KTK32: SONGS OF THE MAORI

Maori woman with the traditional Moko tattoo

Ladies & gentlemen, I hope you had a great time for our first week with the maori people of New Zealand and that you did not get too scared with their virile way of welcoming. This week we'll go for something totally different with the SONGS OF THE MAORI, THE MANIAPOTO VOICES (Zodiac ZLP 1036 from 1966).

Imagine what would have happen if the Andrews sisters where born in a Maori village In New Zealand... I'm pretty sure they would have become singers! Well, that's pretty much the same story for the Hikuroa sisters. Kay, Kelly, Laura and Hinerangi are four Maori sisters from the Ngati Maniapoto tribe who kept the family traditions of singing and recorded this very sweet lp.

Today, we got 15 gorgeous bittersweet folk songs with mostly vocals, some light strings and a hint of piano to enhance their goodness. It seems like the sisters ever released some more songs as the back cover mention another Zodiac ep: THE MANIAPOTO VOICES, EPZ 139 that I'd love to ear. If you got more from them, please let me know!

traditional Maori tattoo

Not only those four sisters did their best to produce a gorgeous record but they been really great about the cover as they choosed a photo of their grand mother proudly wearing the traditionnal moko tattoo to illustrate their music. What a great way to show respect to their traditions and cultural background. ENJOY!

TRACKLIST:

01 TE ATAIRANGI

02 KA MARANGI TE WAI

03 TU MOKE MOKE

 04 ETE IWI E

05 TE MARAMA ITE PO

06 PATERE TAINUI

07 REO KARERE

08 HOKI MAI

09 MANU RERE

10 TUREITI ETE IWI

11 TIARO TANUMIA

12 HINEMOA

13 KAREWA

14 FAREWELL TO WANA-I-RANGI (lament)

 15 NOW IS THE HOUR (po ata rau)

KTK31: HAKAS IN HI-FI

Ladies & gentlemens...

Our crew hope you enjoyed the stay in the Antilles. Today, we arrive in New Zealand and guess what? It seems like we're not the first to arrive here. About 650 years ago, the Maori people arrived here after a long boat trip, all the way from the Hawaiian islands (while some others prefered to stay in Tahiti or other south Pacific islands).

 

Even if the Te Aute Maori Club are nice people they welcome us today with some powerfull (yet scary) Haka war dances and agressive loud vocals. HAKAS IN HI-FI (Viking records VE61 from the mid 60's) is a good way to start our journey in new Zealand's traditionnal and folk music with probably the most famous traditionnal dance worldwide because of the famous All Blacks rugby players who keep their traditions of glorious Maori warriors.

the All Blacks performing the Haka

On this trip, we'll mostly get some Viking records productions. They did a pretty good job to promote the polynesian and maori cultures since the late 50's with a serious amount of editions and re-editions (of Tahitian records) in New Zeland and Australia. We'll get some traditionnal games songs, some very sweet folk songs and we'll also visit a local church to enjoy some women choir... A great program for the next few weeks!

TRACKLIST:

SIDE 1

01: HAKA WHAKAARA

Utaina and Kamate

02: PATI PATI

03: KAANGA KOPIRO

SIDE 2

01: HAKA - KURA TIWAKA

02: PAIKEA

03: RINGA PAKIA
ooOoo

performered by:

Te Aute Maori Club

Thanks for flying
with KTK

KTK30: TRINIDAL CAVALIERS (SOUVENIR)

 Ladies & Gentlemen...

This week we'll end our little trip around Carribean island / West Indies, following the trails of Alan Lomax and enjoying a seasonal treat with the great party at the carnival of Trinidad...

The program for today: Costumes, parade, huge crowd and off course music with the steel orchestra TRINIDAD CAVALIERS "SOUVENIR ALBUM"  (Calypan 008 [PRP 156] 1971).
As in many other places, the carnival of Trinidad borrows it's music from various registers such as classical or popular music and mostly focus on dancy rythm with heavy drum bands based on home made steel instruments and inspired by traditionnal african tribal music. It's funny to see on this photo how Esso used it to promote their compagny:

a traditionnal steel band and a surprising sponsored record

The record we got here is steelband music from Trinidad recorded in the early seventies by the Trinidad Cavaliers to promote the carnival during a tour of the band in Canada. The cover is pretty great, including many photos of the band with the party atmosphere and also reminding the shape of a steel drum.

TRACKLIST:

01 AQUARIUS

02 WINE, WOMEN & SONG

03 YELLOW BIRD

04 THEME FROM LOVE STORY

05 EINE KLEINE

06 I LOVE PARIS

07 SWAN LAKE BALLET

08 St THOMAS GAL

09 NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN

10 GALLOPADE

A great vintage documentary about Trinidad's carnival

Some sweet vintage postcards

from Trinidad and Tobago here

KTK29: LES ANTILLES part2

Ladies & gentlemen...

It seems like you enjoyed our first 2 weeks around... Today, we'll continue our little visit of the Caribbean islands, focucing more on the music from Martinique. Not much more things to add that would not be an echo from last time... So, less blah blah, more cha cha!

traditionnal dress from Martinique

Today again, get ready to dance with some spicy 70's tunes from Guadeloupe, Saint Lucia and for the biggest part: Martinique (7 songs out of 9). LES ANTILLES (Carabine 49540 from 1976, second Lp of a 2 Lp's set) is a great occasion to continue the party!

guadeloupean women

What an awesome amount of influences we got here: Indian spices, various Latin American and African music styles and French Kreyol for the lyrics. 09 songs. As last time: great vocals, lots of drums, sax, trumpets, funky bass...

TRACKLIST:

MARTINIQUE

01 BALANCE MESDAMES (G. Coldold)

02 AKA AKI (G. Coldold)

03 MOSAIKO BOOKELOS (J. Vigilant)

04 REVISION PUISSANCE "8" (J.Rebus)

GUADELOUPE

05 MOIN MANDE OU DOUDOU (Pierre Labor)

St LUCIA

06 MOIN ENVI DANSE (Davidson Riviere)

MARTINIQUE 

07 MADJOUMBE (R. Rimbaud)

08 EN BAS MALAVOI (R. Rimbaud)

 09 O.K (J.C. Artigny)

All the photos comes from the great vintage black beauty photo blog... 

It's really worth a visit!