Koop Kooper, host of the very successful Cocktail Nation Podcast, has just released a book chronicling the interviews he’s conducted with various members of the so-called Cocktail Nation. In addition to Waitiki 7 bandleader Randy Wong, Koop also interviews Combustible Edison founders The Millionaire (Michael Cudahy), Brother Cleve; the legendary Jack Costanzo; and a number of modern tiki artists.
One unique and immediately identifiable aspect of exotica are the bird, monkey, frog, and other-worldly animal calls voiced by band members. The tradition behind these sounds began circa 1955, when a Puerto Rican percussionist named Augie Colon began playing with a jazz group led by Martin Denny. Denny’s band performed nightly at the Shell Bar in Waikiki, which featured an outdoor stage surrounded by lush, tropical vegetation—and naturally, frogs, crickets, and birds. As a youth, Augie had learned to voice an array of animal and bird calls (his uncles would take him hunting for wild boar and game-birds). One night, Augie began responding to the frogs and birds with his own calls; Denny and the audience loved the effect it added to the music, and thus the tradition was born. Soon after, the other band members began inventing their own exotic animal calls. The calls became such an important part of the music that when Martin Denny re-recorded his 1956 album Exotica for stereo in 1958, he meticulously noted which calls were done when, so that (at least in terms of bird calls) the two versions would line up exactly.
Augie’s extraordinary contribution to exotica lives on in The WAITIKI 7 through his son Lopaka Colon. Here’s a clip of Lopaka demonstrating two of his favorite bird calls:
Koop Kooper, host of the very successful Cocktail Nation Podcast, has just released a book chronicling the interviews he’s conducted with various members of the so-called Cocktail Nation. In addition to Waitiki 7 bandleader Randy Wong, Koop also interviews Combustible Edison founders The Millionaire (Michael Cudahy), Brother Cleve; the legendary Jack Costanzo; and a number of modern tiki artists.