Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Chaino - Jungle Echoes (1959)


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:

Sayyada said...

This is a fantastic post, love this blog. This album is missing track 6 =(

Anonymous said...

thought this was great.. kinda obscure.. the feast track rocks

Bleeding Panda said...

I can't find that track 6 damn...

Bleeding Panda said...

Yeah, Feast is insane hehehe. Enjoy friend.

Anonymous said...

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/

Unknown said...

Hi, I'd love to listen but what's the password for the file?

Bleeding Panda said...

No pass needed:)

Anonymous said...

somehow you have just the ticket. Aavikko! Dr. John!! Weird exotica!!!
BP rules (not you British Petroleum)

Bleeding Panda said...

Hehe thanks Anonymous, hope you enjoy thenew stuff coming in:)

kimynet said...

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?

Bleeding Panda said...

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!

Anonymous said...

Thanks heaps, love it!!

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