haqibah music, the madeeh’s secular successor, caught on. Haqiba, a predominantly vocal art in which the musicians accompanying the lead singer use few instruments, spread like wildfire in the urban centres of Sudan. It was the music of weddings, family gatherings and wild impromptu parties. Haqibah drew inspiration from indigenous Sudanese and other African musical traditions in which backing singers clapped along rhythmically and the audience joined in both song and dance. The lead singer’s incantations induced a trance-like experience in which spectators swayed along to the rhythm of the beat. The Sudanese music influence can also be heard in neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia, Somalia, Chad and Eritrea.
Musical instruments in Sudan vary from chordophone instrument such as tambour which is the most common instruments used throughout Sudan. Rabbabah (a stringed bowl-shaped lyre. Its strings determine the available pitches, and its tone depends on the musician playing technique. Bowing, plucking or strumming will yield a harmonious rhythm), um kiki (woodwind instrument) other kinds of such instruments used in Ingasna (now known as New Sudan) and Kassala regions. Percussion instruments such as drums are also common in the Sudan, the nuggara (west Sudan) the taar (Northern and Eastern Sudan) and the dalouka (Eastern and Central) are all names of drums. Sudanese play also other instruments such as lute or oud, as well as western instruments especially in modern Sudanese pop-music, such as accordions, saxophones, electric guitars, basses, violins, banjos are often used.
Abdel Karim El Kabli was born in 1933 in Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, moving to Khartoum at the age of 16 to attend Khartoum Commercial Secondary School. Having taught himself first the penny-whistle and then the oud and shetern (small drum), he would eventually go on to study Sudanese folk music and Arabic poetry at the University of Khartoum. Although he took a position as a courts inspector for the clerical division of the Sudanese judiciary, following his graduation, he continued to be fascinated by music.
El Kabli first gained popularity, when he wrote Sukkar, Sukkar (Sugar, Sugar) in 1962, a take on the Twist, the dance craze he had just encountered in England, and which he claimed could be traced back to the Zār ritual in Sudan. Soon after his success, he went to live in Saudi Arabia for a few years in the late 1970s. Having found financial security but little creative impulse he returned to Sudan, his primary source of inspiration.
His role in rediscovering and collecting Sudanese folklore has since brought invitations to lecture at academic institutions and perform at cultural events in many countries. Although like most Sudanese his songs are mainly about love, his lyrics increasingly tackle issues of social and human concern. The avuncular poet, composer and folklorist, now in his mid-sixties, has become a walking encyclopaedia of the musical heritage of north, east and central Sudan. El Kabli embraces both colloquial and classical styles, and is equally beloved by academics and ordinary Sudanese. Gifted with a finely-pitched audio memory, which allows him to learn songs after hearing them only a few times, he has built a repertoire of hundreds of traditional Sudanese songs.
Abdel Karim El Kabli is still recording and performing throughout the world. He has a website and he also has a profile on Facebook.
Catalog number 1004 A_B… No record company listed. Produced by Levon Keshishian, who was an Armenian working for the United Nations as correspondent of the Sudan News Agency. No other information available.
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UPDATE: 12/16/23: Since I get asked about this record A LOT, I decided to upload the entire album. You can find it HERE.
Filed under: Sri Lanka
Lalith Mendis was from Sri Lanka.
Officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, the country was known as Ceylon before 1972. Sri Lanka is an island nation in South Asia, located less than 20 miles off the southern coast of India. It is home to around twenty million people.
Because of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia, and has been a center of Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times. Today, the country is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation, with more than a quarter of the population following faiths other than Buddhism, notably Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. The Sinhalese community forms the majority of the population, with Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, forming the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include the Muslim Moors and Malays and the Burghers.
I have been unable to find any information about Lalith Mendis. He may have been related to Maxwell Mendis (who produced this single) and may have been in the Mendis Foursome. If you know anything about him please contact me.
Catalog number O.M.E. 2024 on Gemtone. No other information available.
Filed under: Liberia
J. Geron was from Liberia.
The name Liberia denotes “liberty” as freed slaves moved to Liberia in 1822, who founded the country in 1847 with the support of the Government of the United States creating a new ethnic group called the Americo-Liberians. However, this introduction of a new ethnic mix compounded ethnic tensions with the sixteen other main ethnicities. Since 1989, Liberia has been in a state of flux witnessing two civil wars, the First Liberian Civil War (1989 – 1996), and the Second Liberian Civil War (1999 – 2003).
The musical heritage of Liberia includes several genres of pop derived that from countries’ neighbors like Ghana and Nigeria, most notably Highlife. Highlife is a musical genre that originated in Ghana and spread to Sierra Leone and Nigeria in the 1920s and other West African countries. It is usually characterized by jazzy horns and multiple guitars which lead the band.
I have been unable to find any information about J. Geron. If you know anything about him please contact me.
Catalog number 45 / 1 / A on ABC Monrovia of Liberia, released 1975. No other information available.
Filed under: Brunei
Hussein J. Tuah was from Brunei.
According to Merv Espina, Brunei was “one happening joint” back in the Sixties, and was very cosmopolitan. Merv has been researching the sole product of Brunei’s film industry, Gema Dari Menara (Voice from the Minaret), which was produced in 1968. Apparently the film features a few bands and exotic dancers. But much like that film, the music scene is Brunei has almost no information…
From what I have been able to find, it appears that all of the musicians from Brunei went to Singapore to record, and there was only one label that issued records by Bruneian artists. I did manage to find a little bit about Hussein J. Tuah & D’Acrobats’ J. B.’s is Management / Label: Times Record Company:
Around 1960’s in Singapore, Times Record was a record company which released Malaysian EP’s and LP’s, on labels such as Olympic, Eagle, Sea Lion, etc. There record labels had competition with international recording companies such as EMI and Philips. In the 1960’s there were many artists and singers and records under Times management, so audience can listen them.
D’Acrobats’ J. B. were from Johor Baharu, Malaysia. They released a handful of other singles as the backing band for other Malaysian singers such as Yusoff Ahmad and H. Anuar for the Universal Label.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number T.R.C. 1032 on Olympic Records of Singapore. No release date given.
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I recently received some more information from Merv Espina. His name is actually Hj. Tuah, and not J. Tuah. The big H in on the cover was a stylistic graphic design choice. You can see it on his first single, which was released on the SOR Records label of Singapore. Hussein worked as a teacher, and one of the subjects that he taught was English. He continued singing, and became a popular patriotic singer.
Filed under: Uzbekistan
BИA «Ялла», which translates to Yalla (also seen as Jalla), was from Tashkent, which is the capital of Uzbekistan.
Officially known as the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikas orЎзбeкиcтoн Pecпyблиacи), it is one of only two countries in the world that are doubly landlocked. Located in Central Asia, Uzbekistan was formerly part of the Soviet Union, and it shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south.
Formed in the early 1970’s, the members of Yalla are graduates of the Ostrovsky Theatrical Art Institute and the Ashrafi State Conservatory in Tashkent. They are not Russian but Uzbek, a Turkic nationality from the crossroads of the ancient Silk Road. The group, whose name is an Uzbek word for a song accompanied by dancing, has become a popular icon in Uzbekistan, frequently serving as cultural ambassadors to international festivals or meetings abroad. Their music incorporates traditional ethnic folk tunes and poetry of Uzbekistan and other Central Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, along with contemporary pop and dance influences. They perform songs in more than 10 languages, including Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Nepali and French as well as Uzbek and Russian.
Yalla has appeared on Soviet national television as well as performing in Moscow and elsewhere in the Soviet Union, and on concert tours in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, including featured appearances at the “Voice of Asia” festival in Kazakhstan. The band has been named “State Merited Chamber-Instrumental Ensemble” (a musical equivalent to poet laureate), and winner of the Lenin Komsomol Prize of Uzbekistan. Also, Farrukh Zakirov, artistic director of Yalla and composer of many of their songs, was elected to Uzbekistan’s national parliament.
Members of Yalla:
Farrukh Zakirov – artistic director, composer, vocal
Rustam Iliasov – arranger, vocal, bass guitar
Abbos Aliyev – arranger, tan-buzuk, rubab, oud, vocal, keyboards
Javlon Tokhtayev – vocal, guitar
Alishier Tulyaganov – vocal, percussion, doira, tabla
Ibraghim Aliyev – percussion, darbuka, kairok-tosh
In 2000, Yalla released Beard of the Camel on the Seattle based Imagina Productions.
Catalog number ГOCT 5289-80 C62-17473 on the Soviet state-owned and operated Μелодия (Melodiya) label. No release date listed, but I believe that “Зaпись 1981” may be the copyright date…
Filed under: Mali
♬ Wara
Les Ambassadeurs Du Motel were from Mali.
Present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire (from which Mali is named), and the Songhai Empire. In the late 1800s, Mali fell under French control, becoming part of French Sudan. Mali gained independence in 1959 with Senegal, as the Mali Federation in 1959. A year later, the Mali Federation became the independent nation of Mali in 1960. After a long period of one-party rule, a 1991 coup led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state.
With the coming to power of Mali’s second president, Moussa Traoré, however, Cuban music was discouraged in favor of Malian traditional music. Biennale festivals were held to encourage folk music. Old dance bands reformed in many cases, under new names, as part of this roots revival. Especially influential bands included Tidiane Koné‘s Rail Band du Buffet Hôtel de la Gare, which launched the careers of future stars Salif Keita and Mory Kanté.
Not all bands took part in Traoré’s roots revival, however. Les Ambassadeurs du Motel formed in 1971, playing popular songs imported from Senegal, Cuba and France. Les Ambassadeurs and Rail Band were the two biggest bands in the country, and a fierce rivalry developed. Salif Keita, perhaps the most popular singer of the time, defected from the Rail Band to join Les Ambassadeur in 1972.
In 1974, a “battle of the bands” concert between Les Ambassadeurs and Rail Band was held in Bamako to decide who was the most popular group. A concert was organised and both bands were instructed to write a new song for the event. The Ambassadeurs du Motel performed “Kibaru” (which promoted a literacy campaign organized by the national government), and by all accounts the audience went wild. The concert produced no clear winner on the day and it was officially declared a draw. Salif and Kanté Manfila recorded a further two LPs with Les Ambassadeurs du Motel before forming Les Ambassadeurs Internationaux.
Catalog number SAF 50014on Sonafric of France, released 1976.
Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe 
