Kili watch - Kili watch

In the coming days I will present some finnpicks of the more obscure kind. By that I mean songs that you would never expect to be covered in Finland. Most of them were not big hits originally, nor in Finland. This first one however was a hit, albeit lesser one here in Finland. recorded "Per-Erik "Pärre" Förars recorded the cheerful "Kili watch" in 1961. He was quite popular singer in the turn of the decade 50/60. In addition to being a schlager singer, Pärre was also a competent violinist. He was often seen in the early TV Music Shows. The original "Kili Watch" was first recorded by a Belgian group called Les Cousins. It was a Shadows-like guitar group, who were among the first to successfully export rock & roll music from Belgium. The song "Kili Watch" of 1960 became an instant and huge hit in 1960. The song is an adaptation of an Indian warsong that the group's bass-player Gus Derese had picked up during his years as a boy-scout. The song was versioned in France by Johnny Hallyday, and you can see him perform it, here. In Finland the song re-surfaced in the 1994 Aki Kaurismäki movie "Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses". You can see hilarious version, performed by André Wilms & the Leningrad Cowboys, here.

Here's the pair: