Crazy mixed-up whirled mix, ABC RN

Sunday night on ABC Radio National, as part of The Night Air 8.35pm AEST
(rpt broadcast: midnight, Saturday 1st March - or 12am Sunday 2nd March, if you prefer)

AFTER IMPERIAL MONO-CULTURE, beyond the limit of maps: vintage pop & soundtracks from Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Poland, Czech & Slovakia, Croatia, Egypt, Iran, India, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Mexico, Chile & points inbetween thereof...

Denizalti Ruzgarlan Okay Temiz
45: Yonca Plak YCAS-076

... super-fine Turkish moog funk from this percussionist, composer & instrument builder extraordinaire. Recorded in 1974; later re-issued on (Turkish expat) Ilhan Mimaroglu's Finnadar label.

Is there life on the earth? (Makavejev/Hadzijakis) Anne Lonnberg
Sweet Movie OST CD (Lyra 1152)

... recurring freak/libertarian musical motif, from this monsterpiece of '70s Euro art/porn cinema.

Podatij Mi Troche Slonca Bemibem
Bemowe frazy LP (Muza SXL 1013)

... the Polish jazz/funk/prog scene has been the subject of avid collector attentions for a while now. This one is amazing for the way the female wordless vocals meander in a heterophony around the horn lines. I first discovered this track thru the "East of Cosmic" mixes of DJ Slobodan, from Belgrade's youth/opposition radio station B92.

??? Unknown song (Bazant/Hala/Malasek) Jirina Bohdalova & chorus
Dama Na Kolejich OST (unreleased)

... an unreleased track from the score of this 1966 Iron Curtain feminist pop-musical. Contrary to Western propaganda & historical myopia, the Iron Curtain produced some of the world's most colourful & creative popular cinema. The lyric explores that abiding conflict of the socialist "new woman": how to be feminine, & attract a mate, after a hard day on the factory floor.

Phonomorphia III (Detoni) Acezantez
Jugoslav Avant-Garde Music LP (Philips 6521 028)

... still largely unknown in the West, the Croatian composer Dubravko Detoni was a champion of post-WW2 modernism in his native Yugoslavia; after stints in the experimental studios at Warsaw, Paris & Darmstadt, Detoni was closely involved with the Zagreb Biennale of contemporary music, and performing music with the live electroacoustic ensemble, Acezantez. He continues to perform & record to this day.

??? music (edit) Kurt Grieder?
Samac OST (unreleased)

... the work of Zagreb Film re-defined creative animation in the 1950s & '60s; Samac (Eng: Alone) is generally considered to be the film that launched the new Zagreb style internationally (after its screening at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival). Music credit goes to Kurt Grieder, but I suspect this early electronic pop has been "borrowed" from another source - Grieder's score for a 1962 animation by the same Director, Mala Kronika (Eng: Everyday Chronicle), is constructed from an elaborate remix of the Forbidden Planet soundtrack!

Title Music (edit) Zdenek Liska
Ovoce stromu rajskych jime OST (unreleased)

... more unreleased soundtrack music, again from Czech, this time by the long-standing collaborator of the animator, Jan Svankmajer. The chorus translates in English as "tell me the truth". Both this, and the previous film (Sedmikrasky, Eng: Daisies, see below) by Director Chytilova, represent a singular pinnacle of international cinema - recommended!


Abgad Hawaz (???) Laila Morad
Laila Morad, Volume 2 LP (Soutelphan GSTP 54)

... stomping Egyptian jazz. Lovin' that tap-dance breakdown! I always had this one figured as being from a soundtrack (see below: Ghazl il banat of 1949) - what is immediately apparent is just how restrained the image is, in comparison to the wild, up-tempo music.

Chee ro bavar konam (???) Googoosh
The Best of Googoosh Vol. 5: Kavir (Caltex Records CD 2047)

... Googoosh is the most prominent pop vocalist from Iran, with a career spanning from the 1960s into the present. She works across both traditional Persian & contemporary Western styles. I've also seen the title of this track transliterated to English as Chiro bavir konam.

Title Music Rahul Dev Burman
Teesri Manzil OST LP (EMI 3AEX-5109)

... RD 'Pancham' Burman is probably the defining composer of the archetypal "Bollywood" musical style - a 'masala' of different genres, instrumental voices, rhythms, melodies & time signatures - achieving a colourful accomodation of traditional Indian & contemporary Western pop music styles...

Baithen Hain Kya Uske Pas (S D Burman/Majrooh; arr. R D Burman) Asha Bhosle
Jewel Thief OST LP (EMI 3AEX-5146)

... his father, Sachin Dev Burman, remains for many listeners (native Hinds, especially) the most important composer of Subcontinental cinema's "Golden Age". Sometimes, tho', he enlisted his son to help him chart more modern styles.

I want your love (Hendricks; arr. Qi) Grace Chang
The Age of Shanghainese Pops 1930-1970 CD (EMI/Pathe 724353094324)

... fiery vocal athletics from the gorgeous 'Ge Lan' Chang, as accomplished an actress as she was a musician. Ge Lan was the first Canto-pop singer to achieve popular success in Western territories, recording an LP for Capitol in the late 1950s. This style of East Asian jazz has a long and ambiguous legacy, hailing back to the nationalist period between the world wars.

Unwilling Heart (???) Ros Sereysothea
Ros Sereysothea's Collection 02 CD (Khmer Rocks no no.)

... smouldering torch-jazz from Sereysothea, perhaps the most prominent female singer of '60s & '70s Khmer pop & jazz styles (& with quite a few soundtrack credits as well). I have a definite love for the tonal languages of SE Asia - killer!

Cabaret Tragico theme (Esquivel) Columba Dominguez
Cabaret Tragico OST LP (RCA Victor MKL 1088)

... early work from Juan Garcia Esquivel, for this Mexican nightclub noir. All the trademark Esquivel motifs are already in evidence - the wild dynamic flux (quieter vocal parts going into bombastic horn charts), wordless chorus, Alvino Rey's electric guitar twang. Somewhere, I have an RD Burman soundtrack where the choir is all over that 'zu-zu' wordless thing - an indication of just how widely the Esquivel style was admired & imitated.

El derecho de vivir en paz Victor Jara
El Derecho De Vivir En Paz CD (WEA CD 8573 87606-2)

... the great Chilean folk-singer Jara, with what is perhaps his signature: "they deserve to live in peace" - and a sentiment that informed this selection of music.