Exotica
Encyclopedia
Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny
album of the same title, popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s, typically with the suburban set who came of age during World War II
. The musical colloquialism, exotica, means tropical ersatz
: the non-native, pseudo experience of Oceania
(Polynesia
, Melanesia
, Micronesia
, Southeast Asia
, and especially Hawaii
). Denny described the musical style as "a combination of the South Pacific and the Orient...what a lot of people imagined the islands to be like...it's pure fantasy though." While the South Seas forms the core region, exotica reflects the "musical impressions" of every place from standard travel destinations to the mythical "shangri-la
s" dreamt of by armchair safari
-ers.
's album Ritual of the Savage (Le Sacre du Sauvage) was released in 1952 and would become a cornerstone of exotica. This album featured lush orchestral arrangements along with tribal rhythms and offered such classics as "Quiet Village
", "Jungle River Boat", "Love Dance", and "Stone God." Ritual is the seminal Exotica record, influencing all that came after it. As the 1950s progressed, Baxter carved out a niche in this area, producing a number of titles in this style including "Tamboo!" (1956), "Caribbean Moonlight" (1956), "Ports of Pleasure" (1957), and "The Sacred Idol" (1960). Baxter claimed Ravel and Stravinsky as influences on his work.
In 1957, Martin Denny covered Les Baxter's "Quiet Village", with exotic bird calls and a vibraphone instead of strings, which established the sound of the Polynesian
styled music. The song reached #2 on Billboard's charts in 1959 with Denny's Exotica album reaching #1. Soon the new technology of stereo
further opened up the musical palettes of Denny and other prominent exotica artists such as Arthur Lyman
and Juan García Esquivel
.
The distinctive sound of exotica relies on a variety of instruments: conga
, bongos
, vibes
, Indonesian and Burmese gongs, boo bams (bamboo
sticks), Tahiti
an log, Chinese bell tree and Japanese kotos
. Additionally intrinsic to the sound of exotica are bird calls, big-cat roars, and even primate shrieks which invoke the dangers of the jungle
. Though there are some standards which contain lyrics, singing is rare. Abstract, sirenish ululations, chants, vocalized animal calls, and guttural growls are common.
The music of American composer Raymond Scott
is sometimes recognized as a precursor to exotica, as several of his songs were written with the intent of transporting the listener to exotic locations via novelty instruments and sound effects.
As a result of the popularity of exotica during the late 1950s, a large number of records were released that featured covers of recently-released exotica songs (mainly by Les Baxter) and Hawaiian and easy-listening standards. These recordings include "Exotica" by Ted Auletta, "Exotic Percussion" by Stanley Black
and his Orchestra, "Orienta" by Gerald Fried
, "Taboo" and "Taboo 2" by Arthur Lyman and "The Sounds of Exotic Island" by The Surfmen. However, some composers pushed the bounds of the genre by producing albums of original content, often with unusual instrumentation. These recordings include "Voodoo" by Robert Drasnin
, "Africana" by Chaino
, "Pagan Festival" by Dominic Frontiere
And His Orchestra, and "White Goddess" by Frank Hunter. By 1959, the majority of American record labels from majors such as Columbia, RCA, Warner Brothers and United Artists to "budget" labels such as Kapp, Crown, Dot, and Roulette had released at least one exotica-themed album, usually utilizing composers and musicians that produced jazz, classical or easy-listening recordings.
After several years of success, as the 1950s Hawaiiana fad waned in the United States, so did exotica's commercial appeal.
for Liberty shareholders, David Seville (of Chipmunks fame), a composer/producer on Liberty, told Julie London
that the term "exotica" was coined by Simon "Si" Waronker
, Liberty Records co-founder and, at the time, board chairman.
In 1955 Waronker wanted to find a term that would capture the spirit, and also perhaps, help to sell such music as was in Liberty's best interest, considering they had just signed Martin Denny, who was producing and recording this kind of exotic music for his first album with Liberty. This story has it that Si was doodling and had written down the word "exotic" on his pad of paper when he casually added an "a" to the end. He liked the sound of it so much that it went on to become the title of Denny's first album on the Liberty label.
. Dozens of long out-of-print LPs were reissued on CD. The revival accompanied a related swing revival
and general appreciation for tiki culture. A new crop of bands were influenced by the classic albums, and Combustible Edison
for one featured songs like "Breakfast at Denny's", a tongue-in-cheek title for a song styled on the music of Martin Denny. The early 2000s saw additional exotica revival efforts, such as Hawaii-based Don Tiki; the comeback of 1960s composer Robert Drasnin
; Waitiki; The Stolen Idols, Kava Kon, The Tikiyaki Orchestra and most recently, a group consisting of international Exotica musicians, Tiki Joe's Ocean. As of 2008, there are many festivals worldwide that celebrate exotica music and the tiki culture (e.g. Tiki Oasis in San Diego, CA; the Hukilau Festival in Fort Lauderdale, FL; North East Tiki Tour in New England; the London Luau in the UK; Wassermusik Festival in Berlin, Germany).
More recently, with the rise of digital download services such as Apple's iTunes
, many long out of print exotica albums have begun to be released in download form exclusively.
Martin Denny
Martin Denny was an American piano-player and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing well into his 80s, he toured the world popularizing his brand of lounge music which included exotic percussion, imaginative rearrangements of popular songs, and...
album of the same title, popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s, typically with the suburban set who came of age during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The musical colloquialism, exotica, means tropical ersatz
Ersatz
Ersatz means 'substituting for, and typically inferior in quality to', e.g. 'chicory is ersatz coffee'. It is a German word literally meaning substitute or replacement...
: the non-native, pseudo experience of Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
(Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
, Melanesia
Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
, Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
, Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, and especially Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
). Denny described the musical style as "a combination of the South Pacific and the Orient...what a lot of people imagined the islands to be like...it's pure fantasy though." While the South Seas forms the core region, exotica reflects the "musical impressions" of every place from standard travel destinations to the mythical "shangri-la
Shangri-La
Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains...
s" dreamt of by armchair safari
Safari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...
-ers.
History
Les BaxterLes Baxter
Les Baxter was an American musician and composer.Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer...
's album Ritual of the Savage (Le Sacre du Sauvage) was released in 1952 and would become a cornerstone of exotica. This album featured lush orchestral arrangements along with tribal rhythms and offered such classics as "Quiet Village
Quiet Village
"Quiet Village" is an exotica instrumental that was originally written and performed by Les Baxter in 1952. In the liner notes to his album, Ritual of the Savage , Baxter described the themes he was conveying in the work: Seven years later, in 1959, Martin Denny added exotic sounds to the song,...
", "Jungle River Boat", "Love Dance", and "Stone God." Ritual is the seminal Exotica record, influencing all that came after it. As the 1950s progressed, Baxter carved out a niche in this area, producing a number of titles in this style including "Tamboo!" (1956), "Caribbean Moonlight" (1956), "Ports of Pleasure" (1957), and "The Sacred Idol" (1960). Baxter claimed Ravel and Stravinsky as influences on his work.
In 1957, Martin Denny covered Les Baxter's "Quiet Village", with exotic bird calls and a vibraphone instead of strings, which established the sound of the Polynesian
Polynesian culture
Polynesian culture refers to the indigenous peoples' culture of Polynesia who share common traits in language, customs and society. Chronologically, the development of Polynesian culture can be divided into four different historical eras:...
styled music. The song reached #2 on Billboard's charts in 1959 with Denny's Exotica album reaching #1. Soon the new technology of stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
further opened up the musical palettes of Denny and other prominent exotica artists such as Arthur Lyman
Arthur Lyman
Arthur Lyman was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His group popularized a style of faux-Polynesian music during the 1950s and 1960s which later became known as exotica...
and Juan García Esquivel
Juan García Esquivel
Juan García Esquivel 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...
.
The distinctive sound of exotica relies on a variety of instruments: conga
Conga
The conga, or more properly the tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. A person who plays conga is called a conguero...
, bongos
Bongo drum
Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...
, vibes
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
, Indonesian and Burmese gongs, boo bams (bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
sticks), Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
an log, Chinese bell tree and Japanese kotos
Koto (musical instrument)
The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...
. Additionally intrinsic to the sound of exotica are bird calls, big-cat roars, and even primate shrieks which invoke the dangers of the jungle
Jungle
A Jungle is an area of land in the tropics overgrown with dense vegetation.The word jungle originates from the Sanskrit word jangala which referred to uncultivated land. Although the Sanskrit word refers to "dry land", it has been suggested that an Anglo-Indian interpretation led to its...
. Though there are some standards which contain lyrics, singing is rare. Abstract, sirenish ululations, chants, vocalized animal calls, and guttural growls are common.
The music of American composer Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
is sometimes recognized as a precursor to exotica, as several of his songs were written with the intent of transporting the listener to exotic locations via novelty instruments and sound effects.
As a result of the popularity of exotica during the late 1950s, a large number of records were released that featured covers of recently-released exotica songs (mainly by Les Baxter) and Hawaiian and easy-listening standards. These recordings include "Exotica" by Ted Auletta, "Exotic Percussion" by Stanley Black
Stanley Black
Stanley Black OBE was an English Bandleader, Composer, conductor, arranger and pianist. He wrote and arranged many film scores and recorded prolifically for the Decca label...
and his Orchestra, "Orienta" by Gerald Fried
Gerald Fried
Gerald Fried is an American musician, well known for his compositions in film and television.Born and raised in the Bronx, New York City, Fried attended Juilliard School of Music...
, "Taboo" and "Taboo 2" by Arthur Lyman and "The Sounds of Exotic Island" by The Surfmen. However, some composers pushed the bounds of the genre by producing albums of original content, often with unusual instrumentation. These recordings include "Voodoo" by Robert Drasnin
Robert Drasnin
Robert Drasnin is a composer and clarinet player.Robert Drasnin was born on 17 November 1927 in Charleston, West Virginia. At an early age Drasnin was interested in the Clarinet so he took lessons but when his family moved to Los Angeles he wasn't to start until 1938...
, "Africana" by Chaino
Chaino
Leon "Chaino" Johnson , the self-styled "percussion genius of Africa," was an American bongo player. After touring for several years on the Chitlin' Circuit, he released several albums and became popular with listeners of exotica music in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
, "Pagan Festival" by Dominic Frontiere
Dominic Frontiere
Dominic Frontiere is an American composer, arranger, and jazz accordionist. He is known for composing the theme and much of the music for the first season of the television series The Outer Limits.-Early years:...
And His Orchestra, and "White Goddess" by Frank Hunter. By 1959, the majority of American record labels from majors such as Columbia, RCA, Warner Brothers and United Artists to "budget" labels such as Kapp, Crown, Dot, and Roulette had released at least one exotica-themed album, usually utilizing composers and musicians that produced jazz, classical or easy-listening recordings.
After several years of success, as the 1950s Hawaiiana fad waned in the United States, so did exotica's commercial appeal.
Origin of the term
According to a 1960 promotional EP designed and distributed by Liberty RecordsLiberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
for Liberty shareholders, David Seville (of Chipmunks fame), a composer/producer on Liberty, told Julie London
Julie London
Julie London was an American singer and actress. She was best known for her smoky, sensual voice. London was at her singing career's peak in the 1950s. Her acting career lasted more than 35 years...
that the term "exotica" was coined by Simon "Si" Waronker
Simon Waronker
Simon "Si" Waronker was a violinist and record producer from Los Angeles, California. Graduating from high school at 13 years old, he won a scholarship to study music in France....
, Liberty Records co-founder and, at the time, board chairman.
In 1955 Waronker wanted to find a term that would capture the spirit, and also perhaps, help to sell such music as was in Liberty's best interest, considering they had just signed Martin Denny, who was producing and recording this kind of exotic music for his first album with Liberty. This story has it that Si was doodling and had written down the word "exotic" on his pad of paper when he casually added an "a" to the end. He liked the sound of it so much that it went on to become the title of Denny's first album on the Liberty label.
Prominent albums of the exotica genre
- Ritual of the Savage by Les BaxterLes BaxterLes Baxter was an American musician and composer.Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer...
(Capitol, 1952) - Voodoo Suite by Perez PradoPerez PradoDámaso Pérez Prado was a Cuban bandleader, musician , and composer. He is often referred to as the 'King of the Mambo'.His orchestra was the most popular in mambo...
(RCA Victor, 1955) - Tamboo! by Les BaxterLes BaxterLes Baxter was an American musician and composer.Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer...
(Capitol, 1956) - Exotica by Martin DennyMartin DennyMartin Denny was an American piano-player and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing well into his 80s, he toured the world popularizing his brand of lounge music which included exotic percussion, imaginative rearrangements of popular songs, and...
(Liberty, 1957) - Primitiva! by Martin DennyMartin DennyMartin Denny was an American piano-player and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing well into his 80s, he toured the world popularizing his brand of lounge music which included exotic percussion, imaginative rearrangements of popular songs, and...
(Liberty, 1958) - Hypnotique by Martin DennyMartin DennyMartin Denny was an American piano-player and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing well into his 80s, he toured the world popularizing his brand of lounge music which included exotic percussion, imaginative rearrangements of popular songs, and...
(Liberty, 1959) - Pagan Festival by Dominic FrontiereDominic FrontiereDominic Frontiere is an American composer, arranger, and jazz accordionist. He is known for composing the theme and much of the music for the first season of the television series The Outer Limits.-Early years:...
And His Orchestra (Columbia, 1959) - Provocatif by John McFarland (United Artists, 1959)
- Africana by ChainoChainoLeon "Chaino" Johnson , the self-styled "percussion genius of Africa," was an American bongo player. After touring for several years on the Chitlin' Circuit, he released several albums and became popular with listeners of exotica music in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
(Dot, 1959) - White Goddess by Frank Hunter (Kapp, 1959)
- OrientaOrienta (album)Orienta is an album by The Markko Polo Adventurers released in 1959. The album was produced by Simon Rady, arranged and conducted by Gerald Fried and recorded in stereo in Hollywood, California...
by the Markko Polo Adventurers (Gerald FriedGerald FriedGerald Fried is an American musician, well known for his compositions in film and television.Born and raised in the Bronx, New York City, Fried attended Juilliard School of Music...
) (RCA Victor, 1959) - Voodoo by Robert DrasninRobert DrasninRobert Drasnin is a composer and clarinet player.Robert Drasnin was born on 17 November 1927 in Charleston, West Virginia. At an early age Drasnin was interested in the Clarinet so he took lessons but when his family moved to Los Angeles he wasn't to start until 1938...
(Tops, 1959) - Far Away Places by Warren BarkerWarren BarkerWarren Barker was an American composer known for work in film, radio, and television. He also worked in Las Vegas, Nevada clubs...
(Warner Bros., 1959) - Kapu by Milt RaskinMilt RaskinMilt Raskin was an American swing jazz pianist.Raskin played saxophone as a child before switching to piano at age 11. In the 1930s he attended the New England Conservatory of Music. He worked on local Boston-area radio before moving to New York City, where he played with Wingy Manone in 1937 and...
(Crown, 1959) - The Sacred Idol by Les BaxterLes BaxterLes Baxter was an American musician and composer.Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer...
(Capitol, 1960) - Tropical Fantasy by Michel MagneMichel MagneMichel Magne born 20 March 1930, Lisieux, Calvados, France died 19 December 1984, Cergy-Pontoise, Val-d'Oise of suicide was a French film and experimental music composer. He was nominated in 1962 for an Academy Award and Golden Globe award for scoring the Jackie Gleason film Gigot...
(Columbia, 1962) - Exotica by Ted Auletta (Command, 1962)
- "Taboo" by Arthur LymanArthur LymanArthur Lyman was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His group popularized a style of faux-Polynesian music during the 1950s and 1960s which later became known as exotica...
(High Fidelity, 1958) - "Quiet Village" by Martin DennyMartin DennyMartin Denny was an American piano-player and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing well into his 80s, he toured the world popularizing his brand of lounge music which included exotic percussion, imaginative rearrangements of popular songs, and...
(Liberty, 1959) - "Mambo!" by Yma SumacYma SúmacYma Sumac was a noted Peruvian soprano. In the 1950s, she was one of the most famous proponents of exotica music. She became an international success based on her extreme vocal range, which was said to be "well over four octaves" and was sometimes claimed to span even five octaves at her peak.Yma...
(Capitol, 1954) - "Eden's Island" by Eden ahbezEden Ahbezeden ahbez was an American songwriter and recording artist of the 1940s-1960s, whose lifestyle in California was influential on the hippie movement...
(Del-Fi, 1960) - "Rain Forest" by Walter Wanderley (Verve, 1966)
Revival
In the 1990s exotica resurfaced, along with a new category in which to place the genre: loungeLounge music
Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...
. Dozens of long out-of-print LPs were reissued on CD. The revival accompanied a related swing revival
Swing Revival
The Swing Revival was a late 1990s and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing and jump blues music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as exemplified by Louis Prima, often mixed with a more contemporary rock, rockabilly or ska sound, known also as neo-swing or retro...
and general appreciation for tiki culture. A new crop of bands were influenced by the classic albums, and Combustible Edison
Combustible Edison
Combustible Edison was a group founded in the early 1990s in Providence, Rhode Island, and was one of several lounge music acts that led a brief resurgence of interest in the genre during the mid-1990s...
for one featured songs like "Breakfast at Denny's", a tongue-in-cheek title for a song styled on the music of Martin Denny. The early 2000s saw additional exotica revival efforts, such as Hawaii-based Don Tiki; the comeback of 1960s composer Robert Drasnin
Robert Drasnin
Robert Drasnin is a composer and clarinet player.Robert Drasnin was born on 17 November 1927 in Charleston, West Virginia. At an early age Drasnin was interested in the Clarinet so he took lessons but when his family moved to Los Angeles he wasn't to start until 1938...
; Waitiki; The Stolen Idols, Kava Kon, The Tikiyaki Orchestra and most recently, a group consisting of international Exotica musicians, Tiki Joe's Ocean. As of 2008, there are many festivals worldwide that celebrate exotica music and the tiki culture (e.g. Tiki Oasis in San Diego, CA; the Hukilau Festival in Fort Lauderdale, FL; North East Tiki Tour in New England; the London Luau in the UK; Wassermusik Festival in Berlin, Germany).
More recently, with the rise of digital download services such as Apple's iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, many long out of print exotica albums have begun to be released in download form exclusively.
See also
- Korla PanditKorla PanditKorla Pandit , born John Roland Redd in St. Louis, Missouri, was a musician, composer, pianist, organist and television pioneer. He was known as the Godfather of Exotica.-Early career:...
- Arthur LymanArthur LymanArthur Lyman was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His group popularized a style of faux-Polynesian music during the 1950s and 1960s which later became known as exotica...
- Gene RainsGene RainsGene Rains is a vibraphonist and leader of the Gene Rains Group, a jazz quartet from Hawaii that played a musical style known as Exotica. Rains' short career spanned the early to the mid-1960s and consisted of 4 LP recordings released on Decca Records and the Vocalion label...
- Yma SumacYma SúmacYma Sumac was a noted Peruvian soprano. In the 1950s, she was one of the most famous proponents of exotica music. She became an international success based on her extreme vocal range, which was said to be "well over four octaves" and was sometimes claimed to span even five octaves at her peak.Yma...
- Sandy WarnerSandy WarnerSandy Warner was the face of Exotica. As "The Exotica Girl", she appeared on the first 12 Martin Denny album covers, and 16 in total, beginning with Exotica in 1957, which reached no.1 in the Billboard charts.Martin Denny recalls, "She was a stunning model, extremely photogenic...
- Martin DennyMartin DennyMartin Denny was an American piano-player and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing well into his 80s, he toured the world popularizing his brand of lounge music which included exotic percussion, imaginative rearrangements of popular songs, and...
- Tiki cultureTiki cultureTiki kitsch culture is a 20th-century theme used in Polynesian-style restaurants and clubs originally in the United States and then, to a lesser degree, around the world...
- Space age popSpace age popSpace age pop is a general and loosely based term for a music genre associated with certain Mexican and American composers and songwriters in the Space Age of the 1950s and 1960s. It is also called bachelor pad music or lounge music...
- Tiki barTiki barA tiki bar is an exotic–themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially rum-based mixed drinks such as the "mai tai" or "Zombie cocktail". Tiki bars are aesthetically defined by their Tiki culture décor which is based upon a romanticized conception of primitive tropical...
- Tiki mugsTiki mugsTiki mugs are ceramic drink ware originating in mid-century American tiki bars and tropical themed restaurants, believed to have been pioneered by Don the Beachcomber....
- Lounge musicLounge musicLounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...