Witchita Banana

Witchita Banana was a gramophone record featuring up-tempo, instrumental jazz released by Incantation Records.^[1]^[2] Remus Lupin owned a copy, which he played during a third-year Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson concerning Boggarts in 1993, presumably as way to help lighten the mood while students faced their greatest fears.^[1]^[2]

Behind the scenes[]

"Witchita" is an altered spelling of the name of the city of Wichita, Kansas. This may simply be a magic-themed pun, or it may be intended as a tribute to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a novel by L. Frank Baum about a young girl from Kansas who is transported to a fantastic land. The title Witchita Banana may be a pun on Chiquita Banana, the mascot of Chiquita Brands International, a producer and distributor of bananas and other fruit.
The song played in the film is a piece of stock music composed by Dick Walters called "Hot Liquorice".^[3] It has also been featured in the The X-Files episode "Triangle" and the 1994 film The Crow.
- The second song played on the gramophone in Lupin's office when he tells Harry Potter that he has been sacked from his professor post is "Jungle Jazz Room" composed by Steve Grey.^[4]
The design of the label on the prop record featured in the film was based on a label design used circa 1950 by Cetra Records,^[5] an Italian company which released opera records from the 1930s to the 1960s.^[6] An identical design was used for the prop record Wizard Waltz from the made-up label Spell-O-Fonix.
Whether the record belongs to Lupin is unknown -- it may, as Hogwarts owns at least one other gramophone, be borrowed for the class along with the gramophone.