Prefuse 73 – Wife (Pieces Of Detroit Mix)
My favorite songs of 2002. Damn, how I loved Prefuse 73, Dabrye and Four Tet, they were my turn-of-the-century go to music. I’m still crazy about these kind of beats. Take a hip-hop song, remove the rap and I’m in love.
Dabrye – The Lish
Four Tet-Untangle
Two Banks of Four-Street lullaby (Four Tet Remix)
Garçons – “French Boy (Part 1)” (1979)
Philips Records, 1979 Produced by Michael Zilkha & Michel Esteban Written by Patrick Vidal, Erik Fitoussi, & Jean-Pierre Charriau
Disco was much derided during it’s heyday and with good reason. The popular stuff was pretty crappy. Yet, with all genres of music there are the tunes that you don’t hear on the radio. They are being played in clubs, shared among friends, found by unlikely listeners in the record store. These two songs probably belonged to this more obscure genre. I’ve never heard these songs before and found them randomly on Youtube. Thanks to allanrk for making them available to new ears!
Bagarre – “Lemonsweet (Disco Version)” (1982)
Moving into the 80s, the music gets a bit arty-er, likely influenced by new wave. The lyrics and vocals on this song are awesome, the beginning bit about “Uncle Frankie” kills it. I hear echoes of future music as well, The Knife perhaps got some inspiration from this tune.
Air War by Crystal Castles
Yeah, I’m late to the Crystal Castles bandwagon. I saw them mentioned so much on other blogs, I never paid attention to them. Usually when a band is all hyped up, I’ll take a listen and then I’m inevitably disappointed. However in this case, some of their songs live up to the hype. The Russian dancing is extraordinary in itself!
AÄžRIDAN KORG TULUM OYNAYAN SUPER COCUK
Many thanks to blog commenter Secret for recommending this link of the Kurdish dance agridan tulum (I hope I got that right!) and letting me know the difference between halay (which is a Turkish word) and govend (which is Kurdish). Between youtube comments and online sources, I try my best to get information on the videos I post but I’m not always accurate. My main goal is introducing you all to bits of world dance you might not encounter other places. Cheers!
ağrılı tulumcular 2
Besides the amazing dancing, this clip features the musician, Yakup playing this hypnotic music. El Mariachi anyone?
Amarain by Amr Diab
I racked my brain for days and days to identify the song on the previous video of the week’s sample. I knew it so well, like so many other Egyptian pop songs but with the exception of Ehab Tawfik, I am horrible at remembering the artists’ names. Well, I finally found the title, artist and now this video! I am easily placated and excited by such small discoveries.
A little background on this song…If it isn’t initially obvious, this tune tries to incorporate elements of Flamenco style into the arrangement. This is also reflected in the video, the dancing has Flamenco inspired hand movements and some of the dancers wear polka dots, etc. Around the time this song was popular, almost ten years ago, there was a pervasive trend of Flamenco-ish sounds into Arabic pop, most notably Spanish guitars and palmas (hand claps). I read an article once where a traditional Arab musician bemoaned the Flamenco scourge that was ruining the sound of the music. I found the statement very amusing because as a Flamenco aficionado, I am more accustomed to reading how Flamenco is being ruined by outside musical influences. Despite some unfortunate results, there is no stopping the merging, meshing and sometimes clashing of music and culture…and I am happy for it!
Is That All There Is-Peggy Lee
Sorry it cuts out at the end but this version is magnificent.
Rodney on the Roq often used to play this song on his Sunday night radio show. I would lay in bed listening, waiting to fall asleep and dreading the upcoming school day.
Lyrics
Full recorded version
Fangela by Here We Go Magic
There are days when I spend a good chunk of the day driving around the huge expanse of Los Angeles. These trips usually invovle errands: getting my eyebrows threaded in Little India, visiting the Spanish import market in Harbor City, checking out Family Bookstore for titles that pique my interest, heading to the deep corners of the East San Gabriel Valley to search warehouse-like thrift stores for cheap treasures, and on special days, driving leisurely through canyon roads to feel as if I live in the old Los Angeles of my grandparents’ youth.
Like a lot of other folks these days, I listen to music through my IPOD and it’s this musical accompaniment that makes traversing the thick with traffic streets somewhat bearable. Yesterday though I was out of luck, the IPOD connector (or whatever it’s called) was acting all finicky and making a beeping noise and I was forced to do the unthinkable: listen to the radio! I do listen to NPR in the morning but being as I like to drive to music, I decided to give the music on the radio a chance. I’m glad I did!
In between the seven times I heard New Boyz “You’re a Jerk” (now when I hear someone singing that, I won’t take it personally…it’s just a song!) and BEP’s “Boom Boom Pow” (which I have no shame in admitting I like…c’mon, I like Chalga!), I heard this song, Fangela by Here We Go Magic on (yes, I know) KCRW. At first I thought it was some forgotten early track from The Shins way before their music got all glossed over but I waited patiently through two other not-so-great songs to find out the name of the band. I was lucky it was announced when it was because the next song (sung by a woman with a sappy voice) started with the line: “I saw you in a cafe, you were reading Kierkegaard.” Ugh, enough! I tried the IPOD again.
La Roux – In For The Kill (Skream’s Let’s Get Ravey Mix)
It’s nice to hear a different kind of voice these days. There’s a unique quality to La Roux’s singing style that really draws me in. The original version of the song is blowing up the charts in the UK but I happen to prefer this remix version. Check out the retro Amen Break that drops in at the end of this mix. Didn’t I just say the revival was coming soon?
Interview with La Roux here.
New Forms-Roni Size feat. Bahamadia
I heard this song on the radio the other day and it blew me away much in the same way it had when I first heard it way back in 1997. Yes, like a lot of other folks at the time (late 90s), I was crazy about jungle and drum n bass. Roni Size was one of the best of the DJ/producer bunch and the fact that this song still sounds somewhat fresh is a testimony to his talent. It’s a shame that drum n bass came to be associated with car commercials and other despicable things. Still waiting for the jungle revival. For more on the origins of this beat, check the post on “Amen Break.”
For so long I’ve wanted to share my love of Chalga here on this blog but I’ve always felt that it needed a proper introduction so for the past two years I’ve put it off. I kept thinking I need to re-read the Bulgarian chapters of Princes Amongst Men: Journeys with Gypsy Musicians so that I have the proper references to describe this musical style. It is this book that has the only English language research on Chalga, the Gypsy/Roma derived pop music of Bulgaria. (I approach these blog posts seriously, often doing more research for some of these posts than I would for my own papers in college and the sources for information are difficult at times to find.) I wanted to write the definitive English language reference for Chalga on the internet. Ah, what aspirations! They’ve kept me from sharing these videos all these years, despite my obsessive viewings, circle of friends chatter and Bulgarian correspondences.
Finally tonight, after a couple of glasses of my favorite wine (Marques de Riscal Rioja from Spain) I decided WTF, let’s just post up some videos of good ol’ Azis and let the mouths fall open as they may. Also, as Youtube moves on in years, more and more videos are being removed due to some kinda jerky violations and hence my grand plan of a series of Chalga video roll-outs is dwindling before my eyes. With that in mind, let’s all watch Chalga Bulgarian superstar Azis strut his stuff, shall we?
Tochno Sega by Azis and rapper Ustata
This would have been my first Favorite Video of the Week oh so many years ago but whenever I showed this video to straight male friends of mine, they freaked the f*ck out. Yes, it’s a dude who looks hot in heels and has a beard. It’s gender fuck at it’s finest and he even seduces the hip hop dude while dressed as a manly bouncer. In Princes Amongst Men, author Garth Cartwright talks about the interesting approach to sexuality in Bulgaria. Apparently, according to him, it should be obvious why the term “buggering” comes from Bulgaria. How awesome and mind blowing is it that this country, so maligned and dismissed has such a progressive perspective of sexuality which includes a significant Muslim population. Even more amazing is that it’s most beloved star, Azis comes from a Roma/Gypsy background. He has challenged not only the boundaries of his gender but also of his culture.
It is true that Chalga is not considered “serious” music, much in the way urban music like hip-hop is treated in this country. Much of this disrespect is due to the Roma origins of Chalga and it’s move away from traditional folk styles. I think similarities can be made once again with African-Americans and hip-hop. I’m not saying Chalga is even at the level of hip-hop, much of it truly is cheesy music but it does have a certain pop charm sensibility that makes me listen over and over again. Basically Chalga is a cross pollination fusion of traditional Roma ethnic music, Bulgarian folk music and Western influenced hip-hop, Reggaeton and pop styles. It started off being more rooted in the folk and ethnic styles and has gradually moved into the more Western sounding styles.
No Kazvam Ti Stiga by Azis
Phew! Is it getting hot around this blog? Don’t worry straight fellas, wait till we get to the female Chalga singers. Soft core porn is the norm for some of these videos and I’m sure they would get more risque if they could.
Lyric translation:
“only in my dreams have i had you, only in my dreams did i feel alive, only in my dreams i felt you inside of me, only in my dreams was i able to laugh”
Kazvash Che Me Obichash by Azis and Desi Slava (another famous Chalga star)
Here is small taste of the kinda cross gender sexuality that infuses Chalga videos. Wait till we get to the super hot singer Reyhan (RIP) in Chalga, Part Two!
Antigeroi by Azis
Azis has said in interviews he has great admiration for the women of Bollywood, both their singing and dancing. This video is a tribute to them and it’s a pretty catchy song too!
Teb Ochim by Azis
One of his latest songs.
In the end, this quote from one the comments on his videos sums it all up:
Many anti-gay folks have fear of their own homosexuality.
Azis is Azis.
No one can take the credit, or be ashamed collectively for him.
I am proud that Bulgaria has the open mind to accept such a crazy character. Only in a civilized culture.