It's Day #4 with Carol Bui who's spending the entire week with us in advance of next Wednesday's homecoming show at the Black Cat and she's sharing the music from her own collection that informed her upcoming 2011 release, Red Ship, out on her own Ex Oh Records.
Connie Francis - Malaguena | Growing up in Vietnam, my parents didn't have much access to American popular music except maybe the likes of the Beatles circa 'She Loves You' or Elvis's 'Love Me Tender'. Connie Francis was another one of those few artists to make it out there, and her music made quite an impression on my Dad.
I used to look through his CDs and saw mostly Vietnamese contemporary singers with an occasional Hong Kong movie soundtrack. One day I heard a lady singing what sounded like a bullfighting song from his office speakers. Her voice was HUGE and sometimes tearful, I loved it and still love it. The singer was Connie Francis.
I asked my Dad about her and he said it reminded him of his early Vietnam war days. Malaguena is a Spanish folk song written by Ernesto Lecuona and is popular among marching bands and drum corps. It has been performed by many others as well—Ritchie Valens did an electric guitar solo version of it, Brian Setzer did one, Caterina Valente did a German version.
This is by far the most powerful rendition of the song I've ever heard.
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