The Wuxi China Expatdom's official musicians, the WCE Trio
have spent the past month in search of a fresh new sound.
Finally, yesterday, the Trio emerged re-born as a Caribbean-style
calypso band.
Band-member Kennesaw "Hui Shan" Landis found an old Harry
Belafonte recording (45 RPM, vinyl) of the Banana Boat Song, and the Trio
spent countless hours rehearsing the words and music.
This is the only calyso song in the Trio's repertoire for now, however they intend to
gather more tunes in due course.
Appearing in full-song in Gambays late yesterday afternoon, bar patrons found the rhythm infectious, and rapidly a conga line was formed. From there the Trio
and the conga-line moved out into the street, and began their progress through the avenues of the Expatdom.
"Stack banana till the mornin' come,
Daylight come and me wan' go home"
As the Trio, and ever-lengthening Expat conga-line wound their way out of the 1912 Bar District and into the commercial district, more and more Expats came rushing from their apartments, or their workplaces, to take-part in the joyous
street parade.
"Work all night on a drink a' rum
Daylight come and me wan' go home!"
Not even the most reserved, and usually-quiet Expats could resist the
Rio Carnivale-like experience that was snaking it's way through the downtown
streets.
"Me say day, me say day-ay-o-o-o!"
As the conga-crocodile - now stretching back for at least 3-4 klms, reached Zhongshan, the sounds of the steel-drums and 24,000 Banana Boat voices
reached the ears of Andis Kaulins, hard at work in his role as the Expatdom's foremost English teacher.
Dropping his subjunctive-clause textbook, Andis ran back to his desk. There he rummaged through his drawers and quickly found his tutti-frutti Carmen Miranda hat, lipstick, a low-cut sarong, and his diamante' platform sandals. Suitably-attired, Andis rushed-out into the street to hook-up with the conga line.
"It's six foot, seven foot, eight foot BUNCH!
Daylight come and me wan' go home!"
There, his buns were grasped tightly by Hans Klingner, and Andis, in turn,
took hold of Chief Inspector Harry Callahan's waist, and on and on continued the rapturous Expats.
At last report, the conga-line stretched from the 1912 Bar District to the
Taihu Dadao, with approximately 250,000 Expats sashaying and limbo-ing their
way into the gathering dusk.
"STACK BANANA TILL THE MORNIN' COME!
DAYLIGHT COME AND ME WAN' GO HOME!!"
Hey, whoa there Dirt Harrie! Your description of that conga-party gave an impression that Andis Kaulins gets around in women's costumes - nothing could be further from the truth.
ReplyDeleteNo, Andis is a close friend of mine, and he is well-known as the most knowledgeable and keenest movie-fan in the Expatdom. He has entire wardrobes of movie-character costumes. One time I saw him, in Baoli, wearing his tin-man costume (and Harry Moore was with him, in the green witch costume).
Another time I saw Andis at Xihui, dressed in black tuxedo, with cotton wool in his mouth - doing a superb Brando-Godfather impression.
And only last week, I saw Andis emerge from a phone booth down in Zhongshan, wearing a fabulous Superman costume.
Next time, Dirt, get all the facts correct, punk!