Misirlou, Misirlou, where next for you? (or how a traditional Greek song became one of the most played melodies in this August's soca crop)

Listening to a popular soca tune from this year's Vincy Mas, Charge Up, by Skinny Fabulous, which crossed over into Barbados Cropover, we've all thought - that's familiar...And it was, we realised, because it was sampling the tune from the Black Eyed Peas song Pump It!

And then we heard a couple more similar tunes, one by Rupee - Get Crazy - and by Peter Ram - Ironman, all with that beguiling guitar riff that caught our attention in Pump It!

The story of that guitar riff begins in Greece in the 20's, the first known performance of Misirlou, a Greek song about an Egyptian girl, a slow melodious song which is eventually adopted by many other neighbouring nations.  Some even come to consider it as one of their national songs. It is sung in Yiddish at Jewish weddings, and in the Arab world for belly dancers. Over the years it becomes a popular standard from Morocco to Iran.

In the 40's the song migrates to the USA, recorded as a jazz instrumental by a Greek American, Nick Roubanis, and then begins to spread in the USA, covered by several artists who mistakenly credit Roubanis as the composer.

In 1962, Dick Dale and the Deltones re-invent Misirlou -a song he heard his Lebanese American uncle play as a child. He creates a fast instrumental version, full of guitar and horns that transforms Misirlou into a rock standard of the era.

It is covered extensively in its many versions, used by Domino's Pizzas late 90's ad campaigns, and in the Athens Olympics in 2004.  Pulp Fiction, Extreme Championship Wrestling, the French film Taxi, and Oceans Thirteen all used it in opening or closing credits. It is recorded by artists as diverse as Connie Francis, Woody Herman, the Red Elvises and Agent Orange. And by Gordon Ramsay in his show Kitchen Nightmares.

I think though that it is the Black Eyed Peas use of it in Pump It which really fixes the song in the western pysche. According to Wikipedia, Will.I.Am bought the CD with Dick Dale's Misirlou on it by mistake, heard the song, and composed the Black Eyed Peas version.

Fast forward to 2010, enter music producer Alex Kubiyashi Barnwell, who uses Misirlou to create a "Riddim". As a music novice, I'd describe a Riddim as an instrumental electronic drum track to which various lyrics and other musical tweaks can be added to create a song, individual to the lyrics, but with this common riddim. As a modern musical technique, it is apparently quite common to dancehall, and now becoming more so for soca.

But Kubiyashi didn't just produce a drum riddim, he loaded it up with Dick Dale's Misirlou, transforming it into a soca hurricane of a riddim, full of those familiar guitar riffs and horns sounds that have been around in our sub-conscious, since Pump It, since whenever....and he called it the Hunny Bunny Riddim.

And it sure was popular. Vincy Mas 2010 (St. Vincent Carnival in early July) had no less that 6 versions of this riddim, the most popular by far belonging to Skinny Fabulous - Charge Up -who went on to win the Soca Monarch title in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. The others; Fear None (Problem Child); Mad Outta Road (Uncle Sam); Get Wild (Ricardo Drue); Hyperactive (R3CKA); and Spranging (Demus).

In Barbados at this years Cropover: Peter Ram does Ironman; Rupee does Get Crazy; and Indrani does Faya Wata. And there is even a Beenie Man song - Wuk up Yuhself.

The great things about riddims is that DJs can string along several tunes in a row, it gives them plenty time to gab in between. The popular combination in Barbados was Ironman, Charge Up and Get Crazy, sometimes with Faya Wata in the mix as well.

 I remember hearing these tunes individually, then strung together, wondering if they were the same piece or not.  Then finally came the realisation that they were just part of one glorious riddim.  Because as cookie cutter as the riddim process might seem, and although these tunes were good individually, together, they really caught fire!

And that is the story of how a traditional Greek song became the most popular melody in this year's crop of soca tunes...

A Grenada Shortknee in Barbados Kadooment

Carnival should never pass by without some kind of masquerade, and Barbados' Kadooment Day, the culmination of its Cropover festival, is their main mas day.  I'm not a player per se, and I especially avoid the bikini and bead extravaganzas that now pass for mas.  Last year we made a stand with Am-Bush but with Baby V on the way, this year was more subdued...

The Kadooment parade is on the first Monday in August, and starts at about 8 am. Varia thought we could could go as tourists, and then on Monday morning, we remembered my Shortknee costume, graciously donated by Hambone, Captain of the Grand Roy Shortknee band, last year when I was in Grenada (read about that here).

A full-on Shortknee costume is not for the fainthearted.  Yards and yards of cloth, a face mask and head cover make it a hot affair.  As I went in search of the pieces, Varia suggested I only wear part of it, but for me that was never an option - it seemed that for this traditional costume, it was all or nothing.  Not to say that I wasn't somehow wondering how a Shortknee might fare in the Kadooment crush...

So I persevered, with little time to plan.  My blog entry from last year with the pictures of Hambone in his costume were carefully studied - it needed to be as authentic as possible.  An ageing towel was converted to headgear; a torn bit of tunic was quickly mended with needle and thread; the elastic waist, leg and sleeve ends were loosened (Hambone was a lot more skinny than me); a container of baby powder was 'borrowed' from a gift from Baby V's shower. I fell short in two areas - I had no white sneakers, and Varia drew the line on the tights (and I couldn't find the 2 pairs Hambone had given to me).

So that's us above, three tourists and a Shortknee from Grenada in Barbados Kadooment. We parked halfway along the route and Lili, I and Morgane (a Martiniquan exchange student who was staying with us) walked the mile or so back to the judging point, leaving Varia at base.  Whenever we encountered a band, we made the most of the music; Shortknee don't chip or wine; they run, stamping their feet to make the ankle bells jingle and they chant. 

I did my best, conscious of some code to respect the costume and to play it right.  The costume is entirely anonymous, so that even people who knew me well only recognised me because of Lili's presence.  I did mini performances for the crowds at the main intersections, stamping and prancing on one leg, baby powder flying into the air from the container in my hand.  Children were fascinated by the sight, many of the younger ones shrinking back in fear at the sight of the mask; one mother invited me to come frighten her son, a toddler, "come take this one" she shouted, I declined.

Several persons asked about the costume, Barbados doesn't have traditional mas, and a fully masked individual was a unique sight to many.  Several women (and some very young girls) invited me to 'go dung'; my explanation that Shortknee didn't wine down left most unimpressed.

As it is these days, there were hundreds of cameras.  Here we are above, captured by a photographer from Barbados' main newspaper, the Nation. When we eventually joined Varia back at base at the Waddada bar in Bank Hall, I disrobed and put the costume away.  A shortknee should never be seen just hanging around...I think Hambone would have approved.