Exotica

For other uses, see Exotica (disambiguation).
Exotica
Stylistic origins
Cultural origins1950s, United States
Typical instrumentsConga, bongos, vibes, Indonesian and Burmese gongs, boobams, Tahitian log, Chinese bell tree, and Japanese kotos
Derivative formsLounge music
Other topics
Audio sample
"Quiet Village," by Martin Denny

Exotica is a musical genre that was popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s with Americans who came of age during World War II.[1] The term was coined by Simon "Si" Waronker, Liberty Records co-founder and board chairman, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album Exotica.[2] The musical colloquialism exotica means tropical ersatz, the non-native, pseudo experience of insular Oceania, Southeast Asia, Hawaii, the Amazon basin, the Andes, the Caribbean and tribal Africa.[3] 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."[4] While the South Seas forms the core region, exotica reflects the "musical impressions" of every place from standard travel destinations to the mythical "shangri-las" dreamt of by armchair safari-ers.[3]

  1. ^ Borgerson, Janet (2017). Designed for hi-fi living : the vinyl LP in midcentury America. Schroeder, Jonathan E., 1962-. Cambridge, Massachusetts. ISBN 9780262036238. OCLC 958205262.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ "TECHNICOLOR PARADISE: RHUM RHAPSODIES & OTHER EXOTIC DELIGHTS". Americanstandardtime.com. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference hipwax was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Hayward, Philip (1999-09-01). Widening the horizon: exoticism in post-war popular music. Southern Cross University. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-86462-047-4.