La Bamba?

La Bamba is one of those extraordinarily pervasive tunes. Since it cracked the American airwaves to be the first Spanish language hit in this country it seems to have embedded itself in the consciousness of virtually everyone within earshot of a radio for the rest of their life. Sprung out of the loins of a one night idea to DJ terrible cover versions of La Bamba on RTVS (Radio Centraal, Antwerp) 15 years ago; the idea grew into Ultros Exemos La Bamba Night(Mare) a show put on February 28, 2009 at Scheldapen in Antwerp featuring over 300 cover versions of the song DJ'd over a night with a giant lineup of live versions interspersed in between. Veritable madness as an undertaking and enough to drive more than one person insane I'm sure but also an incredibly novel idea. Collected here are some of the versions played that night and while some of them hover somewhere near the ghost of the original, most cut, splice and disassemble the ubiquitous tune to the barest of recognizable elements. Most notable are versions such as the disturbingly violent efforts by Sudden Infant or the noise lambasted crust of Fricara Pacchu. Though sometimes when the results have just a slight tinge of nostalgia, flickering the original past dusted frames of light, the song can almost seem sweet rather than grating. Ultra Eczema has put together one hell of a strange piece here but I'm glad that I get to experience it this way because I think I may have run screaming from the 300 DJ'd versions after a few hours.

Download:
[MP3] Smack Music 7 - La Bamba
[MP3] Sudden Infant - La Bamba

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