Sunday 1 February 2015

Oliver: Mnaga a Zdorp - Ne, Ted Ne!; The Juwata Jazz Band - Tupa Tupa (24 November 1991)






Apologies for the philistinism, but I've put the opening two selections from this programme together as they are both foreign language compositions.

Czech band Mnaga a Zdorp (Peel: You have to get guttural in the middle of letters that don't really allow you the opportunity to do so.) which translates as Mud and Gadget owe the play of their track down to a meeting that the band had with Peel earlier on that day in a London market.  They implored him to listen to their album and he duly did, though I'm surprised that he played Ne, Ted Ne! (aka Not Now!) given that it features such a prominent saxophone in it.  Use of a saxophone was on Peel's blacklist for bands together with such crimes as:
Wearing silly hats in promotional photos.
Having band members who spell their names in unconventional ways - Jhon rather than John etc.
Bands who cite The New York Dolls as an influence.

Nevertheless the saxophone bookends a lovely tune.  If the video is to be believed, the song is about trying not to get ripped off by theives and strippers when you're on shore leave.

The Juwata Jazz Band track comes from the same album as the Orchestra Maquis Original track from the night before.  But whereas the Orchestra Maquis Original seemed to come almost from folk tradition, Tupa Tupa conjures up the sense of a sweaty night's dancing in a bar in downtown Dar es
Salaam.

Videos courtesy of Dan Konecny (Mnaga a Zdorp) and Power Nguzo (Juwata Jazz Band)

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