Osiris: The Bahraini Pink Floyd? - أوزيرس.

Ya Halla!

The last posting for The Jets was jus' marvs. I had to return once again to Blogsville as if transmogrified by a magical spell from that ancient land to up one of their Live albums as a bonus (Note: I thought twice  about doing so as some of the tracks there had hiccups and are repeats from other albums, but I did it anyway being quite the completist). And, from what I've seen at Stats, it's got a good 'blogle-age', too. This makes me 'appy, guys. So, keep on listening and DL-ing these wonderful tunes that never really got any airing befitting their musical and historical status.

We will haul ass now, leaving Egypt (not completely,though), to a tiny island in the Persian Gulf called Bahrain to feature its best-known and 'heaviest' band ever: Osiris. Plus, a brief introduction to Bahraini bands' scene of the 70's and early 80's so scarce and little known outside of Bahrain itself. Get ready for jus' another rare rock show from the Middle-east only on Audiotopia.


Osiris - أوزيرس:

Osiris playing on stage cicra 1986.

Osiris is an ancient Egyptian God declared the God of Resurrection and Life and Death, and the Underworld many thousands of years ago. This band has strong roots to this on-again, off-again cycle of life-and-death as two points. Their early formation in 1969 was a beat band (Witch), playing rock and roll hits like any Iranian 60's rock bands which we all know of, and love to smithereens. Iran has a close relationship to Bahrain and most of Bahrainis speak Farsi. They both share the same history and quite like Iran... Bahrain dates way back to prehistorical times when it was a Delmonite kingdom. It was declared a Kingdom again in 2002.

Osiris is a unique band taken from different points. It has a very early start at a place that barely has any band to speak of. This band didn't just break chronological norms, but also did create a new sound so progressive, and inventive, it became known the world over and has a great, rapidly growing listeners and fans-base alike.

Leader Mohammed Al-Sadeqi - محمد الصديقي.

The earliest members of Witch were Mohammed Al-Sadeqi, who played lead guitar and sang in his not-so-bad English, his younger brother Nabil who was the sticks-meister, and cousin Mohammed Haydan who played the electric bass. The Sadeqis later asked their older sister Faiqa to play the organ as early 70's rock bands were made of these four essential instruments. They played privately in parties and rock youth gatherings, then the Sadeqis left to study in the U.S. and the U.K. (people in the Gulf area back in the 70's were maybe, the richest people on earth sending their kids to study at the most expensive universities in the world because of the oil-dollars these Gulfanarian 'cuntries' posses). And, the band broke up in 1974 and reunited only when the brothers returned back home after six years.

Mohammed playing lead live in 1984.

When the Sadeqi brothers came back, they wanted to bring Witch to life again, asking bassist Mohammed Al-Shafee (he also played later the organ), and Sami Al-Jamea (organ) to play along with them. The band grew into a six-member unit with the addition of yet, another keyboard player (Abdel-Razzak Al-Aryan, ex-Sharks member which gets a well-deserved review here on Part II: 'Bahrock Bands': Early Rock Bands of Bahrain), and rhythm guitarist Amin Qahwaji choosing the name Osiris to depict their hard rock interest playing to but a small audience of mostly drug-crazed Bahraini youngsters in secret hide-out houses.

Issa Janahi live on stage mid-80s.

After few rehearsals and an intent to make an album, they wanted to get a singer to sing in good English, and the choice came on a nice-looking gentleman whose name's Issa Janahi. And, the rest? Osiris' first official concert was held to a gawkfest of Bahrainis who watched the band play their first 'super-band' gig at the Rabia Al-Adawiyah girl school hall wearing psychedelic garbs and standing like real-ass heavy-sters such as Pink Floyd and Genesis.

Osiris live at Al-Adawiyah hall.

Back at that time, there were no such thing as 'recording studios' whatsoever in the state of Bahrain. The only working studio in that Shii'te-majority country (they looked down on any western forms of cultural manifestations as a dire threat on their orthodox beliefs), was a small one-apartment studio called Eagle (Al-Nasir). Another session player (Nadir El-Rafie on stand-up conga drums) joined them to record the album's eight songs in late 1981 and early 1982.

Bassist Al-Motawa'a with lead Mohammed Al-Saedqi live.

The band also needed to send the reel-to-reel master tape outside of Bahrain in order to press it as there were also no labels at all. The album (self-titled) was pressed on a private Philippine-based label (WEA), which sent the 1000 copies back to Bahrain. Some of these were again sent to Bahrain's radio jockeys who played the album hailing it as a revolution in Bahrain's music history. And, they're absolutely right: Bahrain had a measly rock scene, but its folkloric music and national (as it's called there 'wataniyah'), music is the most prolific and documented music in the Arabian Gulf region.

Jalil Abdallah (left) Jahani (mid-pic) Mohammed (right).

Success didn't come flying in their way with colours: the band decided to break up one more time, and two of its members left to study abroad. In late 1983, they played live on Bahrain's national (and, only...) T.V., and by 1984 they were ready to pin down their second album after a round of successful hotel-concerts played here and there by the end of that year, naming the album 'Tales of The Divers - Live' which included some Arabic songs for the first time sung by Ferqat Al-Wehda Lil-Finoun Al-Taqlidia ('The Union Band of Traditional Arts'; a good sign of the band's reverting back to their Arabic/Bahraini roots in this concept album).

2nd album Tales of The Divers 1984.

3rd album Myths & Legends 1984.

4th album Reflections 1986.

Visions From The Past - 2007.

(Note: none of these albums are available for download because of copy-right issues).

Meanwhile, the third 'studio' album recorded was being recorded in 1984 (Myths & Legends): an awe-inspiring, synth-driven attempt at braver sounds which encouraged the band to keep as a single, solid unit without any further lineup changes (two members also quit to study abroad at that time). It was the band's highest time for creativity. Most of their earlier albums were so filled with sensitive lyrics and melodic rock somehow bordering on the nostalgic part, not to mention their deeply-influenced spiritual inner hints at magic practice, other-worldy existences, etc... trying to keep sane in a world that does not spare you your mind, but gives you mundane, worthless solace in materialistic abundances in countries like the uber-rich Arabian Gulf states.

On stage, Bahrain, with Debbie Moss
who joined them as a keyboardist.

The band's 'third' album (Myths & Legends, some say it's their second), was in the works, too and through their friends from the Philippines (Pinoys are ten-a-dime in the Gulf states and they leave their country to work there for a few bob), the band arranged to perform live there when some of the ex-members came back to join for this first outside-of-Bahrain major International concert in Manila in 1986. The Sadeqi brothers' youngest (Sabah Al-Sadeqi), also came back from the U.S. forming at first, another heavy rock band named Requiem but after a few gigs, he quit to join Osiris for their fourth album in early 1988 called 'Reflections' which was released officially in 1990-91 by the music label Musea. The band went afterwards into a musical coma whether because its members got busy with work, life, family, or just simply quit.

The full band on backstage 1984.

In the late 90's Osiris started to play and record together again, and the resultant album (Visions From The Past), was an ode to their lifework and those ex-members that passed away. The album included some classical music undertones which was so progressive to boot. Then, and in 2010 another 'pure' progressive rock album (Beyond Control - Live) in which they played their most popular songs was recorded and released. A year later, and in 2011, the band that tried to stick together throughout the years issued their swan song album after they got their collective asses to the grinding, recording-stone to release their last album ever titled 'Take A Closer Look' with the band's fullest current line-up of Mohammed Al-Sadeqi on lead, Ahmed Al Qassim on bass, Nabil Al-Sadeqi on drums, Khalid Al Shamlan on keyboards and piano, Abdel-Razzak Al-A'aryan on keyboards and synthesisers, and Ahmed Ravanbach as their vocalist.

The band today still rocking the world in 2010.

The band still plays concerts around Bahrain and outside, sometimes in memoriam of their earliest songs and just like Pink Floyd and its affiliate proggers (i.e. King Crimson, Genesis, Gentle Giant, YES, Camel, etc...), Osiris stayed a heavy-sounding neo-prog rock band that deep within... has a soft core of gentleness and a hope for happiness just like a pearls' diver searching for the 'good' stuff way deep into the Arabian sea.

Osiris at the height of their creativity mid-80s.

Featured below is their first and best album (S/T), with its eight tracks: a highly-recommended prog-rock visionary album by all means. Some of the songs there have far-apart genres of music (psychedelia, synth-rock, 80's electro-pop, rock opera) and the reason behind this was, maybe Osiris' trying to play more than one influence gathering these in one beautiful collection of songs like we would find in their first 1982 album. Dig it with teeth and gums.

Osiris - S/T

Tracks Listing:
01- Fantasy.
02- Sailor On The Seas of Fate.
03- Struggle To Survive.)
04- Atmun.
05- Embers Of A Flame.
06- A Story Of Love.
07- Paradox In A-Major.
08- Look Before You Leap (Bonus Track).

Cont'd on the next blog-post:
Part II: 'Bahrock Bands': Early Rock Bands of Bahrain.

Cheers fer nows.


H.H.

The Jets Band: The Egyptian Les Abranis? - فرقة الجيتس.

Hiy'all, erp! I mean Salam...

I had a great ball lasterday upping Simone's first (and best) three albums. That said, once you're in Egypt it's hard for you to leave that great country as one adage there goes, "if you drink from the Nile, you have to return back again to it." So, I decided to get back to Egypt for this post flying a 'Jets' plane, and feature for your aural-pleasures some rare-ass, Egyptian rock music from the late 70's and mid-80's.

Egypt: The Land of The Pyramids.

This music is really rare, no doubt about it. It was recorded and produced on small budgets, and distributed in small numbers. The bands are all but gone, too and it's next to impossible to find information about them. I really had a hard time tracing any information about these bands for years. It wasn't easy, trust me. Few sources lead you at the long run, only... to find absobloodutely fark-all 'bout any of these old Arab rock bands that were popular 30-40 years aborning. This is the 'shove' that gave me the much-needed 'push' to write this entire blog so that the world won't take that hard road as I did (and, still do), and to show some Arabic, and various listen-worthy Middle-eastern bands and artists that are really good.

Tonight's band is an Egyptian, short-lived six-member collective of enthusiasts who got together at the end of the 70's to play some music naming their selves 'The Jets' (El-Jets - الجتس). Their music would be so easily enjoyable because it flows like honey from the land of Pharaohs, and is similar to that of the Kabyle rock (also called Rockabyle) groups like Les Abranis (الأبرانس), who rocked Algeria for many years and still do... their albums and cassettes became collectors' item the world over appearing in many prestigious compilations like the famous 'Waking Up Scheherazade', but not this band. Naw.

So, allow me 'ere to introduce you to this amazing band.

The Jets:

The Jets' first lineup circa 1978.

It was founded by Samir Habib (third from the left), who was a music prodigy with a taste that harked back to old  Arabic classicals; a musician who wanted to make old music new so, he re-wrote music for most popular 'baladi' (local folk), 'tarabyat' (old classical tunes), 'Fairuzyat/Rahbaniyat' (music of the Brothers Rahbani who also composed songs for Fairuz), 'Wahabyat' (music of Mohammed Abdel-Wahab), The Bandali Family... etc in a new format, making it sound amazingly cool.

The Jets' full lineup circa 1986.

Then, and after gaining a meager foothold at the Cairo club scene (they started playing at the famous Good Shot club in 1975 which was a-buzz with tourists who at that time, wanted to get a taste of that 70's 'eastasy' that was going all around the Arab world), the Jets started to write their own music soon and issued one album after the other (mostly on Compact-Cassettes), besides getting invited to sing and play at private parties, weddings, open-air small festivals, and even make music for commercials and quiz shows on Egypt T.V..

Iman Younis on Egypt T.V. - early 80s.

Al-Masrieen, w/Iman Younis (middle).

The Jets (الجيتس), were a rock band collective which had a huge popularity in a competitive music-sphere, set there at the topmost spot among many Egyptian 70s' bands like Ferqat Al-Masrieen ('The Egyptians Band' with Hani Chinoudah), Ferqat Al-Houb Wa Al-Salam ('The Love And Peace Band'), Ferqat Al-Asdeka'a ('The Friends Band'), The Black Coats, Les Petite Chats, Sahara Band, Ferqat Al-Nahar ('Morning'), Ferqat Al-Insan ('Human'), Ferqat Ashorouk ('The Rising Sun'), Tiebah (Hussein & Moudi El-Imam), Dr. Izzat Ouf & The 4-M Band ... etc. The original lineup was made of six members but it grew to seven when pop female singer Iman Younis joined them from Al-Masrieen Band to sing in an album (Abu Shanabat: a children's songs album), in the mid-80's. She has now a music school ('Emylise School for Music'), and leads a happy content life teaching kids how to play various instruments and how to practice singing.

The Jets 1st album.

As same for most of the above-mentioned bands, the Jets disbanded and some of its members spent the rest of their lives singing at hotels and bars to a gaggle of gawp-happy tourons (tourist morons). Samir Habib quit the band in the late 80's and the remaining members regrouped with Iman for one last album (Ya Police), adding a saxophone (read: lame), and keyboards (read again: lamer), with Jalal Saleh as co-singer to Iman's sing-a-longa voice. Few months on, and then the band went poof forever.

The Jets sounded like almost any 70's Arabeat rockers in their first years: fuck-you garage-y raw guitar strings, heavy 'chunk' drumming with a hollow echo-effect to it (studio engineering was mediocre, mind), and head-swirling rock lyrics. But, the over-all groovtacular proto-prog, psych-band sound was drowned as the early-80s' Melodelica tunes rolled in and their songs started to erm, suck. All 'nd all, many styles are there to pick and choose from. So, let's enjoy this rare music sung in Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish, and English.(Whews! Must 'ave been the tourons. So 'worldelica!').


I know I might sound here like a completist shit, big whupski... But, I shall up all of their first six albums in one Mediafire Cloud folder file, and separately as individual downloadable links. Fullstop. And, you know what else? I will up one of their 'Live' albums (sung in English), to make the list complete. The tote would be 7 albums,babes. Not bad for a night spent beside the Nile, righty-oh? If the old adage saying holds any truth to it, man alive! I wanna drink the whole of the damn rivaaa!

Here below are the linkages to their albums, individually.

The Jets - الجيتس: Complete Discography:

-First Album - Shedd El-Hizam - (Fasten Your Seat-Belts).

-Second Album - Alo!! Alo!!











-Third Album - Abd El-Routine - (Slave of Routine).









 
-Fourth Album - El-Maya Feen Ya Afandi - (Where's The Water, Sir).

-Fifth Album - Sidi Ya Sidi - (Boy Oh Boy).

-Sixth Album - Abou Eshanabat - (The Moustachioed One).

 
-Seventh Album - Ya Police - ('Help! Police')*.
-The Jets - Live Recordings (in English).
-Bonus:
The Jets: Live at The Good Shot Club.**


*[Not uploaded, sorz babes].
**[Was uploaded on 03|15|12].


Guys and guyettes, I urge you to enjoy these rare tracks. They are yours at Audiotopia: your faithful blog for Middle-eastern sounds.

Rock on.

H.H.

Simone: Egypt's Madonna? - سـيـمــون.

Halla!

Today's the birthday anniversary of Mohammed Abdel-Wahab (13th March, 1902- 4th May, 1991). A very gigantic figure of Arabic music who's Egyptian. Abdel-Wahab's music defined a whole century of Arab-listeners over and over, keeping the olden traditional forms of music intact, and at the same time, developing these into worldly standards. He was a genius. His music is studied by scholars nowadays to get hints on how old and new music can live side by side.

This anniversary has led me to think for a while about the Egyptian music in general, and the 'new stuff' in particular. I don't like extremes such as 'old' and 'new'. But, what if I wanted to see who among the many, uncountable Egyptian musicians was the most 'out there'? Whose music was the bravest attempt at modern sounds, and still wasn't as boring as, say Madonna's? Simone was the answer.


Simone:

'Sweet' Simone. 1988.

She's adorable. I mean it. This young Egyptian woman (full name: Simone Phillipe Kamil,  born 1966 - سيمون), beside being so attractive, was 'One-dear-ful' and oddtastic, too. First, one of her close cousins is none other than (gulp?) Hassan Al-Asmar! Wow! She, in the meanwhile looks like a supermodel when her famous chaabi  cuzza (who passed away earlier this year), looked like one of these street peddlers that sell 'termis' (lupine; considered the cheapest food to buy, and for a nutritian... the world's most non-bioavailable food), on some street abutting the Nile in Cairo!

Simone:
the coolest girl in Egypt

To continue in my explanation... one scene in a film these two shared the lead roles at, has them both groping and kissing like hot monkeys! When in a strict Islamic-tradition country like Egypt such PDAs would start a fuckin' riot. Islamist rightists are now back at the power seats in the newly-elected Egyptian Parliament, and it's not boding well so far for artists and musicians alike (some got jailed last month, and one of them was A'adil Imam; Egypt's first actor). Such open sexual freedom demands cojones on Hassan's side, and a load of heuvos for Simone's and yes ma dearies... She got these by the truck-load.

She was born in Shubra which is a very popular (or, chaabi) neighbourhood, in uptown Cairo, and came from the same descent as Hassan himself was known: Saeedi. These are like 'yokels'/'boors'/'hicks' etc in say America, clodhoppers in England, and country folks everywhere else in the world. Saeedis, or as some call these folk people sa'aiydah, are a ripe fodder for jovial jokes and urban legends as well. Everyone all around the Arab world takes alorra Mickey outta them. But, we're not here to do the same to Simone. God forbid it.

On The Nile, circa 1989.

Her first singing career steps were at a singing contest for hmm, Greek songs. Simone won the contest with flying colours. I don't think that it's her voice only that got her that, but she's a stunna (in Egyptian aesthetic levels, OFC). Soon, every producer and film director wanted to put his hands on this new 'Madonna' lookalike. Actually, that's become her nickname in Egypt: Madonna Masr (مادونا مصر), on which she said to the press once that she, "didn't mean to become Khwajayah", or 'foreign'. Her singing career was a musical 'odd-yssey' dedicated to a young generation of Egyptian youth who wanted to feel free, have fun, and yes... be able to dress; walk, talk, get sad, mad, bad... and love the way they very well damn pleased. The whole world has witnessed these youngsters in that 25th, January, 2010 revolution, or 'Sawrat Masr' and how they single-handedly toppled Mubarak's reign and presented him to a tribunal to prosecute his ass. Gyppies rock, yeah... but, 90% of that revolution was backed by American and western (read: France and Britain) neo-colonial dickwads to set the country at chaos so they can siphon all the natural gas reservoirs newly-discovered near Doumyat city on the Mediterranean coast up north.

Anyways Simone's not yer average Jane. Nah. She's wild (picture on far left), mischievous, playful, funny, crazy-kooky. She's well-composed (picture on the far right), gentle, loving, sweet-eyed, all a woman. And the middle picture shows how she looks 112% Madonna! (middle one)... This young woman —even in a society that eats 'gossip' and rumors with every meal like the Gyppies, she laughed at these rumors that were mostly endless sexual innuendos about her having an affair with this or that so-and-so artist/businessman etc. Simone's also well-educated and knows many languages, too. She graduated from The American University in Cairo (AUC), and holds a B.A. in French Literature.

Singing on stage, 1991.

That contest was part of the AUC's extracurricular activities in fact, and a well-known producer who managed many Egyptian singers at that time (namely, Tariq Al-Kashif), was given the heads-up by the famous writer Jamal Abdel-Aziz about her. Add one to one... I mean, three... and he ended up producing her first three albums which I will up them all for yer listening pleasure right here in this post. Other art directors took notice of her exceptional looks and singing ability and were really interested in this young woman as to make a bunch of films starring herself alongside the 'usual suspect' male popular star. The total of her albums amount to six, and they are good works of 80's & early 90's Arabic popular music that differ by streets and miles than Abdel-Wahab's classical Arabic music. But, still worth a listen. Some even seemingly veer audibly on synth-pop, hip-hop, and yeah... that much-abhorred word 'disco'.

With singer-actor Mohammed Munir
in Youm Mour We Youm Helw - 1988
a Kahyeri Besharah film.

Then, eh... came her T.V. years, and that was just horrible. Honestly, she's not a good actress. The damage didn't stop at this: a crazyassed theatre star (actor Mohammed Subhi) asked her to perform popular plays with him and she agreed wholeheartedly. This Subhi whatever was a nutcase whose plays were musical headache-inducing, three-hour non-stop retardedness. I'm sure as sin on Sunday it was the beginning of the end for both her singing and acting career. Damn! Another shitwad who did her damage was Amr Diab. This fat cunt the western world loves to listen to and mumbles his stupid songs like bubonic baboons... chose her to star with him in one of his films (Ice-cream Fee Gleem - آيس كريم في جليم), just to make use of her good looks to sell tickets. Little wonder he's still singing and she's not, and that he's a millionaire, too.

Khwajayah, or foreign Simone.

When asked who does she think will be the best star in the music scene (and, the acting one) back in the late-80s... Egyptian film-star Souad Husni said, "Simone will!". Simone was a sweet woman and not a sweet Cinderella story that kitchy children books like to make out of a simple success story. Strong will and a real life-affirming love makes people stars regardless of how much one has behind the bank doors, or who sings whose songs. She didn't become rich like 'Maddy-Mo The Material Girl Madge' did, but she was rich in heart with her mellow, child-like innocence and very cute voice one must hear from time to time to remind him or herself how life is still worth living.

Jacket of her last album Tani Tani.

Simone today:
Still young and veracious. Grr!

Lastly, and in one interview, she was asked what's the best film role that she most wanted to act, and her answer was: Susan Hayward's Barbara Graham in her 1958 film 'I Want to Live!'. She didn't win much stardom for too long, correct... she lost lovers here and there, righto... but, she won her life. I shouldn't have written her a long post like this: all I had to say about Simone was one word: Happy.



Have fun listening to her 'happy' songs that most Arabs have forgotten, sadly. You're to find here her first three albums and these came out in the early 90's but the songs are from different collections and studio recordings made between the mid-80's up to the early 90's. Bonus is a 1993 'Best Hits' comp. The music varies from New-Romantic 80's sound, to old-skool hip-hop and drum-machine-led break-beats. Some songs were remakes, or 'covers' of Euro-disco hits from the mid-80's. It's a variation of styles little seen in any Arab pop singer. Simone's music is gorge, and her voice makes even those stupid songs sound so good to listen to, and ultimately... sing. A true musician, really.

Les' sing now. Funjoy!

1.) Simone سيمون - (Batkalim) Gad - I Am Talking Seriously - بتكلم جَد issued 1990.

01- Beskout - (Biscuit) - بسكوت

02- Einou Mine - (He's Eying Me) - عينو مني
03- Hikayat - (Stories) - حكايات
04- Leila - (Night) - ليلة
05- El-Haya - (Life) - الحياة
06- Toumba - *تومبا
07- Batkalim Gad - (I Am Talking Seriously) - بتكلم جَد

2.) Simone - Allo - ألو issued, 1991.

01- Helou We Morr - (Bittersweet) - حلو و مر
02- Allo - ألو

03- Rekka - (Sweetness) - رقة

04- Einey - (My Eye) - عيني

05- Masbsoutah - (Correct) - مزبوطة

06- Ana Moush Seme'et (I Didn't Hear A Thing) - أنا مش سمعت

07- Al Eih (As If) - آل إيه

08- Wareeny (Show Me) - وريني

09- Allo - (Instrumental)

10- Ana Moush Seme'et - (Instrumental)

3.) Simone - Aheb Akolak - أحب أقولك - I Like to Tell You issued 1993.
01- Estana Chiwayah (Stay for Just A While) - إستنه شوية

02- Mashia Fi Hali (Walking On My Own) - ماشية في حالي
03- Ella Embareh (All But Yesterday) - إللا إمبارح
04- Sadekni Behebak (Believe Me, I love You) - صدقني بحبك
05- Fee El-Gana (In Heaven) - في الجنة
06- Aheb Akloak - (I Like to Tell You) - أحب أقولك
07- Ayza Asarakh - (I Want to Be Open With You) - عايزة أصارحك
08- Al Dounia Trouk - (Life Gets Better) - الدنيا تروق

Simone - Greatest Hits issued 1993.
01- Taxi - تاكسي
02- Batkalim Gad
03- Tani - (Again) تاني
04- Casanova - كازانوفا
05- Wayyak - (With You) وياك
06- Ka'edeen Sakteen - (Sitting Silently) قاعدين ساكتين
07- Einou Mine
08- Toumba*
09- Kalbi El-Loulou - (My Pearly Heart) قلبي اللولو
10- Merci - ميرسي

*A remake of Aris San's Boom Pam! Wonderful.

H.H.

The Churchill's Band - Israel's Led Zeppelin? Special Post with Rare Unheard Songs And Outtakes - השלושרים.

Welcome to this very special and extra rare rock show from the beautiful land of Israel.

The Israeli scene of the late 60s' experimental art and music could be described as inspirational at best. There were many artists dawdling around Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem at that time; the fastest-growing, most rock-chic cities with a multi-racial metropolitan population. After the War of Independence in 1948, Israeli-Jews began flocking to these two cities mostly to try and make a living, and right after the Six-Day War with the Palestinian and Arab joined-armies in 1967, it was a time of immigrate crest: tens of thousands were leaving their homelands in Europe and other countries to become part of that new ‘little’ land (‘Ieritz HaKtanah’) as Jews call it adding zest and zeal to a rather stick-in-the-mud conservative society.

Israel was ecstatic. The victorious chants were also 'hearable' in other few cities and took shape in a few musical works and artistic films seen in the abundance of 'foreign'-influenced art and a burgeoning garage-band rock scene called 'rhythm bands' or 'Lalkot HaKitziv'. Much of these bands were local r’n’r minimal acts barely capable of leading one another through a typical 'simple meter', 4/4 rock and roll number. The sound was struggling very hard, but as with Turkey’s Altin Mikrofon (Golden Microphone) contest before them, Israelis wanted to get their own Battle of Bands, and called it the ‘Beat Music Festival’. The heat was on, and many bands came and went just as fast lost in total obscurity.

The list of Israeli beat bands is long, but here, I want to feature one band only in one of its earliest ‘garagista’ forms. Please, I know it's a famous sought-after band nowadays that everybody and their dogs know of, but you will get what I'm talking about when you hear the dozen-or-so songs that I upped here by that band. So, be patient, 'kay? Les' rawk awn rawl nows... (drum roll, 'neone?)


The Churchill's:

Most 60’s garage rock aficionados know this band as I've said earlier like their mothers’ names. But, few if any… know its earliest incarnations and/or have any other music by that band other than their sole, eponymous first (and last, sadly), same-titled album issued on the Tel-Aviv label Hed-Artzi in 1970.

The Churchill's in Denmark, 1969.

The band started outside of Tel-Aviv playing as a set with Haim Romano playing lead guitar. Another Briton called Rob Huxley who co-wrote most of what the band sang in English was before joining the band in England, playing guitar in various beat and freakbeat bands and other R’n’B rock groups. He came to Israel on Christmas' Eve, in 1967 to audition with an Israeli beat band at the Casablan club, Jaffa. His other Israeli pre-Churchill’s band was an outfit named rather mockingly, ‘Purple Ass Baboon’, featuring him, alongside Moti Levi, and Yaki Yusha. He left them to join the Churchill’s (Miki Gavrielov-bass, Haim Romano-lead, Yitzchak Klepter-rhythm guitar, Ami Tribtech-drums), along with a Canadian (Stan Solomon, who used to play for an Israeli beat band called The Saints in Haifa), and they became The Churchill's officially on May, 1968.

Cover of the DVD for the film.

The band was trying hard to find its place among the conservative Israeli populace, add to that a this-side-of boring, heavy French-Russian influenced beat scene where new sounds were frowned upon. With this in mind,— they joined forces with French artist-director Jacques Katmor (1938-2001), to make the soundtrack for his first full-length feature artfilm "Mikreh Isha" (A Woman's Case, as some translate it, but it's more like A Girl's Happening in 60s' hip-speak slanguage Hebrew: מקרה אישה), which made it hard for these conservative straight-laced 'squares' to come to grabs with what was maybe, the first art-film ever made in Israel. Thus, the film was a failure and it flunked the local film market.

French director Ketmor and his wife in a self-portrait.

In the following link, you can see Katmor's art-band 'The Third-Eye': a take at Andy Warhol's Factory: Biography.   

Producer Avraham (Pasha Desheh אברהם דשא - 1926-2004) Pashaniel was disappointed, and later went to produce so-called Army-humor bands' films and T.V.-plays for the collective HaGashash HaChiver, and ultimately because of his Yemeni decent... produced videos for the world-famous Yemenite singer Ofra Hazar getting his ass 'Disney-fied'. As for Katmor... well, he lead a psychedelic life with his wife Hillit Yeshurun (the main actress in the film itself), somewhere off in a hippie commune.

The Churchill's, Jerusalem, 1971.

And The Churchill's? They fled to Denmark achieving minor success as a stage band playing along the line with mega rock stars like Deep Purple and Led Zep, then after four months returned back to Israel to put whatever songs they've made for that art-film into record, releasing it on June, 1970. (Note: some date this album way back to 1968, or 1969. Others go five-years-ahead-of-their-times (as one song by the 'Merry-cunt Third Bardo psych-band went...), ballparking it at 1972). The CD reissue/comp. is to blame as it has their first singles, plus some songs by their second, and third incarnations as heavy prog-rockers (Jericho Jones, Jericho). The first go back to yes, 1968 and the latter to 1971-1972. This is 'zactly where the anachronistic mixup has started. Here is a good introduction for the band with some 'Toube vids, too.

A scene shot from Mikre Isha featuring a nude woman.

So, we all know how that much-sought first LP can fetch in eBay auctions 4000 USD $ and shyat. Still, we didn't hear the whole 'story'. Some blogsites took good notice (cheers out there), to this fact, and downloaded some of these lost gems. I will do the same and as a bonus, will include three never-heard-on-or-off-the-web tracks by that band's 'mockumentary' incarnation 'The Chumps' along with some outtakes from the first album. This short-lived band's name (The Chumps) was the Churchill's way to mock how they used to play so much of the The Champs' world-famous song and hit 'Tequila' in addition to paying homage to Rob Huxley's ex-band the 'New' Tornados. They sang in the three songs that you are free to download in Hebrew-only mostly religious songs in a jocular way, too as to flip a middle-finger salute/flagdown to what has kept them in the backwaters for years; or namely, religious zealotry. (Note: Israeli immigrants who came from ex-Communist states where any religious act was so remorsefully restricted and banned are the trouble-makers in Israel and not the eastern or 'mizrahi' ones who are genuine and peace-loving. Arabs and eastern Jews had lived for aeons together and they lived in cold peace until these stupes begun 'flucking' by. Small wonder the War of Independence way back in 1948 wasn't their last one: it was a war fought for no-one and won by neither the Israeli-Jews, or the Palestinian-Arabs. It still is going on... and on until? Soon we all would find out, but one word of warning: the outcome won't be sweet at all. Trust me on this one).

The Churchill's original lineup.

*boom* -ducks- Meanwhile, in a different ditch...

The name of the band (I mean, The Churchill's), has nothing to do with Anglophilia as some might think, or that fat lard-bucket Sir Winston Churchill. Nah. It's a name taken from the combination of two, or hmm, three Hebrew words to make a new meld-word. To wit, one should write it first as 'Chercaiels': The Song of God. It's short for the Hebrew words 'Ha Chir Shal Iel'. Right on. Their music was so close to Godlike levels, it still resonates with the utmost musicstasy, and one like myself 'ere can only be superglad that many people are starting to clear the ear-dirt inside their brainboxes enough to give bands like The Churchill's a good listen.

So, babes... I shall give y'all first what most of you have surely heard before by this band, and then up as a bonus the stuff that no-one's listened to before. Their first album came with its ten tracks as-it-was released back in 1970. Dig dawgs:

The Churchill's - S/T (Full Original Tracking).

Ah! God fuck it! Whenever I see this cover, I remember how it felt when I got the CD in my mail-box in 2008: I swear it was one of the best moments in my entire life, and wish for those of yinz who've never listened to this album the very exact same. The first time I heard the band was in 1995, though as I still strongly recall. I listened to them by happenstance through  'Galgalatz': the Israeli Army Radio. It's where I myself learned my weakwater Hebrew by just comparing whatever the speaker on the radio says to that of Arabic words. The similarities between our two languages is enormous: Hebrew and Arabic are actually the same Semite language (Aramaic), and then tribes searching for better pastures for their flocks... gave them this 'split-tongue' audible when some letters or words are uttered assbackwards in both langs. There are some strong resemblances letters vis-à-vis. It's just the sad fact that these two nations (Arabs and Jews) might never realize how 'one' they are... or, were. And, will never do. *deep sigh*

HaChurchillim: Rare Unheard-Before Songs.

This link above has 14 individual tracks that feature the real 'garage-y' sound of the band (The Churchill's/ Chumps/ Jericho Jones), along with alternate takes, outtakes from their first album, and a bonus track or two of Jericho playing live in the late 90's one of my favourite songs of all time (if not THE most): 'When You're Gone', written by Yonathan Geffen; a well-known Israeli singer, sung in both English and Hebrew at a concert somewhere in the late 90's. Another version of this beat-iful(beat-beautiful) song from the film Mikre Isha sung in Hebrew only. Unmissable!

May peace reside in our hearts, and the love of music unite us again. Aye-men!


Thank you. That's all for now.


Trax:
1- Mikre Isha מקרה אישה (Case of A Woman) - In Pieces.
2- Mikre Isha מקרה אישה (Case of A Woman) - When You're Gone (English/ Piano Version).
3- Mikre Isha מקרה אישה (Case of A Woman) - Comics  (A.k.a. It's Hard) - (Instrumental Intermission).
4- Mikre Isha מקרה אישה (Case of A Woman) - Song From The Sea - (Intermission).
5- Mikre Isha מקרה אישה (Case of A Woman) - The Doll.

6- The Chumps - Adonai HaSlichot (Forgiveness My Lord).
7- The Chumps - Ma'lach (Angel) - (Short Instrumental).
8- The Chumps - Ve Taher Libenu (Our Pure Heart).
9- The Churchill's - Danielle Sanders Walks Through The Park - (Outtakes 1+2).
10- The Churchill's - Little Johnathan (Instrumental).
11- The Churchill's - Sunshine Man - (Outtake).
12- The Churchill's - When You're Gone (Hebrew).
13- Too Much In Love to Hear - Jericho - Live (Bonus).
14- When You're Gone - Jericho - Live (English-Hebrew Bonus).



H.H.