c/o some frens around the ‘osphere, a couple transnational texts for yr viewing pleasure —
first, from @ripley, my favorite musical meme rears its head once again, thus time in a mid-90s Swedish rave-pop setting!? sez rip:
note the ZUNGUZUNG at 1:04! [Leila K.]’s of Moroccan descent but from Sweden & this song was number one in sales in Europe in the 90s
#1 in sales un Europe in the 90s?! Can anyone confirm this? That would be surprising in itself, and it would make for yet another rather significant instantiation — if an oddly tuneless one — of Yellowman’s well-propelled vocables —
…
second, from @nila, my source for sepia mutiny of all sorts, is this bit of “desiton,” a track which very clearly riffs on Yankee’s “Gasolina” gallop with its 32nd-note stutter-step synthline —
keep em coming, kids! &thx, as always..
yeah, i remember Leila K. I had her cassette ! She was huge in Europe, but n.1 ? I’m not sure of that.
i remember this too…
#23 UK, #5 Germany – so says the wikipedia.
HA!
I totally feel you with that 32nd-note trill on the lead synth. It’s basically the same percussion arrangement too if you were to take out the vocals and some of the acoustic percussion sounds (tabla?)… I think a mash-up might be in order…
I never heard this song, but I really liked her rap song “Got to Get” when it came out in 1989. It was released as a 12″ in the US by Arista–and I still have it. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmuCLF3msj8
(Sad to read, on wikipedia, that Leila K apparently now lives on the streets.)
Also, 23 in the UK.
i have vague memories of this tune, but i don’t think she had that much of an impact considering 92/93 was also the time of the ardcore invasion into the UK and European charts.
I knew the internets would do the research – my friend who played it for me was in Belgium so maybe it was #1 there? apparently there’s a mystery about Leila K, too? anyone know where she went? Gotta check out that rap song.
I love the wizard theme for the song though. kind of D&D/vampire eh?
Remember it well. 2nd place in Holland (http://digidodo.boers.sohosted.com/default.aspx?artiest=Leila%20K), weird to read she’s living in the streets.
I’ve not heard anything about her since that impromptu comeback two years ago. Apparently she still has some major problems financially. It’s sad – she’s apparently been cast out by her Moroccan family as well.
Like Ted Swedenburg says, I think she’s living on the streets, I’ve heard some sad stories about her. And yeah, Got to get is a cool song.
Leila K was also the reason I discovered Shannon, after she used the melody for “Give me tonight” in another hit of hers, “Electric” —> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEgbW1FxR78
The Desis have been releasing reggaeton-flavored tracks for a while now. Bollywood tracks have been using reggaeton beats for years, but this song from the Ugly Aur Pagli soundtrack last year was the first overtly reggaeton song I heard coming from the industry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMII0qA_MnY&feature=related