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.
"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.
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".
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
After the rapturous reception given to my rambling on about rambling last week - four people commented, which is considered viral round here for anything except puns - I have decided to subject you to some more. It is your own fault.
At the weekend I continued my trek along the route of the Mildmay line (pushing my luck but there is now a photo log covering the whole route over on Flickr if anyone is interested). This leg took me from Kentish Town to Canonbury via Camden, the Regent's Canal, Calendonian Road and Barnsbury.
The two buildings on the route that I've picked out are not as interesting architecturally as the ones last week but both have a lot of history.
The first is Pentonville prison. Over the years the famous inmates have included some who definitely deserved to be there (Dr Crippen, John Christie and David Irving); some who definitely didn't (Oscar Wilde and Roger Casement); and assorted celebrities on minor changes including a few musicians. Boy George and Pete Doherty both wrote songs about their experience but I have no time for either of those self-regarding twerps so you will look in vain for them below.
The second notable building is the Hope & Anchor pub on Upper Street in Islington. In its heyday back in the 1970s it played a major role in promoting first pub rock and then punk - at times both as the line-up on the "Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival" live album from 1978 shows.
The Hope & Anchor has had its ups and downs since as explained in this brief history on its website and to be honest it is a shadow of its former self these days - I only ever go in for a quick pint before or after a gig at the Union Chapel across the road. But it is once again a live music venue which is something to be pleased about.
The cultural highlight of the trip was a visit to the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art nearby in Canonbury Square. I went mainly to see the current exhibition of the works of Emilio Isgrò who obscures words in printed texts and maps with the aim of suggesting new meanings and visual rhythms. He calls this Cancellatura (Erasure in Italian). I enjoyed it but there are diminishing returns.
I found the permanent exhibition more interesting, in particular the section covering the Futurists and the links between them and the rise of fascism in Italy under Mussolini.
One of the most revolutionary of the Futurists, but not in a political way, was Luigi Russolo. He painted but his main interest was in music. This painting of his in the exhibition is titled "La Musica". In 1913 he published his manifesto "The Art of Noises" in which he argued for the integration of different sound effects into musical compositions, and he developed instruments that he called intonarumori (‘noise-intoners’) to try to replicate the noises of the industrial age.
There are only two known recordings of Luigi and his intonarumori, one of which makes our playlist today. But there is only really one man who top the bill, and that's the man whose band had a regular residency at the Hope & Anchor in 1976 (and later released a live album recorded there) and who also served five weeks in Pentonville in 1980 for drugs possession. Ladies and gentlemen, Mt Hugh Cornwell.
I have added a second number from the "Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival" live album because X-Ray Spex were the bee's knees in my opinion. The other two tracks are probably self-explanatory, as are the videos except perhaps for The Damned. They are included because the video was shot in the Hope & Anchor way back when.
As this series has progressed we have been increasingly conscious of the big beast that is the music of the USA trundling towards us, and now it has arrived. Hairy, scary, more heads than a hydra and more legs than a millipede, but something we have to grapple with.
This post is both the least and most planned in the series. Least planned because most of the tracks were selected more or less at random. The only criteria were that artists who have appeared previously on the blog were excluded and there should be a range of musical styles. I'll make no claims about it being a representative selection. You cannot possibly represent the breadth of American music in one post.
But simultaneously the most planned because the first and last tracks on the list have been waiting over a year to be used. They are both from the "The Rough Guide To Native America" CD that I found in an Oxfam shop in Bristol during a rain break in #BlogCon25 and bought specifically to use in this post. Alyson and Mr WIIA can vouch for this if necessary.
Our opening act are Pipestone from the Lac Courte Orielles reservation in Wisconsin, and according to the sleevenotes this track "is always a floor-filler at pow-wows". Closing the show in the MAR slot is Casper Loma Da Wa, a member of the Hopi people in Arizona who are famed for performing the ritual snake dance (and skanking it seems).
As for the rest of them, tuck in and see what you make of it. Where the artists have music on Bandcamp I have added a link in their names if you wish to explore further.
From a selection of folks who have never appeared here before we are going to the other extreme for the videos. If Last.fm is to be believed these are the five US performers I have listened to most since signing up there in 2008.
On Wednesday me and a couple of pals strolled along London's crappy Oxford Street to the 100 Club to see Zamrock pioneers WITCH in action.
WITCH started life back in 1972, disbanded in the mid 1980s and were then rediscovered and reissued by the diggers of crates in the early 2010s. This led to the band reforming under the original frontman Emanyeo "Jagari" Chanda and this iteration has released a couple of albums, "Zango" in 2023 and "Sogolo" last year. You can find them and pretty much all of the back catalogue on Bandcamp.
Mr Chanda is still going strong and was joined at the 100 Club by fellow veteran Patrick Mwondela on keyboards and assorted whippersnappers who between them did a very good job of recapturing the sound and the spirit of the original band.
WITCH stands for We Intend To Create Havoc. Things didn't quite reach havoc levels on Wednesday but personally I put that down to the fairly sedate audience rather than the band who were in fine form. If the ratio of headbangers to hipsters had been more favourable and if they had been allowed to turn their amps up to 11 I think we would have got there.
Support was by The Heavenly Bodes (sic) who hail from Cornwall via an acid trip in a garage somewhere in America in 1967. They weren't wildly original but they make a good noise and I enjoyed their set, especially the extended freak-out with which they closed.
Their debut album "Green Hills" was released last month and is worth checking out, and I am looking forward to hearing them when they have had time to meld their influences into their own sound.
We finish with a track from both the old and newer versions of WITCH - including the song with which they opened their set on Wednesday - and the one from the Bodes. Give them a listen then head over to Bandcamp Friday to spend, spend, spend.
Brooklyn band Florist have been attracting some florid critical acclaim in recent years thanks to albums like 2025's "Jellywish". For example:
"They don’t as much strike chords as embrace them, gently matching them to moods and moments before tumbling into bigger concepts".
"Each track takes you on a journey on how to live a life that has broken free from the constraints of modern civilization".
"It was clear that thought had gone into creating something dramatic, with even the filler flowers adding dimension and spectacle".
Sorry. That last one was from a review of a flower delivery service. It came up when I forgot to put "band" between "florist" and "review" in Google.
If you are intrigued but wary why not give "We Have Been This Way Forever" a go. It was their first release back in 2013 which they have kindly made available on a "name your own price" basis on Bandcamp.
Here is a track from the EP followed by one from "Jellywish".
I did a couple of walks last week along the route of the Mildmay Line, the train line that runs across London from Richmond in the west to Hackney Wick in the east. I covered the stretch between Willesden Junction and Kentish Town West station. From the visible wealth of Harlesden and Kilburn to the sink estates of Hampstead Village and Kensal Rise, all sides of London were on display
My route took me past three modernist masterpieces/ monstrous carbuncles (delete for taste): the former Gaumont State cinema in Kilburn, in its day the largest cinema in the UK; 2 Willow Road in Hampstead, built and lived in by the architect Erno Goldfinger; and the Isokon Flats in Belsize Park. In the 1930s and 1940s residents included: Agatha Christie; Walter Gropius, one of the founders of the Bauhaus movement; and several Soviet spies, including Arnold Deutsch who recruited the Cambridge 5.
There was plenty of public art en route, the highlight of which was 'The Workers' by Kevin Harrison. It was plonked down at the end of a row of terraced houses in Harlesden in 1995 and is still there. The workers in question are struggling to erect a flagpole. Make of that what you will.
And then there is Billy Fury Way, which runs alongside the railway lines between West Hampstead and Finchley Road & Frognal stations. Billy used to live and record nearby. I have no idea why the council felt the best way to honour his memory was with "a footpath lined with used condoms, drug needles and human excrement that has been branded a no-go zone by residents" (to quote the local paper). I braved the zone and encountered one surly youth and lots of rats but nothing untoward.
Here is a selection of tunes inspired by these cultural landmarks. It's yer actual musical psychogeography innit?
It is time for one of our irregular round-ups of some of the freebies I have been sent over the last couple of months by the nice people in Promoland (for which I am eternally grateful). We will go through them in order of release date.
"The Dance of Death" by Frankie Archer, which came out last month on the ludicrously named prrr of the bear label (the lower case is theirs not mine). Electronic infused remakes of old folk standards all the way from Northumbria. Think The Unthanks with more synths.
"A Blooming Body" by Cinder Well which was unleashed into the world earlier in July. Cinder - Amelia Baker to her Mum - has featured here previously as I am a bit of a sucker for her moody singer-songwriter stuff (now there's an insightful write-up for the promo blurb). The new album is well up to the standard set by her previous effort, 2023's "Cadence".
"Interpreting Heart Sounds, Vol. II" by A. Lee Edwards is old school country-folk in the style of Guy Clark etc from a former member of Lou Ford, a name that might perhaps ring bells for Charity Chic but probably nobody else. The album is due to be issued on 4 September. With his clever addition of the 'A.' Mr Edwards has replaced A. Wesley Chung at the top of my iTunes. Well done Sir!
"Never Learned The Tide" by Twilark follows a week after A. Lee on 11 September. Twilark is the pseudonym of Canon Pence who is part of the vibrant North Carolina music scene that has brought us the likes of Hiss Golden Messenger, Tift Merritt and many more. With guests like Erin Rae and Spencer Cullum on board it is worth checking out.
"Helpless Love" by Katherine Perkins. The first single "Phoenix" was released last week, the album is out on 25 September. A new name to me, this is her second album after 2024's "Being Younger". The blurb writers who drop names like Lucinda Williams and Aldous Harding but personally she most reminds me of Diane Birch. To compared with any one of those three Ms Perkins must have something going for her.
"Period Piece" by V.V. Lightbody - announced yesterday and out on 9 October. A prolific session and touring musician under her real name Vivian McConnell, including a spell in Harry Styles' live band, this is V.V's third album and the first she has produced herself. She's done a pretty nifty job. I was going to insert a clever Harry Styles reference here but then remembered I couldn't name any of his songs.
I was also going to include a plug for an upcoming album by a Philly band Song People but even mentioning it exists is embargoed until 11 August. In the meantime if the idea of Jefferson Airplane having it out (very politely) with 10,000 Maniacs you might want to go check out their Bandcamp page.
As good as all these records are there is another new release that tops them all which I have not included as it was not a freebie. Any regular readers may know that Swamp Dogg is a musical hero of mine and his latest album "Swamp Dogg Contemplates The Afterlife" - understandable at 84 - continues a run of fantastic form from the Great Man in recent years.
There are several tracks on the new album that are as good as anything that Swamp has ever done, which is saying something. One of the many highlights is this cover of a Jenny Lewis song. Jenny joined him on one of his old tunes on his 2024 bluegrass album "Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St" and they seem to bring the best out of each other.
I mentioned in a post last week that I was excited to have picked up a copy of Bim Sherman's "Miracle" album (1996) for just 50 cents while in Greece recently. I have now had the opportunity to listen to it a couple of times.
As Swiss Adam has noted, any Bim Sherman album has to be a bargain at that price. He is right, but this one is not what I was expecting from the credits - Adrian Sherwood at the controls with contributions from Talvin Singh and the On-U regulars Skip McDonald, Doug Wimbush and Bubblers Ogilvie.
The only clue in the credits that this may not be the typical sound you might expect from that lot is that Skip McDonald is credited on acoustic guitar only. He plays it very tastefully, and rather too tastefully for my tastes at times (too many tastes - sorry). The whole album is very, very mellow.
Overall it is a decent listen but that is almost entirely down to Bim's vocals and Talvin on the tablas. And while it is definitely still a bargain at 50 cents I am not sure I will be digging it out as regularly as much of his other stuff. This is for certain moods only.
Yesterday I went to two concerts purely so that I could get to use that heading. Alliteration doesn't come cheap folks.
In the afternoon Mister F and I made our way to the Boogaloo pub in Highgate to see old favourites Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby. Not that we actually saw them. The place was rammed and from where we were I could catch the occasional glimpse of Eric's head but that was about all. Never mind. The noises they made were splendid as always.
After dropping Mister F back at the tube I mooched around a rather dull part of North London for a couple of hours before heading to the Jazz Cafe in Camden for Noura Mint Seymali. She has appeared regularly on the blog over the years but this my first time seeing her live.
Noura was in fine form throughout the near 90 minute set. For the first few songs she was seated and accompanied herself on the ardine (a 9-string harp), and very nicely too. But it was after the stool and ardine were discarded that the show really got into gear with Noura howling, growling and cajoling both the band and the audience to party harder.
The band more that did justice to her magnificent voice. The main man was Noura's husband Jeiche Ould Chighaly on twangy wah-wah guitar with bassist Ousmane Touré and drummer Matthew Tinari holding it all together. A great night. In fact, a great day (if you don't count Woodside Park).
In the audio slots we have a track from each of Noura's three albums to date "Tzenni", "Arbina" and last year's "Yenbett", all of which you can find on her Bandcamp page. I have put Eric and Amy in the videos so I can remind myself what they look like.
There is a new museum in town. To be more specific, in Camden Town, tucked away in a quiet street about ten minutes walk from the tube station.
The Museum of Youth Culture opened in May and it describes itself as "the world's first museum dedicated to the lives of teenagers and young people", not that there were many of the latter visible when I visited. It was mostly old farts like me getting nostalgic. But it is a fun place and worth a visit if you are in the area.
The specific reason I was there was for an exhibition of the covers of the first 100 albums issued by Greensleeves Records, starting in 1978 with what was a student staple in my day, "Best Dressed Chicken In Town" by Dr. Alimantado, and running through to 1986. The exhibition closes tomorrow (25 July) so you had better pull your finger out if you want to get there.
Seeing the display brought back memories of time spent in Daddy Kool record store in Soho after I first moved to London in 1984, and was a reminder of the consistently high standard of the records Greensleeves put out in its early years. I did a quick tot up and reckon I have at least a third of the albums on show, including these six (in descending order of righteousness):
Last week I was in Greece. I started and finished in Athens - working at the beginning of the week, sightseeing and record shopping at the end - with a few days in Chalkida (the C is silent) in between.
I have been to Athens many times but this was my first visit to Chalkida. The city straddles the Euripus Strait at the point where the mainland and the island of Evia nestle up together and is quite ridiculously scenic as this view from my hotel room shows.
It also has a lot of history. There is evidence of settlement there on the island side going back to the 12th century BC and 400 years later it was a major power with colonies in what is now Italy. The first bridge linking it to the mainland was built 2500 years ago.
However apart from the 17th century Ottoman castle on the mainland there is not a lot of evidence of this history. Because of its strategic importance the city has been attacked, destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries. The same can't be said of its former rival Eretria 20 miles down the coast. Everyone lost interest after it was trashed in 87 BC so there are still a lot of Roman remains lying around.
For anyone who is interested there are more photos of Chalkida, Eretria and Athens over on Flickr. For all the rest of you, let's crack on with the dodgy music. It's why you are here.
While in Athens I paid my regular visits to Basement Records in Kolonaki and Zaharias Records in the Monastiraki flea market, and as usual came away with lots of goodies. Picking up a copy of Bim Sherman's 'Miracle' album for just 50 cents was probably the highlight. That will no doubt feature here at some point.
One of the other purchases was the 1985 edition of 'Chrysí Diskothíki' (Golden Record Library), a series of CDs issued by the local branch of EMI covering the 1950s to the 1990s. Most of the tracks on this edition were fairly traditional folk and rebetiko songs that could have dated from any year in that period. These are the only two that you could say with any degree of confidence are from the 1980s:
I am back from my actual travels but news of them will have to wait. I barely had time to change my socks before hopping straight on the first available radio wave for our virtual trip to Suriname, the former Dutch colony perched on the top of South America that celebrated 50 years of independence last year.
We are going to start with what I am pretty sure is the only CD in my collection by a Surinamese act, the eponymous 1995 album by Carlo Jones & The Surinam Kaseko Troubadours. Fans of the Troubadours will be pleased to note it is the classic line-up featuring Jules Klimsop on trombone.
All the lyrics are in the local creole language known as Sranan Tongo. The title of the chosen track translates as "If the cook and the maid start quarrelling you'll have learned what happened to the butter". I'm sure you can all think of parallels in your own lives.
For the benefit of those of you less steeped in Surinamese culture than what I am, kaseko is an indigenous musical style that fuses African, European and American sources. According to Wikipedia and the sleeve notes of Carlo's album the name is derived from 'casser le corps' ('break the body'), a term once used for dancing next door in French Guiana.
I'm no expert but it seems to me equally plausible that it derives from kaiso, the Nigerian music that evolved into calypso when transported to nearby Trinidad, the name of which in turn is said to derive from the Igbo expression 'ka anyị sonye' ("let's join"). Just listening to the album it is clear that Carlo and calypso share common DNA.
There may be a dispute about the origins of the name kaseko but there is no dispute among the cognoscenti that the all time King of Kaseko was Lieve Hugo. First with the Washboard Orchestra and then as a solo artist he swept all before him in the early 1970s before his untimely death aged only 40 in 1975, just ten days before the independence celebrations at which he was due to perform.
Today's selection comes from Hugo's album 'Mi Lobi Wan' which was posthumously released in 1978. I picked this track because it makes cheeky use of the old 'Peanut Vendor' melody but the whole album is a marvelously raucous affair.
On the mean streets of Paramaribo where the culture wars are fought you are either on the side of kaseko or kawina, the other notable indigenous style and itself one of the many ingredients stirred into the kaseko stew. It is percussion led and features call and response vocals, as demonstrated by Monti Kriyoro. I found this track on 'Kondre Sranan Vol. 2', one of a series of albums on the Walboomer label highlighting Surinamese music.
I can tell you nothing about Monti Kriyoro. He is a source of bafflement for Google's AI overview which informed me: "You are likely thinking of Motion Grill & Krioyo, a popular restaurant in Curaçao known for its excellent grilled meats and fresh seafood". I wasn't but I am now.
There is no such identity crisis for Ronald Snijders, the jazz flautist from Paramaribo who has enjoyed such success that he was appointed a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau, one of the main honours in the Netherlands. A lot of what I have heard is a bit bland for my taste but I do like this track from his 1981 album 'Black Straight Music' on which you can hear the influence of kawina.
We will switch now from indigenous sounds to international, starting with some funk and disco. Ten years ago the admirable Rush Hour label in Amsterdam released a compilation of Surinamese singles from the 1970s and 1980s titled 'Surinam Funk Force'. There are some cracking tunes on there including this one by Astaria. Most of the members of the band were Javanese Surinamese, an ethnic group of Indonesian descent making up about 15% of Suriname's population. The track was originally released in 1978 on their album 'Sang-Hede'.
It is possible that Rush Hour got the idea for the compilation from "Sumy Funk Force", the opening track on Sumy's 'Trying To Survive' album which they have also reissued. Dating (or arguably dated) from 1983, it is very much of its time and it is worth your while clicking on the link above just to see the cover. "Soul With Milk" is the bonkers highlight.
Some punk from 2012 next from De Rotte Appels, a short-lived band from Nickerie that mutated into hardcore and thrash ensemble Luguber. You can read all about the latter in this interview if you are so inclined. If you enjoy this track you might enjoy at least some of the other 37 tracks on the 'Punk's Not Deaf' compilation.
We end, as always, with some MAR. There is quite an active reggae scene in Suriname but I'm ignoring the specialists to pay tribute to a distinguished veteran. Iwan Esseboom has been making music for nearly 50 years under various guises, mainly kaseko and kawina but he also dabbles in reggae as this track shows. First released in 1986, you can find it on his 2012 retrospective collection '35 Years In Showbiss'.
Many of the songs are performed in the Surinamese creole language Sranan Tongo. Alyson in particular might be interested to note that it has also been used in a Eurovision entry. In 2021 the Netherlands were represented by Surinamese singer Jeangu Macrooy who used it in the chorus of his song "Birth Of A New Age". It only got 11 points (11 more than the UK). See if you think it deserved better.
With this victory C joins George in the ranks of two times winners, so extra congratulations are in order. C pipped Alyson by just a few points and the two of them were some way clear of the rest of the pack. The battle for the minor places was much tighter.
Here is the top five in full:
1. (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Djibouti - KC & The Sunshine Band (C) 2. When Amman Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge (Alyson) 3. Hurry Up Harare - Sham 69 (Charity Chic) 4. Mouldy Old Doha - Lieutenant Pigeon (Dave) 5. Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into Dakar - Billy Ocean (JWA)
It is (perhaps) interesting to note that all of the cities in the top five are in Africa and the Middle East. Maybe the music we play here is having a subliminal influence on you all.
Thanks to all of you who submitted a pun and/or voted, your enthusiasm is much appreciated. We are going to take a short break for the summer so you can all recharge your punning batteries and ease any word play weariness. Pun Fun 8 will appear some time in September. Until then, as is traditional, we hand over to our winners to see us out.
P.S. This will be the last post here of any sort for a week or so as I am heading off on my travels right after I press 'publish'. That is why the results are being announced a day earlier than usual. Obviously I can't reveal my mystery destination but I can assure you that when I return all pun related posts will appear on a Monday and never on a Sunday.
Links stay up for a month or so. If you are an artist or copyright holder and want me to remove the link, or if you want to get in touch for any other reason, e-mail me on leggies27@hotmail.co.uk.
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