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.
The artist seen in this video is Kurdish singer Ibrahim Tatlises but he is not the singer you hear. I have not been able to determine the name of the singer.
My dad was one of the first mobile DJs in our part of Los Angeles, east of the Los Angeles River. He apprenticed my brother into the trade. I also accompanied my father to his “gigs” where I would help carry equipment (the easy stuff like cords) and watched as he mixed records and MC’ed the various parties, quinces and weddings he was hired to DJ. A few times he’d set up the turntables so that I could mix two songs together but I was always too shy and nervous to try. It’s one of the few regrets I have in life, I never learned the family trade of mobile DJing.
Whenever we have parties, naturally my brother and father are in charge of the music and they sure know how to pack a dance floor! But I’ve always craved a more challenging mix of music for my parties, familiar songs you wouldn’t think to put together peppered with obscure, catchy tunes. Finally this weekend, at the last big party I will hostess for a long time, I got the nerve to make my own mix and play it – it was a proud moment for me. The mix was playing from my IPOD and I didn’t have to match any beats or anything but the party attendees listened and responded. It even inspired a few to try out some newly learned Flamenco moves. Eventually though, my brother reclaimed his territory and the dance floor filled with folks gleefully singing along to songs they know and love.
Later in the evening, when the crowd thinned, I took the opportunity to play music I like to dance to, music like this delightful Egyptian pop song above. With a few friends, we danced a halay and they shouted for more Balkan music, more Bulgarian pop and it was like the last little piece of the puzzle had clicked into place for me. No more fear on the dance floor or in the DJ booth!
I’ve wanted to share this clip for over a year now but because I wasn’t sure who sang the song or why it was matched up with Ibrahim Tatlises visit to the show Mezdeke Komedi, I waited until I could get more information. So far, all I have is the name of the song. That’s enough for me – no more waiting for everything to fit, here we go!
By the way, if you’re wondering what kind of music this is considered, some folks call it Egyptian pop or Arabic pop. It’s one of my favorite genres of music and I hope to include more of these tunes in upcoming posts.
I haven’t done a favorite video of the week for awhile because while I may come across many songs I enjoy listening to, I haven’t been enchanted by any of the clips I’ve been watching…until tonight.
While I admit I’m not a big fan of most current day salsa (my preference is for the 60s/70s era), I’ve always had immense love and respect for the Nuyorican singer La India. Her fierce, raw and powerful singing style blew me away from the first time I heard the song, Ese Hombre. Some of you might be familiar with this tune as it is the theme song of many a heartbroken Latina. The hombre who is the cause of all this pain and anger is berated to basically nothing.
es un gran necio
un estupido engreido
egoista y caprichoso
un payaso vanidoso
inconciente y presumido
falso malo rencoroso
que no tiene corazon
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned especially a woman like La India. Definitely, not the kinda song you want dedicated to yourself.
I love this early clip of her and the way she can barely contain her emotions as she sings, she is so amazingly talented!
Runaway-La India (performed in a moving car!)
I also came across this other clip of her singing in the car and despite the bad sound and low production quality, her voice is able to command full attention.
I Am the Black Gold of the Sun-Nuyorican Soul (4hero remix)
La India does contribute some vocals to this musical collaboration but I mostly added it to this post because it’s one of my favorites. See, the 90s weren’t so bad!
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.
Tecktonic is a dance movement and scene started in the suburbs of France and has since spread around Europe and Mexico. It combines elements of breakdance, urban hip hip moves and other styles. To me it is very reminiscent of the kind of dancing done at Los Angeles backyard parties in the 80s. I was told by an authority on the subject that this kind of dancing was called pointing.
This group which I think is called Milky Way or perhaps that’s just the style not only dances well but makes some pretty graphically interesting videos. They have many more up but this is my favorite. Just like in any style of dance some folks have a better style than others. My favorites are the second dancer and the last one. Enjoy!
Buraka Som Sistema – Sound of Kuduro
I’m quite sad that I only came across this song and video recently although it was released about a year ago. It means I could have enjoyed it that much sooner. To be honest, despite my scouring of Youtube for various kinds of global dance there is really nothing I’ve seen recently (okay, maybe the Kurdish Halay dancers) that has blown me away like this clip of Angolan breakdancers. Add MIA into the mix and whoa, I’m out of words!
I’m kinda tired of putting things on Facebook so you’ll be seeing lots more video clips here. Let’s start with Guerilla dancers in Japan.
(h/t Neatorama)
Another enjoyable fun song for the hell of it. Maybe joy will eventually return and we’ll leave behind the sad decade of misery known as the 00s? The aughts? Has it been decided? Anyways, I’ve been enjoying this catchy falsetto tune and I love that it satisfies my karaoke tendencies. This down-tempo version is also swell. This song is like candy, yum!
Hypnotic Tango-My Mine
More catchy falsetto. I think I’ve been listening to too much Italo Disco these days, please indulge me. I’m sure this trend will pass, maybe.
I was recently joking that I’d love to have my own radio station that played nothing but electronic music from disco to house to idm to electro clash and everything else in between. IDM, Intelligent Dance Music was a term used around the turn of the century (2000) to describe a kinda of music that was less shlocky and more refined than the techno being produced at this time. Some IDM moved into a sub genre called “glitch.” Glitch is the kinda music you play if you really want to irritate your parents. Guitar rock doesn’t work anymore cause that’s what they listen to. Glitch would drive them crazy! Anyways, Plaid is one of the better bands that emerged from the IDM scene but Boards of Canada are still my favorite. When I first heard the song Eyen, I must’ve listened to it a hundred times in a row, I was so infatuated with it. It’s nice to hear it again after all these years.
Smack My Glitch Up-Kid 606
This is a very tame and listenable glitch track by master Kid 606. Even I can’t really listen to his albums all the way through. I admit I really loved the track sampled in this song as well – I don’t care if Kylie Mynogue is a pop princess. Here’s Kid 606’s excellent glitch version of Straight Outta Compton.
My Red Hot Car-Squarepusher
Squarepusher also experimented a bit with glitch elements in this favorite track of mine. More Squarepusher beats to rattle your nerves here.
Tricky Disco-Tricky Disco
A long time ago when I was still a teenager, back after I stopped being a punk rocker (a good chunk of my friends turned into nazi skinheads) and gave up on cholos (two of my boyfriends ended up in jail), I took a job at the now defunct Robinson’s department store downtown on 5th street where I met all these super friendly gay Latino guys. They started taking me to clubs and what they called “underground parties” which were the precursors to the rave scene here in Los Angeles. These parties were usually put on by groups of British DJs and attended by a subculture art crowd. It really was an anything go type of scene and reminded me of the early experimentations of punk. The original parties were set up in abandoned downtown warehouses and you needed to go to the map location to get the directions and address. The parties usually started around midnight would go till dawn and sometimes longer. There were never any adequate bathroom facilities but the $5-$10 entrance usually came with free booze. Tracks like Tricky Disco and LFO were some of my favorite songs from this era. I corresponded with DJs in London who’d send me these awesome mix tapes (some live radio recordings from offshore illegal pirate stations out at sea) that my mom would call “alarm clock music.” It was a fun time in my life. Eventually, straight guys and normal people started discovering raves and it turned into a whole different scene with the usual crap that goes along with it. I moved on too.
Alexander Robotnick – Obsession for the disco freaks
I’m including this video for a few reasons. One, Alexander was nice enough to put the video up on my chimatli mix myspace page. But also, because he was one of the innovators of Italo Disco and it’s amazing to see him still making music. Like him, I’ve spent many hours at record shops flipping through vinyl, looking for that elusive album. It’s a nice tribute to DJs and vinyl junkies.
Wait a minute! [cue: needle scratching record]
Two posts about books?! What happened to the cheesy music you’ve come to love this blog for? How could I disappoint all of my five, uh four readers? I know what will placate you – this fabulous video by the Goombay Dance Band, a German knock-off of Boney M (they were German too) complete with the social commentary lyrics and disco dance beat. How can I not love a song I can dance to and be proud to sing along with? Check out these lyrics: They came 500 years ago
They stole the gold of Mexico
Killed the people one by one
Only talking with their guns
Brave men locked on iron chains
All young mothers sold as slaves
Babies crying through the night
Will they ever see a light
Golden dreams of Eldorado
All have drowned in seas of pain and blood
Golden dreams of Eldorado
May come true but only in your heart
Perhaps you’re thinking along the lines of this Youtube comment left on the El Dorado video: “esta mierda te gusta?”
Well, there’s also a Czech version which interpreted the song as old country tune, complete with banjo, slide guitar and sung by an old professor (by the looks of it.) Waldemar MatuÅ¡ka – Eldorádo
Whoa, I just realized that the “they” in the song, refers to the audience of Spanish people he’s singing too!
Over at LA Eastside there’s been a long discussion on 90s culture in Los Angeles. Commenter Metro Vaquero linked to the awesome video above of a parking lot turned dance floor in the Valley. Quebradita was crazy popular in Los Angeles during the early 90s. It was the first time in my life where listening to your parent’s music was acceptable and dressing like a Mexican was something to be proud of. The tejanas and botas are still in fashion today. And I still dream of one day dancing Quebradita…