Europe’s most popular ‘surf guitar’ tune: ‘Mexican Bodega’ (video)


Lennart_50_sSwedish composer Lennart Clerwell (photo) wrote Mexican Bodega, a perfectly lovely “surf guitar” instrumental ballad that seems to have been covered by every middle-aged Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish and German guitarist on YouTube.

It’s a sweet tune, as Tibor Slamovits shows in this video. We don’t know how or why the composition got its name — in Mexico a “bodega” is a warehouse, not a tiendita or “little shop” — but if this song reminds you of a bodega near you, go there now and buy or store some stuff.

Espace age bachelor Esquivel’s ‘Mucha Muchacha’ (music video)


Tap your tootsies, snap your fingers and enjoy a cerveza with one of espace age bachelor pad musical maestro Juan Garcia Esquivel’s greatest hits: Mucha Muchacha. And whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you?

Wikipedia:

Juan García Esquivel (January 20, 1918 – January 3, 2002) often simply known as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin flavors. Esquivel is sometimes called “The King of Space Age Pop” and “The Busby Berkeley of Cocktail Music.” Esquivel is considered one of the foremost exponents of a style of late 1950s-early 1960s quirky instrumental pop that became known (in retrospect) as “Space Age Bachelor Pad Music”.