Nord Cameroun Rhythms - Lamido/Astadjam Dada Sare

I was shown this Afrobeats type ensemble the other day, however I've been finding it very difficult to find any information on the group; other than that the singer is possibly Hamad Kalkaba and that it was recorded on the label Sonafric while Kalkaba was recording with "Le Grand Orchestre de la Garde Republicaine de Cameroun". The record only contains two tracks, and unfortunately the quality of the mp3's isn't very high, if I can acquire a different copy I'll reupload it at a later date.

The music is very funky and is a good addition to anyone's Afrobeats collection, it reminded me a lot of Orchestre T.P. Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou upon first hearing it. Highly recommended. In fact here is a link to the second track on Youtube:

Tracklist

01. Lamido
02. Astadjam Dada Sare

Download Link - Mediafire

London is The Place For Me: Trinidadian Calypso In London (1950 - 1956) (Honest Jon's)

Released by Honest Jon's record label this collection is one of the better compilations evident of the spread of Calypso into the Western culture during the early to mid 50's.

From Honest Jon's website:

When the Empire Windrush, an old troop-carrier, arrived at Tilbury on June 21, 1948, and inaugurated modern Caribbean immigration to Britain, it also supplied calypso with its best-known image — on Pathe newsreel, Lord Kitchener singing his new composition London Is The Place For Me.

Kitch had boarded with Lord Beginner at Kingston docks, Jamaica, on Empire Day, May 24. In London they joined a milieu of fine band musicians familiar with Caribbean musical forms, and already represented on numerous recordings crucial to the development of British swing and jazz music.

Travelling with their own core audience, the Trinidadian calypsonians brought with them the vocal music of Carnival. Traditionally this ranges from social satire to sexual double-entendre, from voodoo to the most pressing issues of the day, from sporting events to competitive insult. The experiences of Britain’s growing Caribbean population were to be fabulously rich in raw material.

'... a witty and joyous testament to the creative power of popular culture and a document of more innocent times. It constitutes one of the best starting points for that rich, unfinished history of the black British diaspora and its intricate interweaving with British life that remains to be written' (Stuart Hall, The Guardian).

'... Not only is it a momentous record of real historical significance, but it comes in a finely produced sleeve with evocative photographs, background notes and recording details that bring the performances on the disc to life even more... a unique and marvellous compilation that lays open a whole era' (Chris Searle, Morning Star).

Tracklist:

01. Lord Kitchener - London Is The Place For Me
02. Young Tiger - I Was There (At The Coronation)
03. Lord Beginner - Mix Up Matrimony
04. Lord Kitchener - My Landlady
05. Lord Kitchener - Kitch's Bebop Calypso
06. Lord Beginner - Victory Test Match
07. Lord Kitchener - Birth Of Ghana
08. Lord Invader - Aguiti
09. Lord Beginner - Jamaica Hurricane
10. Lord Kitchener - Kitch in The Jungle
11. Mighty Terror - No Carnival In Britain
12. Lord Kitchener - The Underground Train
13. Lord Beginner - Housewives
14. The Lion - Some Girl Something
15. Lord Kitchener - Saxophone Number 2
16. Lord Beginner - Fed-A-Ray
17. Timothy - Bulldog Don't Bite Me
18. The Lion - Spanish Calypso
19. Lord Kitchener - If You're Not White You're Black
20. Lord Kitchener - Sweet Jamaica

Download Link - Mediafire

Obray Ramsey - Blue Ridge Banjo (1957)

Another Bleeding Panda discovery, reposted here due to the mediafire account on that blog being cancelled. Interesting album in it's own right.

Obray Ramsey is the banjo-picking cousin of old-time music instrumentalist Byard Ray, and the two worked regularly as a duo until they were "discovered" playing at an Asheville folk festival during the folk music revival of the '60s. From that point on, the two men's musical career took a strangely twisted path. Late-night television mongers who may have made it all the way through the strange psychedelic rock western Zachariah, may wonder who the two old-time musicians are that show up in one of this epic's many strange musical wonders, and the answer would be Ray and Ramsey.

Read the rest of the biography...

From the back cover of Obray Ramsey’s 1957 LP Blue Ridge Banjo, notes by Kenneth S. Goldstein:

In recent years, we have heard all to often about the ‘dying’ of folkculture in the Southern mountains. Many of the collectors who ventured into this area to record the songlore of the region in the 1930s and ’40s, shed sorry tears for the passing of a beautiful and rich tradition, each proclaiming his own collection to be the “last leaves” of this once-proud heritage. So, fewer and fewer adventuresome souls have involved themselves in recording the still-living tradition of the area. Those who have, however, have been amply rewarded by finding that, even though mountain life has been completely revolutionized in the past few decades, tradition dies hard, and numerous singers may still be heard and recorded.

To be sure, there are new sounds and new songs, but this material is, in many ways, as vibrant and vital as it was in the days of Cecil Sharp’s pioneering collecting forays.Obray Ramsey, whose sprightly banjo songs and instrumentals make up this LP, is living proof that this tradition still exists. And there are many more young, middle-aged and old folksingers like him, who have retained the best songs of their hardy mountain ancestors, perhaps changing some of them to suit their own artistic and performing abilities, but still retaining the best elements of old-style singing and playing. Ramsey was born on the banks of the three Laurels at the edge of the Smokey Mountains in western North Carolina. His father’s people came from the highlands of Scotland, and his mother’s ancestors were Cherokee Indians. Most of his songs were learned from his mother and grandmother, both fine singers with extensive repertoires.

For most of his life he has sung his songs unaccompanied, though he had learned to play the guitar when still a young boy. After he married and settled down as a successful farmer near Marshall, North Carolina, he met Bascom Lamar Lunsford, folksinger, collector, and organizer of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival held annually in Asheville, North Carolina. Lunsford recognized his fine singing talents and encouraged him to take up the 5-string banjo, which he believed would be perfectly suited to Obray’s style of singing. To show his faith in this belief, Lunsford gave Ramsey his first banjo in 1953. Now, Obray Ramsey is one of the finest banjo-pickers in the Southern Mountains. His style is a perfect compromise between old picking styles and currently popular modern styles.

Download Link - Mediafire

Ye Banished Privateers - Songs and Curses (2013)

Ye Banished Privateers be a band, a crew an’ a soup kitchen who think that gettin’ new interesting bruises,
mixin’ the perfect tar “perfume” an’ getting’ the audience to vocally overpower them is at least as important as hittin’ the right notes.

Ye Banished Privateers play original songs inspired by traditional sea shanties, bastardized irish folk, old scandinavian ballads, plays and court protocols of the pirate era and puttin’ it into a cracked and homemade 17th century punk mold.

This album was distributed for free by means of TPB, Grooveshark and a number of other file sharing media.

More information : www.yebanishedprivateers.com

Tracklist:

01 - Bottle of Rum
02 - Welcome to Tortuga
03 - Yellow Jack
04 - 'Bout Me Father
05 - It Matters Not
06 - Color of Sin
07 - Waves Roll High
08 - Fire Down Below
09 - When ye Dead Come Sailing Home
10 - Drowned Walz

Download Link - Mediafire

Takeshi Terauchi & The Bunnys - The Singles Vol. 1 & 2 (2001)

Takeshi Terauchi (also known as Terry), is a Japanese instrumental rock guitarist. Terauchi started his career playing rhythm guitar for a country and Western act "Jimmy Tokita and The Mountain Playboys", which had bassist Chosuke Ikariya. In 1962 he formed his first group, The Blue Jeans. However, in 1966 he left the group and formed The Bunnys with whom he played. The band consisted of:

Takeshi Terauchi - lead guitar

Hiroshi Kurosawa – guitar, harmonica, vocals

Yoshiyuki Suzuki – guitar, vocals

Tatsuya Ogino – organ, vibraphone

Hajime Ono - bass

Tadashi Inoue – drums, shakuhachi

 

He won the "arrangement award" with the song "Let's Go Unmei" at the 9th Japan Record Awards in 1967. He left the Bunnys in 1968 and reformed the Blue Jeans in 1969 and the band has been active until today.

With The Bunnys he covered many popular genres, from garage, fratrock and surf guitar instrumentals, through sentimental ballads, via his own inimitable take on the popular classics. After pursuing his early rhythm guitar country style music Terry swapped to the hip new ‘eleki’ style in 1962, with the formation of The Bluejeans. The band’s 1964 LP KOREZO SURFING (‘This Is Surfing’) was a huge hit, enabling Terauchi and his wild whammy-bar stylings to support both The Ventures and The Astronauts on their Japanese tours. However, the coming of The British Invasion saw Terauchi jump ship to the vocal sounds, and he formed The Bunnys in early 1966. 

His self-referential songs included the December single ‘Terry’s Theme’ and the LP LET’S GO TERRY, which featured wild performances including their legendary mind death riffothon ‘Test Driver’. Then came Terauchi’s commercial masterstroke, an eleki version of traditional Japanese songs for the LP SEICHO TERA UCHI BUSHI, which included the hit single ‘Kanjincho/Genroku Hanami Odiri". Sales topped over 100,000 copies and made the LP the all-time best-selling Group Sounds album. With their street credibility less important now than sustaining a high level of commercial success, Terauchi unleashed the pitiable album LET’S GO CLASSICS, featuring eleki versions of popular classics. 

In 1968, when Terauchi quit his own band, he left them to record an instrumental version of the then popular HAIR soundtrack(!). And, as the Group Sounds wavered, 1970 saw the guitarist dressing as a WW2 Japanese commander and singing Japanese war songs in an ironic style on the LP ELEKI IPPON GUNKA DE SHOBU TOTSUGEKI. However, Terauchi had by now squeezed the last remaining drops of patience from his fans, and thereafter was forced to call it a day.

The following two albums are mostly surf guitar sounding and feature a collection of his singles from over the years. They are an interesting gem in the wide repertoire of musical sounds that constituted the sounds of the late 60's

Both albums are bundled into the same archive as each other for convenience sake. Enjoy.

Tracklist:

Bunnys' Singles Vol.1 - Little Devil (Akuma no Baby)

01. Terry's Theme
02. Test Driver
03. Irrevocable Vow
04. Dream In The Ocean
05. Kanjincho
06. Genroku Hanami Odort
07. Let's Go Dance
08. Shake No. 1
09. Rising Guitar
10. South Pier
11. Little Devil
12. Hey? You Stop !
13. Symphony No. 5
14. Unfinished Symphony
15. Al No Remember
16. Futari No Izumi
17. Taugaru Jaongarabushi
18. Dark Eyes
19. Czardas I

Bunnys' Singles Vol.2 - Taiyo No Hana

01. Taiyo Yaro
02. World Boy
03. Feedback Guitar
04. Omoide No Hoshizora
05. Taiyo No Hana
06. Seishun Wo Kakete
07. Let's Go Bugalu
08. Summer Bugalu
09. Tokyo No Sunset
10. Hono No Koi
11. Tasogare
12. Samishisona Shojo
13. Usukudara
14. Dark Eyes
15. Blue Star
16. Unchainned Melody
17. Jingle Bell

Download Link - Mediafire

The Ragga Twins - Step Out! (2008)

The Ragga Twins are the link between UK dancehall reggae, jungle and hip-hop. This is a retrospective of their classic (and now very rare) early tracks produced by Shut Up and Dance at the start of the 1990s.

The Ragga Twins (alongside producers PJ and Smiley, AKA Shut Up and Dance) revolutionised UK dance music at the start of the 1990s bringing Reggae and Hip-Hop styles together to create Jungle. As drum and bass approaches its 20th anniversary and as new developments such as Grime, UK Garage - and most recently Dubstep – create artists and producers who continue to cite Jungle as a pivotal moment in the UKs musical history, Ragga Twins Step Out, chronicles one of the most important groups of this time. The Ragga Twins (Deman Rockers and Flinty Badman) began their careers as MCs for North London’s legendary Unity reggae sound system. The Ragga Twins were born after Shut up and Dance sampled the pair’s introduction on a dancehall mix-tape and then offered them a deal. At the height of rave culture, The Ragga Twins found themselves playing at raves up and down the country. With one album (Reggae Owes Me Money) and a steady stream of killer singles over the next couple of years the Ragga Twins’ musical blueprint of basslines, breakbeats and ragga defined Jungle music in the years to come.

As well as a serious overview of The Ragga Twins tracks with Shut Up and Dance, this album also features the super-rare bonus tracks “Iron Lady” and “Hard Drugs”, dating back to their pre-Ragga Twins, Dancehall days with the Unity Soundsystem. The album comes with extensive sleeve-notes, photographs and interviews. Essential!

“Relive the early-90s Reggae-Rave Soundclash. High speed dancehall chat, tough breakbeats and dub-reggae spliced together to still-exhillarating effect” Q

“Before dubstep and grime there was drum ‘n’ bass, before that there was jungle and before that The Ragga Twins. A brilliant retrospective.” Guardian

Tracklist:

1. Ragga Trip
2. Illegal Gunshot
3. Spliffhead (Remix)
4. Love Talk
5. The Homeless Problem
6. Rudeboy
7. 18" Speaker
8. Tan So Back
9. Bring Up The Mic Some More
10. Juggling
11. Spliffhead (Original)
12. Hard Drugs
13. Shine Eye
14. Wipe The Needle
15. Iron Lady
16. Good Times
17. The Truth
18. Hooligan 69 Remix
19. Paro 69

Download Link - Mediafire

Chaino - Jungle Echoes (1959)

I discovered this album through the Bleeding Panda blog, however as the mediafire account attached to that blog has been shut down here it is reposted. Its well worth checking out.

SHORT BIO:

The self-styled "percussion genius of Africa," exotica-era enigma Chaino was actually born Leon Johnson in Philadelphia in 1927; raised primarily in Chicago, the details of his early life are largely a mystery, although at some point he learned to play the bongos and began touring the so-called "chitlin" circuit of black nightclubs. During the mid-1950s he surfaced in Los Angeles, and with producer Kirby Allan entered the famed Gold Star studio to record a series of otherworldly jungle exotica LPs; the first, the 1958 Verve label release Jungle Mating Rhythms, featured not only a lurid fusion of African rhythms, primal chants and lusty moaning-and-groaning but also liner notes claiming "Chaino is the only survivor of a lost race of people from the wilds of the jungle in a remote part of central Africa where few white men have ever been...(he) could play seven or more drums at the same time, with such a blur of speed that you can hardly see his hands." In the months which followed, Chaino issued three more albums --Jungle Echoes, Night of the Spectre and Africana -- each for a different label; on occasion, he also worked as a session musician, and even appeared in pair of feature films, Nighttide and The Devil's Hand. A notoriously difficult and eccentric figure, however, in time he and Allan parted ways, and Chaino's activities over the decades to follow remain unknown; with the resurgence of interest in exotica during the mid-1990s, his brother George Johnson discovered the percussionist's whereabouts and briefly brought him back home to Chicago. Chaino nevertheless resumed his nomadic ways soon after; following surgery to remove a brain tumor, he suffered a fatal heart attack on July 8, 1999.

Download Link - Mediafire