Music For Sunny Place, vol. XXVII

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and radio Manzerock is on the air. I suppose this is the last post this year. Wish you all Happy New Year and jolly holidays :)

Here's what we have this time:

Les Bourgeois de Calais Nut Rocker (France, 1963)
Jan Corduwener en zijn Balroomorkest Een Dansliedje Deint (Netherlands, 1953)
Maia Kristalinskaia Novogodnyaya Pesnya (Russia, 1961)
Nagy Marcell együttes Totágas (Hungary, 1962)
Jiří Jelínek Oh, Marie (Czechoslovakia, 1966)
Orchestra Pupo de Luca Dai-dai Twist (Italy, 1964)
Orchester Günter Gollasch Twist für Geigen (East Germany, 1963)
The Kays Flipped Over You (Sweden, 1963)
Pierre Cavalli et son trio Cutie Pie (Switzerland, 1961)
The Beverley Sisters I Dreamed (UK, 1957)
Peter Kraus Du Gehörst Mir (West Germany, 1958)
Orkest Roger Mores Sunny Sunday (Belgium, 1968)

Digi-Digi-Don (53 MB)

Music For Sunny Place, vol. XXVI

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and radio Manzerock is on the air :-)

Adolfo Ventas and Ramón Vives were Spanish musicians who collaborated on several recordings in the mid-20th century. Ventas was a singer and Vives led a musical group called Ramón Vives y sus Muchachos.

Corrado Lojacono was an Italian singer, actor, record producer and songwriter. Lojacono was born in Palermo in 24 and moved to Milan with his family in 31. He began performing in 45, specializing in a jazz and swing repertoire. In the early 50s he made his acting debut, appearing in two revues alongside Renato Rascel. As a songwriter, Lojacono composed around 40 songs, including "Carina" which was covered by lots of European artists.

Suzy Möller performed with the Miller Sextet in the 1950s in Amsterdam.

Netx, the Polish jazz ensemble was led by Górkiewicz and Skowroński and was active in Poland in the 40s—50s. The ensemble featured the vocalist Janusz Gniatkowski performing with the jazz group.

Montand was born in Monsummano Terme, Italy and moved to France with his family in 1923 following the rise of fascism under Mussolini. He began his career as a music-hall singer in Marseille before being discovered by Édith Piaf in Paris in 44. As a singer, Montand achieved international recognition for his crooner style songs, especially those about Paris. He was a popular performer at the Paris Olympia music hall and recorded hits like "C'est si bon". Montand was also very successful in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, touring there in 56-57.

Valentīna Butāne was a Latvian singer, pedagogue, and one of the first performers of Latvian pop music originals. She was born in 29 and was an influential figure in Latvian popular music from the 50s—60s. Butāne recorded around 70 pop songs during her career and participated in radio recordings of several operettas. Some of her well-known recordings include the song "Puteņu valsis".

Vico Torriani (born Ludovico Oxens Torriani) was a Swiss actor, singer, television host and cookbook author. He was born in Geneva, Switzerland to a family of Lombard origin and grew up in St. Moritz, where he trained as a cook and pastry chef. Torriani began his career as a singer, winning a talent competition in 45 and touring several Western European countries. He had his breakthrough in the German music charts in 51. In the 50s—60s, he appeared in numerous musical films, operettas and theater productions in Germany and Switzerland. Torriani was also a successful television personality, hosting shows like "Der goldene Schuß" on German TV from 67 to 70.

The Hula Hawaiian-Quartett was a successful German musical group that brought Hawaiian music to European audiences in the 50s through their recordings and collaborations. They helped popularize the Hawaiian music genre in Germany during that era.

Adalbert Lutter was a German pianist, conductor and leader of one of the most famous dance orchestras in Berlin in the 30s—40s. He was born 1896 in Osnabrück and led his orchestra, which recorded extensively between 1934-1943, also through the 50s. Lutter and his orchestra were part of the era of German dance bands and their music is still listened to today.

Rajka Vali (born Valerija Raukar in 24) was a Croatian singer of popular music who was one of the first female stars of the genre in Yugoslavia during the 1950s. She was born in Ruma, Serbia and began her singing career in Zagreb in the late 1940s, becoming popular for her interpretations of popular songs and folk music. Vali recorded many hit songs in the 1950s that are still remembered today, such as "Plavi dim" (Blue Smoke). She is considered a pioneer as one of the first prominent female vocalists in the Yugoslav popular music scene of the post-war era. Vali's music blended pop, folk and jazz influences that were typical of the "zabavna glazba" genre in Yugoslavia at the time.

Mony Marc was a Belgian singer who represented Belgium in the first Eurovision Song Contest in 56, singing "Le plus beau jour de ma vie". She released her first single in 52 and had a hit in 54. Marc remains famous for her participation in the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest in Lugano, Switzerland in 56.

That's all, folx, see ya soon.

Adolfo Ventas con Ramón Vives y sus Muchachos Ritmo en el club (Spain, 1945)
Corrado Lojacono Angiolina (Italy, 1946)
Suzy Moller Liefde in rhythme (Netherlands, 1947)
Zespol Jazzowy Skowrońskiego i Górkiewicza Trębacz (Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy) (Poland, 1948)
Le Quartet de Boris Tikhonov Vesyoly napev (Russia, 1949)
Yves Montand C’est si bon (France, 1950)
Valentīna Butāne Vecpilsētā (Latvia, 1951)
Vico Torriani Domino (Switzerland, 1952)
Hula Hawaiian-Quartett Perlenfischer (Vaya con dios) (East Germany, 1953)
Adalbert Lutter und sein Grosses Tanzorchester Jalousie (W. Germany, 1954)
Rajka Vali Kad bi me volio (Croatia, 1955)
Mony Marc Les plus beaux jours de ma vie (Belgium, 1956)

39.5 MB

Music For Sunny Place, vol. XXV

Hello, my firends!

Summer is coming, so lots of things to do on the open air instead of sitting in the front of monitor ;) However, I found the time to make a brand new compilation for sunday date. These tunes are harmonising with the sun and summer fun.

Ozzie Warlock is actually Tony Osborne, British composer and arrenger. In the 1950s he was working for the major companies of the day, and he formed his own band, the Brass Hats, for weekly appearances on the BBC TV teenage show, Six-Five Special.

When that was superseded by "Juke Box Jury" show in 1959, Osborne wrote and recorded the theme song, "Juke Box Fury", under the name of Ozzie Warlock and The Wizards. Yeah, that's the programm where Sex Pistols have appeared in the 1970s ;)

Piero Piccioni, established composer and band leader, wrote "The Rendezvouz" for the "The 10th Victim" movie, based on the novel by my fav sci-fi writer Robert Sheckley.

Jonas Mašanauskas recorded this song about young city Elektrenai in the old Lithuania. Scored by Lithuanian Radio and TV orchestra and chorus.

The last track is an instrumental number "Sochi". It was written by Kirill Molchanov for a panoramic movie about USSR "Shiroka Strana Moya". Sochi was and still is one of the most favorite Russian resort cities.

There are more nice tunes here. Have a nice weekend!

Ozzie Warlock & The Wizards Juke Box Fury (UK, 1959)
Danny Fisher Be Mine (Belgium, 1961)
Margarita Vilcāne Man Šodien 18 Gadu (Latvia, 1964)
Kilima Hawaiians Hawaiiaanse Krijgszang (Netherlands, 1962)
Piero Piccioni e La Sua Orchestra The Rendezvous (Italy, 1965)
Paula Ribas Se Tu Me Queres Beijar (Portugal, 1962)
Jonas Mašanauskas Elektrėnų Žiburiai (Lithuania, 1964)
Miroslav Kefurt se Svou Skupinou Bílé Skály (Czechoslovakia, 1964)
Hazy Osterwald-Sextett Schokolata (Switzerland, 1961)
Lucky Blondo Filles (France, 1963)
Werner Müller Tanzorchester Lisboa Antigua (Germany, 1957)
Victor Knushevitskij et Son Orchestre Sochi (USSR, 1958)

31 MB

Big thanks to Twist and Frit', Andreas Michalke, Boris and another Boris.

Beatniks (Music For Sunny Place, vol. XXIII)

- Ah, say there Brutus, like, where is this King's pad?

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and Radio Manzerock is on the air!

We've talked about sputniks, and now it's time for beatniks. After discovering the great gem by Nero & The Gladiators, I inspired to choose something similar from all over the continent. Bad boys playing bad music.

As you might know, Peer Gynt is a half-folk, half-real character from Norwegian fairy-tales. Writer Henrik Ibsen and composer Edvard Grieg made him popular back in the late XIX century. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" sequence is from Greig's suite, describing Peer Gynt sneaking into the Mountain King's castle.

Nero and The Gladiators recorded it back in 1961. It was an original band, very stylish. Ah, and that great guitar play of Joe Moretti here!

Irish writer Abraham "Bram" Stoker wrote novel "Dracula" in 1897. Dracula is a vampirish aristocrat, who now is well-known as the King of vampires.

ZZ en de Maskers from Amsterdam recorded the song about him in 1966. I also have their English version, but I think that ZZ's Dutch vocal fits very well here.

The Tramps are a five-piece band from Antwerpen. They recorded a few singles on Fontana label. "Murder" was released in 1962. Before The Tramps, vocalist and solo guitarist played in another Antwerp band The Jokers.

I've aired Romanian band Sincron before, and here I go again. Their cool version of The Shadows' "F.B.I." became "Melodie", but with the full copyright credits on the Electrecord Records sleeve. And again, great guitar work, this time by Alexandru Arion.

Not much known about band "Alye parusa" (Алые паруса). They were from Soviet city of Odessa. Later, some musicians played in Korabely ensemble. The band's name probably taken from Alexander Green's novel with the same title, written in 1923. Or, most possibly, from the beautiful movie from 1961 based on the novel...

This track was recorded from the Russian radio station in the late 1960s. If you have any more info on this band — drop me a line.

Alec Palao chose this Los Bravos song when he was producing UK version of the "Nuggets II" compilation. This song sounds very familiar to Palao’s works from The Sting-Rays days: melodic garage, if ya can imagine such cocktail. If not — here you are!

Czechoslovakian band Olympic from Prague was formed in 1962. The frontman is Petr Janda, one of the first Czech beat musicians and guitarists. The song "Dynamit" was written by Janda and Zdeněk Rytíř, and recorded in 1970 for Supraphon label.

Italian big-beat band The Meteors recorded instrumental version of "Peter Gunn Theme" in 1964, for their first LP.

Peter Gunn was a private investigator from the TV series with the same title, which aired from 1958 to 1961. The track was written and originally recorded by the great Henry Mancini.

The 5 Dorados are from Switzerland. "Tilt" was written by Franco Bussmann and Fredy Enz. Released in 1964 on Luzern label Layola. Nice piece with crazy screams and cool organ sounds.

The Rocking Ghosts are a four-piece band from Denmark. They were formed in 1962, and after two years they won Copenhagen championship in Rock at Nora Bio, which lead them to a record deal with Metronome Records and producer Jørgen Ingmann (you know this guy, don’t you?).

One of their best known hits is "Belinda". However, I chose a great "Shakin' All Over" cover. This song was originally recorded by Johnny Kidd and The Pirates. Some four Liverpool boys later named the Beatles, have agreed that this is a very influential song from the early British beat music.

And the last track today is by the Swedish band called Bread. They are from the city of Malmoe. "Motortown Beat" is kinda a new dance for bad boys and girls, represented by Bread in late 1960s.

Philips recording company put a lot of money into this recording. And it was worth it. About 10 additional musicians were invited. It resulted in this funky song with ska flavor. It is simple but great, I like it!

Here's the complete track list:

Nero and The Gladiators In the Hall of the Mountain King (UK, 61)
ZZ en de Maskers Dracula!!! (Netherlands, 63)
Tramps Murder (Belgium, 62)
Sincron Melodie (F.B.I.) (Romania, 67)
Alye parusa Escape (USSR/Ukraina, 6?)
Olympic Dynamit (Czechoslovakia, 70)
Meteors Peter Gunn (Italy, 64)
Bravos Going Nowhere (Spain, 66)
5 Dorados Tilt (Switzerland, 64)
Rocking Ghosts Shakin’ All Over (Denmark, 65)
Metro Nincs kegyelem (Hungary, 65)
Bread Motortown Beat (Sweden, 67)

I'm a Bad Boy
I'm a Bad Girl

P.S. I recommend you to use Winamp with checket "Replay Gain" feature. Playback -> Replay Gain -> Use Replay Gain.

Music For Sunny Place, vol. XXII

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and Radio Manzerock is on the air. Today we’ll surf through nice cover songs and great originals from the 1950s and 1960s.

De Strangers were formed as a vocal quartet in 1952 from Gust Torfs , Alex Boeye , Pol Bollansee and John De Wilde. They started to make funny cover versions of the hits of the day. At first they sang mainly in English, and then switched to covering songs in Antwerp dialect.

So, “Casetta in Canada” became “T.V. Truut”, which they recorded in 1960 with Jean Vanhoren ensemble. Nice song, even funny if you understand the dialect ;) with Eurovision vocal intro and outro. That was also their first Antwerp record. Dialect records made them very popular between Flemish people.

Edoardo Lucchina is Italian composer, band leader and accordeon player. The song “Geppyna” is written by Mogol Mangeri. This record was made in the best traditions of Italian 1950s combos. Everything is great here.


Vocal quartet Four Cats is from Helsinki, where they first appeared in Autumn 1958 as Esa Laukan kvartetti. Three members of the quartet started The Four Cats in 1960 as Pentti Lasanen, Esa Laukka, Kai Ruohonen and new member Kaj Lindberg. In the 1960s The Four Cats recorded many successful songs and appeared in a few films. This song was recorded in 1961 for their first solo EP.

Die Montecarlos (a.k.a. Die Blauen Jungs) was an Austrian vocal quartet formed in 1955. Members were Jörg Maria Berg, Leo Hoppe, Rudi Resch and Rudi Kreuzberger. With song “Andrea” The Monte Carlos had their first success in 1956. The following year of 1957 the song “Warum Strahlen Heut' Nacht die Sterne So Hell” got to the 9th place. Originally it is called “Singin’ the Blues” written by Melvin Endsley in 1956. The song was made popular by Croatian-American singer Guy Mitchell, soon followed by Tommy Steele and Marty Robbins.

Not much known about the following Monaco Danceband: where they’re from or who are the members. If you have any info – drop me a line.

The same goes to Swedesh female singer Maj-Britt Asp. Have no much info. Exept her song “Slut, Slut, Slut” (Final, Final, Final) was released on Swe Disc Records in 1965. Accompaniation by Lars Samuelson orkester. You can see the sleeve on the left. Some say, this fury song reminds them an outstanding version of "Shout". Well, just a bit ;) Also, this frenzy song is 1:50 lenght only, so don't be surprised!

The song “I’m Sorry”, which Ronnie Self wrote for Brenda Lee, became “Roň Slzy” in Czech language. The new text was written by Jiří Štaidl and recorded by 16 yo female singer Yvonne Přenosilová. I like this "blues" performance very much.

Stjepan Stanić, nicknamed “Džimi” or “Jimmy”, is one of the greatest Croatian singers of evergreen and jazz. Here is a cover version of a song “Bernardine”, that was written by Johnny Mercer for the film with the same title. Released on Jugoton label in 1959 or 1960 with Croatian lyrics.

Swiss singer Lys Assia was born in a big family, youngest among 12 brothers and sisters. At the age of 16 she debuted as a ballet dancer, in 1942 recorded her first 78 rpm as a singer. Here’s a song from 1959, when Lys was on the top of her fame.

There are more nice songs for today, like famous duo of Gitte Haenning and Rex Gildo singing love song “Sweet Hawaii”, Geoff Stephens’s novelty hit “Winchester Cathedral” sang by John Carter with The New Vaudeville Band formed by Geoff, and Belgian “Bon Appétit” by the great Al Verlane and his so-called Villa Montebello orchestra.



That’s all for now, see you soon. Have a nice weekend!

De Strangers T.V. Truut (Netherlands, 1960)
Edoardo Lucchina Geppyna (Italy, 1959)
Four Cats Si Si Si Napoli (Mais Oui) (Finland, 1961)
Monaco Danceband Something Different (?)
Die Montecarlos Singin’ the Blues (Austria, 1957)
Maj-Britt Asp Slut Slut Slut (Sweden, 1965)
Yvonne Přenosilová Roň Slzy (Czechoslovakia, 1963)
Stjepan “Jimmy” Stanić Bernardine (Yugoslavia, 1960?)
Lys Assia Caballero (Switzerland, 1959)
Gitte und Rex Gildo Sweet Hawaii (Denmark/Germany, 1964)
John Carter Winchester Cathedral (UK, 1966)
Al Verlane Bon Appétit (Belgium, 1964)

34.6 Mb

Aloha From Europe (Music For Sunny Place, vol. XVII)

Hello everybody, hi all! This is Karel and radio Manzerock is on the air.

Let's take a trip in the 30-50's. That was when Hawaiian music really spreaded all over the world, including our motherland Europe.

The early traces of Hawaiian culture in Europe lead back to the late XIX century. That was when lots of music ensembles toured Europe. Some of the artists, like "Bird of Paradise" show, presented exotic sounds of Hawaii island.

Soon, European ensembles began to include Hawaiian themes in their repertoire and put them on records. Today we'll listen to just a couple of them, just to give a clue what it looked like in Europe.

I can comment just a few artists presented here. But if you have more info, please let me know!

One of the most popular Swedish steel-guitarists Yngve Stoor from Sweden recorded his selfwritten "Sjømannsjul på Hawaii" in 43.
Russian singer Ivan Milovidov recorded the song "Hawaii" in 33, with John Danker on steel-guitar.
German vocal ensemble Comedian Harmonists recorded this version of "Blume von Hawaii" with Marek Weber orchestra back in 31.
And that’s all I can put in here. Most of these records are from the 30s. The last three are 50s recordings for sure.

Have a nice trip!

Ansamblul Mihai Daia O căsuţă mică (In a little hula heaven) (Romania)
Instrumentální soubor Karla Slavíka Maui no la ka oi (Czechoslovakia)
Ivan Milovidov Gavai (Russia)
Kostas Bezos Ta aspra poulia sta vouna (Greece)
Malihini Hawaiians Moonlight and shadows (Denmark)
Yngve Stoor med sin Hawaiiorkester Sjømannsjul på Hawaii (Sweden)
Waikiki Serenaders Bei mir bist du schön (UK)
Gino Bordin et l'ensemble Hawaii-marche (France)
Comedian Harmonists Blume von Hawaii (Germany)
Sylvia Mayer en de South Sea Hawaiians Aan 'tmooi Waikiki strand (Holland)
Lys Assia mit Aloha Islanders Die weissen blüten von tahni (Switzerland)
Onni Gideon ja hänen Aloha-Hawaijiyhtyeensä Palmujen alla (Finland)

Aloha! (49.2 MB)

Music For Sunny Place, vol. XVI

Jokers Sabre dance (Belgium, 65)
Adriano Celentano e i Ribelli Ciao ti dirò (Italy, 59)
Nora Brockstedt Jeg trodde (Norway, 63)
Atlantis együttes Szöcske (Hunagry, 66)
Benny Quick I'm Coming Home (W. Germany, 64)
Beti Jurković i Marko Novosel Autobus-calypso (Jugoslavia, 59)
Hubbubs Express to Gloryland (Austria, 67)
Britt Damberg Jocke juke-box (Organ Grinder's Swing) (Sweden, 62)
The Danish Sharks Rock A-Beatin' Boogie (Denmark, 64)
Luisita Tenor Yeh yeh (Spain, 65)
Vadim Ludvikovsky et son orchestre Vecher v Parizhe (Russia, 68)
Karel Vlach se svým orchestrem Dnes není všední den (Czech, 65)

Have a nice weekend!

Music for Sunny Place, vol. XV

I'll write notes someday!

Cor Steyn Tune (Netherlands)
Muslim Magomaev Watussi (USSR)
Willy Alberti Marina (Netherlands)
Lolita Seemann (Deine Heimat ist das Meer) (Austria)
Jumping Jewels Guitar Tango (Holland)
Cliff Richard Livin' Lovin' Doll (UK)
Conny Froboess Mariandl (West Germany)
Siw Malmkvist Danke für die Blumen (Sweden)
Rex Glido Zarina (DDR)
Cousins Kili Watch (Belgium)
Karel Duba Wheels (Czechoslovakia)
Ansambl Stjepana Mihaljinca Sjena (Yugoslavia)

Have a nice day!

Music For Sunny Place, vol. XII

I'll write notes someday!

Klaus Wunderlich mit Rhythmusgruppe Delicado (West Germany, 59)
Freddy Quinn So geht das jede Nacht (Austria, 56)
Milva Flamenco rock (Italy, 60)
Duo Dinamico ¡Oh! Carol (Spain, 60)
Körmendi együttes Csing-csing twist (Hungary, 62)
Maria Koterbska Parasolki (Poland, 60)
Rudolf Pellar Červená aerovka (Czechoslovakia, 60)
Stef Meeder A Dedicated Follower Of Fashion (Netherlands, 69)
L'ensemble Grammophone The Sun (USSR, 69)
Alice Babs Love In Swingtime (Sweden, 56)
Zvonko Špišić Milioner (Yugoslavia, 62)
Kjell Karlsens orkester Lappland (Happy End) (Norway, 65)

Have a nice day!

Music For Sunny Place, vol. X

Hello everybody, hi all, this is Karel, and spring is in the air.

Czterech is a Polish beat band. «Śpiew Wiosny» was written by guitarist Marek Bliziński, and EP was released on Muza Records (Muza N0499) on April 30, 1967.

Margreta Nikolova is one of my favorite Bulgarian singers. «Spring and Me» was written by Kubichek. I ripped the song from an old vinyl, hence some hiss and clicks.

The famous Uzbek singer Botyr Zakirov was born on April 26, 1936. He sings a love song in Hindi. The song was written by composer Shankarsinh Raghuwanshi.

Luigi Ionescu was born on April 3, 1927. He's one of the most popular Romanian singers from the 1950—1960's.

«Ty Vseh Miley I Nezhnei» in Armenian language is sang by Sergei Davidyan. Sergei Davidyan made this song by young composer Arno Babajanyan popular all over USSR in the late 1950's. It is from the motion picture «The Song of the First Love / Arajin Siro Yerge».

Domenico Modugno was already very popualr in Europe when he came to Moscow, USSR, for the first time in 1962. His concert with Nello Ciangherotti Orchestra was marvellous. Here's an interesting recording from that conecrt. At the beginning there's a little introducion, and Domenico started to sing «Selene» in Russian!

The last song today is by Vocal Quartet Gaya. They are from Azerbaijan and this song is a traditional Azerbaijan tune. It was recorded from radio back in 1969.

Track list:

Czterech Śpiew Wiosny (Poland, 1967)
Nadine Young avec Les Rock Four Crazy Rock (France, 1959)
Margreta Nikolova Spring And Me (Bulgaria, 1964)
Botyr Zakirov When Love's Coming (Uzbekistan, 1966)
Luigi Ionescu Primăvară (Romania, 1959)
Unknown Quartet Priyatnaya Vstrecha (Russia, 1958)
Rimvidas Ratsyavichus et Son Orchestre Volna (Lithuania, 1964)
Sergei Davidyan Ty Vseh Miley I Nezhnei (Armenia, 1958)
Rostislav Merkulov et Son Orchestre Lyrical Foxtrot (Estonia, 1958)
Domenico Modugno Selene (Italy, 1962)
Zaray Márta és Vámosi János Popcatepetl Twist (Hungary, 1963)
Vocal Quartet Gaya Gaya (Azerbaijan, 1969)

Download a little bit more spring now

31 MB

Music For Sunny Place, vol. IX

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 swing has 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 (The Four Friends ensemble). If you know something — let me know.
This instrumental track was originally written for documentary "Tropico De Notte" by Italian composer Armando Sciascia (under nom de plume H. Tical) in 1961.

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 Mimis Plessas (Μίμης Πλέσσας), pianist and band leader, 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 radio station, 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 (Tiger Twist) (Hungary)
Arne Domnerus orkester En gang i Stockholm (Sweden)
André Brasseur Early Bird Sattelite (Belgium)
Ricky Shayne & The Skylars My Babe (France)
Mimis Plessas & his quartet Teddy Boy’s Shake (Greece)
Gelu Chao chao (Downtown) (Spain)
The Pussycats Ebb tide (Norway)

Download the whole programm now!

Music For Sunny Place, vol. VIII

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, East German band Heinz Kuhnert-Quintett. Heinz Kuhnert was a pianist, songwriter, arranger and band leader, based in Dresden.

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 a western-swing number "We're Gonna Go Fishing" by her fellow countryman Ole Rasmussen). The song isn't actually about fishing – there are more things to do on Saturday night.

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. Vocal backing is by i Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni.

There were many big beat bands in the 1960's 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.

Mike Ríos was a very successfull Spanish pop singer. His first EP was released in 1962. This song "Pera madura" is from that EP. Backing by Filippo Carletti ensemble.

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 have been 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 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 Hænning Ta' med ud å fisk' (We're Gonna Go Fishin') (Denmark)
Stylistes Όταν περνούν τα πούλια (Greece)
Lasse Liemola Kristiina ja minä (Finland)
Colette Deréal Allons, allons les enfants (Monaco)
I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni La mia mania (Italy)
Conjunto Académico Ruy Manuel Fuga (Portugal)
Mike Ríos Pera madura (Spain)
Lili Ivanova Louie (Se fossi un uomo) (Bulgaria)
Czerwono-Czarni My reklamy nie lubimy (Poland)
L'ensemble Golubye gitary Barynya (Russia)
Les Caravelles Caravelle (Belgium)

That's all for now. Have a nice weekend!