Looking for: Praguayan Music & old BCC Attenborough Zoo Quest Documentary

[Tony P]

Ever since seeing David Attenborough's BBC Zoo Quest documentary on Paraguay
& Uruguay in 1959 or 60, I have had a love for the sound of
Paraguayan/Uruguayan folk music played on groups of harps & guitars of
various sizes. "Los Paraguayos" doesn't do it for me, it's the sound of
_many_ harps & guitars together that is special. I have not had much luck
finding commercial CD's of this sort.

Does anyone have any help as to
(1) where I might look for folk CD's of this music;
(2) any old copies of this now ancient TV program (unlikely as it seems,
since that was before not just home VHS, but even before studio videotape
was in common use, but maybe it was released later and then droppped from
the catalogue);
(3) any idea where I might look for old tapes of the programme? So far as I
can tell from Amazon & BBC, only the Zoo Quest program on Komodo & New
Guinea is currently available on DVD. Where to start looking? There must
be a BBC archive for researchers, but if it's on their web site it's
well-hidden.

BTW, does anybody besides me feel a weird kinship between this Paraguayan
music and the music of Madagascar, especially as performed by Tarika &
Tarika Sammy? It's the harp/guitar/flute combination, of course, that makes
the connection; but sometimes I could swear if I didn't know better I was
listening to South American music. Of course, Malagasy music is so eclectic
(with so many historical influences) it can also sound like anything from
Zydeco to Indonesian to trad. Hawaiian....

If you have specific suggestions, I would greatly appreciate a personal
reply to ***@patriarche.net.

Tony

[Bernard Peek]

Post by Tony P
Ever since seeing David Attenborough's BBC Zoo Quest documentary on Paraguay
& Uruguay in 1959 or 60, I have had a love for the sound of
Paraguayan/Uruguayan folk music played on groups of harps & guitars of
various sizes. "Los Paraguayos" doesn't do it for me, it's the sound of
_many_ harps & guitars together that is special. I have not had much luck
finding commercial CD's of this sort.

I remember that too, particularly the "Bell-Bird Song" but it's quite
possible that the version you heard was not recorded by Paraguyan
musicians. The BBC sound track could be by "Manuel and his Music of the
Mountains" who are also known as the Geoff Love Orchestra and IIRC under
that name they provided backing to most of Des O'Connor's recordings.

You might find one or two CDs for sale in Oxfam shops, they often carry
a limited range of "World Music". Otherwise try the online stores like
Amazon and play.com which carry a wide range of music. If you haven't
already discovered them it's worth searching for music by "Los Indios
Tabajaras" which you might also like.