Bossa Nova Beatniks

End Civil Twilight
by Craig Regala

NY’s a place you’d hear various “fusions” wherein bands from the Afro-American music culture dip into other stuff from Europe and Africa AND the rich polyglot of stuff from South of “The Big Apple,” wayyyy South, or heck, wayyy West. I swear there was stuff kinda like this in the mid-’80s when some new wave era bands ditched that herky-jerk straightjacket for Kid Creole’s cool big band influenced disco/r&b, Martin Denny’s “exotica” (wherein ’50s Tiki-Hut culture was sniffing around Polynesian and Hawaiian music), and when jazz met South America and “things” got very classy. Heck, a fella could even dance to it, with enough pina colada’s in’m! Kinda like what reggae is for fun-lovin’ college kids, and King Sunny Ade was for the “hipper” ones.

You can dance to it, it should get played on The World Music Café, it’s got a groove David Byrne could understand, and the tunes are actual distinct songs. Horns are tooted, ska/lovers rock- tempo’s are used, and bongo drums are either palmed or simulated. If I had the same morning show I did as a college kid (’82-WALF Alfred University), I’d play Bossa Nova Beatniks in with the Dead, King Sunny, Bessie Smith, The Talking Heads, The English Beat (“Save It For Later” is the best pop song of all time – Pete Townsend, 1982), Boo Boo Chavez, Konk, Al Green, The Beach Boys, the Drifters, and everything else I was good with.
(www.bnbeatniks.com)