Record of the day: Various artists, “Bongo Land”

Various Artists
Bongo Land (Cd Capitol B000002UHA)

Between the mid-1950s and the early 1960s, in the midst of the Cold War, the craze for Latin American music spread throughout the United States. Mambo, Cha-cha-cha, Rumba and Conga were all the rage in dance halls and jukeboxes, bringing leopard-print covers and half-naked exotic beauties lying on the sands of distant lands into the homes of the American middle class; cocktails based on tropical juices and Martinis with olives became a must for any party worthy of the name.

In those years the Capitol label recorded a huge amount of material inspired by the so-called Mondo Exotica and about ten years ago they dusted it off in a very funny series called Ultra-Lounge, which sees famous names like Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Yma Sumac, Louis Prima and Julie London alongside an army of unknown performers who were soon swept away by the wave of rock’n’roll and, listened to again today, give us tasty kitsch postcards of a time that now seems very far away, populated by backcombed hairdos, sexual prudishness, leather ties and suitcase-shaped turntables.

The main instrument of this period were the Bongos, small, easily transportable drums, played with the hands, which gave everyone the feeling of being able to perform anywhere. Bongo fever spread everywhere, transforming this harmless instrument into an authentic fetish, a symbol of transgression. Records with learning courses, films, magazine covers multiplied; these instruments were everywhere, there was even an unlikely TV series presented by Alfred Hitchcock where a quiet town was put in danger by a pestilential virus that nested in a pair of bongos.

To get to know the phenomenon (or just to listen to some fun music) this anthology is great; you’ll find gems like “The Inch Worm” by Jack Costanzo, “Moderna Muchacha” by Joe Loco, “Quien Sera” by Nick Perito, some absurd bolero and hi-life versions of “Softly As in a Morning Sunrise” and “On Green Dolphin Street” by Terry Snyder, “The Young Savages” by Martin Denny, “Bernie’s Tune” by Al Caiola, “Taboo” by Léo Arnaud, “Brazil” by Tino Contreras and many other songs to enjoy on the veranda with a glass of Hot African Punch (the recipe for making it is inside the disc).

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical subjects.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: Un disco per ogni giorno dell’anno” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.