Born Bad Records – BB136
In 1963, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia won seven Oscars. Launching its
actors to stardom, including Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif who played
Prince Ali Ibn Kharish at the age of thirty. The latter incarnated the
West’s vision of the Middle East which was simultaneously elusive,
refined and elegant. His fiery stare, impeccable mustache and immaculate
haircut had something to do with it: the Egyptian actor was a sex
symbol of an era passionate for James Bond and OSS117 spy adventures. In
the Jordinian desert, he fascinated an audience that was in search of
an escape and the thousand and one nights. This appetite for a colorful
and fantasized exoticism, was also prominent in France’s music of the
sixties. The country that welcomed Omar Sharif's first feature films
outside of Egypt (Goha, La Châtelaine du Liban) produced a delirious
amount of music of Latin or Middle Eastern inspiration, grouped behind
the genre named “typical” .
This “typical” production is enough to scare away the most motivated and
adventurous of listeners: overabundant and often blurry versions,
anonymous performers (often accompanied by the same arrangers) and only a
few noteworthy songs. Venturing into the moving waters of orchestral
music undoubtedly causes disappointment, but here and there, springing
up in the middle of a vast ocean, one can find a few cha-cha-cha pearls
played in a Cuban or Middle Eastern style. The French equivalent of
Exotica records (Les Baxter, Yma Sumac, Martin Denny etc.) for North
Americans who were fantasizing about Hawaiian Tikis and the Pacific
Islands, the oriental cha-cha-cha fueled dreams of the Middle East and
Northern Africa. To rum-based cocktails sipped in a Polynesian setting,
the French were to prefer couscous and mint tea. Carrying them across
the Mediterranean to nearby Maghreb and even further on to the more
mysterious Anatolia. Orientica in short.
The context is somewhat paradoxical: decolonization, especially of the
Maghreb was not an exactly smooth process. After Morocco and Tunisia in
1956, Algeria acquired its independence in 1962, leaving a gaping wound,
still partly open, on both sides of the Mediterranean. Pied-noirs
returning to the regions of Paris and Provence with a mixed culture
(dishes, humor, etc.). The Cuban missile crisis took place that same
year, a paroxysmal moment in the Cold War. Europe was split between two
camps. “When will the Russians throw nuclear warheads at us”? But there
was also reason to rejoice and be optimistic: the economic growth and
baby boom. Reconstruction was in full swing. French families were
dreaming of tourism and airplanes. A method of transportation that was
still reserved for the elite was developing rapidly. The French sky had
been opened to competition. Caravels, the first mass produced civilian
twin-jet planes had entered the airspace. The French were discovering
Italy, Spain by car and starting to dream of far more distant regions.
Records thus offered the average person an easy escape with an extra few
puns in there and a little ole-ole, making the product all the more
attractive. On Saturdays, young adults took part in ballroom dance
parties (dancing the cha-cha-cha, bolero, foxtrot, tango), although
physical distances were chaste the spirits were more mischievous than
they appeared. Sundays were then spent at the airport, listening to the
Boeings chanter là-haut (Boeings singing in sky). The Loukoum - Cha Cha
au Harem compilation offers a tender vision of pre-sexual revolution
Gaullian France. Including all the stereotypes on exotic countries;
culinary specialties (couscous, Turkish coffee, baklava, etc.), sensual
oriental dances, exaggerated accents, bewitching chants performed on
minor Hungarian scales by European instruments accompanied by percussion
of an unknown origin.
Aside from being a simple postcard, this music embodied a form of
innocence and naiveté, both touching elements to access in these cynical
and judgmental times. Catchy and tastefully arranged, the genre’s best
tunes contain a delightfully old-fashioned charm. Bob Azzam, an Egyptian
singer of Lebanese origin, made it popular in 1960 with Mustapha and
Fais-moi du Couscous, Chérie (Make me Couscous, Darling). The musician
who started his career in Italy in the late fifties really came to fame
in France thanks to these two songs. About twenty LPs were to follow,
not all as successful, maybe due to his sometime lack of mastery in
terms of quality and productivity. Léo Clarens the French-born Caliph of
Francophone oriental Cha-Cha-Cha is omnipresent in this compilation,
under his various stage names. Born Louis Tiramani Coulpier in Marseille
in 1923, the clarinetist formed his first orchestra at the start of the
Second World War. Stranded during part of the war in Algiers, he ended
up being promoted to conductor of the 2nd Armored Division! When Paris
was liberated, he went to the capital looking for work. There, he
recorded his first records (covers of American standards) for the
Philips label in the 1950s thanks to the famous Jacques Canetti, one of
the greatest French artistic directors of the 20th century. Apart from
his recordings under various pseudonyms (Kemal Rachid, the Kili-Cats),
the Marseille musician became a popular arranger, in particular for
Michel Sardou. He also assisted Paul Mauriat for many years. Later on
working with Laurent Voulzy and Jean Jacques Goldman in the seventies
and eighties.
Léo Clarens was not the only one to give in to oriental cha-cha-cha. A
number of musicians threw themselves to the task, most often with
mediocre results, but with a few nice surprises such as Benny Bennet or
Los Cangaceiros. Benny Bennett is an American musician of Venezuelan
origin who lives in France. He recorded many albums and 45 rpms mainly
for Vogue in the late fifties and early sixties. A jazz drummer, he
discovered Cuban music through his first wife Cathalina. From then on,
he recorded mambos, calypsos, boleros and cha-cha-cha including their
oriental variations with the excellent Couscous and Ismaëlia. Los
Cangaceiros were a Paris based band led by Yvan Morice. They released
four albums in the early sixties some of which were also published in
the United States, as well as a dozen 45 rpms. Under his real name, Yvan
Heldman became a prolific lyricist for films such as Le Vicomte Règle
Ses Comptes (1967). We can thank him for the classic Dick Rivers Le
Vicomte song. The omnipresence of percussion and drums on Oriental
Express gives us some indication of Roger Morris' favorite instrument:
the drums. However, literature and the internet are stingy with details
on his career. At most, one can find out that the musician published
half a dozen EPs, mainly for the Homère label, as well as two albums,
one typical of the early sixties (Surprise Party 2) and a second,
Library at L'Illustration Musicale. Raymond Lefèvre's career was much
better documented! Present on this compilation thanks to his
reinterpretation of the Lawrence of Arabia theme written by the great
Maurice Jarre (father of Jean Michel) in a Bolero style,he was a
soundtrack regular. Composing over 700 arrangements, he was especially
well known for his participation in Dalida’s Bambino and for the
Gendarme of St Tropez soundtrack.
On that note, it's time to sit back and relax in your lawn chair, smoke a
hookah (to keep the clichés going) and discover Loukoum - Cha Cha au
Harem!
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