{"id":30738,"date":"2026-03-09T05:30:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T09:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=30738"},"modified":"2026-01-29T16:37:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:37:35","slug":"exoticas-enduring-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/09\/exoticas-enduring-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"Exotica’s Enduring Appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A shorter version of this featured appeared previously in<\/em> SPIN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the most intriguing and unexpected current-day musical phenomena is the enduring popularity of exotica, a style of music dating back to the post-WW II era in America. Detractors might question its authenticity and accuse its practitioners of cultural appropriation, but at its core, exotica is a quintessentially American musical style with undeniable appeal.<\/p>\n

In its original run, exotica leading lights included Martin Denny<\/a>, Arthur Lyman and Juan Garcia Esquivel, but plenty of other cats \u2013 from Henry Mancini to Lalo Schifrin \u2013 got in on the fun. The music was varied, but some signature elements included vocalized bird calls and extensive use of vibraphone and enthusiastic (some might say heavy-handed) use of wide stereo panning. Classics of exotica\u2019s first era include Les Baxter\u2019s 1952 LP Ritual of the Savage <\/i>and Denny\u2019s Quiet Village<\/i> from 1959.<\/p>\n

By the time of the British Invasion, exotica\u2019s time had come and gone. But enterprising archivists would breathe life back into the form \u2013 with a heavy dose of irony \u2013 in the 1990s. Hip indie label Sub Pop signed Combustible Edison, an arch group named after a classic cocktail \u2013 and the exotica revival was in full \u2013 if short-lived \u2013 swing (baby).<\/p>\n

Yet as another generation of music lovers came of age, exotica was rediscovered yet again, this time delivered with sincerity. Appreciating the music for what it was (and is), groups like The Waitiki 7 and Tikiyaki Orchestra leveraged the cultural grab-bag nature of exotica, its undeniably fun aesthetics and its too-often-ignored connections to jazz and Afro-Cuban music. Today, exotica groups thrive, emphasizing not only the sonic pleasures of hi-fidelity recordings but also the singular experience of playing the music live in front of audiences.<\/p>\n

Hawai\u2019i-born Randy Wong leads the Waitiki 7, a group he and Abe Lagrimas Jr. founded in Boston more than two decades ago. \u201cI started this group to interpret a mid-century pop sound that we came to know as part of the history of music in Hawai\u2019i,\u201d he says. Their first regular gig was at a newly-opened tiki bar. \u201cWe weren\u2019t sure if exotica was going to be popular in New England,\u201d he admits. \u201cBut it certainly was.\u201d As he and Lagrimas dug deeper into the world of exotica, they developed the band into what Wong calls an \u201call-star exotica septet,\u201d one that expanded upon the standard exotica lineup \u2013 alto flute, vibraphone, bass and drums \u2013 by adding piano, percussion and violin. With that configuration, Wong explains, his group has been able to \u201cexpand the sound dimension\u201d of the music.<\/p>\n

Inspired by Otto Von Stroheim (founder of the long running annual Tiki Oasis annual event), Jim Bacchi put the Tikiyaki Orchestra together in 2004. The \u201cgroup\u201d \u2013 initially Bacchi playing everything \u2013 debuted on record with 2007\u2019s StereoExotique<\/i>. TO\u2019s music folds in elements of surf \u2019n\u2019 spy, lounge and more, creating an intoxicating musical cocktail. Four more albums and a DVD followed, and the group \u2013 including percussionist Nelson Bragg<\/a> \u2013 is a regular and beloved fixture at famous tiki spots like Trader Vics\u2019s and Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Mai Kai.<\/p>\n

Wong acknowledges that as a genre, exotica often plunders liberally from cultural traditions. But he emphasizes that his group plays creative interpretations of \u201chapa haole\u201d (half Hawai\u2019ian, half foreign) music with jazz elements as well as original compositions in that exotic style. \u201cAbe and I were born and raised in Hawai\u2019i; exotica music was part of that time,\u201d he says. Waitiki 7\u2019s pianist Zaccai Curtis brings his Afro-Cuban heritage to the mix, and percussionist Augie Lopaka Col\u00f3n Jr. is the son of the legendary first-wave exotica percussionist and Martin Denny sideman. \u201cWhat\u2019s more authentic than having musicians like that interpret it?\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2026, The Waitiki 7 released a pair of albums; one captures the band live at Halekulani (the Waikiki hotel that looms large in exotica lore), another cut in the studio the very next day. Both balance originality with the enduring spirit of classic exotica.<\/p>\n

Wong believes he knows what lies at the heart of exotica\u2019s lasting allure. \u201cIt originally came out of the post World War II travel phenomenon.\u201d he explains. \u201cEveryone wanted to escape.\u201d And in the turbulent present-day, plenty of listeners feel the same way. \u201cTiki offers the ultimate form of escapism,\u201d Bacchi concurs.<\/p>\n

Come back for more in-depth conversations with Randy Wong and Jim Bacchi.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A shorter version of this featured appeared previously in SPIN. One of the most intriguing and unexpected current-day musical phenomena is the enduring popularity of exotica, a style of music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30740,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,41],"tags":[5853,5854],"class_list":["post-30738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exotica","category-interview","tag-tikiyaki-orchestra","tag-waitiki-7","cat-28-id","cat-41-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30738"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30743,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738\/revisions\/30743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}