WATTS LITTLE ANGEL BAND - New Orleans/Land Of A 1000 Dances/Nik Nak Paddy Whack

After the Watts Riots in South Los Angeles in 1965, the working-class community suffered further with no improvements to the infrastructure, a lack of opportunity, and the rise of delinquency and gang-fuelled crime. In the early 70s, a community activist, Mike Joseph, discovered a group of children in Watts playing music using junk and scrap metal as instruments. He brought them into a studio in Los Angeles and produced a record in 1971 in cooperation with the Watts Writers Workshop and other community groups. Scrap oil drums, iron bars, metal cans & other urban castoffs are played with enthusiasm, backing R&B favorites and a childrens song. But it was more than a mere document of childs play -- this peerlessly unique musical expression sends a strong message. - EM.