Filed under: Malaysia
♬ Setia
♬ Teroda
The Barons were from Johor Baharu, Malaysia.
Johor Baharu, also spelled Johor Bahru, Johor Baru, or Johore Bahru and abbreviated as JB, is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. It is within walking distance from Singapore, and is one of the largest cities in Malaysia.
I haven’t been able to find any information about the band. As far as I know, this is their only single. I do know that the band members were: Eluna Edrus on vocals, Azmi Mohamed Khir on lead guitar, Adnan Mohamed on rhythm guitar, Mohamed Matta Abdullah on bass and Aziz Mohamed Khir on drums.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number KSEP 5002 White Horse Record of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. No release date listed.
Filed under: Turkey
Gökçen Kaynatan was from Turkey.
Turkey has had a long tradition of musical influence. Since Turkey is Europe’s crossroads into Asia, the whole phenomenon of East-meets-West hybridization (in this case, traditional Anatolian folk and ’60s pop) makes for some amazing music that couldn’t come from anywhere else. In just the last few years, there has been a handful of great compilations and a number of albums that have been re-issued.
Gökçen started out in the early 60’s playing in the band Kara Kediler, and then with Somer Soyata Orkestrası. He was considered to be “the greatest show musician” and had a minor hit with The Shadows inspired song “Moda”. However, due to his frustration with young band members constantly leaving and returning, resulting in a very inconsistent band, he decided “to make music without human players”.
So, he became one of the first experimental electronic pop musicians and by the late 60’s he was performing live concerts in Istanbul. Gökçen apparently had access to the latest equipment from the Maestro catalog, including the Echoplex and Rhythm’n’Sound (both effects are featured promently on this song). He eventually went on to set up the first electronic music studio in Turkey, and worked with Baris Manço.
Later in the 70’s, Gökçen produced many unreleased recordings such as “Cehennem” (“Hell”), “Lost Island”, “Doann Otesi” (“Beyond Nature”), and “Angio” which describes a surgerical operation he had in 1979. Nowadays he makes Rock’n’Roll music with his old partners and works as an architect. He also has music performed, composed and arranged on the EMS synthesizer.
The A side of this single, “Pencerenin Paerdesini”, was on the “Hava Narghile: Middle Eastern Raga Rock Ala Turquie ’66-’75” compilation released by Bacchus Archives. I recently saw a copy of his other single from 1973: “Sihirbaz” b/w “Evren” on 1 Numara. Although the titles were different, the songs were the same (Pressing plan error?). He also recorded two other singles, one in 1963 and one in 1966.
Catalog number A.K. 07 on 1 Numara Records of Turkey, released in 1973.
Filed under: Cameroon
♬ Kekeh
Uta Bella was from Cameroon.
Officially know as The Republic of Cameroon, the country is a unitary republic of central and western Africa. It borders Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. The country is called “Africa in miniature” for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. Cameroon is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. The country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi. English and French are the official languages.
Despite the fact that Uta Bella recently released an album in 2006, I have not been able to find hardly any information about her. Even her label’s website has no mention of her… I was able to find out that she recorded two singles for Akue label, founded by Paris-based Togolese producer Gérard Akueson, in 1968 and 1969. The label also released singles by Jo Tongo (a.k.a. Jojo L’Explosif) and Orchestre African New Sound. Other than that, there was an album titled “Nassa – Nassa” in 1980.
Catalog number 45030 on Akue Records of France, released in 1969.
Filed under: India
♬ Kazi Aniruddha • Main Hoon Pyar Tera
♬ Kazi Arindam • Fever
The term “Bollywood” originally referred to Bombay’s (now known as Mumbai) Hindi language film industry. Although there are a number of other studios that produce films in other languages, more recently the definition has been expanded in the West to describe pretty much all films produced on the sub-continent. But where in most countries a film’s soundtrack would merely be used as a promotional tool for the film, in India film music has become an industry unto itself with playback singers and dance numbers. The music is just as important as the film and lives on long after the film has left the theaters. These songs are, for the most part, the pop music of India.
As with most popular music, other artists sometimes recorded cover versions of these songs. Of these musicians, a small number specialized in instrumental arrangements and created what could be called the elevator music of India. While there were a few who used the harmonium or ‘mouth organ’, the most popular instrument used in these “instrumental favorites” was the steel guitar.
The earliest known report of anyone playing slide guitar was Gabriel Davion, a native of India who had been kidnapped by Portuguese sailors and was brought to Hawaii in 1876. Of course, there are Indian string instruments like the gotuvadyam and the vichitra vina that utilize slide known to have existed since the 11th century. But it was not until Ernest Ka’ai and his Royal Hawaiian Troubadours’ toured in 1919 before the slide guitar was introduced to India.
Not much is known about Kazi Aniruddha, except that he was the youngest son of revolutionary Bengali poet and musician Kazi Nazrul Islam. He released about two dozen songs before his death in 1974. And with the exception of a handful of film tunes in 1984, all of Kazi Arindam recordings were of Tagore songs, many of which he did with violinist Debshankar Roy. Although, he did produce a couple of records by Dipankar Sen Gupta, another steel guitarist who records Bollywood tunes. Whether or not the two Kazi’s were related is something that I’ve never been able to clear up…
The song Main Hoon Pyar Tera by Kazi Aniruddha is included on the Bollywood Steel Guitar compilation on Sublime Frequencies. Van Shipley, S. Hazarasingh, Sunil Ganguly, Charanjit Singh, Gautam Dasgupta, as well as Kazi Arindam are also featured on the disc.
Catalog number S/MOCE 3022 EMI of India, manufactured & distributed by The Gramophone Company of India Limited in 1984.
Filed under: Thailand
Anyone who picked up the first volume of Subliminal Sound’s Thai Beat A Go Go compilation, was most likely amazed at the wild and crazy sounds coming out of their speakers. The first track entitled “Kratae” by Johnny Guitar is truly unlike anything Western ears had heard before.
Just one problem… That song is not “Kratae”, and the artist who recorded it was not Johnny Guitar. The song is “Klong Yao”, and it was recorded by Payong Mukda, also known as Pocket Music and later known as The Son of P. M.
The music of Payong Mukda, as well as Noparatana Tipayaosot (a. k. a. Johnny Guitar), was known as “Shadow Music”. The term was in reference to the British instrumental band The Shadows, who were quite popular throughout all of Asia. Recordings of this music were often billed as “Thai Modernized Music“, taking classic Thai compositions and mxing in elements of surf guitar, a-go-go music and other styles to create an entirely new form of music. Sublime Frequencies “Shadow Music of Thailand” compilation features tunes by P.M. Pocket Music, The Son of P.M., P.M.7, Johnny Guitar and Jupiter.
In 1991, Payong Mukda was honored with the National Artist award which is presented by the Office of the National Culture Commission in Ministry of Culture of Thailand. Here is a brief biography from their website:
Lieutenant Commander Payong Mukda was born in Ratchburi Province. He was an artist who composed more than one thousand country songs, popular songs, and modern-songs as well as influencing a number of new singers. He was awarded Golden Record Awards for his musical compositions for three years in a row. Apart from writing music and lyrics, he was also a singer who sang humorous songs and owned a band called Pocket Music. Regarded as a pillar of musical circles, he was invited to perform for the general public at the Or. Sor. Station, Chitrlada Palace. He was also one of the founders of a number of associations such as the Musicians Association of Thailand under the Royal Patronage of His Majesty the King. He was a musician who could portray the messages in his music, and he liked to offer consultation and guidance to music lovers. Besides this, his songs were beautifully crafted, both in terms of language and meaning, with valuable ethical and moral messages closely intertwined. As such, he was considered a role model for people who fought through life with perseverance as well as being a master of the Thai music industry.
Catalog number S. T. 021 on Satit Tra Khon Khu Records of Bangkok, Thailand. No release date given.
Enjoy
Filed under: Syria
♬ Nadia
Damascus Music Group were from Damascus, Syria.
Officially known as the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية ), Syria (Arabic: سوريا) is a country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north. The modern state of Syria was formerly a French mandate and attained independence in 1946, but can trace its roots to the fourth millennium BC. Its capital city, Damascus, was the seat of the Umayyad Empire and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Empire.
There is not a whole lot of information available about the music of Syria. The country has been fairly alienated by The West for quite sometime. Only recently has some music outside of the scope of traditional Classical Arab music is only just now beginning to show up on the Western radar with artists such as Hal Asmar Ellon and Omar Souleyman.
I have not been able to find any information about the Damascus Music Group, or their conductor Selim Sarwat. I do know that they released at least one other album. I was able to find a brief article on the label – Byblos:
Founded in 1966 by Mozart Chahine, the company Byblos Records specializes in traditional music of the World Near East. Long before the advent of World Music and enthusiasm of the public for this style, Byblos Records distributed throughout the world for the vocal and instrumental works by artists whose fame was largely beyond the borders, such as Munir Bashir, the teacher the oud or Nidaa Abu Mrad, the champion of Sufi music. Byblos Records do not forget the new generation less and produces regularly young composers who brings a touch of modernism to the repertoire of their elders, as Nabiha Yazbeck, Guy Manoukian or Omar Bashir. Byblos Records also continues to repeat beautiful recordings, originally on vinyl, which are moving testimony to the diversity of musical genres that prevail in Lebanon and the Arab world (classic hymns, dancing and mouachahat). Result, thirty CD, which are an invitation to discover the various facets of musical creation of the region.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number BL 904 on Byblos Records of Damascus, Syria, released 1977.
Filed under: Guinea
♬ Karangba
The National Horoya Band was from the West African nation of Guinea.
Guinea was created as a colony by France in 1890. The capital Conakry was founded on Tombo Island in the same year. In 1895 the country was incorporated into French West Africa. On 28 September 1958, under the direction of Charles de Gaulle, Metropolitan France held a referendum on a new constitution and the creation of the Fifth Republic. The colonies, except Algeria, which was legally a direct part of France, were given the choice between immediate independence or retaining their colonial status. All colonies except Guinea opted for the latter. Thus, Guinea became the first French African colony to gain independence, at the cost of the immediate cessation of all French assistance.
After independence Guinea was governed by the President Ahmed Sékou Touré. Some called Touré was considered a “Mao-style” socialist, while others called him a dictator. He applied his command-economy beliefs to the arts as well as to trade and agriculture. Under his leadership, Guinea joined the Non-Aligned Movement and pursued close ties with the Eastern Bloc.
Prior to the Guinea’s independence, most of the musicians working in Conakry’s top nightclubs and hotels were Europeans, playing French and American show tunes and dance music. Guinean musicians were found lower down the economic ladder, in neighbourhood dancehalls, but they too played a repertoire mainly made up of waltzes, foxtrots and Latin American dance tunes. The names of the leading Guinean bands – La Douce Parisette, L’Africana Swing Band, Le Harlem Jazz Band and Les Joviales Symphonies – speak for themselves.
Within months of achieving power, Sékou Touré’s Ministry of Culture disbanded all European-style bands in the country and directed their musicians to “return to authentic African rhythms and tunes”. The policy was called ‘Authenticité’ and Touré backed it up with state sponsorship of newly formed national and regional bands as well as the state owned record label Editions Syliphone Conakry. There were regular festivals at which the regional bands competed for national status. The best bands were awarded with the title Orchestre National and had the possibility to travel to Cuba to learn more about Afro-cuban music. At its peak, the state supported seven national bands.
‘Authenticité’ notwithstanding, the music played by the national and regional bands included some non-Guinean elements. Ghanaian highlife was a signifcant influence – E.T. Mensah And His Tempos Band toured Guinea within a few weeks of independence and were rapturously received – as was Cuban music, so hardwired into Guinean music, from which it largely derived, that even Touré couldn’t expunge it (and following the Cuban revolution of 1959, he probably felt he didn’t need to anyway). A little later, Congolese rumba was another heady infusion.
Woven into these imported influences was traditional Guinean music, uniquely rich in polyrhythms, mainly of the Manding and Foulah peoples. The synthesis was cool and loose-limbed, a relaxed but insistent dance style played in the main by ten-piece and bigger line-ups featuring vocals, three or four electric guitars, horn sections, balafons (xylophones), kit drums and traditional percussion.
After the death of Sékou Touré, this State support came to an end, concerts became rare and money for recording was not available anymore. Many bands eventually disintegrated as working conditions deteriorated.
Formed in 1961, the Horoya Band de Kankan won the best orchestra prize in 1967, 1968 and 1971 at the Quinzaine Artistiques Festival. They were nationalised in 1971. The band was led by Métoura Traoré (although for this single, both songs were written and conducted by Lansina Kanté). They recorded two albums and a handful of singles between 1969 and 1974, as well as a number of compilation appearances under either the name Horoya Band, Horoya Band National or National Horoya Band.
The majority of the information for this posting came from Chris May’s review of the compilation Authenticité: The Syliphone Years Guinea’s Orchestres Nationaux & Federaux 1965 to 1980 on Sterns Music which features the song “Karan-Gbegne” (which translates to ‘Maninka Whip’, the martinet of Koranic school teacher).
Catalog number SYL 546 on Editions Syliphone Conakry of Guinea, released 1972
Filed under: South Korea
♬ 안녕
Sisters Bae In Soon and Bae In Sook, were better know as The Pearl Sisters from South Korea.
South Korea, officially known as the Republic of Korea (Korean: 대한민국), is an East Asian country occupying the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. To the north, it is bordered by North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), with which it was united until 1945. To the west, across the Yellow Sea, lies China and to the southeast, across the Korea Strait, lies Japan.
The Korean people trace their nation’s founding back to 2333 BCE by the legendary Dangun Wanggeom. Archaeological research shows that the first Korean settlers have occupied the peninsula since the Lower Paleolithic period with territories expanding as far as mainland China and eastern Russia during the Gojoseon period, the first nation established by Koreans. Korea’s history has been turbulent at times with the last emperor of Korea dating back to the age of the Korean Empire. Since the establishment of the modern republic in 1948, South Korea has struggled with the aftermath of the Japanese control (1910-1945), the Korean War (1950-1953), and decades of authoritarian governments, undergoing five major constitutional changes. While the government officially embraced Western-style democracy from its founding, it was not until the December of 1987 that direct and fair elections were held and true democracy began to solidify.
The duo were originally introduced as the Kim Sisters by their mother Yi Nanyŏng, who was an actress and singer during the Korean War. It was Bae In Soon who picked up on the idea and after winning a contest at the U.S. Eighth Army stage show managed to enthuse her sister Bae In Sook to become the Pearl Sisters around 1968.
By the early 1970s, the Pearl Sisters were fairly popular, partly because they had the genius of composer – and Korea’s father of Rock ‘n Roll – Shin Jung-Hyun behind them. The album ‘My Dear’ (친애하는 1968), named after their best selling song, also included the hit ‘A Cup of Coffee’ (커피한잔). Other albums were called ‘First Love’ (첫 사랑 1969), and ‘Goodbye Rain’ (비 안녕 1970). But, by the mid 1970s the sisters could no longer stand each other, and split.
Younger sister, Bae In Sook, continued to sing into the ‘disco‘ era of the late 1970s until 1984. Bae In Soon, re-entered singing in 2004 with a brand new set of songs on her CD ‘A Cup of Coffee with My Song’.
Catalog number JLS-120346 on Jigu Records of South Korea, released 1969.
Filed under: Lebanon
To the best of my knowledge, Fawez was from Lebanon.
Lebanon (Arabic: لبنان), officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a small, predominantly mountainous country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Due to its sectarian diversity, Lebanon evolved a peculiar political system, known as confessionalism, based on a community-based power-sharing mechanism. It was created when the ruling French mandatory powers expanded the borders of the former Maronites Christian autonomous Ottoman Mount Lebanon district.
No official census has been taken since 1932, reflecting the political sensitivity in Lebanon over religious balance. The 2006 CIA World Fact Book, Lebanon entry, gives the following distribution: Muslim 58.7% (Alawite, Druze, Nusayri, Shi’a and Sunni), Christian 40% (Armenian Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Assyrian, Chaldean, Copt, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Syriac Catholic and Syriac Orthodox), and 1.3% of other religious sects.
As for Fawez, I have not been able to find any information. Both songs on this single were with the Orchestre Rahbani, and the song “Leila-Liela” on the flip side was written by Elias Rahbani. I even tried e-mailing Mr. Rahbani, but the message was returned undelivered.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number C 006-23 152 on Pathé / EMI, pressed in Belgium. No release date given.
Filed under: Gabon
Hilarion Nguema founded L’Orchestre “Afro Succes” in Gabon’s capital of Libreville in 1962.
Gabon, or the Gabonese Republic, is a country in west central Africa that gained it’s independence from France on August 17, 1960. A small population (less than two million), abundant natural resources, and foreign private investment have helped make Gabon one of the most prosperous countries in the region, with the highest HDI in Sub-Saharan Africa. But, the musical output is little-known in comparison with neighboring Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The music of Gabon is heavily influenced by the rumba, both the Cuban and Congolese, that was broadcast by Radio Belgian Congo, who formed the first modern orchestra of the country. It was not until the late 1960’s until musicians would take the Afro-Cuban rumba as well as jazz, rhythm ‘n’ blues and combine them with traditional Gabonese elements like “ndjembé” and “bwiti” to define their own sound.
I have not been able to find any other information on Hilarion Nguema, except for the fact that he released a handful of albums in the 1980’s and 90’s. If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number SAF 1666 on Sonafric Records of France. This record was originally released on the Ngoma label. No release date given
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