Check out this week's Retro Cocktail Hour webcast as we sample
the new Basta reissue of Dean Elliott's classic "Zounds! What
Sounds!".
Also, you'll find tracks from the new "Fantomas" CD, and one of
the "Kriminalfilmmusik" CDs, featuring music from German crime
thrillers of the '60s; crime jazz on a budget from "Stakeout on Dope
Street"; the Ursula Shake from "The 10th Victim"; tunes by
Ferrante and Teicher, Tony Hatch, Al Caiola and Pete Rugolo; 101
Strings and the orgasmic moans of Bebe Bardon; plus new stuff by
Les Hommes and Dead Ringer.
To hear The Retro Cocktail Hour on the web, just visit:
http://kanu.ukans.edu/retro.html
As always, comments welcome.
Darrell Brogdon
The Retro Cocktail Hour
KANU FM 91.5
Visit The Retro Cocktail Hour at:
http://kanu.ukans.edu/retro.html
Listen to The Retro Cocktail Hour at:
http://kanu.ukans.edu/retro/retrolisten.htm
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2001 11:57:54 -0400
From: nytab@pipeline.com
Subject: (exotica) [obit] Francis Bebey
Francis Bebey
31 May 2001
Francis Bebey, novelist and musician: born Douala, Cameroon 15 July 1929; married (two sons, one daughter); died Paris 28 May 2001.
Francis Bebey was a one-man poet, playwright, storyteller and novelist and an accomplished musician.
In 1968 he won the Grand Prix LittΘraire de l'Afrique Noir for his novel, published a year earlier, Le fils d'Agathe Moudio (translated as Agatha Moudio's Son, 1971). From then on, he did not stop writing. Some of his other publications dwelt extensively on traditional African music, including Musique de l'Afrique (1969, translated as African Music: a people's art in 1975) and Le Roi Albert d'Effidi (1976, published as King Albert, 1981).
In his own musical creation there is that deep African rhythm that no other African had attempted to make a permanent feature. His discovery and use of the ndewhoo, as he called the fantastic pygmy one-note flute, and the sanza or the thumb piano, are a clear example of this. These two instruments embellished most of his recordings from the mid-1990s onwards.
Bebey was born in 1929. After education in his native Cameroon, and in France and the United States, he spent most of his working life with Unesco's Information Services in Paris and rose to become the head of the music department before retiring in 1974 to consecrate his life to creative writing. He combined his writing skills with composing music.
I first met him in 1980 after a concert in the northern French city of Rouen. His voice then still reverberates in my mind. He was a good conversationalist; a polyglot, he glided over the language barrier that usually confronts the African intellectual, and sang in English, French and Douala.
His quest for more knowledge, even in his retirement, was typified in his mΘlange of rhythms from all corners of the world. He blended original African rhythms with those of Latin America, Asia, Europe and everywhere he went. But even so, his "African roots" permeated all his recordings.
One French critic described Bebey's art as a blend of superb classical guitar technique, a wonderfully expressive voice and suddenly melancholy melodies, and this combination can be heard distinctively on "Ethnic Covenant", "Etum! Etum! Etum!" and "Dibiye". Songs like "Mbira Dance", "Canto Bantou", "La Condition Masculine", "Akwaaba" and "Lettre α ma bien-aimΘ" are often deceptively simple lullabies, with the thumb piano and one-note pygmy flute creating the tinkling sound of seeds, murmuring in the forest and gently running water.
He was not a commercial musician, but his soothing baritone voice, his well thought-out, poetic lyrics and perfect blend of sound made him a first-class composer, musician and artist by any standard.
He was hardly ever without humour. He would transform a melancholic situation into a cheerful moment. Each time I visited Bebey in his home in Paris, we spoke about Africa. He was a real connoisseur of the continent, who did not mix up historical facts and reality. He was a man who always saw Africa and Africans at the top of everything they did and a man without an iota of complex.
Bebey's novels demonstrate his close observation of society's strengths and weaknesses. He was close to his readers. But, even if he was a man of letters, it is music that runs in his family. His son, Toups, made a number of recordings with him and recently released his first album. His elder son, Patrick, composes songs for Francophone artists based in France, and his daughter, Kiddy, edits a French children's magazine, Planet Jeune.
> by the way, does anyone know if there was ever an ost for "spiderbaby"
> released? or some compilation somewhere with some of the music from it?
> the dvd finally arrived in the mail tonite and while watching it again i
> realized i really dig the music. it seems like the music is sort of on the
> short side so it might not fill up a complete album or anything.
Check out "Not Of This Earth: Film Music Of Ronald Stein" on
Varese Sarabande, which has tunes from Spider Baby, Attack of
the 50 Foot Woman, Dementia 13, The Terror and Not of This
Earth. Lon Chaney, Jr. sings the theme from Spider Baby! Also
includes a great track of Lon and Ron rehearsing the theme in a
studio somewhere in Mexico. Great stuff!!!
Darrell Brogdon
The Retro Cocktail Hour
KANU FM 91.5
Visit The Retro Cocktail Hour at:
http://kanu.ukans.edu/retro.html
Listen to The Retro Cocktail Hour at:
http://kanu.ukans.edu/retro/retrolisten.htm
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2001 13:34:43 -0400
From: Jenna <jenna@hollygolightly.net>
Subject: (exotica) Re: Road trip-Route 66
"Roadside Peek" has some great stuff on Rt 66 - and everything else of
Roadside Americana interest...
http://www.roadsidepeek.com/rte66/index.htm
jenna
> Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 22:02:57 -0500
> From: "Colleen Pyles" <colleen7@ireland.com>
> Subject: (exotica) Road trip-Route 66
>
> Hi guys,
> have been lurking a lot lately, busy at work and my sister has just
> been diagnosed with breast cancer and that has taken up a lot of my
> time. But here's the deal, we're gonna take my sister on a road trip
> on ROUTE 66. Has anyone done this? I know a lot has been lost to
> the interstate, but I hear there's a lot still left of the Mother
> Road. If anyone knows anything, let me know. I think it could be a
> lot of fun.
>
>
> Colleen
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2001 14:08:58 -0400
From: "m.ace" <mace@ookworld.com>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Road trip-Route 66
>But here's the deal, we're gonna take my sister on a road trip
>on ROUTE 66. Has anyone done this? I know a lot has been lost to
>the interstate, but I hear there's a lot still left of the Mother
>Road. If anyone knows anything, let me know. I think it could be a
>lot of fun.
Check out the National Historic Route 66 Federation:
http://www.national66.com/
They have some maps and guidebooks for sale on their 66 Superstore page:
http://www.national66.com/super_store/index.html
(can't vouch for them)
Check their links page for more sources:
http://www.national66.com/sources1.html
hope that helps,
m.ace mace@ookworld.com
http://ookworld.com
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2001 16:03:31 +0200
From: Moritz R <tiki@netsurf.de>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Amsterdam and herb
Speaking of les herbes des provence Nederlands... Ton sent me this cute report... of course the German authorities run amok, but they can't stop it due to the fabulous contract of Schengen...
Venlo, Netherlands.
Dutch authorities plan to open two drive-thru
shops next year where "drug tourists" can buy marijuana and
hashish. The officials want to make it easier on Germans who flock
to the Dutch border town for drugs by opening two coffee shops
with drive-thrus selling drugs such as marijuana and hashish.
Drug tourists draw street dealers selling illicit harder drugs,
creating "an environment that generally makes ordinary people
feel unsafe," said a Venlo spokeswoman. She couldn't say
exactly what the shops will offer, but she said they would not
be like Amsterdam cafes where visitors can enjoy a cup of
