Amazing Thrift Vol. 1

During the 80's and 90's I did my spell of mix tape sending through the mails and one small self published label I discovered was OOH OOH MUSIC from Canton , Ohio. We exchanged a few things including this great series of AMAZING THRIFT tapes which were just very crackly recordings of records they had found in charity shops and flea markets - the sort of thing I was doing in Stepney back then. I eventually made a couple of AMAZING CHARITY SHOP tapes for OoH OoH Music around the mid 90's. They also did a themed series of tapes based on the names of the Seven Dwarfs, comprising mainly of local bands. This first volume was compiled by Mark Gunderson and Mary Jo Bole.
Here's the whole of side one for your listening pleasure.

The Hippie Version of Creation

From the LP "Hi God" - Giant Love Ball Song

Unknown - Muskrat Ramble

Unkown - Mr. World

Soviet Army Chorus & Band - It's A Long Way To Tipperary

Byron Lee & The Dragonaires - Shaving Cream


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Great Moments In Vinyl History

No vinyl at the boot sale today so going back to this cassette that a fellow blogger asked for. This on was on the Special Delivery label from 1988 and compiled by BBC DJ Andy Kershaw from rarities and session tracks he palyed on his show. Other artistes on the tape include Ted Hawkins & Billy Bragg, Orchestra Baobab, Kathryn Tickell and Dwight Yoakam. Here's what Andy says about each of the tracks I have selected, on the copious sleeve notes-

Barrence Whitfield & The Savages-

"Taken from Barrence's first LP, self released on Mamou Records in the States but never issued in Britain. It was this LP and particularly this track, loosely based on Donnie Jacob's Louisiana classic "If You Want Good Lovin' " that made me fly to Boston Mass. for the weekend to see The Savages live. One of the most thrillin' gigs I'll ever see."

S.E.Rogie-

"Rogie( formerly Rogers ) was a Sierra Leone pop star in the 60's - from where this floor filler was recorded. he was shrewd enough to open his own studio by having a tape recorder shipped from England and cut this tune with one microphone."

Makgona Ysohle Band-

"Tough-as-a-two-bit-steak sax jive from South Africa's popular intrumentalists."


Barrence Whitfield & The Savages - Walkin' With Barrence

S.E.Rogie - Twist With The Morningstars"

Makgona Tsohle Band - Duba Duba"


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Delicatessen

A charity shop cassette of the soundtrack from that wonderful film "Delicatessen" - probably my second favourite french film, only surpassed by "Amelie" which was also made by the same director. All Jean-Pierre Jeunet's films are fantastic and this surreal black comedy is one of the best.

"Delicatessen (1991) was financed on the success of Foutaises by long time collaborator and Betty Blue producer Claudie Ossard. The budget was twenty million francs, quite a high gamble for a debut. The money was well spent, you can see every centime on the screen. The plot: a house with a menagerie of tenants and a deli below. A butcher with a beautiful but myopic cello playing daughter. Meat is on everyone's mind and it's these tenants that may supply it, as dinner. Grain is the currency. Everyone is out to survive the best way that they can. Send in the clown, Louison (Dominique Pinon), looking for a room in exchange for handyman work. It soon becomes very clear that he will be next on the menu if he doesn't stay ahead of the game. Fear not for the Troglodistes, an army of underground terrorist vegetarians, are on hand to save the day. Maybe.
The plot is superfluous to the relentless tide of set pieces. The films world-wide success is perhaps accountable to it's trailer which consists of one of the set-pieces in its entirety; it is also devoid of both subtitles and dialogue so your average cinema goer is not marginalised, until they've parted with their hard earned cash that is. It comprises the now famous bonking scene, where the creaking springs of the bed dictate the pace at which the entire household carries out its daily business and results in a truly catastrophic climax!
Jeunet and Caro enjoy exploring consequences, and mathematicians studying Chaos Theory could have endless fun investigating the probabilities of the various events occurring. The repercussions that result from a ball of string falling down the stairs have to be seen to be believed. There are also the Heath Robinson style devices which Amore, a particularly paranoid tenant, devises to bring about her suicide, which fail hopelessly at the very last moment.
Whilst the context of the film appears post-apocalyptic it could easily be placed in the rationed environment of post-war France. In this scenario modern ideals of everyone out for themselves meet a restrictive, old fashioned, yet community based society. The only time this oppressive, fog and grime ridden world is ejected is in the final shot, with our hero and heroine playing their respective instruments (her a cello , he his trusty saw) in the oil painting intensity daylight on the rooftop. It's almost heaven, and perhaps it is.
Visually the film is a masterpiece; the camera swirls and glides effortlessly yet the overall look is that of the 1940's French films it often alludes to. Carné, Renoir and Ophuls are clearly the inspiration behind Khondji's breathtaking cinematography. Ironically a great deal of this classical style visualisation was achieved using post-production video enhancement but hey, that's post-modernism for you. Khondji (who's photography on Se7en saved the Dr Phibes meets Silence of the Lambs plot) uses a high contrast almost sepia toned lighting to further heighten the sense of otherworldliness. "

Discover more about Jean-Pierre Jeunet at his officcial website HERE.


H.Manzi/M.Mores - Una Lagrima Tuya

P.Salvero - Bongo Bolero

Lonnie McIntire - Dreams Of Old Hawaii


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Louis Prima & Keely Smith

Another tape from the remaindered record stall at Brick Lane in the 90's on the Sarabandas label- made in Italy in 1987. Not sure of the dates of the recordings which seem to be from various parts of his Louis Prima's career.

"Louis Prima's career began in the early 1930's, playing jazz trumpet in the style of fellow New Orleans trumpeter Louis Armstrong. Prima led his own swing band throughout most of the 30's and 40's, and starting in the mid-50's, he spent the rest of his career as a Las Vegas style entertainer. But during the late 40's and early 50's, he played a style of music closely resembling what we call rock and roll today.

Louis Prima was not an imitator of early R&B. On the contrary, many early R&B artists copied Prima. He was one of the only white artists who consistently showed up on the R&B* charts in the mid and late 40's, and many of his songs were covered by black artists. For example, Wynonie Harris, Jimmy Preston, Roy Milton, Joe Morris, and Larry Darnell all made the R&B charts with covers of Prima compositions. Prima made the R&B* charts himself with "White Cliffs Of Dover," "Robin Hood," and "I'll Walk Alone," in 1944 and '45. It's no stretch of the truth to say that Louis Prima was one of the innovators of early R&B. Just as important, he was a superstar in the Italian community, and a major inspiration for the earliest Italian rock and roll artists, some of whom, such as Jimmy Cavallo, Sam Butera, and Pat The Cat, pre-date the entrance of rock and roll into the mainstream. Cavallos first R&B records were cut in 1951, Pat The Cat's were cut in 1952. Earlier still were some 1949 R&B recordings on the X label by a very young Sam Butera, who not only was inspired by Louis Prima in the 40's, but teamed up with him in the 50's and stayed with him for decades."

"Keely Smith was only 15 when she first saw Prima perform in New York City. The following summer, Prima played her hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, at the same time he was looking for a new female singer. Smith won the job on a more or less spur-of-the-moment audition, and recorded her first duets with Louis in 1949. Eventually they became romantically involved as well, marrying in 1953, and recording throughout the '50s, though they had their greatest success as one of Las Vegas' most successful stage acts.

When the singers were signed to Capitol, Prima stipulated that Smith get her own recording deal. Her subsequent Capitol albums were accomplished readings of popular standards, sometimes swinging mildly, although Smith seemed more comfortable with ballads. She and Prima left Capitol for Dot at the end of the '50s, and in 1961 she divorced him on grounds of extreme mental cruelty.

Smith would devote more time to her family as the '60s progressed, but she continued recording as a solo act. She made an entire album of Beatles songs (presumably not aimed toward the audience that bought actual Beatles records), and even had a Top 20 British hit in 1965 with "You're Breakin' My Heart." She made a comeback album in 1985 on Fantasy with I'm in Love Again, which featured accompaniment from top West Coast jazzmen Bud Shank and Bill Perkins."

Find out more about Louis Prima HERE at his official website.


Louis Prima & Keely Smith - Angelina/Zooma Zooma

Louis Prima & Keely Smith - Banana Split For My Baby

Louis Prima & Keely Smith - Basin St. Blues/Sleepy Time Down South


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Comic Cuts Vol. 2

While I'm in the cassette pile I might as well mention this one I found a few years back at Brick Lane. It's all novelty songs from the 20's and 30's by British Dance Bands like Ambrose and His Orch. Billy Cotton and the Western Brothers etc.
Its on the little known Old Bean Records and not sure of the release date.

Leslie Sarony.

"Leslie Sarony (January 22, 1897 - February 12, 1985) was an English entertainer, singer and songwriter. Sarony was born in Surbiton, Surrey and died in London.
He began his stage career aged 14 with the group Park Eton's Boys. In 1913 he appeared in the revue Hello Tango.
In the Great War, Sarony served in the London Scottish regiment in France and Salonika. His stage credits after the war include revues, pantomimes and musicals, including the London productions of Show Boat and Rio Rita.
Sarony became well known in the 1920s and 1930s as a variety artist and radio performer. He made a number of recordings of novelty songs such as "He Played his Ukulele as the Ship Went Down", including several with Jack Hylton and his Orchestra. He teamed up with Leslie Holmes in 1935 under the name The Two Leslies. The partnership lasted until 1946. Their recorded output included such gems as "I'm a Little Prairie Flower".
Sarony continued to perform into his eighties, moving on to television and films."

Jack Payne.

"British bandleader Jack Payne was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire on August 22, 1899; while serving as an aviator during World War I, he organized a series of dance bands to
entertain his fellow troops, and after the war continued performing in small group settings. In 1925, his six-piece band was tapped to appear at London's Hotel Cecil; by the end of the year, they were regularly featured on BBC remote broadcasts from the venue, and in 1928 Payne was named the radio network's Director of Dance Music. After four years with the BBC he quit his post, returning to the hotel circuit; in addition to appearing in the film Say It with Music, Payne also made a number of recordings, including a 1935 date with the noted jazz pianist Garland Wilson. He disbanded the group in 1937, retiring to his Buckinghamshire stud farm before forming a 20-piece big band the following year; in late 1939, Payne became the first British bandleader to perform for the troops in France. He resumed his BBC duties in 1941, remaining Director of Dance Music for five years before going to work as a disc jockey. Payne died December 4, 1969."


Harry Hudson's Melody Men - Clonk-Er-Ty-Clonk

Jack Hylton Orch. v. Leslie Sarony - Topsy Turvy Talk

Jack Payne & His BBC Dance Orch. - I"d Like To Find The Guy That Wrote The Stein Song


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

MGM Rockabilly Collection Vol. 2

The third cassette from the boot sale this week was this excellent rockabilly compilation released in 1981 on the MGM label. Nearly every track is a fine example of rockabilly from the late 50's including artistes such as Jimmy Swan, Bob Gallion and Bob Riley.

Conway Twitty.

"The son of a riverboat captain, Twitty (born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, September 1, 1933; died June 5, 1993) was born in Mississippi and raised in Helena, AR, where he learned to love not only country, but also blues and gospel. When he was ten years old, he joined his first group, the Phillips Country Ramblers, who occasionally performed on local radio. Despite his interest in music, he originally planned to become a professional baseball player. Jenkins was talented enough to be offered a contract by the Philadelphia Phillies, but he was unable to join the team, since he was drafted into the Army during the Korean War. While he was serving in the Far East, he sang with a country band called the Cimarrons. Returning to America in 1956, Jenkins still had an open offer to join the Phillies, yet he decided to pursue a musical career after he heard Elvis Presley."

Marvin Rainwater.

"He was born Marvin Percy Rainwater in 1925. After a stint in the Navy during World War II serving as a pharmacist's mate, he turned to music full-time. He had originally been a classically trained pianist, but after an accident had removed part of his right thumb, he turned to country music and soon learned to strum a guitar proficiently enough to accompany his singing and compose songs on it. After putting down roots in nearby Virginia, Rainwater quickly became a fixture on the Washington, D.C., area honky tonk circuit, putting together his first band featuring a young Roy Clark on lead guitar and himself decked out in buckskin jacket and Indian headband. His first recordings came through the auspices of Bill McCall at 4-Star Records. Picturing himself as a songwriter first and performer second, Rainwater was hooked up through McCall with Ben Adleman, a songwriter with a small studio. Rainwater recorded several song demos to be pitched to other artists through Adleman's and McCall's publishing concerns, only to see the demos poorly overdubbed and released at the height of his later fame on a myriad of dime-store budget labels like Crown and others too microscopic to mention."

Ron Hargrave.

"Ron Hargrave was born in New York in 1930 and was the son of vaudeville performers. At age six, he moved with his family to California, where he eventually aspired to a career in movies. In his early twenties, he began doing stunt work and getting bit roles in movies -- including 20th Century Fox's Vicki, a remake of I Wake Up Screaming -- and television, but his big break didn't come until he was drafted. While serving in uniform, he crossed paths with comic Lou Costello, who decided to take over managing Hargrave's career once he was back in civilian life. After a string of uncredited bit parts, he finally got a featured role, in the final Abbott & Costello film, Dance With Me, Henry (1956), playing Ernie, a ukulele-toting hipster who is always annoying the character played by Costello -- this gave him some very funny scenes with the two comedians and some good musical performance bits as well. Hargrave was later signed to MGM Records and recorded a handful of unsuccessful singles."

Conway Twitty - Long Black Train

Marvin Rainwater - Gamblin' Man

Ron Hargrave - Drive In Movie


These SendSpace files are available for seven days ot until exhausted.

Lonnie Donegan

Another cassette from the boot sale on Sunday. Lonnie with some famous chums roll out the old skiffle hits, all rocked up for the 70's. Amonst the luminaries involved are Rory Gallagher, Zoot Money, Ringo Starr and others.Released on the Chrysalis label in 1978.

"Lonnie Donegan was widely acknowledged to be the 'King Of Skiffle'. A situation that came about more by chance than by design for Donegan did not invent the music nor was he responsible for its introduction onto the British music scene. However, he was responsible for its popularisation and it is beyond doubt that he was the greatest influence on those musical performers who would follow him in the 1960s to bring about the 'beat boom', 'the group sound' and establish Britain as an important force in popular music.

Donegan was already an accomplished banjo player with the Chris Barber jazz band when the opportunity to provide a 'skiffle' break during the band's stage performances arose. One of the more popular numbers that Lonnie performed was 'Rock Island Line'- a song that he had taken from American bluesman 'Leadbelly' and provided with a new flavour of his own making. The issue of this number as a single proved so popular that Donegan had the temerity to ask Barber for a substantial raise. As Chris did not want to turn his band into a skiffle outfit the request was refused and Lonnie set out on his own.

With his energy and dazzling skills on the fret he was already a popular musician with audiences. This, together with his extrovert originality and humour, made him an even more popular recording artist. A long series of chart successes followed which inspired other competitive groups all over the country. Skiffle was sufficiently simple and cheap enough for any youngsters to get started. These would include some of the most famous popular musicians of the era."

Discover more about Lonnie Donegan HERE.

SWAPATORIUM: Lonnie Donegan Showcase


Lonnie Donegan - Rock Island Line

Lonnie Donegan - Have A Drink On Me

Lonnie Donegan - Ham And Eggs


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Tony Capstick

Found this cassette today at a bootsale with a few others for 25p. Always wanted an excuse to upload "Captick Comes Home" Which is a send-up of a commercial for a particular brand of wholemeal bread which was on television in the 70's and early 80's. Released in 1981.

"Capstick was born in Mexborough, near Rotherham, a town at the heart of a very conservative (although eternally Labour-voting) community, whose traditions he absorbed and then turned on with energetic glee. He went to school locally, and for as short a time as legally possible, but became a talented guitarist and a fine mimic.

He made a local name for himself singing at clubs and thrived on radio, starting a connection with BBC Radio Sheffield in the early 1970's, which was to last more than 30 years. Thanks to spirited station managers like Phil Sidey in Leeds, this often disdained arm of the BBC used its position, away from the controllers' gaze, to produce some wonderfully subversive radio. Capstick thrived on that.

He developed a range of other activities, folk-singing, telling long, bizarre Yorkshire stories in the style of an old-fashioned raconteur, in clubs and on south Yorkshire radio, and writing a local newspaper column.

Soon after, he married Gillian, a supermarket worker 18 years younger than himself. They made a base at Hoober, close to one of a collection of eccentric follies on the former estate of the Earls of Wentworth; an aspect of South Yorkshire that much appealed to Capstick, who enjoyed rural stately homes.

Tony Capstick was a radio genius and never achieved his full potential as an entertainer and broadcaster because he loved South Yorkishire so much, he never left the area to expand his career further. He will be sorely missed by the listeners of BBC Radio Sheffield, of which he had a massive following of loyal listeners who tuned in daily to enjoy his unique entertaining banter."

Tony Capstick - Capstick Comes Home

Tony Capstick - Radio Wassock (edit)

These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Moon Mullican

A great old Charly LP that was found on a remainder stall on Brick Lane . A compilation of his best tracks from the late 50's re-released in 1984.

"Aubrey "Moon" Mullican was born in 1909 in Corrigan, TX, a little more than an hour's drive north of Houston, to a family that owned an 87-acre farm that was worked (at least partly) by sharecroppers. It was one of them, a black blues guitarist named Joe Jones, who introduced Mullican to the blues before he was in his teens. Mullican's instrument of choice, however, was the keyboard: first the family organ, which had been bought so that his sisters could practice playing hymns, and later the piano. By the time he was 14, he was able to make 40 dollars -- a good deal more than a day's wages in 1923 -- for two hours of piano playing at a local café. Music was not only something he loved, but it offered a lot more renumeration than farming (or even overseeing land worked by tenant farmers) seemed to; it was also something that his father, a three-time-a-week churchgoer who regarded blues as the devil's music and the places where people listened to it as the devil's playground, despised. Thus at 16, Mullican left home for the big city of Houston. He made his living playing music and earned the nickname "Moon," which stuck for the rest of his life. During the mid-'30s, he joined the Western swing band the Blue Ridge Playboys, and moved from there to playing in Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers, as well as recording with the Sunshine Boys and Jimmie Davis.

Mullican's talents at the ivories were long established by the end of the '30s -- he played the piano like it was a part of him -- but he moved to the lead singer's spot in 1939 when Bruner recorded the pioneering country trucker song, "Truck Driver's Blues." He turned out to be every bit as good a singer as he was a pianist, with a stunningly expressive voice even if it didn't have an overly great range. This recording and the advent of the '40s heralded the busiest phase of Mullican's career, as he juggled a long-term association with Bruner, a stint in the backing band for Jimmie Davis during the latter's successful campaign for governor of Louisiana, and recording dozens of sides for Decca, RCA Victor, and Columbia Records. It was with King Records, however, beginning in 1946, that he came into his own as a recording artist, cutting a decade's worth of superb music, including a uniquely stylized version of "New Jole Blon" that was a hit in 1947, and the ballad "Sweeter Than the Flowers" in 1948. However, it was in the realm of hillbilly boogie that Mullican had his greatest influence, his versions of "Shoot the Moon" and "Don't Ever Take My Picture Down" pre-figuring rock & roll (especially Jerry Lee Lewis's brand of it) in tone and beat, if not youthful subject matter. In particular, the sides that Mullican cut with producer Henry Glover at King crossed over easily into R&B, though he was equally comfortable with pop standards, honky tonk, and traditional country. By the end of the '40s, he was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and found a national audience from its radio broadcasts, which helped propel the sales of his biggest hit, "Cherokee Boogie," in 1951. "

Discover more about Moon Mullican HERE.


Moon Mullican - Moon's Rock

Moon Mullican - Cush Cush Ky-Yay

Moon Mullican - The Wedding Of The Bugs


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Highlife Vol. 2

I seem to be rediscovering some old African records just lately and here's another found at Brick Lane in the 80's recorded in the 60's. It's on the Melodisc label who also ran the Blue Beat label who put out a lot of the early ska and r&b records by Prince Buster etc.

"Nat Atkins real name is Obafunsho Akinbayo, born in Nigeria, formed his own band in England and also plays with the Edmundo Ros Orchestra."

"Highlife, dance music played mostly in Ghana and Nigeria, represents one of the century's first fusions of African roots and western music, and before 1970, it ruled dancefloors across much of West Africa. Trumpeter and bandleader E.T. Mensah, born in 1919 in Accra, Ghana, formed his first band in 1930s and went on to be crowned the King of Highlife. The World War II era introduced American swing to the highlife mix, already a blend of Trinidadian calypso, military brass band music, Cuban son and older African song forms. In 1948, Mensah formed the Tempos whose songs in English, Twi, Ga, Fante, Ewe, Efik and Hausa seduced admirers as far away as England. In 1956, Mensah's career reached a peak when he performed with the great Louis Armstrong in Ghana. With the rise of Congolese music in the 1960s, highlife's golden era ended. But Mensah continued to perform, as did other top big bands, Jerry Hansen and his Ramblers International, and Uhuru. In the Tempos' wake came many guitar highlife outfits, including Nana Ampadu and his band the African Brothers as well as the City Boys and A.B. Crentsil. Nana now operates a recording studio where he produces releases for the African Brothers, the City Boys, and other highlife groups. Dr. K. Gyasi and his Noble Kings pioneered a sound called sikyi highlife, a lulling, wistful take on the classic dance music. Gyasi too still records, as does Kumasi-based sikyi highlife singer Nana Tuffour.

The glory days of highlife gave many Ghanaian musicians opportunities to move abroad. In the late '60s, the band Osibisa took their "Afro-rock" pop/highlife fusion to a warm reception in England, a harbinger of the world music phenomenon that would explode there a decade later. Highlife stars like Pat Thomas, George Darko, and C.K. Mann have all made the journey from country to city to foreign port-of-call. In Germany, a young singer called Daddy Lumba made his name in the German burgher scene, but now spends half his time in Ghana where his blend of highlife, hip-hop and dancehall reggae has earned him a strong youth following."

Discover more about Higlife music in Ghana HERE.

Nat Atkins & His Crazy Bees - Darling Don't Say No

Nigerian Union Rhythm Group - Calabao

Nat Atkins & His Crazy Bees - Somojele

These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Syd Barrett 1946 - 2006

Sad news yesterday about the passing of Syd who was the Pink Floyd for me until the drugs frazzled his brain and he became a shadow of his former self. The first Pink Floyd album is still my favourite. It brings back so many happy memories of a care free youth sullied only by the occasional pint of misty beer.

Discover more about Syd Barrett HERE


Pink Floyd - Scarecrow

Pink Floyd - Bike


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Africa Never Stand Still

After the last post some real African music now from a wonderful triple boxed set of cassettes I found the other day in the Red Cross shop for 60p! Its so jam packed full of the best and some obscure artists from all parts of the continent and includes folk like Salif Keita, Youssou N'Dour, Baba Maal.The Soul Brothers, Thomas Mapfumo, Ladysmith Black Mambazo etc.
It was released in 1994 on the Ellipsis label when interest in all things "Wolrd Music" were at it's height.

The excellent 46 page book enclosed is worth the 60p on it's own and I quote from it here-

"Pepe Kalle, from Zaire, became known to the general public through his work with the Kinshasa group Empire Bakuba before establishing his own form of soukous. His deep, throaty, vocal style was the perfect mix with Bakuba's high-energy Kinshas style of soukous where the voices and guitars are the main focus and the typical Congolese horns are held in the background."

"Abou Ouatt's group Le Zagazougou hails fromm the rural villages surrounding Abijan, the capital of the Ivory Coast. Established in 1990 by the sons and newphes of the late Mamadou Ouattara, the group play the rural traditions of the Dioula people. Ouattara, a Dioula originating fromm the country's central region of Dabakala but living in Soubre, was given an accordion by the missionaries and learned to play at local colonila trade fairs. He hones his skills playing shows mixing the local goombay (type of large drum) to beef up the sound of his accordion playing."

"Originally from Malawi, Robson Banda went to Zimbabwe to find work. After some time he came involved in a band which today has relaeased many successful albums. "Ngoma Ngairire" has been discribed as a "maximum mbira-style guitar workout ". Greatly influenced by fellow Zimbabwean Thomas Mapfumo , Banda has follwed his footsteps with his own style of chimurenga music. Influences of Zairean rumba can also be heard in much of his music."


Pepe Kalle & Nyboma - Nazingi Maboko

Le Zagazougou - Allah Ma Diana

Robson Banda & The New Black Eagles - Ngoma Ngairire


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Also check out The Misty Mr. Wisty over at Swapatorium.

Horst Wende and his Orchestra

An LP on the Polydor label from the 60's I would guess. Very little on the internet about Horst but he seems to have been a one-man world music machine back then with his Horst Wende Calypso Band, Horst Wende and His Accordion Band and also under the name of Roberto Delgado, doing latin covers throughout the 60's and 70's. This record is full of tunes from the townships of South Africa. I thought maybe he was South African but read elsewhere he was from Germany. Some of the tunes here were big hits by other people at the time- namely "Zambesi" by Eddie Calvert ( and his golden trumpet ) and other songs have been covered by artists who specialise in "exotica" or "lounge" music.

The sleeve notes tell us a bit about each song-

KWELA - This is an arrangement of a typical African melody heard in the cities. "Kwela" is a dance that originated in the native townships.

ALIBAMA - A favourite folk song of the Cape Coloured people that dates back to the time when the American sailing vessel "Alibama" called at Cape Town.


Horst Wende - Kwela

Horst Wende - Alibama


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Jerry Colonna

Slim pickings at the boot sale this week so back into the archives I go for these tracks by Jerry Colonna who I think I featured once before.

"Jerry was born Gerardo Colonna in Boston on September 17, 1904, of Italian immigrant parents. As a little boy he admired his grandfather's enormous moustache ("You could see it from the back!") so much that he often painted one on his upper lip with axle grease. As soon as he could manage it, he grew a "baffi" of his own. Jerry was extremely gifted musically, and he loved jazz, beginning as a drummer then finding his metier in the trombone."

Discover more about Jerry Colonna HERE.


Jerry Colonna - Balling The Jack

Jerry Colonna - Big Fat Minnie

Jerry Colonna - I Like, You Like


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Shankar-Jaikishan

An Oxfam shop buy from a couple of years ago, this Bollywood LP is all instrumentals and from two films "Mera Naam Joker" and "Bobby". Not sure of the dates of the films but this record was released in 1973.

"Shankar-Jaikishan were the greatest musical duo to have graced the world of Hindi cinema. So great was the impact of their creative genius that it had a lasting impact on the music of the Hindi films. Shankar-Jaikishan understood the taste of the masses, were able to cater to them, as well as moulded their tastes. No wonder then that during their tenure as music directors, they were exceedingly popular and 75 per cent of the films for which their scores were reounding hits - many have celebrated silver jubilees.

Shankar was born as Shankar Singh Raghuvanshi on October 15, 1922. His fathers name was Ram Singh Raghuvanshi, while Jaikishan was born as Jaikishan Dayabhai Paanchal on November 4, 1932 in Basanda, Gujrat. Neither Shankar nor Jaikishan were keen on education. Their schooling, as best, may be considered as scanty. Their love for music lured them away from any kind of systematic scholastic persuit.

Shankar's passion was the tabla. He learnt the fundamentals from Baba Nasir Khansahib. Through ceaseless practice and marathon riyaaz sessions, he mastered his skills and developed his own style. Jaikishan's interests were singing and playing harmonium. His first lessons in music were with Sangeet Visharad Wadilalji. He studied clasical music from Prem Shankar Nayak. On moving to Bombay, he studied under Vinayak Tambe. Shankar and Jaikishan, throughout their career, preferred their own favourite instruments: the tabla and the harmonium.

Shankar, initially joined a theatre group run by Satyanarayan and Hemawati. He then become a member of Prithvi Theatres, where he played the tabla and undertook minor roles in the company's plays. Jaikishan was on the lookout for a job related to music and Shankar introduced him to Prithvi thetres as a harmonium player. Susequently, they worked as assistants to the celebrated composer pair Husnlal-Bhagatram and imbibed much of their form and structure, which they successfully employed in a refined style. Shankar-Jaikishan both had a penchant for acting. Initially they happily undertook bit roles in Prithvi Theatres' plays, and, later they both played significant roles in the company's play Pathan. Shankar played a fisherman in R.K films Aag (1948), while Jaikishan acted in two films : Shri 420 (1955) and Begunaah (1957). The popular song 'Aei Pyaase Dil Bezubaan..' from the film Begunaah was picturised on him."

A Wikipedia write up about the film "Mera Naam Joker" HERE


Shankar-Jaikishan - Kehta Hai Joker

Shankar-Jaikishan - Jeena Yahan Marna Yahan


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Dr. Nico

Found in Brick Lane I think some years ago this "African" label LP from 1970 is called L'Afrique Danse No.10 and one assumes there were 9 other amazingly good albums released before this one! It's by Dr. Nico & L'Orchestre African Fiesta Sukisa and here is what Wikipedia has to say about him-

"Nicolas Kasanda wa Mikalay (1939 – 1985), popularly known as Dr. Nico was a guitarist, composer and one of the pioneers of soukous music. He was born in Mikalayi, Kasai province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He graduated in 1957 as a technical teacher, but inspired by his musical family, he took up the guitar and in time became a virtuoso soloist.
At the age of 14 he started playing with the seminal group African Jazz, led by Joseph "Grand Kalle" Kabaselle. He became an influential guitarist (Jimi Hendrix once payed him a personal visit while on tour in Paris), and the originator of the ubiquitous Congolese guitar style, acquiring nickname "Dr Nico". African Jazz split up 1963 when Dr Nico and singer Tabu Ley Rochereau left to form L'Orchestra African Fiesta, which became one of the most popular in Africa.
He withdrew from the music scene mid 1970s following the collapse of his Belgian record label, and made a few final recordings in Togo, not long before he died in a hospital in Brussels, Belgium in 1985."

Discover more about African music HERE.



Dr. Nico - Mokili Ya Nzambe

Dr. Nico - Fanta Daira


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