Brazil, Samba, Rock! (2012)

01 - intro - sivuca speaks

02 - os originais do samba - favela

03 - jorge ben - o telefone tocou novamente

04 - os mutantes - she's my shoo shoo (minha menina)

05 - eliseth cardoso - eu bebo sim

06 - ed lincoln - eu nao vou mais

07 - dedy dread - o bananeiro

08 - caetano veloso e gal costa - que pena (1969)

09 - sono rhizmo - o-telefono

10 - alessao vilhoso - sol de verao (7 samurai remix)

11 - elza soares - amor perfeito

12 - jorge ben - take it easy my brother charles

13 - maria bethania - mano caetano

14 - shantisan aquela - minha menina

15 - roberto carlos - mi cacharrito

16 - abilio manoel - luiza manequim

17 - jorge ben e trio mocoto - cosa nostra

18 - jorge ben - sou da pesada (7 samurai remix)

19 - gilberto gil - batmacumba

20 - gal costa - tuareg

21 - palov & panama cardoon - favelas

22 - os originais do samba - tenha fe pois amanha um lindo dia vai nascer

23 - d.angelo - muito incrementado

24 - trio tropical show - risada (meloda crise)

25 - os mutantes - baby

This compilation goes out straight to DJ Farrapo from Bologna/Italy! In 2008 I listened to a live mix of his from the Soul Sugar Party in Vienna - playing a Samba Rock set like no one else. Amazing tempo, amazing selection, amazing songs! You can still download the mix on his myspace site. DJ Farrapo is a musicologist, dj producer, samba lover and amateur cook. His ingredients: flavours from all over the world. His brand: a hot mix of pulsing club music. Knowing all this - track #1, the intro to this compilation makes even more sense: "In Brazil we use to call the Rhythm Section the kitchen, because they are the one's who cook. And - we have a beautiful kitchen here." And our main chef is Mister Farrapo, always cooking & brewing some tasty magic. Check out some of his older releases on Discogs or listen to the latest DJ Farrapo & Yanez release here. This is what Agogo Records has to say about their new Remix EP: "The musical spaceship of Dj Farrapo & Yanez is ready to land in the favela, bringing to you a genuine and fresh organic mix of electro-brazilian music. In their first LP, fifteen hot tracks, including their most popular songs, showing that not always aliens come to destroy the world: sometimes they come to dance! This 12" contains six brandnew remixes from this forthcoming double CD album ALIEN NA FAVELA. please enjoy !" And I am pretty sure I'm not the only one looking forward to the first Dj Farrapo & Yanez longplayer!

On this compilation I share some of my Samba Rock favourites from all over the years. Samba Rock is a style of music that was born in Brazil in the 1960's. It combines the sounds of samba, soul, bebop and jazz. In Brazil Samba Rock is a genre of samba and sub genre of rock and most importantly: it amazing music to dance to - whether you are in Brazil, Germany or China! Some of the pioneers of this great style of music are Jorge Ben Jor, Bebeto, Banda Black Rio, Tim Maia and Trio Mocoto. But Samba Rock is still going strong today, with new artists like Seu Jorge, Clube do Balanco, Sambasonics among others. Enjoy this compilation - and keep some cool drinks within reach, 'coz the summer heat is on...

DubMe

Oriental Discotheque - Disco Not Disco (2012)

01 - ahmed fakroun - njoom al leyel

02 - tanya - darladi ladada version

03 - antares - arabian dance

04 - orient express - abdullah dollar (jean pierre massiera '83)

05 - les mogol - madimak

06 - baris manco - aheste (baris k edit)

07 - rachid taha - agatha

08 - djamel allam - edit d'algerie (julian horn)

09 - bjork - crystalline (omar souleyman remix)

10 - elias rahbani - dance of maria

11 - abdul hassan orchestra - disco arab

12 - ait mislayene - el fen

13 - ahmed fakroun - yo son (prince language edit 'soleil soleil')

14 - raina rai - hagda

15 - les edits du golem - sumak

I have always liked the various forms of oriental music from the Middle East. Listening to my father playing some Mohammed Abdel Wahab (check out the classic Abdel Halim Hafez song Ya Albi Ya Khali produced by him) or Farid El Atrache tapes as a child was always deep and fazinating stuff! And the record covers of some of his Belly Dancing albums never seemed to disappoint. In recent years, whenever listening to some oriental music, I found myself mostly listening to music from Nickodemus, Zeb, The Spy From Cairo, Rachid Taha, Natacha Atlas - music which sometimes is summarized/described as global grooves (whatever that means) - music shared on many great Putumayo, Rough Guide to... or Turntables on the Hudson compilations and mixes. Today's compilation is a little different. Kind of Oriental Disco, Disco Not Disco, No Wave, Leftfield, Edit, Balearic, Italo Disco with an oriental theme, Pop-Boogie-Electro, Cosmic... I have always collected "oriental" songs which fit the above mentioned description. One of the first songs for this compilation might have been track #7, Agatha by Rachid Taha. Found it one a nice Balearic mix, whose name I have forgotten. Another early favourite is track# 10, Dance Of Maria by Lebanese musician and composer Elias Rahbani. What a stand out track with great drum breaks, killer organ, flutes... Too beautiful not to cry! Taken from his 1972 album "Mosaic of the Orient". Let me share what Little Danny, who is responsible for the great Officenaps blog, writes on soul sides - he did a great job describing the surroundings of the song: "In 1972 you’d still come across references to Beirut as "The Paris of the Middle East" in current issues of National Geographic; the city was, after all, the region’s nerve center of television, cinema, and radio. And Lebanese pop wunderkind Elias Rahbani was squarely in the middle of it all. His "Song of Maria" works precisely because of its cosmopolitan soul: it’s Eastern melody with Western circuitry, experimentalism with a sense of pop humor, and it’s crammed with flowing Farfisa organ lines, electric bass, keyboards that aren’t mizmars but sound exactly like them, bouzoukis, guitars, and even a few choice moments for you breakbeat aficionados. But, then again, this was 1972, a ravaging decade and a half of civil war was still a few years away, and, as far as Rahbani was concerned, there was room for all of it inside the pleasure dome.“ Read the rest here. The song that really got this compilation rollin' was track #13, the Prince Language killer edit of Libyan singer Ahmed Fakroun's 1983 hit "Soleil Soleil". Find the original here. John Storm Roberts, of Original Music, wrote that "among rai singers, the pop-oriented Ahmed Fakroun stands out on two grounds. First, he is influenced by Euro-pop and French art-rock (...) Second, he's a multi-instrumentalist in both traditions as well as a singer. He plays bouzouki-like saz, mandol and darbouka drum, as well as guitar, bass guitar and keyboards." This is what the jonosaudio blog had to say about Ahmed Fakroun, far the best introduction to this fine musicians I found on the blogsphere: "Multiinstrumentalist Ahmed Fakroun musical career started already in the early 1970's after which he had several lenghty recording and performance sejours in England and France. (In 1974 he recorded "Njoom Al Leyel", which is the first song featured on this compilation. Produced in England by famous BBC Radio producer Tommy Vance in 1974, it features some funky flute workouts over a deep groove. In 1977 he worked together with famous Greek composer and artist Vangelis resulting in the track "Nisyan". Listen to the Les Edits Du Golem edit of the same song on youtube.) In 1983 his Mots D'Amour album was released including the hit single Soleil Soleil to make his mark in world music circles, combining traditional Arab instruments and melodies with modern electronic music and dance rhythms. But then came the US aerial bombing of Libya in April 1986, followed by years of international sanctions and isolation, ...(which) seriously impeded its citizens' freedom of movement and Fakroun's international career plans were effectively put on ice." Here is another lengthy article about Ahmed Fakroun from the BBC website - well worth reading. If you want to further explore Fakroun's musical works, check out his website. Some of his original recordings can legally be downloaded through CD Baby here and here. Track #8 is another song I would like to mention. A brilliant edit of Djamel Allam's Fatiha from his 1974 album "Laissez Moi Rancorter" by Julian Horn. Julian Horn aka. Giulio DJ started his career DJ'ing in Vienna around ten years ago, bringing his love for authentic disco, balearic beats and cosmic leftfield sounds to the plates of many locals. Check out some of his music released on Is it Balearic...? and Elevator People. And don't forget to give this amazing song and video on youtube a listen. Pure feel-good-music! Educated as a sound engineer in London, Giulio's musical visions mostly expand on the themes of balearic disco, fusion jazz, and prog rock. I hope he will soon share another magical edit of a north african, arabic, oriental delicacy! I would have loved to include the 1978 song Do You Love Me by the Bendaly Family from Lebanon on this compilation, but I couldn't find a copy of it anywhere. So, you gotta watch the youtube version right here:

Amazing raw footage that leaves me jaw dropping stunned every time I watch it. And happy! For sure my favourite musical family out there - together with the Jackson 5... Doyo love me? Doyo Doyo...

Enjoy! DubMe

PS: This compilation fits perfectly on one CD - just click "NO PAUSE BETWEEN TRACKS" when you are going to burn it - and the CD will be exactly 79:59 minutes long...

The Reggae Disco Connection (2012)

01 - dennis brown - get high on your love (panama cardoon edit)

02 - derrick harriott - soul sister

03 - derrick harriott - dancing the reggae music (12inch)

04 - monyaka - go deh yaka (instrumental dub)

05 - peter tosh - dubbing buk-in-hamm

06 - richard ace - supernatural thing

07 - byron lee - the hustle

08 - beres hammond - music is a positive vibration

09 - the in crowd - back a yard (extented version)

10 - risco connection - ain't no stopping us now (version)

11 - la famille - all night long

12 - time unlimited - back fire (natural vibes intl.)

13 - jennifer lara - i am in love

14 - yellowman - world war (kill emil re-edit)

15 - willie lindo - drum song

Apart from the great SoulJazz compilation Hustle from a few years ago, Disco Reggae still seems to be a part of Reggae that is either frowned upon by Reggae purists - or has fallen under the radar of the many styles of DJ culture. I was planning to make this a compilation strictly showcasing some of the lost treasures of this "genre" - selecting some of my favourite Reggae songs in a Disco style. But actually I got carried away to include some soulful reggae grooves - as well as some Lovers Rock songs - smoothing out this compilation - and actually making it quite a nice player for your summer sunshine garden party, BBQ or beach day...

After finishing this compilation and having listened to a whole bunch of Reggae songs in a Disco fashion - I must say that the crown of Reggae Disco Grooves either goes to Joe Gibbs & his Disco Echo chamber - or the "more than soulful" Reggae producer and crooner Derrick Harriott, who was not only responsible for a series of classic Rocksteady productions in the late 60ies, but also for some grooving soulful and discofied Reggae songs in the 70ies, as you can hear on this compilation. I am opening this compilation with a Panama Cardoon edit of Get High On Your Love by Dennis Brown. Pure Disco Reggae with some good Greek bass & bounce! Find the Dennis Brown original here. Track #2 and #3: these two songs showcase some of Derrick Harriott's finest 70ies Reggae Soul and Pop sounds. Pure Reggae pop, love & groove. Derrick Harriott might also have been one of the first Reggae artists going Disco with his 1975 longplayer Reggae Disco Rockers, which includes the classic "Fly, Robin Fly", a cover of the Silver Convention original. Track #4 - Monyaka - Go Deh Yaka (Instrumental Dub) is a classic Easy Street Records disco reggae stomper from 1983. I prefer the Instrumental over the vocal version. The instrumental is heavily dubbed by legendary mixers Sergio Munzibal & John Morales. Monyaka was a funk group based out of Los Angeles, California, which among other great musicians had Reggae veteran Larry McDonald playing percussion and Val Douglas from the Skatalites playing bass. Track #5 "Dubbing Buk-In-Hamm" is the phenomenal dub remix of Peter Tosh's epic "Buk-in-Ham Palace" song over a bubbling disco rhythm, which was included on the 12inch of the same title. On the b-side of the same 12inch you will also find the prophetic The Day the Dollar Die, in which Tosh pleads his case for capitalism's demise over a shimmering reggae-pop groove. Track #7 takes things a little easier. Giving us an easy grooving cover version of Van McCoy's hit (Do) The Hustle. Pure 70s smooth-groove soul. Originally released on the Again! LP in 1975 on Dynamics Records. Track #8 is Music Is A Positive Vibration by Beres Hammond from his 1979 album Just A Man. Upbeat & Soulful. Can Disco Reggae get any better?! Track #9, the extended version of "Back A Yard" from The In Crowd Reggae band keeps things soulful and heartikal. A rejoiced Lovers Rock song about returning home to Jamaica to smoke some collie and celebrate love and life. Pure Chill-Out, love & sunshine sharing some "good time feelings". Track #10 is Ain't No Stopping Us Now by the Risco Connection. Already shared this song on the Palmwine Grooves & Disco compilation from 2011. But had to share it again. It just fits right into this selection. Risco Connection were a Jamaican band put together by Joe Isaacs (an original member of Jamaica's Studio One group "The Soul Vendors") in the late 1970s - which specialized in remakes of the hits of the day, with nice and dubby rhythms at the bottom, and some sweet moogy touches on the top! Another Risco Connection favourite of mine is their remake of Billy Stewart's "Sitting in the Park." Track #11, "All Night Long" by La Famille, gives us a lovers rock cover of All Night Long by the Mary Jane Girls. Track #13, I Am In Love by Jennifer Lara is a rare Studio One Disco joint produced by Coxsone Dodd in the early '80s. Check out the original by Evelyn "Champagne" King here. Track #15 - I am ending this compilation with Willie Lindo's cover of the classic Studio One Drum Song. Enjoy! DubMe

PS: This compilation fits perfectly on one CD - just click "NO PAUSE BETWEEN TRACKS" when you are going to burn it - and the CD will be exactly 79:57 long...