Filed under: Hong Kong
♬ Girl with Mini Skirt / 穿短裙的小姐
I was first introduced to Liu Yun on a mix disc of music from Taiwan that was given to me from Menghsin Cindy Horng. On that mix was a song titled “Sister Is of Age”. I instantly fell in love with the song – especially it’s Booker T. & The M.G.’s infected bridge. And for the next 16 years, I searched to find the record with that song on it. Of course, that was not the name of the song. The name of the song is “She Is Eighteen”. Also, she wasn’t from Taiwan.
Liu Yun born in Beijing in 1941. She recorded her first record – “Wisteria Flower “/ “藤蘿花“ and “Bridal Chant“ / “洞房吟“ – in 1958 for Angel Records. Following that release, she recorded a handful of soundtracks for Shaw Brothers films. She went on to record over a dozen albums, most of which were released by Pathé – up until 1981. Then her output ceased.
If you have any further information about this artist or anything else about this recording, please leave it in the comment section below.
Catalog number S-CPAX-331 on Pathé. Released 1967.
Filed under: Brazil, Chile, Guyana, Hong Kong, Nicaragua, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Trinidad & Tobago
I thought I’d start the new year off with something a little different. First, this post has ten songs by nine different artists. Second, the only thing that connects them is that they covered music by Ennio Morricone from one of the three Sergio Leone‘s Spaghetti Western films: A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – a.k.a. “The Man with No Name” trilogy. Third, this post is the first to include music from South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean Islands. Originally, this blog focused only on Africa, The Middle East, India and Asia. But in the almost 14 years since this blog started, I’ve become increasingly interested in the music from South and Central America and the Caribbean.
♬ Titoli
I was first introduced to Hong Kong‘s Man Chau Po Orchestra [seen above] on Thrift Score Records’ sole release: Teen Dance Music from China and Malaysia. which had just about all of the tracks from this single. Also, Thailand’s Suang Santi‘s “Phu Ying Yai” sampled this version of the opening song from A Fistful of Dollars – not the original Morricone track.
Catalog number MEP. 5 on Man Chi Records Co. of Hong Kong, released 1966.
Chile‘s Los Sonny’s are the only other group that I was able to find to cover the theme from the first film of the trilogy. This track is from their second album which consisted entirely of songs from Spaghetti Westerns – including Stelvio Cipriani‘s theme to The Bounty Killer.
Catalog number CML-2638-X on RCA Victor of Chile, released 1968.
Bumble & The Saints were from Guyana. Aubrey Cummings was the leader of the band before leaving to become the lead singer for The Rhythmnaires. The flipside of this single is a cover of “Theme from Django”.
Catalog number I-28 on Ideal. No country of origin or date listed.
The Bad Boys – also seen as Los Bad Boys – were from Managua, Nicaragua. The band consisted of Humberto Hernández “El Gordo Beto” (vocals), Freddy Sequeira (bass, vocals), Francisco “Chico” Alvear (also known as Frank Alvir, guitar, vocals), Roman Cerpas (drums). They recorded 10 other singles for the Discosa label.
Catalog number 62 on Discosa of Nicaragua. No release date listed.
The Spitfires were from Columbo, Sri Lanka. I had been looking for their other single on Decca for ages. I only recently stumbled on this record. The line up for the band as listed on the back cover: Manager: Marcy Perara, Leader: Chinti Perara, Lead Guitar: Ronald Boustead, Rhythm Guitar: Donald Seneviratne, Bass Guitar: Felix Fernando, Electronic Organ: Claude Fernando, Drums: Chinti Perara, Vocals: Budrin Musafer, Sohan Pieris, Desmond se Silva.
Catalog number JVPC 1028 on Philips. No release date listed.
The Cassanovas – also seen as The Guinness Cassanovas – were from Trinidad & Tobago. They released nine other singles and an album. The rendition borrows heavily from Dominic Frontiere‘s “Hang ‘Em High“.
Catalog number ATM-57 on Atman Records of Trinidad & Tobago, released 1968.
Hélcio Milito was a Brazilian jazz samba/bossa nova drummer and producer who worked with musicians like Luiz Bonfá, João Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto and Luíz Eça. He has also helped make film scores for several Brazilian movies.
Catalog number 37.600 on CBS of Brazil, released 1969.
♬ The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Relly Coloma is from the Philippines, but – according to his website – currently lives in Los Angeles. Although his bio says “over 70 albums”, Discogs only lists 23 – plus 7 singles.
Catalog number MLS 5186 on Villar Records of the Philippines, released 1970.
Here’s another one by Los Sonny’s with the title track to the album posted above.
♬ The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Happy Melodians were from Singapore. This was most likely Maurice Patton & The Melodians. This song was included on Finders Keepers‘ compilation B-Music – Drive In, Turn On, Freak Out. Many other bands from Singapore covered these songs: Charlie & His Orchestra, D’Starlights, The Quests, The Stylers and The Vigilantes.
Catalog number JS 1001 on Jazzson Records of Singapore, released 1968.
This is by no means a definitive list. I was unable to find anything from the African continent and the only thing I was able to find from the Middle East was Selçuk Alagöz’s “Ringo” – which I have previously posted. There is a version of “A Few Dollars More” by The Tremolos from India. Whereas Discogs has a listing for a band called The Motion from Thailand who’s only single contains covers of both “For a Few Dollars More” and “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”, I have not been able to find any proof that the record exists. And lastly, while countless songs from Jamaica reference the titles and actors of these films, I have not heard an actual cover of a Morricone tune from there as of this posting.
If you would like to listen to all 10 tracks in one uninterrupted mix – as well as a couple of other mixes – check out Radiodiffusion Internasionaal’s SoundCloud page.
Filed under: Hong Kong
♬ 一吻定情
♬ 偸心的人
Wait. Where was I? Oh yeah… I was going to make some kind of tenuous connection between studio musicians and elevator music and tie in the fact that I just started reading Joseph Lanza’s “Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening, and Other Moodsong” (Which, so far, is much more entertaining than the last book I read: Simon Reynolds’ “Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984” [Spoiler Alert: Gang of Four were apparently responsible for everything] and way more enjoyable than anything by the coma inducing Peter Manuel¹ {Sorry to wander off in to Rev. Nørb territory here… (And yes, I do realize that 98% of the people who are reading this will not get that reference [And for that 2% of you who were reading MMR in the early 90s – Huzzah and kudos to you.].).}.). But instead, you get this:
Moon Stars were – like their label mates The New Wave – most likely a studio creation of their record label – New Wave Recording Company. If you have any further information, please contact me or leave a comment.
Catalog number NWLP 9, released by the New Wave Recording Company of Hong Kong. No other information available.
¹ Please see Mack Hagood’s comment regarding Peter Manuel below.
Filed under: Hong Kong
♬ 四傻狂想曲
I have come across many songs that pay tribute to Western songs – especially in South East Asia. The Cambodian Rocks, Thai Beat A Go Go and Thai Funk series are littered with songs that sound a whole lot like songs you’ve heard before. What you think might be a version of Ray Charles‘s “What’d I Say” is actually called “Why Do You Walk Like A Drunkard”. But an outright parody is something I had never really seen before I got my hands on this single.
The name of the band is The Four Dummies, which was comprised of four comedians from Hong Kong. The person who sold me this single told me that one of them was Chen Kwan Min and another was Sai Kua Bao, but he could not remember the names of the other two. Beyond that, I have not been able to find anything further.
If you have any further information on the band, please contact me or leave a comment.
Catalog number YE 202 on Beauty Records or Malaysia. No release date given.
Filed under: Hong Kong
♬ 小拜年
♬ 大拜年
There were two different music scenes in Hong Kong in the late Sixties. First were the garage bands like Teddy Robin & The Playboys, The Mystics, Joe Jr. & The Side Effects, Menace, Lotus, and the like. These bands generally sung in English and covered the latest songs from the UK or the US. And then there were recording artists from the Shaw Brothers film studio, like Nancy Sit and Chan Po Chu (a. k. a. Connie Chan) who recorded Chinese versions of international hits. At the same time, there were also a handful of studio musicians churning out instrumental versions of not only Western songs, but Westernized Chinese songs as well.
Much like their label mates The New Wave, The Apollo Guitar Band were apparently one of these studio bands. I have seen a few other releases by the band, but none of them feature any pictures or credits of musicians. The band’s name may have been taken from the Teisco / Kawai manufactured Apollo model guitar from that time period.
If you have any further information on the band, please contact me or leave a comment.
Thanks to Mack Hagood for translating the titles for me.
Catalog number NWLP 8035 on New Wave Record of Hong Kong, manufactured in Malaysia by Life Records. No release date listed.
Filed under: Hong Kong
One would assume that the Philippines Five Sisters were from the Philippines…
But if you listen to the track, they say that they are The Blue Star Sisters… And they were from Hong Kong, which probably explains why this is in English. Also, it appears that they are still active today, in Thailand…
As for the two comedians, Ya Fong and Wong Sa, they were popular throughout Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan during the 1960’s and into the 1970’s.
Catalog number RTC 88 on Rockson Record. The only other information is that the cover was printed by Chiyo Printing Ltd. of Singapore.
Filed under: Hong Kong
♬ Man-li
The New Wave were from Hong Kong.
After the First Opium War, Hong Kong became a crown colony in 1843. The first urban settlement was named Victoria City. The Kowloon Peninsula south of Boundary Street and Stonecutter’s Island was ceded to the British in 1860 under the Convention of Peking after the Second Opium War. Various adjacent lands, known as the New Territories (including New Kowloon and Lantau Island), were then leased by Britain for 99 years, from 1 July 1898 to 30 June 1997.
The New Wave were apparently a creation of their record label, New Wave Record Company, were most likely comprised of studio musicians. I have not been able to find other information about this recording.
Thanks to Mack at Far East Audio for translating the titles for me.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number NWLP 5, released by the New Wave Recording Company of Hong Kong. No date given.
Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe 
