Filed under: Sublime Frequencies
Sublime Frequencies is celebrating their 15 year anniversary. To mark the occasion, they are hosting a three day festival at Théâtre Berthelot in the Paris suburb of Montreuil, France on November 9-11, 2018.
There will be live bands, multiple documentary screenings from the label’s vast cinema archive, DJ sets from the label founders and SF contributors, as well as an exhibit showcasing the visual history of the label’s 15 year existence with artwork, flyers, posters, and other rare visual esoterica. There will be new and exclusive merchandise available only at this event.
I am scheduled to do a DJ set after The Brothers Unconnected on Sunday. Please come out and say hello, bonjour, hola, ciao, مرحبا, สวัสดี…
7 PM Friday, Nov. 9th / 19h00 Vendredi 9th Nov.
- Bands Porest Group [UK] / Senyawa [Indonesia]
- DJs: TBA
2 PM Saturday, Nov. 10th / 14h00 Samedi 10th Nov.
- Films: Staring into the Sun by Olivia Wyatt / Musical Brotherhoods of the Trans-Saharan Highway by Hisham Mayet / Sumatran Folk Cinema by Alan Bishop & Mark Gergis / Cambodian Videocassette Archives by Mark Gergis
- Bands: Kink Gong [France] / Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band [Burkina Faso]
- DJs: TBA
3PM Sunday, Nov. 11th / 15h00 Dimanche 11th Nov.
- Films: This World is Unreal Like a Snake in a Rope by Robert Millis / The Pierced Heart and the Machete by Olivia Wyatt / The Divine River by Hisham Mayet
- Bands: Robert Millis & Jesse Paul Miller [USA] / Brothers Unconnected [USA]
- DJs: TBA
Note: This post will be updated as more information become available.
Filed under: Kenya
The Eagles Lupopo (A.K.A. The Eagles Band, Eagles Lupopo 77, King Eagles Lupopo, Daudi Kabaka & His T.B. Eagles) were formed in Nairobi, Kenya by Daudi Kabaka in 1972.
Kabaka was born in Kyambogo, Uganda in 1939. By the time he was twelve, his family had moved to Nairobi. In 1954, Daudi recorded his first composition, “Nie Kabaka Naimba”, for the CMS label (Capitol Music Stores). In 1959, he began working with Equator Sound Studio and soon became a salaried member of the house band – The Equator Sound Boys (A.K.A. The Equator Sound Band, The Jambo Boys).
Through out the 1960s, Kabaka recorded a number of hits for Equator Sound, including “African Twist”, “Harambee Harambee” and “Helule Helule”. In 1967, his song “Helule Helule” was covered by The Tremeloes and it became a hit in United Kingdom – reaching number 14 on the charts. But owner / producer Charles Worrod had registered himself as the composer / arranger of the songs released by his label. This eventually led to a falling out with most of musicians on the label over royalty payments – including Kabaka who by that time had registered with the PRS (Performing Right Society) in London.
Kabaka resigned from Equator Sound in 1972, and with some of his old Equator colleagues launched their own production company – African Eagles Recording, Ltd. The label copied the Equator format of having a house band that sometimes recorded under its own name – African Eagles Lupopo – and sometimes served as a backing group for other musicians and singers. The studio band originally included Gabriel Omolo, Sylvester Odhiambo as well as the Zambian émigrés Nashil Pichen and Peter ‘Tsotsi’ Juma.
You can find two songs by The Eagles Lupopo 77 on two different compilations: “Ajali Ya Mombasa” on AI Records “The Essential East African Collection Vol 1” and “Dina na Jim” on Next Music’s “Essential East African Hits Volume 2”.
Daudi Kabaka, passed away on November 26, 2001.
Catalog number on 2 C 006 – 81152 M on EMI / Pathé, pressed in France. No release date listed.
Filed under: Pakistan
I first came across the Tafo Brothers while working on the Pakistan • Folk and Pop Instrumentals 1966 – 1976 compilation. The master tape for The Blue Birds’ version of “Sun We Bilou Waliya” had been damaged. So, EMI Pakistan sent us the Tafo Brothers’ version instead.
The song “Bura Honda Juwariyan Da” can be found on the first volume of Finders Keepers‘ ‘Disposable Music’ series – The Tafo Brothers • Plugged In Pakistani Pops. Also, the song “Karye Pyar” (featuring Nahid Akhtar) – which was sampled by the Wu Tang Clan‘s Ghostface Killah on the track “Black Tequila” – can be found on the Sound of Wonder compilation. There are five more tracks by the Tafo Brothers on that compilation’s follow up – Life is Dance.
There are two albums of their versions of M. Ashraf tunes – Great Love Songs of M. Ashraf Volume 1 Instrumental and M. Ashraf at His Best Instrumental Volume 2 that you can find on most major online digital media outlets.
Lastly, there are a number of singles that have been uploaded over at the Hindustani Vinyl blog that are worth checking out.
If you have any information about the Tafo Brothers, please contact me or leave a comment.
Thanks to Milan Hulsing for his help on this post.
Catalog number EMCP-5023 on EMI Pakistan, released 1976.
Filed under: Turkey
Berkant Akgürgen was born on New Years Eve 1938 in Ankara, Turkey. At the age of 19, he formed his first band Üstün Poyrazoğlu Orkestrası. Later that year, the band changed their name to Jüpiter Kenteti – or Jupiter Quintets. After a stint in the military, he formed Vasfi Uçaroğlu Orkestrası.
Berkant recorded dozens of singles between 1966 and 1974, and many of the songs were collected on an album in 1974. In 1993, he attempted a comeback with an album called “Samanyolu ’93” – or “Milky Way ’93”. He died today – October 1st, 2012.
This song, which translates as “First Love” was originally recorded by Ajda Pekkan.
Catalog number SP 303 on Sevilen Plāk of Turkey, released 1972.
Filed under: Japan
Speaking of James Bond… Here’s a version of “Goldfinger“.
Now, there never was a band called ‘Monkey A Go Go Band’. The origin of this single is pretty sketchy, since there is no information on it what so ever. I believe it was manufactured in either Malaysia or Hong Kong. But the cover happens to look a whole like Takeshi Terauchi & His Blue Jeans’ album “モンキー・ア・ゴー・ゴー!” – which translates as “Monkey A Go Go!“. And, what do you know? All of the songs on this single happen to be on that album.
Catalog number EPS 201 on STL Records. No other information available.
Filed under: Ghana
I first came across the Avengers when I was researching another band from Ghana – Tall Emma & His Skippers – and had been looking for one of their records ever since. I stumbled upon an article written by Soundway Records‘ Miles Cleret, but the both bands barely get a mention…
The guitar riff on this track bares more than a passing resemblance to the theme song from the James Bond film “You Only Live Twice” – that was released the same year as this record.
If you have any further information about the Avengers, or know if they produced any other recordings, please contact me or leave a comment.
Catalog number FIC.245 on Ghana Film Studios, manufactured in England. Released 1967.
Filed under: Armenia
ԱՐԱ – or Ara – was an Armenian musician based in Beirut, Lebanon. He released at least one other single as Ara and His Trio – which was multi-colored record released by Lis Records with “Sev Sev Atcher” (which had also been recorded by fellow Armenian Adiss Harmandyan) on the A side and “Maria” on the flipside.
If you have any information on ԱՐԱ / Ara, please get in touch or leave a comment.
Catalog number 6652 / M 105 on Meka Records of Beirut, Lebanon. No release date listed.
