Pun Fun 8: The Contenders

Voting is now open for Pun Fun 8.

This time out you were challenged to insert a reference to either dips or sauces into a popular song title. And between you you've come up with something for every palate. Which flavour will you favour?

Here are the contenders:

1. A Horseradish With No Name – America
2. Aioli Have Eyes For You - Art Garfunkel
3. Tahina! - The Champs
4. Gochujang On To Yourself -  David Bowie
5. Non, Je Ne Vinaigrette Rien - Edith Piaf
6. Pass The Chutney - Hummusical Youth
7. The Wind Cries Mayo - Jimi Hendrix
8. Bearnaise Recipes - The Jungle Book
9. Hollandaised And Confused - Led Zeppelin
10. Dream A Little Cream Of Me - The Mamas & The Papas
11. Gravy's On The Road Again - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
12. Salsa Sprach Zarathustra - Richard Strauss
13. Sympathy For Vinaigrette - The Rolling Stones
14. How Soon Is Knorr - The Smiths
15. Tracklements Of My Tears - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
16. Bechamel Golly Wow - The Stylistics
17. (Hoisin If You're) Glad To Be Gay - Tom Robinson Band

Voting is open to all readers not just those who entered. Let me know your top five in order of preference. I'll award 7 points for every first choice, 5 for second and then 3, 2 and 1 for the rest.

The deadline for voting is next Sunday (13 September) and the results will be announced a week today. You can either submit your votes in the comments section below or by email to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk. There have been a few problems with leaving comments on blogs using Blogger (like this one) recently but fingers crossed they have all been resolved.

My Greek connections are disappointed that none of you took up the taramasalata challenge. In an attempt to placate them here are Kuza and his chums singing the praises of another Greek dip. 

Oldies But Goodies

I saw a band from back in the day last weekend - details will follow at some point next week - and it prompted me to dig out a bunch of old favourites of a roughly similar vintage i.e. late 70s and early 80s. Four spiky, one poppy. 

Inexplicably none of them topped or even touched the charts. Most of them have appeared here before but not for a fair while, so treat them as you would returning friends.

"Paraffin Brain" - The Nightingales

"The Fish Needs A Bike" - Blurt

"Expert" - pragVEC

"Sticky Jack" - Warm Jets

"Baby I'm A U-Boat" - The Fire-Hydrant Men (featuring the Fabulous Fezettes)

I read an interesting interview with the remarkable Ted Milton of Blurt a few months ago - you can find it here if you enjoyed "Fish", but also if you didn't. Ted and Blurt are still going. The video dates from about 15 years ago.

Behold The Son Of Paul

Today we have another one of the CDs I acquired when I visited The Jazzhole in Lagos back in June. This one comes courtesy of Mr Paulson Kalu, ably abetted by His Stars 25.

Exactly what CD it is isn't completely clear. On the cover it says that it is his greatest hits but the CD itself says it's "Uche Chukwu Mee", the name of an album he released back in 1973. Nine of the 14 tracks on the CD are from that album but a couple are missing so it is very nearly, but not quite, the original LP plus bonus tracks. 

If you are not familiar with Mr Kalu and his work I can do no better than to share a few quotes from the citation from the Centre for Memories - "a repository of the history and culture of Ndị Ìgbò" - on the occasion of his 80th birthday last December:

"Born in Akanu‑Ohafia, Abia State, Paulson Kalu was raised amidst the rich heritage of his people. From early days, he showed a passion for music; joining the Martin Brothers Dance Band in Port Harcourt, where he first learned the rhythms that would shape his musical journey.

He continued with Erasmus Jenewari’s Globe Kings Band as a vocalist. In 1970, he entered the band of legendary highlife master Stephen Osita Osadebe, a period of mentorship which helped him refine a distinct musical personality rooted in Ìgbò cultural values and philosophical lyricism.

Not long after, Kalu founded his own group based in Onitsha. Through this band, he released songs that resonated deeply with those seeking comfort, identity, and hope. For decades, his music has helped soothe hearts, revive cultural pride, and remind his listeners of the enduring power of Ìgbò melody and philosophy".

And you can't say fairer than that.  

"Ogbogho" _ Paulson Kalu & His Stars 25

"Ji Ehele" - Paulson Kalu & His Stars 25

Pun Fun 8: The Theme

It is August Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK, a sign that the long school holidays are coming to an end. Having given all you punsters the summer off it is time for you to shake the sand from your shoes and get back to work. The theme for Pun Fun 8 is:

DIPS AND SAUCES

The idea for this theme came for me while I was enjoying an excellent lunch by the beach in Chalkida in Greece back in July and found myself trying to think of a song title about taramasalata. I didn't come up with anything, but this was the view from my table so I perhaps wasn't fully focused on the task. I am sure you lot can succeed where I failed.

If you are feeling a bit rusty after a fun, sun, no pun summer, this list of sauces on Wikipedia may help to oil your mental gears. If not you might perhaps try some of the BBC's delicious dips.  

All entries should be sent to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk by Sunday 6 September. Voting opens next Monday.

But the holidays aren't quite over yet folks, not until Las Ketchup pack up the Palm Beach beach bar for the season. Until then, keep it saucy like a Donald McGill postcard.

Dub Trickiness

If any of you made it all the way through my long and boring ramblings about the music of Uruguay earlier in the week you would have read this paragraph near the end:

"I was originally going to include a different track by Pasajeros del Malaysia Airlines 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". 

I am a man of my long and boring rambling word, so here is that track. It comes from an enjoyable album released in 2021 called "PMA Meets DubTricomas (Dubber Sounds)". Both of the principals hail from the city of Montevideo. So far, so Uruguayan.

The catch is that the stand-out track consists of the vocals from I Roy's "Everybody Bawling" with the dubbed up Pasajeros skanking away in the background. The late Mr Roy Thomas Reid was definitely from Jamaica so I did not feel I could justifiably include the track in a post about the music of Uruguay. But you are getting it now.

And that is not all folks. The mysterious DubTricomas has also teamed up with the Pirata Boing Band from Finland - he appears to specialise in collaborations with bands with silly names - and on his own has made a whole album of Kraftwerk dubs. I have added one from each.

"I Roy Scorches PMA Inna Beatle Stylee" - Pasajeros del Malaysia Airlines & DubTricomas

"Sin Dubear" - Pirata Boing Band & DubTricomas

"Dub Modelo" - DubTricomas

I can't find any videos of the mysterious DubTricomas on YouTube but all the others are present and accounted for (although I had to cheat a bit to be able to include I Roy). Any fans of The Clash who've been hanging around here since Monday may well recognise the song the Pasajeros are covering.

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