World music before world music

[Dayna]

I remember hearing some things about Dezi Arnaz, Lucy's husband. He was part of a Cuban band back in the 40s or 50s. I don't know if he was ever very famous himself or not though.

[will vine]

1) Those criss cross rhythms that explode with happines i.e. The first OSIBISA LP

2) Ba' La Fouche...........Champion Jack Dupree

3) Zorba's Dance

[Rob Hall]

Well, I'm well pissed off. Nobody takes any notice of anything I say:

There's also "Tom Hark" by Elias and His Zig Zag Jive Flutes, Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto, Zorba's Dance" by Marcello Minerbi.

Sukiyaki - Kyu Sakamoto

There's also "Tom Hark" by Elias and His Zig Zag Jive Flutes, Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto, Zorba's Dance" by Marcello Minerbi.

3) Zorba's Dance

You'll be telling me next that a Finnish band supported by a Russian choir playing an American tune isn't world music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lNFRLrP014

[Adam Blake]

Professor Longhair: "Longhair's Blues Rhumba" (1949)

[Adam Blake]

J.P.Lenoir: "I Sing Um The Way I Feel" (first record to overtly mix blues with West African rhythms) - what was the date on this one, Alan?

[taiyo no otosan]

I seem to remember some dollop of Italian slush called 'Vado Via' by Drupi. He even made it on to Top of the Pops. I was impressed by his greasy long hair and poor complexion: at last, I wasn't the only one who looked like that!

[taiyo no otosan]

Blimey - I just found this on youtube. I can't actually bear to watch it all the way through. Great shirt tho'.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IGCw0VWQPHs

[taiyo no otosan]

Has mentioned Zorba's Dance yet?




(Hi Rob!)

[judith]

Well, I'm well pissed off. Nobody takes any notice of anything I say:

There's also "Tom Hark" by Elias and His Zig Zag Jive Flutes, Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto, Zorba's Dance" by Marcello Minerbi.

Sukiyaki - Kyu Sakamoto

Now that you put it that way, boldly, I clearly see it now. I'm sorry, Rob. In the future, I will pay closer attention.

[uiwangmike]

"Never On Sunday", written by Manos Hadjidakis for the film of that name, became a hit with English lyrics in 1960. There's a version by the Chordettes on Youtube, but was the UK hit by Melina Mercouri? Anyway, I see it also won a Best Song Oscar. I seem to recall there was another Greek thing from a film a couple of years later.

[judith]

I seem to recall there was another Greek thing from a film a couple of years later.

do you mean this country and western line dance they do in Malaysia called Zorba?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aabSF4SVBU

[c hristian]

world music before world music. Don't you just mean cross-over music? Music from the beginning of time in all countries, where ever there is people. So, you just mean music from far away that crossed over, or that got to you or people around you?

[Neil Foxlee]

What we would now call 'world music' that crossed over in the UK and US before the term 'world music' became current (c. mid-1980s). As explained in a previous post, Jamaican music is a special case (in the UK at least) - I was thinking especially of African and Latin stuff, especially stuff that made the charts. Hope that's clearer, but you can always read earlier posts for examples.

In a separate thread, Charlie mentioned one - Guantanamera ("girl from Guantánamo" - ahem), the anthemic Cuban song, which crossed over via The Sandpipers.

Can I reiterate that I started out thinking of tracks for a virtual compilation, which (it now occurs to me) would consist of a) pre-1985 crossover hits from especially Africa and Latin America; b) the ORIGINALS of songs like Guantanamera, Peanut Vendor and Wimoweh that were covered by and became hits for UK/US artists. This would make for a historically interesting and listenable compilation (hence no Volare, for instance).

[Neil Foxlee]

From a post by Hugh Weldon in the Bert Berns thread:

I'm surprised Harry Belafonte hasn't been mentioned on that 'world music before world music' thread yet. By rights he should top the list. He brought Miriam Makeba and Nana Mouskouri to the States for the first time. Bob Dylan made his first professional recording (playing harmonica) on one of his records. He made calypso internationally popular (in a good rather than Lance Percival/Roger Whittaker way). Like Tony Benn he gets more radical as he gets older, he's already been to Venezuela to support Mr Chavez. There is a somewhat self-conscious following of the Paul Robeson path, but he is up there among the greatest of black artists for the sheer range of his achievement.

Thanks Hugh (though some credit to Wikipedia is due, it seems). The obvious track is Banana Boat Song.

[Neil Foxlee]

And we mustn't forget Perez Prado:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perez_Prado

"In 1950, arranger Sonny Burke heard "Qué rico mambo" while on vacation in Mexico and recorded it back in the U.S. as "Mambo Jambo". The single was a hit and Pérez Prado decided to profit himself from the success and tour the U.S. His appearances in 1951 were sell-outs and he began recording U.S. releases for RCA Victor.

Prado is the composer of such famous pieces as "Mambo No. 5" (later a UK chart-topper for both Lou Bega in 1999 and cartoon character Bob the Builder in 2001) and "Mambo No. 8". At the height of the mambo movement, in 1955, Pérez Prado hit the American charts at number one with a cha-cha version of "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White" (composed by the Frenchman Louiguy). It held the spot for 10 consecutive weeks. Prado had first covered this title for the movie Underwater! in 1954, where Jane Russell can be seen dancing to "Cherry Pink". In 1958, one of Prado's own compositions, "Patricia", became the last record to ascend to #1 on the Jockeys and Top 100 charts, both of which gave way the next week to the then newly introduced Hot 100 chart.

His popularity in the United States matched the peak of the first wave of interest in Latin music outside the Latino communities during the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. [...]

During his lifetime, a cast of musical luminaries passed through his orchestra. These included Cuban singer Beny Moré, trumpeter Pete Candoli, bongo and conga drummer Armando Parazo, percussionists Johnny Pacheco and Mongo Santamaria, and reedman (later bandleader) Rene Bloch."

Mongo Santamaria is another possibility (tho' his take on Watermelon Man wouldn't really qualify on my definition). Fun trivia:

"Santamaria inspired the stage name of Japanese actor Yusuke Santamaria. Additionally, his name is used as a pun in the film Blazing Saddles. When the character of Mongo entered a scene, a character cried, "Mongo! Santa Maria!"." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongo_Santamaria

Then you have boogaloo:

"Though boogaloo did not become mainstream nationwide until later in the decade, two early Top 20 hits came in 1963: Mongo Santamaria's performance of the Herbie Hancock piece "Watermelon Man" and Ray Barretto's "El Watusi". Inspired by these two successes, a number of bands began imitating their infectious rhythms (which were Latinized R&B), intense conga rhythms and clever novelty lyrics. Some long-time veteran Latin musicians played an occasional boogaloo number, including Perez Prado and Tito Puente, but most of the performers were teenagers like The Latin Souls, The Lat-Teens, Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers, Joe Bataan, Joe Cuba Sextet, and The Latinaires.

The older generation of Latin musicians have even been accused of initially using their influence to repress this youth-oriented movement. The term boogaloo was probably coined in about 1966 by Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz. The biggest boogaloo hit of the 60s was "Bang Bang" by the Joe Cuba Sextet, which achieved unprecedented success for Latin music in the United States in 1966 when it sold over one million copies. Other hits included Johnny Colón’s "Boogaloo Blues," Pete Rodríguez’s "I Like It Like That," and Hector Rivera’s "At the Party". " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogaloo

And then there's Tango:

Many popular songs in the United States have borrowed melodies from tango: the earliest published tango, El Choclo, lent its melody to the fifties hit Kiss of Fire. Similarly Adiós Muchachos became I Get Ideas, and Strange Sensation was based on La Cumparsita.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tango_music

I think we're getting there (ie towards the virtual compilation I was thinking of) - what's needed is to gather the tracks together
and see what we've got. (I may get round to this in due course, but volunteers are welcome.)