Post #521758 by OnyaBirri on Sat, Apr 3, 2010 7:25 AM

I too liked Sabu's definition of exotica, but I think the music evolved from far more than Hawaiian and film music.

Exoticism had existed in music and literature at least by the 1800s, if not before.

There had been examples of proto-exotica in classical music (Rite of Spring), light music (Lotus Land), jazz (Caravan, NIght in Tunisia), pop (Moon of Manakoora, Moonlight on the Ganges), and dozens and dozens of film scores (The Jungle Book, King Kong, the Letter, etc.). The popularity in the US of latin music, beginning with Cugat in the 1930s, and then advent of Latin jazz with Dizzy, Machito, and others also were part of the larger trend.

The genius of Les Baxter and to a lesser extent Martin Denny was that they recognized the general interest, and then pulled all these different threads together into a codified genre. The fact that their trajectories coincided with hi-fi recording and the LP era also played a huge role.

As for what defines "tiki music," I would say anything that goes well with a rum drink, which includes a lot more than exotica. :wink:

[ Edited by: OnyaBirri 2010-04-03 14:21 ]