Luaka BopLuaka Bop, Part II — David Byrne’s former label:

I don’t have much to do with Luaka Bop these days …. Clearly, for me at least, it was time for a change …. So I got out.

Yale Evelev, God bless him, kept it going. …. Yale’s got a distribution deal with V2 and has released some records in the last year that have been very well received.

[DavidByrne.com: Link]

Byrne is streaming a delightful, diverse selection from the Luaka Bop catalog — I’m digging it, song after song.

Vijaya Anand: Lots of great music in the mix, but one song stands out — no, it leapt out, through the air, past my ears, deep into my helpless brain — traditional raga meets Klezmer meets Loony Toons while tripping –

Asia Classics: The South Indian Film Music Of Vijaya Anand
Naane Maharaja (I Am the Emperor) [4:33]

Byrne notes:

Vijaya AnandVijaya Anand
One of our worst sellers. Yale had, over the course of many visits to India, collected examples of some of the stranger and wilder examples of filmi music I’d ever heard (music done for film soundtracks and musicals.) The Chennai productions of Vijaya Anand were among these — psychedelic techno cut and paste tunes that encompassed more genres that one could imagine, not just Indian genres — but disco, techno, blues, romantic ballads and synth pop. Wonderful stuff that never failed to make me smile. Despite being appreciated by the hip downtown crowd who saw similarities to Zorn, Zappa and others, the public stayed away.

[David Byrne]

Vijaya Anand — the early years:

When he was in the 10th grade, he started an orchestra at school. He also began composing songs for different occasions on a harmonium that his father bought him and began listening to more and more cinema music.

His mother’s worst fears were confirmed when he finished his schooling. He did not want to continue his academic education. Instead, he started a band of his own called the Melody Cans. By playing the latest cinema hits, he captivated the ever-hungry cinema-music audience at wedding halls and in theaters. Vijaya Anand and his Melody Cans continued to play cinematic music until he came to a saturation point; just playing the latest hits on stage became unexciting. This is when Vijaya Anand felt the urge to create cinema music rather than simply to reproduce it.
[Luaka Bop: Link]