From Matterhorn to Mount Kenya: Swiss Lady

Eurocovers likes the world and the unlikely pairings of music styles coming from all over it.
One I could never have dreamt up myself is Swiss Lady by Them Mushrooms.
Pepe Lienhard and his band sang Swiss Lady back in 1977 and it was a bit of an horny affair, as the Lady in case is the ever popular folkloristic instrument from the Alps: The Alpenhorn. It was of course the Swiss entry and it ended 6th at the contest held in London.

Them Mushrooms are from Kenya and the band has been around since 1972.
After a good decade of hard work performing in hotels and clubs they have released 16 albums since 1980 (in various line-ups). They were (and are) a popular band, but superstardom in Kenya didn't mean immediate unlimited richess. They even had to borrow their instruments in the early years.

Their most popular song is Jambo Bwana (Hello Mister) from 1980. It was covered by many bands including Boney M., although Tha' Shrooms have never received a penny from Frank Farian for Jambo Hakuna Matata (insert the word allegedly at your own convenience)

The 2005 album Kazi Ni Kazi (Kelele records KE 31011) subtitles as Tribute To Bob Marley which is probably only because there is a track with that title on it.
It's this album that sports Eurocover Swiss Lady and it's an odd mellow journey from the Matterhorn to Mount Kenya, via Jamaica.

The band have ditched the name Them Mushrooms and go through life as Uyoga now. You can read more about them at Big Entertainment .

'When you play your music I'd like to be an Alphorn too': Swiss Lady is sung in English with a small part in Swahili.
-

-

picture: Giant spliff prooves to be a hard draw.





Blog Tip
Treasure trove Faintly Blowing features an interesting LP. It's The Jet Liners at the Taj Mahal Bombay. The band is from Ceylon (Now Sri Lanka).
The LP has a gorgeous sleeve and there's 15 coverversions of popular songs like Zorba The Greek, Georgy Girl, This Is My Song (anoraks: written by Charlie Chaplin) and Eurocover Puppet On A String, the Sandie Shaw Eurovision winner from 1967.
(Avid readers know there's 1000's of Puppet On A String versions at Eurocovers).


Eurovision 2009 - The Moscow Collection
The Latest 2009 News At The Moscow Collection Blog:
Serbia, Cipela, Dance version now at RTS.
Albania: Carry Me In Your Dreams - promo sleeve
Azerbaijan: Always, single release details, sleeve
Bulgaria: download old & new versions, Deep Zone remixes
Iceland: Is It True promo sleeve
Spain: Soraya promo info.
U.K.: Jade: It's Time For Remixes, promo info
Lithuania: Sasha Song (!) Love to Moscow, Russian version
Finland - Lose Control remix info, cdsingle out now, # 1 hit

Tejano Time - 1977 - Enseñame A Cantar

Enseñame A Cantar (Teach me to sing) is probably one of the cheeriest songs ever to enter Eurovision. The Eurovision performance (Youtube) is legendary for the background singers who seem to live the happiest moment of their life (or they are on something). Even though they only ended 9th in the 1977 contest
The song performed by Micky and written by Fernando Arbex still is a popular singalong and has been covered many times (63 versions currently listed).
Fernando Arbex also wrote Micky's European hit Bye Bye Fraulein and Middle Of The Roads Soley Soley.
Enseñame A Cantar has traveled well and has recently ended up in Texas where some great coverversions have been recorded. Two of them are here.

First up there's the handsome lot The Tejano Boys, who released their Texmex version of the song on their album No Me Se Rajar (CE distribution, 2004). It's all about the squeeze (© TexMex FM radio) and the TexMex trademark accordion, played by Oscar Anzaldua is featured prominently on the track.
The Tejano Boys from Brownsville, Texas are specialists in the Tejano genre. Their energetic live shows and relentless touring won them a devoted following throughout Mexico and the United States. The Boys have their MySpace here.

The second Tejano version of the song featured here is by Ruben Vela, from his 2007 CD Los Melones (Crown records). Ruben Vela from San Antonio is a legend amongst Tejano accordion players and has been recording for over 50 years.
"Throughout the years, Ruben Vela's music has touched the hearts and souls of Tejano fans around the world. In 1983 he was honored for these outstanding contributions to the world of Conjunto music and inducted into the Conjunto Hall of Fame at the world famous Conjunto Festival in San Antonio." (From the Crown Records Ruben Vela Bio)

Break out the Mezcal, grab some enchiladas. Great songs to cheer up any day!!

Both artists' albums and loads of other great Tejano CDs are available from CE Musica (USA only) and the likes of Amazon, Cduniverse and e-bay.


Tejano (Spanish for "Texan") or Tex-Mex music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Hispanic-descended Tejanos of Central and South Texas (says Wiki)
Related Eurocovers PostMexico's finest cowboys Los Reyes Del Camino cover the 1971 Italian entry L'Amore E Un Attimo (Perdo Cariño Mio) in this post.

Blog Tip:One of the first ever Eurocover singles I ever bought, Que Bueno Que Bueno by Los Sirex can be found at El Rincon Del 45. A great beat version of the Spanish 1965 entry originally by Conchita Bautista. The A-Side track is a version of Petula's DownTown
They also feature the above mentioned L'Amore E Un Attimo by the original singer Massimo Ranieri, with his own Spanish version.
And a happy 1st Birthday to El Rincon !!!!
... and don't forget to enter the Tobi Jooste CD competition here.