26.03.08

last days of (myrna) march

i guess everyone who downloaded myrna march's album "explosive vocal percussion" from unpleasant.org about two years ago fell in love with that girl immediately. at least i did...

while searching the net for information about myrna march i found the website of her widower a. roufa who recalls his 24-year-marriage with myrna and tells about the circumstances of her death. but beware: it's becoming quite a sad story in the end. just read yourself...

for all of you who missed the chance of downloading the album from unpleasant and are unaware of myrna march's music i included my personal favourite from that album which is called "fandango" (though my favourites change frequently as "love is coming my way" and "majorca" are absolutely faboulous too).

unfortunately it's almost impossible to find any songs that are not included on the album, even though she recorded a whole lotta stuff. i only found two more tracks which were released on different compilations. the first song is called "our love it grows" and was written by ellie greenwich (at least i think so). it's from 1962 and can be found on the out-of-print album "on broadway: hit songs and rarities from the brill building era". the second song is called "parade of broken hearts" and was included on a compilation album called "follow me to the popcorn vol. 4". i'm not absolutely sure, but i think this song also was recorded in the early sixties.

listen:
myrna march - fandango (1961)
myrna march - parade of broken hearts
myrna march - our love it grows (1962)

16.03.08

violetta villas

i understand that violetta villas was one of the biggest stars in the polish entertainment circuit some decades ago. she gained international reputation as a singer and occasionally worked as an actor, on top of that she was seen as a sex symbol in her home country. well, even though she looks incredibly funny nowadays she had a certain similarity to shakira on some pictures.

anyway, this place is not about making fun of old people but about honoring their musical achievements - and i must say i'm pretty impressed with her voice. she wasn't called "the polish yma sumac" on coincidence - but because she had amazingly powerful voice with a wide range of tones.

if you want to learn more about her you'll find an wikipedia article even in english, there's a blog devoted entirely to her (with a lot of pictures), she's listed several times at eastalgia.com, if you want to buy her cd's you'll find a bunch of albums at polishmusic.ca and even amazon has two albums for sale: "zlota kolekcja" and "zlote przeboje".

but first have a listen:
violetta villas - dla ciebie miły (1961)

14.03.08

less talk, more music

okay, actually i aimed to post something here at least once a week and give some background information about the song and/or the artist. by now i figured out that this won't work as i listen to a lot of "exotic" music i cannot find any information about (or information in a language i understand) - and this leads to a lot of delays.

so i decided to concentrate more on music - which means i will probably post music more often with less talk around. so expect something new here more often now.