Lačni Franz - 1981 - Ikebana

    Lačni Franz was a Slovenian rock band, founded in 1979 in Maribor. The creative core of the five-member line-up consisted of the singer Zoran Predin and innovative guitarist Oto Rimele, who constructed the band's sound on an atypical combination of new-wave aesthetics, subtle melodic-arrangement procedures, provocative social comments and (self-)ironic poetic images.

The group's rise began in 1981 with a successful performance at the Omladinskome Festival in Subotica, and the well-received debut of Ikebana, recorded for the Helidon record company and produced by Boris Bele (from the Bulldozer band). The album contained some of their best ("Praslovan", "Stari vojak") and most unconventional ("Bog nima telefona") performances in their entire career.

The author's original uncompromisingness and impeccable musicianship marked the second (commercially less notable) achievement Adijo pamet (1982) and the next, noticeably more communicative album Ne mi dihat za ovratnik (1983). The title song brought them closer to the widest audience, and the range of influences in the first period of their career included local folk heritage, jazz passages, elements of cabaret, blues-inspired ballads and a rich experience of Anglo-American art rock and post punk. After the album Na svoji strani (1986), Rimele briefly joined the lineup of the group Laibach, and then returned to his original calling as a painter and visual artist. The singles from that stage ("Na svoji strani", "Naj ti poljub nariše ustnice", "Čuvstveno stanje mlade krave, druge največje slovenske živali") strengthened the reputation of the band, which is capable of reconciling its own artistic affinities with the desires of the middle rock current.

Although Lačni Franz maintained relatively high quality in the following years (and in a changed line-up), subsequent works (Sirene tulijo, Tiha voda) are generally considered less important in the overall discography. Zadnja večerja (1993) is their last studio work, although they performed in concert until December 1997. Predin developed a successful independent career by incorporating the standards of Lačno Franz into his own repertoire. The band reunited several times in a rejuvenated line-up (e.g. the album Svako dobro, 2016).

TRACKLIST:

A1 Bog Nima Telefona 3:27

A2 Paloma 3:16

Backing Vocals – Boris Bele

A3 PH4 2:24

A4 Žarnica 3:15

A5 Praslovan 3:53

Backing Vocals – Zoran Stjepanovič

A6 Bitles 2:58

Backing Vocals – Zoran Stjepanovič

B1 Ikebana 2:47

B2 Lačni Franz 3:34

Backing Vocals – Boris Bele, Zoran Stjepanovič

B3 Nekaj Lepljivega 2:54

Music By – Oto Rimele

B4 Šankrok 3:09

B5 Stari Vojak 3:40

Lyrics By – James Jones

B6 Ja Sam Sam 2:10

Vocals, Music By, Lyrics By – Zoran Stjepanovič

B7 Konec 0:36

Music By – Los Mačučambos

Credits:

Published by: Založba Obzorja Maribor

Studio:  Studio Tivoli, Ljubljana

Pressed by:  Interprogres, Zagreb

Arranged By: Lačni Fran

Bass, Accordion: Zoran Stjepanovič

Drums: Damjan Likavec

Electric Piano, Mellotron: Mirko Kosi

Guitar: Oto Rimele

Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Zoran Predin

Lyrics By:  Zoran Predin (tracce: A1 to B4, B7)

Music By: Zoran Predin (tracce: A1 to B2, B4, B5)

Design: Didie Šenekar

Photography By: Miran Podlesnik

Producer, Editor: Boris Bele

Engineer: Aco Razbornik

Editor [Editor-In-Chief]: Drago Simončič

 

Mohammed Wardi - 1997 -  Al-Marsal

    Mohammed Wardi was a Sudanese singer who has been defined as "The Pharaoh", "The Emperor", "The Legend”, “The Last King of the Nubians”, “The Sudanese Golden Ugola” and among the best African singers. 

Everything start from 19 July 1932, when in a small ethnic Nubian village called Sawarda (near Wadi Halfa, a stone's throw from Nile and from the border with Egypt) Mohammed Wardi was born. July 19 is a very particular day in his life because it comes back and back as we go. The first time he recorded a song on the radio was July 19, 1957. When the military coup of July 19, 1971, occurred, he spent his longest time in detention. So it's always [the number] 19 for him. 

Orphaned at nine, and abandoning an already stable career as a music teacher at just over twenty, Wardi threw himself into the frenetic Khartoum of the 1950s, a city that had recently become the capital of Sudan independent from Great Britain and Egypt (1956 ). Mohammed, self-taught, then began singing on the radio, in particular on the Huna Omdurman station, created by the English in the 1940s but gradually transformed into a "national" Sudanese radio. It will be one success after another: making use of collaborations with the greatest Sudanese and non-Sudanese poets (here is a list), Wardi will become one of the most influential and representative singers and activists of his country's dynamic music scene.

Wardi's story is of particular interest to us because it is inextricably linked to his political activism and, in general, to the recent history of Sudan.

In 1958, after only two years of independence, General Ibrahim Abboud came to power in a coup. Among the successes of Wardi, a staunch opponent of Abboud, we find the song Uktubir Akhdar ("Green October"), dedicated to the strength of the people who can "bring down the prison walls", exactly what happened in October 1964 during the riots people who swept away the coup general and inaugurated a civilian government. From that October the Uktubiriyaat ("the October ones") were born, poems and songs aimed at telling and celebrating the events of that year. Finally, Asbah al-Subh ("The morning has come", here a legendary live performance), Wardi's song dedicated in particular to the students who opposed Abboud, also belongs to that period.  When he sang to Ibrahim Abboud, a former president of Sudan, it was during a military coup. He thought the military loved their country because they didn't have political parties, they didn't just talk a lot and not do much. They were military, they had order, they had discipline. So he sang for these people, but the first political clash that came with them was when they drowned Halfa, when Sudan let Egypt build the dam that drowned the city we come from.

After that, became more conscious, and more aligned with the political left. To be more specific, he was in the Sudanese Communist Party (the largest in Africa during the Cold War). That was in the '60s, he was part of the opposition to remove colonization. They were very close to the youth and their voice was the loudest.

In 1969, Sudan experienced another coup, this time orchestrated by General Ja‘far al-Nimeyri. If in the beginning Wardi supported the latter's "socialist" policies, he later changed his mind when faced with the ferocious repression of dissidents (including himself, imprisoned), with laws that limited freedom of expression, producing, among other things, the resulting decline of the music industry. In a first self-imposed exile, he performed some songs such as Banadeeha (“I am calling her”) in which he criticized al-Nimeyri and, with songs such as Ya Sha'aban Lahabak Thouritak (“O People, your revolution has caught fire”) and today's song Hanabnīhu ("We will build it!"), supported the popular protest movement that would lead to a new civilian government in 1985.

 However, the real exile (between Cairo and the United States) came in 1989, with a further coup d'état by Omar al-Bashir, who remained in office for exactly 30 years, until the recent Sudanese popular uprisings that began in 2018, which ousted him in April 2019.

Milestones from that period are such as al-Marsal (“The Messenger”), Balad Rayeh (“The country is lost”) and above all Sallim Mafateeh Al Balad (“Give us the keys to the country”), which has become famous again, like many of his others. songs, in "updated" versions (like that of the artist Zoozita) and loudly taken up during the most recent protests. In 1994, Wardi won a prize that anointed him the best singer in Africa. 

 

Mohammed Wardi, like music in Sudan, is a treasure to be discovered: we have not exposed his songs in Nubian, those for Sudanese unity, those dedicated to the Sudanese diaspora, those against all sorts of racism and the dozens of songs of 'Love. We have not talked about some legendary moments, such as his concert in front of thousands of Sudanese refugees in the refugee camp of Itang (Ethiopia) in 1990, about that fan who came on foot from Mali to ask him for an autograph for which he paid for the return flight and of his triumphal return to Sudan in 2002.

Here a nice interview to Mohammed Wardi's son: https://www.okayafrica.com/mohammed-wardi-sudan-last-king-nubia/

(https://www.oasiscenter.eu/it/tarab-mohammed-wardi-ricchezza-musica-sudanese)

TRACKLIST:

A1 جمال الدنيا

Lyrics By – كمال محيسي

A2 الهوى الأول

Lyrics By – الجيلي عبد المنعم

A3 حنينة

Lyrics By – إسماعيل حسن

B1 غلطة

Lyrics By – إسماعيل حسن

B2 صدفة

Lyrics By – إسماعيل حسن

B3 المرسال

Lyrics By – محمد علي أبو قطاطي

Recording Studio: Al Araby Music Studio

Credits:

Accordion: الزين مبارك

Bass Guitar: حامد موسى

Guitar: كميليو, محمد سليمان

Keyboards: عمر عويس

Percussion: جعفر حرقل

Saxophone: حامد عثمان

Strings: مجدي العاقب, محمدية, ميكائيل الضو

Trumpet: سراج

Composed By – محمد وردي

Arranged By – محمد وردي

Design – هاشم ودراوي

 

Perper - 1992 - Sa Gomile Velikih Oblaka

    Перпер (Perper) was formed at the end of 1991 in Cetinje, Montenegro. Centije is a small town. It was the perfect place for friends to get together & form a band. After a holiday conversation between Momčilo Zeković Zeko - bass & Aleksandar Radunović Popaj – lead guitar, the two got together to play a few songs & decided to get serious about recording.

After the holidays, the two returned to Novi Sad & Belgrade where they were studying. While at school, Popaj enlisted his brother Nikola Radunović - vocals, then they rounded up Mladen Brajović – rhythm guitar & Ivan Vujović Mane – drums, & Перпер was formed ( the band name Perper was coined by an old friend & local bands singer Mićko Marović). They were looking for a name that would be unique, recognizable, & easily remembered. Перпер was exactly what they wanted.

Перпер’s first major appearance was on a Montenegrin TV show in November 1991 with a song "Mir Kao Peto Godišnje Doba" (Peace as a Fifth Season). It was an anti-war song, which, due to strong pro-war sentiment, didn’t go over very well but led to more exposure for the band.

At the end of December they recorded their first album Sa Gomile Velikih Oblaka (From a Bunch of Big Clouds) in Novi Sad. They have released seven albums & many singles. This album, recorded live at the Montenegro National Theater is the first ever ‘unplugged’ concert recorded in Montenegro.

(https://nathannothinsez.blogspot.com/2013/04/montenegro.html)

TRACKLIST:

A1 Golub Za 086 4:13

A2 Montenegro Džez 3:49

A3 Kome Dolaziš U San 3:28

Lyrics By [Refrain] – Miladin Šobić

A4 Ljubav (Za Laku Noć) 3:42

B1 Sve Je To Danas 4:54

B2 Ritmovi Za Nevjerne 4:40

B3 Kiše Za D.M. 4:02

B4 Seansa 4:22

Credits

Realized by: PGP RTB – NL 00191

Recording studio: Studio M, Novi Sad

Momčilo Zeković: Bass Guitar

Ivan Vujović: Drums

Aleksandar Radunović: Guitar

Mladen Brajović: Rhythm Guitar

Nikola Radunović: Vocals

Music By, Lyrics By – Momčilo Zeković-Zeko*

Producer, Arranged By – Perper

Producer, Recorded By, Keyboards – Saša Pavlović

Recorded during November and December 1991 at Studio M, Novi Sad.

Supported by Radio Cetinje.