MINIMALIST EXOTICA
ARTIST`````Chaino
ALBUM`````Jungle Echoes
GENRE`````Exotica, Tribal, Afrobeat, Kitsch
YEAR````````1959
SHORT BIO:
The self-styled "percussion genius of Africa," exotica-era enigma Chaino was actually born Leon Johnson in Philadelphia in 1927; raised primarily in Chicago, the details of his early life are largely a mystery, although at some point he learned to play the bongos and began touring the so-called "chitlin" circuit of black nightclubs. During the mid-1950s he surfaced in Los Angeles, and with producer Kirby Allan entered the famed Gold Star studio to record a series of otherworldly jungle exotica LPs; the first, the 1958 Verve label release Jungle Mating Rhythms, featured not only a lurid fusion of African rhythms, primal chants and lusty moaning-and-groaning but also liner notes claiming "Chaino is the only survivor of a lost race of people from the wilds of the jungle in a remote part of central Africa where few white men have ever been...(he) could play seven or more drums at the same time, with such a blur of speed that you can hardly see his hands." In the months which followed, Chaino issued three more albums -- Jungle Echoes, Night of the Spectre and Africana -- each for a different label; on occasion, he also worked as a session musician, and even appeared in pair of feature films, Nighttide and The Devil's Hand. A notoriously difficult and eccentric figure, however, in time he and Allan parted ways, and Chaino's activities over the decades to follow remain unknown; with the resurgence of interest in exotica during the mid-1990s, his brother George Johnson discovered the percussionist's whereabouts and briefly brought him back home to Chicago. Chaino nevertheless resumed his nomadic ways soon after; following surgery to remove a brain tumor, he suffered a fatal heart attack on July 8, 1999.
DOWNLOAD
Mediafire is givin me a headache with it's upload problems so if there is something wrong with the .zip file please let me know and I'll re-upload it somewhere else.
12 comments:
This is a fantastic post, love this blog. This album is missing track 6 =(
thought this was great.. kinda obscure.. the feast track rocks
I can't find that track 6 damn...
Yeah, Feast is insane hehehe. Enjoy friend.
fucking awesome.. jungle chase is verging on the erotic
you're definitely going to like the albums I've got on my blog here. I recommend checking out BGM 1980-2000
http://fyours.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/muji/
Hi, I'd love to listen but what's the password for the file?
No pass needed:)
somehow you have just the ticket. Aavikko! Dr. John!! Weird exotica!!!
BP rules (not you British Petroleum)
Hehe thanks Anonymous, hope you enjoy thenew stuff coming in:)
I am really jazzed about this post. I grew up on Chaino's music (my parents are avid fans). But, Chaino's "Jungle Mating Rhythms" is the album I have been searching for. I know it's out of print and I can't even find a sample online. Do you have it or can you direct me as to where I can find it?
Yes kimynet of course, just click on the big download in the end of Chaino post, a new site will appear, wait a second or two and the clikc on the link in the center right.
Cheers!
Thanks heaps, love it!!
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