venüs

in 1986, when i was 13 years old, i developed a heavy interest in pop music - and of course i listened to the radio a lot. one of the biggest hits that year was "venus" by bananarama - who, together with the bangles, may have caused my long lasting passion for girl groups...

of course "venus" was not written by bananarama themselves but a cover version of the 1969 song by dutch group shocking blue. over the last two years i noticed that "venus" already was a popular cover song before my birth and was translated into many languages.

so i picked two versions in turkish and greek.

honestly i know almost nothing about the greek version - i'm not even sure about the correct spelling as i'm not familiar with the greek alphabet. well, the latin transcription of the artist is pashalis & the olympians - but you can check the original spelling over at greekmusic.com. the song is called "ΤΟ ΚΟΡΙΤΣΙ ΤΟΥ ΜΑΗ" (which is "to koritsi toumah" or "to koritsi tou mai" - there are different spellings floating around).

the turkish version was recorded in 1970 by mavi ışıklar, a fantastic anatolian beat group from the sixties/early seventies. they did a lot of cover songs ("light my fire", "ob-la-di-ob-la-da", "yesterday" etc.), but to me their own songs are the real sensation. so "venüs ve aşk" is a decent track - but surely not their finest moment. if you like what you hear you may request some more songs of mavi ışıklar and they will re-appear here at some later point.

but for now you can also visit other places to learn more about them. turkish progressive music has two really neat sites for the band with a lot of pictures and (english!) information. sadly the soundclips do not work. diskotek meanwhile provides the complete discography. and guess what you'll find at youtube...

listen:
peshalis & the olympians - ΤΟ ΚΟΡΙΤΣΙ ΤΟΥ ΜΑΗ (venus, 1970)
mavi ışıklar - venüs ve aşk (venus, 1970)

sunny

i know it's a very uncool topic - but the weather really makes me sick right now. where i live there was neither a frosty winter nor a decent spring (yet!), instead there's rain, fog and semi-coldness all the time. it almost feels like it's october non-stop for half a year now.

so i thought the sun might feel attracted by some sunny music...?

so here we go with "sunny", a song which has been covered numerous times by almost everyone. i own two compilation albums which only feature different versions of the song. and coverinfo alone lists 61 versions, mentioning the likes of ella fitzgerald, frank sinatra & duke ellington, dusty springfield, cher, marvin gaye, stevie wonder, wilson pickett and of course dee felice trio with james brown, the version which i assume to be the best known.

and even though the list at coverinfo is pretty comprehensive the are at least two versions which are not mentioned there: the finnish and the danish incarnation.

the finnish version is still called "sunny" and it's sung by anki lindqvist (or simply anki), a finnish singer who died last november aged 62. i don't know too much about her but she recorded a whole bunch of stuff - though she seems to have had her heyday in the sixties. at least that's the time she sung her best songs, for example a finnish version of the kinks' "you really got me" (which i will post here at some other time as it's the coolest version of the song i know).

the danish version is by birgit lystager who called it "birger" (even though it sounds like "beaver"). birgit had her career going in the late sixties/early seventies and i've bee told her version of "pretty belinda" (which is called "smilende susie") is one of the all time faves in the danish gay scene. some of you might remember that dans mon cafe featured that song two years ago.

listen:
anki - sunny (1966)
birgit lystager - birger (sunny) (1970)

nancy & lee in turkish

about a year ago i downloaded gönül yazar's song "çapkın kız" from spiked candy - and this song ignited my interest in turkish music. ever since then i tried out a whole lot of turkish stuff from the 1960s and 1970s and found out a few things i didn't necessarily expect. one thing is the beautiful sound of the language i didn't notice before, another thing is the 'up to date'-ness in the beat- and disco-era i wouldn't have expected.

of course i dug through a big pile of shit (especially from the 1970s there are a lot of songs which sound like being recorded for soft porn movies) - but i spot out quite a few brilliant songs i wouldn't wanna miss anymore. even though i'm not that much into 60s beat i quite like ali atasagun, yabancılar and - most of all - mavi ışıklar. dario moreno, who often acts a little too clownish in his french songs, had his brightest moments when he sung in turkish. and then there are a lot of gorgeous girls to discover: ay-feri, rana alagöz, füsun önal and gönül yazar are just a few.

and as i'm a big fan of nancy sinatra (especially of her duets with lee hazlewood) i stumbled over rüçhan çamay & tanju okan who released a single together in 1968 which featured two songs originally recorded by nancy sinatra. the a side called "babam gibi" is their version of nancy and lee's classic "summerwine", for the b side they recorded nancy and frank sinatra's "somethin' stupid" (now called "yaşanmaz aynı evde").

of course i can't tell you anything about the lyrics - but that doesn't matter too much to me anyway.

also i'm not really able to give comprehensive background information, but i think that both of them were more famous for acting than for singing. if you wanna try your luck you'll find an entry about tanju okan at turkish wikipedia while rüçhan çamay is only mentioned there for being the mother of singer melike demirağ.

at least you can see rüçhan çamay makes a quite good nancy-replacement visually and also tanju okan isn't so terribly far away from hazlewood's look - though he doesn't look a thing like frank sinatra...

songs:
rüçhan çamay & tanju okan - babam gibi (summerwine) (1968)
rüçhan çamay & tanju okan - yaşanmaz aynı evde (somethin' stupid) (1968)

nora brockstedt week (day 6)

it just won't stop - though it's only one day left until nora brockstedt's 85th birthday...

this time i picked a song called "hei mister banjo", originally written in english by freddy morgan and norman malkin in 1955. once again google is not too helpful - and i guess it's about time that someone builds a huge website (containing a full discography, please!) for this icon of norwegian pop culture.

so i guess nora brockstedt's version of the song (which may also be called "hej mister banjo" or "hey mister banjo") was recorded shortly after the original version. of course it's sung in norwegian - and of course it's absolutely lovely. download it!

song:
nora brockstedt - hei mister banjo (1950s?)

nora brockstedt week (day 1)

famous norwegian singer nora brockstedt will turn 85 this week - and in her honour you will find a big birthday special right here. from now until sunday (which is her birthday) you'll get at least one song a day.

but first you get a few facts about her life that i (who does not speak norwegian) was able to collect:

nora brockstedt, born nora berg on 20 January 1923, started her career back in 1942 in a prestigious oslo variete called chat noir. inspired by jazz and blues singers like ella fitzgerald and billie holliday she became one of the most successful artists in norway over the next 20 years, both as a solo artist and as a member of the pop group the monn keys. back then she did not only sing in norwegian but also in swedish, english and even icelandic. in 1960 and 1961 she represented norway at the eurovision song contest and during the 1960s she recorded a big bunch of pop and jazz songs, some translated versions of international hits and also quite a few children songs.

i don't know what she's been doing between the 1970s and 1990s - but in 2004 and 2005 she released two new albums. "as time goes by" includes jazz standards like "he's funny that way", "ain't misbehavin'" or "i get a kick out of you", the other album is a christmas record. she still performs live (at least she did only short time ago) - and judging by the most current pictures i guess everyone would love to have her as a grandmother. jan eggum, a famous norwegian singer who's been working on a norwegian music lexicon, calls her "the greatest norwegian pop music artist of all time".

personally i just love nora brockstedt's voice. it's not as big and full like ella fitzgerald's voice but it's still quite special and unique as it reflects so many different facettes. it sounds innocent and mature at the same time, happy and melancholic. even when nora brockstedt was already beyond her 40th birthday she could make you believe she was a young girl. and even though she did not always pick the coolest songs on earth you can tell by her repertoire that the lady's got taste.

the first song here is also her best known i think. it's her 1960 eurovision entry called "voi voi" which marked norway's debut at the eurovision song contest and became fourth. it's not a milestone of deepness but a pleasant little singalong which can put a smile on your face.

nora brockstedt not only recorded it in norwegian but also in swedish and english the same year, later she re-recorded it with bjelleklang and most recently there was a cover (or a song with an extended sample) by norwegian rap outfit the superstars. besides that i know about a different norwegian version by inger jacobsen and a finnish one by brita koivunen. but right now we'll leave it with the nora-versions. here we go...

songs:
nora brockstedt - voi voi (1960)
nora brockstedt - voi voi (swedish version, 1960)
nora brockstedt - big boy (english version, 1960)
bjelleklang feat. nora brockstedt - voi voi (2006)
superstars feat. nora brockstedt - voi voi (2005?)

knowledge:
"voi voi" lyrics (with english translation)
wikipedia
a detailed article @ mic.no (in norwegian)

videos:
"voi voi" live at the eurovision song contest
superstars feat nora brockstedt - voi voi

buy:
double cd @ enjoy.no
downloads @ musicfromnorway.com
downloads @ musikkonline.no