Filed under: India
♬ Escape
The Mustangs were from India.
The majority of the music produce in India, is either Filmi or Classical.
Filmi is the music of India’s film industry, the most well known is the Hindi music of Mumbai (formely Bombay, and refered to as Bollywood). But since there are 23 official languages in Indian, there are many other studios, most notable are Tamil in Kodambakkam, Telugu in Hyderabad, Malayalam in Kerala, and Kannada in Karnataka as well as others.
The two main streams of Indian Classical music are: Hindustani music from North India and Carnatic music from South India. The prime themes of Hindustani music are Rasleela (Hindu devotionals) of Krishna and Nature in all its splendour. Carnatic music is similar to Hindustani music in that it is mostly improvised, but it is much more influenced by theory and has stricter rules. Classical music of India is best represented by such musicans as Ravi Shankar, L. Subramaniam, Ali Akbar Khan and Ustad Vilayat Khan.
But popular music that falls outside of the film industry and Classical music, is not very common in India. You could probably count the number of rock ‘n’ roll records released during the 60’s and early 70’s on one hand. And most of that were covers of American and British songs, as can be found on the Simla Beat records of 1970 and 71.
I have not been able to find any information about The Mustangs. It says that it was written by Danny Hamilton (which doesn’t sound like an Indian name to me, but who knows?).
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number 45-POPV. 8086 on HMV of India. No release date listed.
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Since this posting, I have been contacted by Taras Mohamed, who’s father was in the band. The band did release one other single, which had four songs on it. Also, The Mustangs are reuniting a performance in Bangalore in January 2010.
Filed under: Cambodia
Anyone even vaguely familiar with the music of South East Asia, has most likely heard of Sinn Sisamouth, who was from Cambodia.
It is not known how many songs that Sinn Sisamouth recorded during his lifetime, but from 1972 to 1973 alone he published 500 songs. And that number does not include the songs he did for movie soundtracks or the duets he recorded with Ros Sereysothea and Pan Ron. The total number is estimated in the thousands, including many of which that were never released and only have recently been discovered.
Besides being an accomplished songwriter, he was also a composer as well. He was known to use the Mandolin to search for rhythms to songs he was thinking of composing, and only later did he match lyrics to these rhythms. He was also known to have utilized up to three different dictionaries in searching for just the right word in the Khmer, Sanskrit or Pali language to include in his songs.
His fame and success led His Royal Majesty Treyany to ask him to work for the king’s band, which he did until the coup d’état against Cambodia’s royal government in 1970. He then joined the Ministry Band of the Khmer Republic.
When the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, along with the millions of other residents, Sinn Sisamouth was forced to leave the city. But he later decided to return, due to health problems with his second wife and to see if he could work for the Khmer Rouge government, then known as Democratic Kampuchea. That is the last known information of the life of Sinn Sisamouth…
There are many rumors concerning his death. It is not known for certain that he died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, but some people suspect that the Khmer Rouge may have killed him along the road between Wat Champa and Phnom Penh, since most Cambodians who tried to return to Phnom Penh were killed. Only industry workers who possessed skills useful to the Khmer Rouge were spared; but when they outlived their usefulness, they too were butchered. Before the Khmer Rouge killed him, some people claim Sisamouth requested he be allowed to sing a song. He expressed himself as sincerely as possible through his music, but the Khmer Rouge soldiers were unmoved, and, after he finished singing, they killed him anyhow.
Of Sinn Sisamouth’s three living children, only one has decided to make singing a profession. Sin Chaya, Sisamouth’s son, is currently a singer for the Cambodian Radio. He himself admits, however, that his singing cannot compare to that of his talented father. The only thing Sin Chaya claims to have inherited from Sisamouth was the desire and destiny to be a professional singer.
For more information about Sinn Sisamouth, go to his biography at GoKhmer.com. And for more of his music, go to KhmerRocks.com.
Catalog number 45-5044 on Wat Phnom Disques of Cambodia. No release date listed.
Filed under: Dahomey
Mêlomê Clément et L’Orchestre Poly-Rythmo were from Cotonou, Dahomey, which is now known as Benin.
No one knows for sure how many records that l’Orchestre Poly-Rythmo released, but it is estimated at round 50 albums and 100 singles. To say that they were prolific in nearly forty years of existence is an understatement.
Here is an excerpt of the liner notes to the Soundway Records compilation “The Kings of Benin Urban Groove 1972 – 80”, written by Miles Cleret:
The original band, which was to become the T. P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo (T. P. stands for ‘tout puissant’, meaning ‘all powerful’ or ‘all mighty’), formed in 1966 in Coutonou. The three original members of this first band were Mêlomê Clément, Eskill Lohento and François Hoessou. They were soon recognized by a local promoter and bandleader Mr. Wallace Creppy, and became based at the ‘Canne Au Sucre’ nightclub in Cotonou…
Times were hard for bands that didn’t have a sponsor in West Africa in the late sixties and early seventies. Musical instruments were expensive, imported items that cost more than the average musician could afford. Eventually, their luck changed and a local businessman, Séidou Adissa, stepped in and equipped them with everything they needed and a new era in their fortunes began. Adissa became their ‘guardian angle’, and it was during this period that they recorded almost exclusively for the Cotonou-bases Albarika Store label. Albarika Store was a record store that also released a lof of folk and traditional music, first on 45s in the early seventies, and then on a series of LPs. One of the bonuses of living only a stone’s throw across the border from the Nigerian capitol of Lagos was the ability to make full use of the best recording studios in the whole of West Africa, as well as the best and most up-to-date record-cutting and pressing facilities. During the early seventies the band cut a whole string of 45s in Lagos at the EMI studio for the Albarika label, and by the sound of it they also soaked up much of the Afro-soul and funk crazes going on there at the time. Along with groups like the Orchestre Les As, The Black Santiagos and Gnonnas Pedro, Poly-Rythmo enjoyed a special musical mix: they were geographically close to two Anglophone countries, but were in many ways culturally close to their slightly more distant Francophone cousins (this despite sharing tribal links with both Togo and Nigeria brought about through the legacy of colonial acquisition). However, bands from Benin always retained a very unique culture of their own.
As of 2006, T. P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo were still active, with Mêlomê Clément being the only surviving original member. There is an extensive interview with him in the liner notes that accompany the amazing African Scream Contest compilation on Analog Africa. Also, at the Analog Africa site, there are two unreleased songs that you can check out here.
Catalog number LA 741 on Aux Ecoutes of Dahomey. No release date listed
Filed under: Algeria
Les Abranis (a.k.a. El Abranis) was founded in Algeria by Karim Abranis in 1967.
Karim, as well as his bandmates Shamy Elbaz, Chemini Abdelkader, Arezki Barroudi and Hachemi Bellali were of the Amazigh ethnic group of Northwest Africa and they sang in the Tamazight language.
In 1973, Abranis went to Algiers to take part in the first “National Festival of the Song” and won the grand price for that year. Soon after, they had an appearance on Algerian television, and were popular across Algerian. They even porduced two Scopitone music videos for both songs from their first single.
Karim Abranis still performs in and around Northern Africa and Europe. He even has a website, with more information and pictures: Abranis.com.
Thank you to Anis Bousbia for the additional information.
Catalog number BEP 115 on Bordj el Fren of France. There is no release date given, but judging from the information on the Abranis website, this was released between 1973 and 1978.
Filed under: Thailand
♬ โอษิปอด
Sodsai Chaengkij was from Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit, which most people know simply as Bangkok, Thailand.
I have not been able to find any other information about Sodsai other than what was printed in the liner notes of the first two volumes of the Thai Beat A Go Go compilations that she was featured on:
The cute Sodsai Chaengkij had a prolific record output during the 60s and was the most popular singer in Bangkok where she frequently appeared at the famous Lolita Night Club on Rajdamnoen Avenue.
Thanks to Mr. Sompong Houdjung for translating the titles for me.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number SPC-3016… I think that the name of the record label is Metro, but all of the information is in Thai except that it was recorded at the Somchai Studio.
Filed under: Cameroon
Pierre Didy Tchakounte And The Black Tulips were from Cameroon.
Cameroon, a German colony at the time of World War I, was split among the French and British as war spoils after the defeat of Germany. In 1960, French Cameroun became an independent republic, merging with the southern part of British Cameroons in 1961 to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. It was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972, and the Republic of Cameroon or République du Cameroun in 1984
During the 1960s, modern makossa developed and became the most popular genre in Cameroon. Makossa is a type of funky dance music, best-known outside Africa for Manu Dibango, whose 1972 single “Soul Makossa” was an international hit. Outside of Africa, Dibango and makossa were only briefly popular, but the genre has produced several pan-African superstars through the 70s, 80s and 90s. Following Dibango, a wave of musicians electrified makossa in an attempt at making it more accessible outside of Cameroon.
Apparently Pierre Didy Tchakounte became an actor later on, and starred in a film called Suicides that was produced in Cameroon in 1983.
Catalog number EM2709 on Editions Makossa, licensed from Sonafric and distributed by African Record Center, Ltd of New York City, released in 1973.
Filed under: Turkey
Rana Alagöz was from Turkey.
Turkey has a long tradition of musical talent to begin with, and being 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 anyplace else. In the last few years there has been a few great compilations and a handful of albums that have been re-issued.
Here is a really good overview of the evolution of the music scene in Turkey, written by Gökhan Aya:
Turkish rock’n’roll scene started as early as 1956 and blossomed by the arrival of The Shadows. It is very important to underline the influence of The Shadows because the missing essence which held the rock music from being popular in the first years was the problem of language. As Turkish did not have any roots in relation to English it was really very hard to understand what rock’n’roll was all about. The Shadows served very good as the nation was very used to listen to instrumental music. It also should be noted that 60’s marked very rapid changes in Turkey: year by year general level of culture was increasing, by 1961 the most democratic period of country started and by every year, as far music’s concerned, record sales were geometrically multiplying.
The Shadows reigned heavily until The Beatles came along and that blew up everything! There was such a blasting of bands that one of the biggest national newspapers called Hürriyet decided to organise a big contest that would help the young amateur bands have their names heard throughout the country. But, what the contest organisers wanted was interesting: the musicians who wanted to attend the contest had to either compose songs in Turkish or arrange a traditional tune. Also they had to perform this in a western style with electric western instruments! The ones who ware finalists ware to perform live In many cities that the newspapers arranged a tour for them. If Altin Mikrofon had not been assembled, we wouldn’t likely to be talking about 60’s & 70’s Turkish rock scene.”
This song is from her first single, which was part of the Altin Mikrofon (Golden Microphone) contest from 1967, which she won 3rd place. She was backed by her brother Selçuk’s band, who was also a well know musician in Turkey.
There is plenty more information and pictures of Rana and Selçuk are avaliable at the Psyche Van Het Folk website.
Catalog number H-021 on Altin Mikrofon of Turkey, released 1967.
Filed under: Hong Kong
♬ Man-li
The New Wave were from Hong Kong.
After the First Opium War, Hong Kong became a crown colony in 1843. The first urban settlement was named Victoria City. The Kowloon Peninsula south of Boundary Street and Stonecutter’s Island was ceded to the British in 1860 under the Convention of Peking after the Second Opium War. Various adjacent lands, known as the New Territories (including New Kowloon and Lantau Island), were then leased by Britain for 99 years, from 1 July 1898 to 30 June 1997.
The New Wave were apparently a creation of their record label, New Wave Record Company, were most likely comprised of studio musicians. I have not been able to find other information about this recording.
Thanks to Mack at Far East Audio for translating the titles for me.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number NWLP 5, released by the New Wave Recording Company of Hong Kong. No date given.
Filed under: Madagascar
Les Jockers were from the island nation of Madagascar which is in the Indian Ocean, off the eastern coast of Africa.
I have not been able to find anything about the band. If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number 466 499 on Discomad records of Diégo-Suarez. No date listed, but the name of the city Diégo-Suarez was changed to Antsiranana in 1975… No other information is available.
Filed under: Iraq
Munir Bachir was born in Mosul, Iraq in 1930, into a long established family of musicians. His father thought him to play the oud at a very young age. He then spent six years studying at the Baghdad Institute of Music, directed by Sharif Muhiddin. Later, he completed a doctorate of musicology in Budapest.
He is most known for having created a completely different playing style of oud in Iraq, but also to that of other Arabian states. His style is composed of elements from Flamenco guitar playing, and also from the tradition of Western Classical music.
Although I have read that Munir Bachir passed in 1997, I have also seen that he released a new recording with the Iraqi Traditional Music Ensemble (which he founded in 1981) that was released by Le Chant Du Monde in 2005.
For some reason, this song is the only song on this album that actually has oud on it. Also, you can tell this record was an attempt to appeal to a different audience than traditional Iraqi music.
Catalog number 2C 054 – 11.804 on Pathé Marconi / EMI, released 1974.
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