First in a number of few posts dedicated to other fascinating Tamil / Kollywood score composers who did not appear on the tracklist of our "Play That Beat Mr. Raja #1" compilation...
Chandrabose, sometimes also known as "Chandra Bose", was a hugely popular Tamil composer who scored for around 300 movies and was kind of emblematic in the late 80's to early 90's..
At first comes one song as taken from "Manithan's score, a 1987 Kollywood blockbuster starring Rajinikanth. The movie being quite famous too for its ending with the violent and explosive death of the villain and some dreamy & beautiful music clips.
As for the anecdocte, back in 2008 when we thought for a Tamil score compilation (which was supposed to be a 2xLP record), that song was planned to appear...
Rougher and South Indian folklore inspired second song, from "Paati Solle Thattathey"(1990) with a pic (above) taken from its cartoonish style animated generic.
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To end properly comes one last extract from one of Chandrabose's most popular succes: "Raja Chinna Roja" (1989).
Combining elements from both Trinidadian & Tobagoian music, indian migrants folklore & Venezualian folk music heritage from the Spanish Rule, Parang Music, which is mostly performed for Christmas, is kind of a strange case...
First, check Drupatee Ramgoonai's (80's Chutney superstar) classic, a song featured on most of Parang Christmas compilations around.
Extra Parang joint with the "outsider": Kenneth Salick, a 50 years old Trinidian farmer who wrote the "Radica" hit song in 2009 & won the Chutney Soca Monarch 2k9. Appart from that, he is also one of the few Chutney artist not to sing only about "rum rum rum" or "roti" (think Rikki Jai)...
Bring the Sitar, bring the Tabla, it's Christmas Time !
"Play That Beat Mr. Raja" is the very first compilation dedicated to Tamil recordings in the West. It explores the wild shores of these late 80's Kollywood music productions. With an avalanche of cinematic strings, analog synths, mind-blowing vocal punchlines and drumkit earthquakes mixed with folkloric percussive elements, it reveals the audacity of composers such as Ilayaraja, Shankar Ganesh or Hamsalekha.
Covering an impressive range of styles, it features Kamal Hassan's vocoded rap "Vikram Vikram", Shankar Ganesh's disco stomper "Coca Cola", and the irresistible bontempi instrumental "Love Theme", among many other hits. Straddling boundaries between traditional southern indian identity and digested western influences, these selected oddities remain a lesson of creativity and freedom in the world of soundtracks, with their stunning incorporation of the most typical of 80s tools in a classical context, and a constant love for daring structures and demented arrangements.
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"A well-assembled foray into the often hilarious landscape and cheap tweakery of 80's and 90's Tamil film music anomalies. Hyper-charged, and ready for the dance-floor or the headphones..." (Mark Gergis - Sublime Frequencies)
"This album contains so many supreme micro-compositions that it would be a re-editors dream, were it not for the fact that each track is so enjoyable under its own terms of accordant miscellany." (20 Jazz Funk Greats)
"Both iconoclastic and coherent, all the tracks will astound you, so you’d better get ready for it. And that’s how you recognize a great compilation, innit?" (Etienne Jaumet)
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> Available now !! > Distribution via HONEST JON'S.
Easy transition with one fake 1978 hindi soundtrack from music maestro Haruami Hosono (after he had visited India) & credited too to a certain "Yokoo" who's no more than Tadanori Yokoo, japanese graphic designer & affichist artist, also responsible for the amazing cover art.
Well, I'm not an Hosono freak (dear Plaong or Olivier Lamm ?) so I'm afraid I wont be able impress you and I'd better leave the explication to Saltyka music blog:
"Superb. Way ahead of its time with trance-like synths and exotic world colors. The album is co-credited to famous pop (graphic) artist Tadanori Yokoo, who did the cover, but seemingly neither wrote nor played on it. I was able to get Yokoo-san to autograph my LP cover during a 1991 NYC speaking engagement. He laughed with slight embarrassment that anyone in the US would have a copy (and on vinyl). Ryuichi Sakamoto plays synths also and his playing style is evident. Hideki Matsutake, who would later do the sequencer work for YMO and front the synth-based band, Logic System, programs the sequencer here. A brilliant album. This is the first album that sounds like the Hosono we are used to."
Anyway, it is sought after & crazy rare piece of vinyl but there still some cd copies (reissued) on Amazon. Grab Yours !
Very first post (in a sery of ?) dedicated to Chutney Music ! Most of you familiar with Trintad & Tobago but especially Guyana music may have noticed for fast paced "Bollywood influenced songs" mixed with Carribean carnival vibe, the whole sung in Hindi. Well that's the way i got in touch first and fall in love with Chutney...
> For further infos, better check the Wiki page which is pretty complete.
Kanchan started her career singing with Music Directors Kalyanji - Anandji (elder brothers of Babla) in the early 1970's and recorded many hit songs. At that time Babla was working as a music assistant and backing musician too for his brothers duet. I believe Babla & Kanchan met on the Qurbani movie on which to which they both participated.
Kanchan’s love for Live shows resulted in her teaming up with Babla (whith whome she'll married). Due to the band's huge success and continuous tours, they kept away from the Hindi film industry a long time to focuse on the Orchestra. The duo devised the now famous "Disco Dandiya" genre and became real superstars in the West Indies but not also and gained popularity too in the Netherlands, England, US & India too.
Their records are defintely emblematic for chutney's third wave artists, to follow precursors such as Sundar Popo and older ones (a post to come for S.P. next). Emancipating from religious & family themes lyrics but also introducing modern music elements especially thanks to the like of fascinating and versatile composer Babbla.
Extra joint from Babla (solo), this time more on the disco side. Opening track taken from the amazing "Disco Sensation" LP covering Hindi film hits in a Dandiya way but also containing personnal compositions ( there is a bootleg rerelease going around). MUST BUY !!
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Appart from having collaborated with both his elder brothers, Babla has also been composing a large amount of obscure music scores and sung in many of them too. But obviously i'm not owning any of them.
To end properly the post comes at last a dreamy & Larry Levan'esque music collage based on Babla's Disco Dandia's records, from friend & Hindi music freak Rocky Rock.
Two spacey organ cuts which originally came on Adi's 1982 "Popular Movie Melodies From India" LP (covering Bollywood classics). Unfortunatly I wasn't able to recongnize any of them.
"Adi understands the pain and agony of human life. He soothes his patients and brings happiness to young hearts, through his medical background and his extravagant musical talents." (back cover notes)
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Only a little informations are available on the net about the keyboard maestro. Anyway he seems to be part of a small spiritual group named the Zarathushtri community... Playing and accompanying as some sort of music therapeutist he provides rousing music to keep all involved until late hours for jubilee celebrations etc...
Shouldn't be considered as a following to my Raga Electric's post... anyway Bombay Connection label is delivering us another "curiosity" from indian music patrimony.
While acidic sounds are common in hindi musical scores since the very early 80's (and long before Jesse Saunders or DJ Pierre), an entire album dedicated to acid music is a weird case. Especially when it focuses on covering classic ragas.
Only a few informations are available about the composer Charanjit Singh. According to "Radio Diffusion" website, he had apparently been playing live for two decades. But his first single was not released until 1973. Unlike other performers who chose to pay tribute to the songs of Bollywood, Charanjit played a variety of instruments. He would feature either bass, steel guitar, the electric violin or the Transicord electric accordion as the prominent instrument on each song. He would eventually switch to the synthesizer, covering entire soundtracks.
The record is now extremly rare to come by, i'm not owning an original copy myself so the reissue is more than welcome.
Nazia Hassan is one of the greatest singer in Pakistan and all of the South Asia in the 80's, where she is admired and loved even today, several years after her death. She sing for many composer but almost with her brother Zoheb (Zohaib) Hassan. Their biggest HIT is the great classic "Disco Deewane", but all songs are bewitching andare matched only byitsbeauty.
