No, this is not a dissertation on the lives of Native Americans. It’s about a song – written in the early 1960’s – that eventually became a hip hop national anthem.
Let me explain.
In 1961, Swedish guitarist and instrumentalist Jorgen Ingmann recorded a song called “Apache,” which contains various stereotypical Native American motifs. You can hear it by clicking the YouTube clip below.
JORGEN INGMANN AND HIS GUITAR
Apparently this song was a major hit in England, as it was covered by the instrumental group The Shadows.
THE SHADOWS
It got another spin in the 1960’s, as Davie Allen and the Arrows updated it as “Apache ’65” and had a hit with it.
DAVIE ALLEN AND THE ARROWS
Now here’s where it gets fun. In the early 1970’s, Michael Viner’s instrumental group The Incredible Bongo Band added “Apache” as part of an all-bongo music album. It wasn’t a hit, but it did catch the attention of earlier remixers and DJ’s in New York City.
THE INCREDIBLE BONGO BAND
So much so, that in 1981 the R&B rap group Sugarhill Gang recorded a vocal version of the song. Oh, and if this video isn’t inducted into the “Worst Costume in a Music Video” Hall of Fame…
THE SUGARHILL GANG
Getting back to the Incredible Bongo Band version of this song… Fatboy Slim remixed their version as background music for the motion picture Snatch. You know, one of the films Guy Ritchie directed before he married Madonna?
FATBOY SLIM
That’s not the only time someone’s covered Apache, either. A British group called the Edgar Broughton Band did a medley of “Apache” with a Captain Beefheart song. And somehow… don’t ask me how that somehow is how… but it worked.
EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND
But if you’re going to remix the Incredible Bongo Band’s version of “Apache,” there’s only one man who can do it correctly. The one… the only… the legendary wizard of the wheels of steel himself… Grandmaster Flash!!
GRANDMASTER FLASH
And thus it goes… from a one-off novelty hit in the 1960’s, evolving into the backbone of the hip-hop movement. Pretty impressive, eh?
Chuck The Writer 