Tune #95: Red Mecca - Sura Kijame

Al-Qiyama is the 75th chapter of the Quran, which refers to "The Resurrection". I am not familiar with the Islamic religion, therefore I can only assume that the chapter is the an interpretation of  "The Day of Judgement" for the Muslims.

How is the above information connected with the post? I am not sure, but the Albanian translation for "Al-Qiyama" is "Surja El-Kijame", which is the name of today's track:

RED MECCA - SURA KIJAME


Red Mecca was a production team consisting of Fred Ventura, Stefano Comazzi & Livio Fogli. In the beginning of the 90's the three guys were part of "The Undeground Sound Of Milan", promoting underground techno releases under Evolution Records, a subsidiary label of Discomagic Records (one of the most important italo disco companies throughout the 80's).

The first release of the label was Grey Area - Action (1990), which was a production of the same guys under a different pseudonym. The second release was Sura Kijame under the Red Mecca alias, a techno-new beat composition mixed with arabic vocals. Unfortunately, I do not understand the Arabic(?) language, in order to identify if the lyrics refer to the chapter of the Quran. However, they create a hypnotic feeling with the assistance of the repetitive beat.

What surprises me is the rating of the release in Discogs (less than 4 stars out of 5). I do not know if it actually influenced other electronic music artists in the next years, but several proto-trance elements can be heard, setting the basis for the first trance records. The artwork of the release is also remarkable, which is a painting by Italian painter Pino Volpi.

The lifespan of Evolution Records was short; until 1994 (during the last two years the releases focused on deep house genre). Nowadays, Ventura and Fogli seem to remain active in music production, while Comazzi's last traces can be found in the previous decade.

Finally, it is a mystery why an Albanian translation for a islamic term was used for the release (possibly the guys may have Albanian roots). At any case, this obscurity is worth archiving in the vault called "Music Miner"!