Operation Beaver Presents: The Third World Sings

The Third World Sings is a curious compilation released in 1974 by Operation Beaver, a Canadian charity organization founded in 1964 as an Aboriginal Christian work camp. Operation Beaver later went on to expand their services to housing construction and education.

The album is comprised of amateur artists from a diverse array of cultures. There are two groups from the Candadian Métis community, one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations and European heritage. Songs by the Tremblay family, collectively credited as The Conklin Minstrels are harmonized country tinged folk tunes with three of the five sung in what I assume to be a native Cree or Chipewyan language. Fred House with Ken Stoltz and the Nightlife Band perform two standard upbeat country songs that are sung in English.

My favorites are the four songs by Mustapha Besar, which are beautiful acoustic renditions of traditional Malaysian folklore. “Can Malican (Can Mali Can)” is a lulling and melodic rendition of a children’s song which was also featured in the popular 1960 Malaysian film, Isi Neraka.

The record also presents two Zimbabwean compositions sung in Shona and performed in a country folk style by Jim Chigwedere. The result is a most unique juxtaposition of style and language. The album concludes with four standard fare Caribbean songs from Geoff Jones with Jerry Jerome and the Cardells Calypso Band. Nothing out of the ordinary save for a silly steel drum cover of the Beatles’ “Oh Bla Di, O Bla Da”.