Ernie's El Dorado Pt 22 - Uruguay

We're nearly done now folks. Part 22 of 23 and we've arrived in Uruguay. There will be dancing in the streets of Fray Bentos tonight.

Back in the mid 1960s when the meat processing industry there was still thriving and not just a UNESCO protected memory no group was more likely to get the locals dancing than Los Shakers. They may have been a tiny bit influenced by the Beatles as this album cover and the title track of their 1966 English language LP  demonstrate.

In 1965 the ruling National Council of Government decreed that the Uruguayan Beatles would only be permitted to exist if there was also a Uruguayan Rolling Stones. The job was given to Los Mockers, who had a decent go at it judging by this track from their 1966 debut album. Some listings give the Spanish title "Que Vida" even though it is performed in English. 

As was the case across Latin America, psychedelia came along a few years later and with it a greater willingness on the part of bands to incorporate local influences in their sound. One example is La Logia Sarabanda who seem to have released just one album and one single in 1973. Never mind the width, feel the quality.

Four years in 1977 later we got the first sighting of Mariana Ingold, a composer, instrumentalist and singer who has championed and produced recordings of the music of the indigenous people of Uruguay alongside her own music. I would recommend the 1999 compilation album "Fue Ayer" as a good place to start. Its where I found this track, originally released in 1994 on the album "Candombe En El Tiempo" which Mariana made with Osvaldo Fattoruso. Both are among a number of her albums available on Bandcamp on a 'name your own price' basis.

Martin Buscaglia is another polymath and frenetic collaborator. His range of styles is much broader than Mariana's, who I don't think has yet gone through a disco phase, and perhaps the closest point of comparison would be Brazilian tropicalia. Today's selection is from his 2006 album "El Evangelio Según mi Jardinero", but remix enthusiasts may also want to check out the reworkings by Boogie Corporation.

One of the better known Uruguayan artists in international hipster circles in recent years is Juan Wauters. Juan left Uruguay for NYC with his family in 2002 when he was 17, formed a band called The Beets and then started his solo career. Juan only returned to Uruguay to perform for the first time in 2017 but since doing so has very much reconnected with his roots, writing more often in Spanish and recording with fellow musicians from Uruguay and other parts of Latin America. This track is from his 2021 album "Real Life Situations".

Our penultimate selection brings us bang up to date with Pasajeros del Malaysia Airlines, presumably alluding to the mysterious disappearance of Flight 370 in 2014. They describe their style as "finest Trojanism, hardcore punx heart" and there is a fair amount of skanking involved, including on this single from last year.

I was originally going to include a different track by Los Pasajeros and local dub dudes DubTricomas in the MAR slot today but in the end I ruled it out on a technicality. Fear not, however, it will be making a delayed appearance here on Friday along with other dub dudery. 

Instead you are getting something from a brand new compilation on the fine Argentinian label FM Del Rock Musick Arg. The album was issued in early August with the self-explanatory title "Reggae Riddim Compilado Vol 4 - Uruguay". I have chosen the contribution from Kinga Roots, a performer so bouncy and boisterous that local reggae promoters have been told their licences may be withdrawn if they fail to tie their Kinga Roots down.  

"Break It All" - Los Shakers

"What A Life" - Los Mockers

"Cajon De Castanas" - La Logia Sarabanda

"Despeinando El Plata" - Mariana Ingold

"Cerebro, Orgasmo, Envidia & Sofía" - Martin Buscaglia

"Carmina Pensa" - Juan Wauters

"Anti Yuta" - Pasajeros del Malaysia Airlines

"Entrando En Accion" - Kinga Roots

RIP Dolly

Park Life

I am lucky enough to live a short walking distance from Victoria Park (Vicky to her friends) in London's historic and fashionable East End. Its been a blessing having it on the doorstep, especially during Covid but in normal times too.

Vicky Park is a bit busy at the moment because we are slap bang in the middle of the annual All Points East festival - six days of music spread across two weekends attracting crowds of 40 - 50,000 each day. 

All Points East has been running since 2018 and I went to some of the earlier ones when they had something for everyone on the bill, but in recent years the organisers have targeted a younger audience. I have not heard of most of the acts, even some of the headliners, and I would be surprised if any of the many festival goers I have seen over the last few days were over 30. That's not a complaint - its good to see the kids of today enjoying live music - its just not for me.

No doubt they will be talking about the time Jorja Smith and Twenty One Pilots played Vicky Park for years to come, but personally I think the most significant festival ever held there remains the one in April 1978 when Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League organised a march from Trafalgar Square to the park for a 'Carnival Against The Nazis'.

I wasn't there - my excuse is I was living in South Africa at the time and the 277 doesn't run that far - but by all accounts it was an amazing day. In the current climate we could do with a repeat, but reading the bio of the man behind AEG Presents, the organisers of All Points East, my guess is it probably isn't on their to do list.

The official line-up at the 'Carnival Against The Nazis' was The Clash (with a guest appearance by Jimmy Pursey), Tom Robinson Band, Steel Pulse, X-Ray Spex and my close personal friend Patrik Fitzgerald. We've featured X-Ray Spex a couple of times recently - here and here - and if you are patient you will see the Clash and Jimmy in the video. But first here are the other three acts with some of their hits from 1978.

"Better Decide Which Side You're On" - Tom Robinson Band

"Klu Klux Klan" - Steel Pulse

"Irrelevant Battles" - Patrik Fitzgerald

From Start To Finish

On Monday we were in Ghana. On Wednesday we were in Germany. And we are finishing this week's musical travels in the world famous reggae hotspot of Plymouth.

Being partly of Cornish extraction it pains me to say anything nice about Devon but I can't deny the excellence of Alpha & Omega - or Christine Woodbridge and John Sprosen to their friends and families. They have been making top quality records for over 35 years now, by themselves and in collaboration with the likes of Jah Shaka.

"Almighty Jah" was a 1992 collaboration with Dub Judah, so obviously I have chosen two of the only three tracks that feature other vocalists. Apologies to Mr Judah. Tanernishka is Tracey Jarrett, who would later shorten her pseudonym to Nishka and become a regular guest. About The Exile, who contributes a then topical track about the Rodney King trial, I can tell you nothing at all. 

"Only In Yourself" - Alpha & Omega (featuring Tanernishka)

"California v. Powell" - Alpha & Omega (featuring The Exile)

Other Alphas and Omegas are also available, from Bristol and Budapest respectively. No disrespect intended to either but A & O show that this is definitely a case of the whole being stronger than the parts.

Get Down Mit Den Punk-Frauen

Some vintage German ladypunks for you today, the sort of thing that our good friend Walter might have jumped about to back when he was even younger than he is today. Walter is doing a different sort of moving this week; hopefully this helps to lighten the load.

Hans-A-Plast formed in Hanover back in 1978 and released three albums before splitting up in 1983. All of them are available on Bandcamp. For me the second album (released in 1981 with the no nonsense title "2") is the pick of the bunch.

Östro 430 formed in Düsseldorf a year later and managed one album fewer first time round. But then they reformed in 2019 and released an album called "Punkrock nach Hausfrauenart" in 2023. The new album and a compilation containing both of the old albums can be found on Bandcamp. Today's selection was originally released on their 1981 debut album "Durch Dick & Dünn". 

Judging by the squawking sax on both tracks Röntgenbrille (or X-Ray Spex if you prefer) must have been big in Germany at the time. Enjoy how the predictive text below the video shrugs its shoulders and gives up trying to follow Poly. Nobody could keep up with her.

"Reicher Vati" - Hans-A-Plast

"Sexueller Notstand" - Östro 430

Monday's Long Song

I don't often join in with the Monday Long Song scene but when I do I like to go big. So here is just under 15 minutes worth of cantering Ghanaian highlife for you courtesy of Nana Adomako Nyamekye and chums.

It was first released in 2000 as a bonus track on a compilation with a title almost as long as the track itself: "The Original Old Hits Of Nana Adomako Nyamekye (The Music Commander)". It was the old but not original trick of adding an original but not old track to the compilation in the hope of getting all those Nana completists out there to part with their hard earned cedi. I reckon it probably worked.

"Manyi Wo Ayea" - Nana Adomako Nyamekye

There is a familiar sounding organ motif that pops up throughout the song. It bugged me an first but I had a quarter of an hour to work out where I recognised it from. I got there in the end. Its this:

Nyege Two Time

Nyege Nyege Tapes is one of the more interesting labels operating at the moment. Based in Kampala where all the hip kids are, it was launched in 2016 as a spin-off to the annual Nyege Nyege festival - held near Lake Victoria and the biggest electronic music festival in the region.

The label largely focuses on ethnic electronica from East Africa although over time it has increasingly added artists from elsewhere in Africa and even Brazil to its roster.

As well as being both interesting and innovative the good folks at Nyege Nyege Tapes are also generous. On Bandcamp Friday just gone they had a 'name your own price' offer on their entire back catalogue. I took the opportunity to pick up half a dozen albums including ones from such luminaries as Serokolo 7, DJ Znobia and (deep breath now) Lady Aicha & Pisko Crane's Original Fulu Miziki of Kinshasa.

Some of those albums will no doubt feature on here in due course but I have not got round to listening to most of them yet. So until then here are a couple of tracks from what is probably my favourite Nyege Nyege release to date: "Electro Acholi Kaboom from Northern Uganda". 

As I explained when I first plugged the album way back in 2023 it is a compilation of electronic updates of traditional Acholi courtship songs recorded in the early 2000s to help meet local demand when hiring a wedding band was not a practical option due to e.g. the activities of the Lord's Revolutionary Army in the region. Souped up songs for messed up times. 

In the words of the late Errol Brown, every one's a winner baby, that's for sure.

"Nyaka Kon Coo" - Ojegele

"Nyom Pa Denish" - Otim Alpha

Any resemblance between Otim and Errol is purely coincidental.