The Beauty of Bojoura - 1970
Music Arranged & Conducted by Thijs van Leer

Dutch release: CBS S64199 [printed 1970]
Produced by Ruud Jacobs

Dutch female singer discovered by The Golden Earrings round 1968, who is married with Focus first drummer Hans Cleuver. Some of the songs are composed by Thijs and one song by Jan Akkerman. This is a real nice LP, even today! The line-up of the backgroundorchestra is the same as the first Focus line-up.

Nico van der Linden.

Images and Text kindly sent by Nico van der Linden.

SIDE A

1. BLACK SHEEP CHILD (Tim Hardin) 1:35
2. LAST THING ON MY MIND (T. Paxton) 5:30
3. THE WIZARD AND THE GIRL (T. van Leer - B. Cleuver) 3:00
4. FLORA (Stookey - Travers - Mezzetti) 2:45
5. THE SWALLOW AND THE CALF (Traditional - T. van Leer - B. Cleuver) 2:40

SIDE B

1. COMES A TIME (T. van Leer - B. Cleuver) 3:40
2. TIME IT GOES BY (E. Nobel - T. van Leer - B. Cleuver) 4:00
3. THE DAYS OF LOVE (T. van Leer - B. Cleuver) 3:15
4. WINTERTIME LOVE (The Doors) 1:50
5. BACK STREET GIRL (M. Jagger - K. Richards) 3:15
6. WHY DO THEY GO BACK HOME (T. van Leer - B. Cleuver - J.Akkerman) 3:30

Arranged & Conducted by Thijs van Leer
Produced by Ruud Jacobs
Rocording Engineer/Luc Ludolph
Cover Design/Harry van Zijl
Cover Photo/Kees de Jong
Liner Notes/Thijs van Leer-PV

Asked to think up the title for this new Bojoura album, I couldn't but suggest to entitle it "The Beauty of Bojoura", impressed as I am by her inward as well as her outward beauty. In addition to a talent for singing she also possesses a fine feeling for languages. This not only manifests itself in her fluency when speaking such languages as French, German, English, Bulgarian or Dutch, but also in the remarkable richness of metaphor in the lyrics she writes. This figurative language has been a great inspiration to me when setting a handful of her poems to music. On the other hand, Bo and I have equally enjoyed doing our versions of songs from the repertoire of such groups and singers as Peter, Paul & Mary, the Doors, the Rolling Stones, Tim Hardin and Tom Paxton.

- Thijs van Leer

Bojoura, in full Raina Gerardina Bojoura Cleuver van Melzen, was born in The Hague, Holland, on April 15, 1947. She is the daughter of Dany Zonewa, a well-known opera-singer and music-teacher of Bulgarian origin. Bojoura (the Bulgarian name for peony) was discovered by George Kooymans of the Golden Earring in 1967. One of his songs landed her on the local hit parade and made her an instant success: she has won the popularity polls ever since. During the 1967-68 season she became the hostess of the AVRO-TV programme "View" in which she interviewed The Supremes as well as Truman Capote. In the summer of 1968 an invitation followed to represent the Netherlands at the "Festival Orph�e d'Or" in Burgas, Bulgaria. In 1969, her version of "Frank Mills" from the musical Hair hit the top of the local bestsellers lists. As a result of this success she has since been making personal appearances with the Thijs van Leer trio.

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