I bought this LP at a record bazaar. It was a case of buy-3-get-1-free and I couldn't find anything else I really wanted in that record stack. I think I mostly chose it because I thought the album cover was inadvertently funny. But, to be honest, I had once more gambled with an unknown Surinamese album and it paid off. You can read about it here, along with some background info on that lesser-known South African country. This LP turned out to be even better than the Johnny Miranda one. It is, likewise, an irresistably danceable mix of Caribbean and South American styles, and mostly sung in that queer Surinamese dialect comprised of English, Dutch and Portuguese elements. The singing style is typical of Kawina, Surinam's 19th century slave music where the call-and-response gospel-like vocals are accompanied by the rhythmical beating of the skratjie drum. This evolved into Kaseko, a popular dance music genre mixing the local kawina style with influences from Caribbean Calypso and New Orleans Jazz. Twinkle Stars' leader Oscar Harris emmigrated to The Netherlands in '63 and formed the band together with American soul singer Billy Jones and members of the large Surinamese community in '65.
They had some hits prior to this, which was apparently his last recording with the band before following a successful solo pop career. He sings lead vocal on "Singerman" (together with Jones, who also sings on the gospel-style "Jerusalem"), "Mina Mina" and "Me Call'am Said No". The latter has a starker African style, just drums and vocals. With the exception of the gently chugging reggae of lead single "Singerman", the rest of the album is dominated by fast afro-cuban rhythms and jovial horn blasts. "Loekoe Fa Den Boi E Danzie" is another highlight, in a less frantic cha cha cha beat. "If you Wanna See Me" is Tito Puente-meets-Harry-Belafonte pastiche, while the rest is salsa-like dance music with the occasional jazz piano flourish. An excellent collection of Latin dance music, this Dutch-made LP has apparently been reissued only once in vinyl (Spain, in '77) and never on CD. Original copies aren't hard to find, so if you like world music and would like to discover a new and interesting variety of it, hurry up! Also, if you like what you hear you may be interested to learn that there is an Oscar Harris tribute concert planned for October 6 at Rotterdam's Theater Zuidplein. The 75-year old singer will, of course, be there, together with younger artists who want to celebrate his legacy.
**** for Singerman, Mi Matie Wefie, Loekoe Fa Den Boi E Danzie, Jerusalem, Mina Mina, Koele Koele
*** for Kaaiman, If You Wanna See Me, Poeroe Voetoe, Me Call'am Said No, Gongo Té
No comments:
Post a Comment