"Salad Party 93"
January, 1993
UMRK
90 min.
Appears on:
- The Late Show (BBC 1993)
- Tuvans Invade America
Includes:
- PART 1:
- 00:06 Rada the interpreter, Anatoli Kuular, Kongar-ol Ondar, an unidentified oriental man, Kaigal-ool Khovalyg and FZ on the sofa, with Terry Bozzio, another girl, and Motorhead standing on the back. The Tuvans are practising their singing while hearing the Chieftains.
- 01:47 In the studio. From left to right: Seán Keane (fiddle), Martin Fay (fiddle), Matt Molloy (flute), Anatoli Kuular, Kongar-ol Ondar, Kaigal-ool Khovalyg, Paddy Moloney (pipe), Derek Bell (harp), Kevin Conneff (bodhrán), practising the same song, while Dave Dondorf and Spence Chrislu place the microphones. Paddy Moloney discusses with FZ what they're going to do. Then they do two complete takes of the song (05:24-07:58 and 09:18-11:36).
- 11:45 Lunch break. The Tuvans, The Chieftains, Motorhead, Terry Bozzio, Gail and some other people eat some salad and rolls.
- 14:45 Back in the studio. Moon, Dweezil, Terry Bozzio, Gail, FZ, Ahmet, Derek Bell and some other people attend while the unseen musicians tune up. Terry Bozzio plays percussion along with the music played off camera (the violin sounds like L. Shankar). On a different shot we can see Kevin Conneff, Seán Keane, Martin Fay, Matt Molloy, Johnny Guitar Watson, Kongar-ol Ondar, Paddy Moloney, Matt Groening and some other people attending the same performance while Steve Dondorf and Spence Chrislu place microphones. The actual musicians playing are hardly seen until the piece is finished. Mike Keneally brings an acoustic guitar to Johnny Guitar Watson. Dweezil takes an electric guitar to FZ. The three Tuvans start playing and singing "The Song Of The Caravan Drovers" ("Ching Söörtükchülerining Yryzy") accompanied by Paddy Moloney, L. Shankar, Terry Bozzio, Johnny Guitar Watson, Alain Johannes, Natasha Shneider and maybe more people. After the piece is done, FZ asks Kaigal-ool to sing with the low voice again.
- 30:33 Spencer Chrislu, Dave Dondorf and Ahmet in the control room while everybody in the studio is preparing to leave.
- 35:01 Back in the sofa, with the help of the interpreter and Ralph Leighton, FZ interviews the Tuvans about Tuva's religion and the origins of throat singing with Matt Groening, Motorhead and some other people attending. Kaigal-ool sings a short solo piece. FZ is interested in the lyrics as he thinks he heard them singing "MOO-AHH!" FZ takes them to a better sounding room.
- PART 2:
- 00:06 Kaigal-ool Khovalyg, Kongar-ol Ondar and Anatoli Kuular in the room with the grand piano. FZ, Spencer Chrislu, the interpreter and Ralph Leighton leave to the control room. The Tuvans perform "Tying Siirtuktiilerining Iri (The Song Of The Caravan Drover)" and some solo pieces.
- 17:42 Back in the sofa, FZ, the Tuvans, Paddy Moloney and some other people, like Matt Groening, Gail and Motorhead relax.
- 19:38 The Chieftains rehearse in the studio with Beverly D'Angelo attending. Alain & Natasha come in and are greeted by FZ. Spencer Chrislu places microphones. The Chieftains perform two times the piece heard at the beginning of Part 1. The Tuvans enter the studio to perform with them and they all do two more takes of the piece (same scene as Part 1, but a different camera angle).
- 39:36 Back in the sofa room, they all (Chieftains, Tuvans, Motorhead, Terry Bozzio) are invited to go upstairs. There everybody relax and the Tuvans talk with Natasha Shneider using a piano to tune up and sing some pieces.
People attending:
FZ, Kaigal-ool Khovalyg, Kongar-ol Ondar, Anatoli Kuular, Rada the interpreter, Ralph Leighton, Terry Bozzio, Motorhead, The Chieftains (Seán Keane, Martin Fay, Matt Molloy, Paddy Moloney, Derek Bell & Kevin Conneff), Dave Dondorf, Spence Chrislu, Gail, Moon, Dweezil, Ahmet, L. Shankar, Johnny Guitar Watson, Alain Johannes, Natasha Shneider, Matt Groening, Mike Keneally, Ralph Leighton, Beverly D'Angelo and some other unidentified persons like probably Claude Barthelemy or Lunda Hoyle Gill.
Notes & Comments
Dameon Walker (May 6, 2004)
Perhaps the most intriguing is the two-part film, which appears to be hand-held and home-made footage, shot in and around the Zappa family home and studio in 1993. The film is approx. 1hr 30 in durationand appears to be the raw footage featured, edits of which are briefly glimpsed in the 1993 BBC documentary and the 1994 re-edit of the same.
There are a wealth of intriguing sequences here, including:
- The Chieftains, Johnny 'Guitar' Watson and the visiting Mongolian throat singers 'jamming' (unfortunately that sequence finishes without hearing F.Z.'s guitar, hastily plugged in by Dweezil during the jam)
- Two versions of the tune played in the BBC and A&E programs, apparently shot from different camera angles, in it's complete form and contiguously segued into another tune
- A lot more footage of the Mongolian singers, both solo and in concert. They play a variety of traditional stringed instruments which they tune to different open chords before commencing each song. Most amazing of all is their ability to 'sing chords'; a feat which must be heard to be believed
- Terry Bozzio apparently playing an over-dub track on a large, floor-standing drum. The tape track appears to be a mix of Chieftains and Mongolian musicians
- Various commands, suggestions and requests from F.Z. to everyone involved, via a translator where the Mongolian musicians are concerned
- Joe Travers and Bob Stone (I think...) discussing the technical problems they are facing while attempting to capture all of this on digital multi-track
- Everyone together (plus Gail, Ahmet, Moon, Motorhead, Matt Groening, possibly Dale Bozzio) and several others, tucking into a large buffet, including vast bowls of salad (presumably the rather curious choice of origin for the file name) and having a jolly nice time
Ingrid Verhamme
Got the video "Tuvans Invade America"? From the Tuva Trader at http://www.feynman.com/trader/
It contains a 5min video clip with FZ and Chieftains, Johnny Guitar Watson, Kaigal-ool Khovalyg and Tolya Kuular (of HHT) and Ondar (FWIW - the rest of the tape is pretty interesting).
Patrick Neve
Don't forget that L. Shankar, Terry Bozzio, and Motorhead Sherwood can all be seen in this program.
John White (April 22, 2009)
in [Jeff Dickson's] review he states that he arrived at the zappa house on a monday afternoon...
later he also tells us that it was matt groenong's birthday...
i googled matt's birthday and it is february 15
a check of the calendar reveals that in 1993 february 15 was indeed a monday...
i believe this party can be dated as occuring on february 15, 1993...
Román (April 2, 2011)
According to Dickson's article, the February 15 visit was just before the Tuvans left L.A. and it was not their first visit to FZ. On the other side the video seems to be filmed on their first visit, right after their concert in Caltech, January 5. Also the article doesn't mention any of the guests shown on the video.
zy100 borg (alt.fan.frank-zappa, March 15, 2012)
The footage for this soiree was shot by Christopher Sykes while making the biography documentary for BBC. Sykes was also responsible for several films on Richard Feynman. Feynman of course tried to travel to Tuva, as described in the book Tuva or Bust, co-written by his friend Ralph Leighton. A few years later, the Tuva throat singers were introduced to Zappa by Leighton, who was a guest at the soiree and can be seen in the video, It was thanks to Ralph that Zappa ever heard of them. The connection to Sykes and Leighton might also explain why Feynman appears in the thank you list in the MOFO box. Not, perhaps, because Frank and Dick ever met (Dick died in 1988), but because somebody explained to Frank about Dick and his life's work and that had an impact on Frank's thinking about the universe, time and those waves.
Vimeo: Frank Zappa - Salad Party 93 with Huun Huur Tuu - Part 1 (44:20 min.) · Part 2 (45:44 min.)