Operation 'Y' (Mosfilm, 1965)

Another soviet film that I like very much - 'Operation 'Y' and Other Shurik's Adventures'.

The picture devides into three parts, three short novels. The main hero of all three novels is a young student Alex (or Shurik in Russian). The famous Soviet comedy artists starring here with the talented (the girl Lida is also very beautiful) young actors.

The first novel's called 'Naparnik' ('Helper') and it tells a story about middle-aged hooligan who changed his mind on hooliganism after joining Shurik's brigade. It is the most funny one for me!

The second novel is called 'Navazhdeniye' ('The Delusion'), you can see a title shot at the beginning of the article and screen shots from that novel below). This novel is based on a funny story from some Polish magazine. It is about students, who are going to pass their exams and beacuse of that are hardly see what is going on around. It is a love story and the most beautiful novel.

The 3rd novel is a story about three burgulars who decided to rob a shop. Offcourse, Shurik catched them.






When director of the film Leonid Gaidai asked unknown at the time composer Alexander Zatsepin to write music for this picture he wanted to get some modern and catchy melodies. Zatsepin was the 100% satisfaction. He wrote music which fits very well with the film scenes. It's modern (for the early 1960's offcourse :), funny, dancable, lyrical. Everything is here.

I like this music a lot (as well as the picture). Here's a soundtrack (stereo) that was released the same year on EP on Russian Melodiya label. Alexander Zatsepin formed an ensemble to record the music and also played accordeon by himself.

Here's the track list from the EP:

1. Après des examens
2. Réunion
3. Sauvage
4. Marché
5. Promenade dans l'autobus

L'ensemble de Aleksander Zatsepin
Melodiya Records D 15943-4 EP

Music for Sunday Date # 9

Hello everybody, hi all, this is Karel, and the next 30 minutes we will be touring Europe of the 1950's and 1960's.

British jazz & swing have many great names. One of them is Ken Mackintosh — great musician and person. He started to play in big bands in the 1940's, and in the 1950's his orchestra became one of the most famous.

The song is Bill Justis' «Raunchy» recorded in 1957. As Ken speaks about it: «Wally Ridley* said he wanted me to cover this thing by Bill Justis. We were doing a couple of weeks in a ballroom in Torquay and I came up to London to do this thing. He only wanted a small rhythm group on it and so Bert Weedon played guitar, Phil Seamen drums, he was a very comical chap, and I did the alto. We recorded it in half an hour, but there was nothing to it. When the record was issued, we were playing in Felixstowe and I thought we would give it a try. The applause was tremendous. We had to play it again and I said to Wally, This is a hit.'»
* HMV producer.

Akkord Quartet was formed in 1958 from two male and two female vocalists. At the beginning they sang with Oleg Lundstrem Big Band, and that was a good school for them. Since 1960 they've been releasing records. This song from 1964 was written by Viktor Kuprevich, and accompaniation is by L'ensemble de Kuprevich as well.

Caterina Valente is probably the most famous German singer and actress. With her brother Silvio she recorded lots of hits in the 1950 - 1960's. She is a talented singer and could sing in many languages. But here's Tony Renis' hit «Quando Quando Quando» in German. Truly outstanding, but not a big surprise, 'cause German market required songs in German, honestly.

Nicola Arigliano is an Italian singer. This is a live recording of one of my favorite Italian songs called «Carina».

Otto Brandenburg is a Danish actor and singer. His acting skills made him sing not just a song but a little story, together with a little show.

I like Hungarian ensembles quite a bit. But I know nothing about Négy Barát együttes. It's strange, but not much information about them around. If you know something — let me know, please.

Swedesh swing has a good and long history. Jazz became popular here in the 1920's, and since that time lots of good orchestras and musicians appeared on the scene. Sax player Arne Domnerus is one of them.

Here's a song he did, called «En Gang I Stockholm». This tune was popular all over Europe when Monica Zetterlund covered it in 1963, when she performed at Eurovision. But here's an instruental version.

André Brasseur is a Belgium organist. At the beginning he learned to play piano and violin. In the early 60’s he formed a trio (piano, bass and drums) and recorded a few 45’s. At the same time he played in the orchestra, and was the 1st violin in the orchestra represented Belgium at jazz-festival Comblain-la-Tour.
However, as a pianist he fell in love with the electric organ. He composed and recorded many numbers with his rhythm-band. Here’s a #1 hit from 1965 «Early Bird», named after the telecommunications satellite that was launched into orbit in the same year.

Ricky Shayne is a French singer and actor. He was born in Lebanon, and moved to Paris when he was 15 y.o. There he took singing lessons and established himself as a singer in Italy in 1965.
This song is from his 1965 album «Uno Dei Mods», which received a gold record. «My Babe» was originally written and recorded by bluesman Willie Dixon and became popular in the 1950’s (some of the rockers who's recorded this song were Narvel Felts, Ricky Nelson and Dale Hawkins).

Greek rockin' scene grew like mad in the 1960's, after Greece became a tourist destination. Even serious orchestras recorded teen tunes. This is an example of such a situation. «Teddy Boy’s Shake» was recorded by Mimi Plessa, pianist and band leader, with his Quartet back in 1965.

Gelu is a young Spanish singer who was popular in Latin countries. Her version of Petula Clark's «Downtown» which became «Chao Chao» has both spanish and english lyrics. To make the record more playable on European radio stations I suppose.

And the last song today is a nice instrumental tune by Norwegian big beat band The Pussycats called «Ebb Tide».

Here's the full track listing:

Ken Mackintosh & His Rhythm Group Raunchy (UK)
Akkord Quartet Echo (USSR)
Caterina und Silvio Quando Quando (Germany)
Nicola Arigliano Carina (Italy)
Otto Brandenburg Hello, Mr. Twist (Denmark)
Négy Barát Együttes Tigris Twist (Hungary)
Arne Domnerus Orkester En Gang I Stockholm (Sweden)
André Brasseur Early Bird Sattelite (Belgium)
Ricky Shayne & The Skylars My Babe (France)
Μίμης Πλέσσας & His Quartet Teddy Boy’s Shake (Greece)
Gelu Chao Chao (Spain)
The Pussycats Ebb Tide (Norway)

Download the whole programm now!
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Music for Sunday Date # 8

Hello, my friends! Here’s Karel and "Music for Sunday Date" is one the air.

This week we will tour through the countries that I thought were rarely presented in the last shows. First of all, I have no clue about German band Heinz Kuhnert-Quintett. If you have any information – please, contact me.

Gitte Haenning is a Danish singer and film actress. She started to sing professionally in 1955 with her father Otto Haenning, another famous Danish singer. In 1957 she recorded her first solo record "Ejner, Du Er Min Allerbedste Ven", which became a huge hit. Gitte sang in many languages, but here's a song in her native Danish language called "Ta' Med Ud Å Fisk'" (cover version of "We're Gonna Go Fishing"), from 1963. The song isn't actually about fishing – there are more things to do on Saturday night.

, Finnish singer and guitarist Lasse Liemola formed his first band Rambling Cowboys (other members were Paavo Rave and Raimo Roimu) in 1956. During 1957–1963 they played and recorded country, rock'n'roll and twist songs. Here's more pop song called "Kristiina Ja Minä" from 1963, with orchestra backing.

The Stylistes is a Greek big beat band. I know very little about them. So, if you have any info – you know what to do ;-)

Colette Deréal (real name Colette de Glarélial) was born in a small town of Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole in France. As she grew up, her godmother found that Colette had a lovely soprano voice. At the age of seventeen she went to Paris and enrolled at the René Simon School of Acting. She appeared in many French films and devoted herself to the theatre. In 1959 she appeared in TV serial where she sang "Ne Joue Pas"… And became famous overnight. Here's another lovely song from 1961. With this song she presented Monaco in Eurovision contest.

Gastone Parigi was a great trumpet player and singer. He started to record in the 1950s with his own band. Later he was a member of Ennio Morricone orchestra. Here's a sample of his trumpet playing from the motion picture "I Maniaci" from 1964.

There were many big beat bands in Portugal. One of them is Ruy Manuel. They recorded some songs as well as instrumental numbers in the 1960s.

Here's an instrumental number called "Fuga". As you can see on the sleeve, all the tracks are subtitled as "Shake". Well, shake-shake.

Miguel Ríos was a very successfull Spanish pop singer. His first EP was released in 1962. This song "Pera Madura" is from that EP.

Lili Ivanova is one of the most famous Bulgarian singers. I digitalized "Louie" from Russian 1960s vinyl compilation. There are no in-depth liner notes, but I guess it was Ivan Peev ensemble who has accompanied her on this song.

Czerwono-Czarni is Polish band. We have talked about them a few weeks earlier. Here's a great garage/beat number translated as "We Don't Like Advertisement". I guess this track was recorded for radio.


The Scythians was Moscow big beat band. They were formed in 1967 from the students of Moscow State University.
In 1968 they played on the Moscow Music Festival and won the first prize. This tended them to appear in the motion picture "Yeshchyo Raz Pro Lyubov", where they played a great number.

Here's an example of the late Scythians fame – the band called Golubye Gitary (where two members of the Scythians played). The song is called "Barynya". It is originally Russian folk tune, but the Scythians wrote their own lyrics. The song is about foreign tourists in Russia, driving on a bus around Moscow city. You can see Golubye Gitary playing this song on the photo above.

The last (but not least) is a Belgian big beat band called Les Caravelles. The instrumental tune "Caravelle" is from their single released in 1964.

The complete track list:

Heinz Kuhnert-Quintett La Conga (Germany)
Gitte Hænnig Ta' Med Ud Å Fisk' (Denmark)
Lasse Liemola Kristiina Ja Minä (Finland)
Stylistes Όταν Περνούν Τα Πούλια (Greece)
Colette Deréal Allons, Allons les Enfants (Monaco)
Gastone Parigi La Mia Mania (Italy)
Conjunto Académico Ruy Manuel Fuga (Portugal)
Miguel Ríos Pera Madura (Spain)
Lili Ivanova Louie (Bulgaria)
Czerwono-Czarni My Reklamy Nie Lubimy (Poland)
Golubye Gitary Barynya (USSR)
Les Caravelles Caravelle (Belgium)

That's all for now. Have nice weekend!
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Music for Sunday Date # 7

Hello friends,

My name is Karel and "Music For Sunday Date" is on the air.

Mario Bertolazzi is an Italian pianist and composer. In the late 1940's he played jazz in Bologna and in the late 1950's became interested in Rock'n'Roll movement and even recorded an album in 1960 simply titled "Rock'n'Roll", where he played outstanding version of this music.

Ragnar Nygren, well-known in Sweden and all over Europe as Rock-Ragge, is one of the first European rock'n'roll singers. He formed his band The Four Comets in 1957 and played in parks, and later put some nice tunes on vinyl. Here's a Dick Lory's song "Ballroom Baby" form his first EP released in 1958 on Decca Reocrds.

Wenche Myhre is a Norwegian singer and actress who has had a great number of hit songs since the 1960s in the Norwegian, German as well as the Swedish markets and languages. She got her first recording contract with composer and producer Arne Bendiksen at an age of 13, when she won a talent contest in Oslo in 1960. Here's a Don Gibson's cover "Oh, Lonesome Me" (made popular by Chet Atkins) from 1960, which Wenche sings in Norwegian.

Ivo Robić is my favorite Jugoslavian singer. He started to sing and make records in the 1940's. He sang Italian songs, toured Germany where he sang in German. But "Pjesma o Švrći" is original Yugoslavian song. It was written by Nikica Kalogjera - great composer and arranger. And was recorded in 1957.


There are more nice songs, like Tamara Miansarova's "You're the Best" written by Eddie Rozner (also listen to great accompaniation from "L'ensemble 3+2"), funny "Caravan" from German Hazy Osterwald Orchestra, Romanian Dan Georgescu's "Cu Tine Nu Pot Sa Ma Cert", Hungarian actress and singer Kiss Manyi with Koltay-Papp Együttes, French Petula Clark with Beatles' song "Please, Please Me", Icelandic heroes Hljómar and Dutch indo-rock band Tielman Brothers with beautiful Mancini's "Moon River".

Here's the track list:

Mario Bertolazzi e I suoi Rockers Train Rock (Italy, 1960)
Rock-Ragge & His Four Comets Ballroom Baby (Sweden, 1958)
Wenche Myhre Åh det er Søndag (Norway, 1960)
Ivo Robić Pjesma o Švrći (Yugoslavia, 1957)
Tamara Miansarova Ty Luchshe Vseh (USSR, 1964)
Tabányi Mihály és szólistái Bolero (Hungary, 1962)
Das Hazy Osterwald-Sextett Caravan (Germany, 1961)
Dan Georgescu Cu Tine Nu Pot Sa Ma Cert (Romania, 1966)
Kiss Manyi Mesélj a Böbebabáról (Hungary, 1963)
Petula Clark Tu Perds Ton Temps (France, 1964)
Hljómar Fyrsti Kossinn (Iceland, 1965)
The Tielman Brothers Moon River (Netherlands, 1961)

Have a nice weekend!
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