In our review of the Max Nijman compilation album 'Adjossi En Andere Poku's' and the various artists compilation 'Sranan Gowtu' we already informed you of the fact they were part of a whole series of releases. To our delight we can now also present you our view on the rest of the series.
Saxophonist and clarinetist Kid Dynamite (born Louis Rudolph Arthur P in 1911), arrived in The Netherlands in 1928 as a stowaway on board the Royal Netherlands Steamship Company ship The Cottica, making him one of the earliest exponents of what today would be regarded as world music. Although he was a jazz musician, Dynamite often flavored his music with elements from his home country Surinam, focusing especially on the winti-faith and the dances and music which accompany it ('De Winti-Dansi'). Dynamite is a regular in clubs like Kit Kat Club and Negro Palace in Amsterdam, Shim Sham in The Hague and of course Mephisto in Rotterdam, where he plays with musicians like Theodorus Kantoor aka Teddy Cotton (the Dutch public wasn't really interested in artists with Surinamese sounding names, so both Kantoor and P changed their names to the more American sounding Teddy Cotton and Kid Dynamite) and Lou Hidalgo. After the United States get involved in the Second World War following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, jazz music is banned by the Germans and Dynamite has to scrape by for a while. After the war he joins The Grasshoppers and a little later even forms his own combo, Kid Dynamite and his Jungle Rhythms, while at the same time playing with bands like The Black and White Stars and Bonanza Boys. When following the rise of rock-'n-roll, jazz starts to decline in popularity in the early 1960s, Kid Dynamite starts focusing on a Latin American repertoire. In December of 1963 Kid Dynamite is touring Germany with Rico Fernando, when his taxi is involved in a major accident near Hamburg. Kid Dynamite succumbs to his injuries on December 14th, 1963.
When in 1936 Max Woiski Sr. is given the opportunity by his father to study accounting in The Netherlands, he initially also ends up at the Mephisto club, home to Kid Dynamite. Max Sr.'s favorite instrument was the flageolet, a member of the fipple flute family, and its typical sound dominates many of his compositions. Just before the Second World War he opens La Cubana, his own nightclub in Amsterdam, where he has success with songs like 'B.B. Met R. (Bruine Bonen Met Rijst)' or '(Mi Lobby) Paramaribo', with which he introduced the Dutch to South American and Caribbean music culture. In 1957, Max is asked to provide music for a Nescafe commercial. 'The Nescafe Coffeeboat Song' (both the original version and the German translation can be found on this compilation) would remain one of Woiski Sr.'s best-known songs. The career of Woiski Sr. reaches a climax in 1958 when he and his orchestra provide the soundtrack for the first Dutch color film 'Jenny' (Willy van Hemert). Soon after, Max sells La Cubana and moves to Majorca where he opens a new branch (a period nicely illustrated on ' B.B. Met R. En Andere Poku's' by songs like 'B.B. Op Mallorca' and 'Amore A Palma De Mallorca'). Although initially his ventures are very successful, he's forced to return to The Netherlands penniless in 1973, where he dies all but forgotten in 1981.
In 1950 Max Woiski Sr. invites his son Max Jr. to join him in The Netherlands. He initially joins his father's band as a guitarist, but when Max Sr. moves to Mallorca and sells his La Cubana club, a financial disagreement between the two ensues; a dispute which would unfortunately never be resolved and led to a long lasting family feud. Max Jr. opens his own Tropicana club on the Rembrandtplein in Amsterdam. Around the same time, he also started his own record label Max Mackintosh Productions (something he was more or less forced to do after Philips no longer showed an interest in his music), on which, in addition to his own productions, he also released music of budding talents like Ciska Peters, Milly Scott and Edwin 'Ome Willem' Rutten. Many of the Dutch lyrics of songs like 'Rijst Met Kouseband' (a clear nod to his father's hit song 'B.B. Met R. (Bruine Bonen Met Rijst)'), ' Je Bent Nog Niet Gelukkig Met Een Mooie Vrouw' (a translation of Jimmy Soul's 'If You Wanna Be Happy') or ' Leve De Vrijgezel' couldn't be considered profound, but the Caribbean sauce Max Jr. always added, makes them simply irresistible. Live the music of Woiski Jr. stood the test as well. About his 1967 live album 'Max Woiski Junior At The Tropicana' (included in its entirety on this compilation) a reviewer wrote: "It's a whirl of sounds, backed by an obsessive, infectious rhythm, with that spontaneous zest for life that makes Woiski's music a harmless drug, giving you a kick without having to swallow something!". When Woiski Jr. decides to relocate his club in the late 1960s, the business starts to decline and in the early 1980s Max Woiski Jr. radically turns his back on the music business. Max Jr. would return to the spotlights a few more times though: a first time when 'Rijst Met Kouseband' is awarded the twenty-fourth place in Vic van de Reijt's Top 100 of Dutch Singles (Nikkelen Nelis, 2000) and again when the song is selected to be part of van de Reijt's compilation 'Surivlaams' (Nikkelen Nelis, 2008). On March 5th 2011 the compilation box 'Ritmo Tropical' is released, comprising image and sound of father and son Woiski. It would become Woiski Jr.'s testament, as on March 25th 2011, less than two weeks after its release, Max Woiski Jr. passes away in Alkmaar.