South African Music

Subject: South African Music
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 09 Mar 07 - 02:58 PM

Last night, my wife and I went to hear Ladysmith Black Mombazo. I heard them ten years or so ago at an unforgettable Paul Simon concert where he also had most of the musicians from the Graceland AND the Rhythm of the Saints albums, PLUS Art Garfunkel. That pretty much covered it for me. It's taken this long for me to have a chance to hear Ladysmith Black Mombazo again, but the wait was well worth it. I think I appreciated them even more, having sung in groups and male choruses these last ten years. Sitting there totally mesmerized, the singing washed over me in waves, and resonated to my core. Part of that is the make-up of the group. They have 7 basses, ONE tenor and ONE alto, and Joseph Shambalala singing the leads. No wonder my teeth vibrated at all of those low notes! Every once in awhile, the tenor would sing harmony with Jospeh Shambabala and their voices would float over the rest of the singers. What a sound!

My love for African music dates back to Wimoweh and especially, Skokiaan by the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band. This morning, I've been pulling out CDs to make a compilation of my favorite tracks. There will be too many for one CD. I have a double CD of African Jazz, which is amazing (and includes the only re-issue of Skokiann I've ever seen.) I'll mix Ladysmith Black Mombazo, several African gospel choruses, a wealth of African Reggae and ska, throw in Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masakela...

So, who else is swept away by this music?

And THANK YOU London records for recording Skokiann. I will always associate that recording (which I still have on 45 r.p.m.,) with Lonnie Donegan and Rock Island Line (Which I also have on 45 r.p.m.) To me, that was the original British Invasion and it opened my ears to both folk and African music.

By the bye.. Was Skokiann as massive a hit in England as it was here?

Jerry

Subject: RE: South African Music
From: Wesley S
Date: 09 Mar 07 - 03:04 PM

I have some old cassette tapes of Johhny Clegg singing in Zulu - just two guitars and vocals. I'm sorry but i can't remember the name of the Zulu man he was singing with. I hope to have them transfered to CD someday. If so I'll burn you a copy. Amazing stuff. The guitar work is hypnotic.

Subject: RE: South African Music
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 09 Mar 07 - 03:13 PM

I like Johnn Clegg a lot, Wesley... at least the tracks I've heard on African compilation CDs... There are many amazing African guitarists..

Jerry

Subject: RE: South African Music
From: Wesley S
Date: 09 Mar 07 - 03:26 PM

I guess the one word I would use to describe the African guitar styles I've heard - is "joyful". And that's a good thing. King Sunny Ade from Nigeria is amazing too.

Subject: RE: South African Music
From: bradfordian
Date: 15 Mar 07 - 07:12 AM

"By the bye.. Was Skokiann as massive a hit in England as it was here?"
Jerry, I'll stick my neck out say that SKOKIANN has virtually never been heard of in England. (Someone will probably prove me wrong tho!)

Subject: RE: South African Music
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 15 Mar 07 - 07:28 AM

Thanks for the answer, Bradfordian. You know, you get these images of a country which turn out to have very little to do with reality. When my wife and I went on our honeymoon to Paris, we took a day trip via the Eurostar to London. One of the things that I was excited about was that I was in the Land Of Donegan. Lonnie was a major reason why I got in to folk music, and while I had several 45 rpms, and two albums of his, at that time none of his music was available over here on CD. When I walked into a gigantic Tower Records, I figured that I should just be able to walk over to the first person and say, "Could you direct me to the Lonnie Donegan section, please?" What a let-down to discover they didn't have a single Lonnie Donegan CD. Since then, they've released several Lonnie Donnegan CDs and the big boxed set, and one of my friends in England even sent me a whole CD recently of Lonnie doing gospel!

I still have my 45 rpm on London, of Skokiann. What amazes me is the impact that record had on South African music. I have a two CD album that I bought specifically because it is the only re-issue of Skokiann I've ever seen. There are a half a dozen cuts on the CDs that sound like more contemporary versions of Skokiann... similar rhythms and chord changes.

I was glad to see this thread pop back up, at least for a moment. I thought that there'd be at least a few people on Mudcat who have a love of South African music ... including reggae, which is very popular there. We heard a wonderful reggae band in the lobby of the hotel we stayed in when we were in Africa seven years ago. It looks like Mudcat is far more Euro-centric than I realized...

Jerry

Subject: RE: South African Music
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Mar 07 - 07:46 AM

Jerry, as to Mudcat being Euro-centric. Yes.

However, that's not surprising given the fact that there are soooo few people posting on Mudcat who are of non-European descent and/or so few people posting on Mudcat who are of European descent but who live in Africa, South America, the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands, or in other non-European majority populated nations.

That said, there have been recent Mudcat threads on African music such as these ones:

African Folk Music
thread.cfm?threadid=99389

and

Nkose Sikelele Africa
thread.cfm?threadid=63182

Subject: RE: South African Music
From: bradfordian
Date: 15 Mar 07 - 09:51 AM

Viz a Vie South African music, My Nottingham Clarion Choir sings songs of struggle, protest, peace, environment etc. We have related material from many international sources (I hesitate to call these "world music") The African songs we have recorded are:
Erile
Umkonto We Sizwe
Siyahamba
Ndoda
Senzenina
Hamba Kahle
Mevi
Nkose Sikelele
also unrecorded:
Shosholoza
Shona Malanga
Singabahambayo Thina
Baba Mandela

I dont't think Mudcat is particularly Euro-Centric, I think its bigger than that, and the reason is that Euorpeans & American based migrants have a more developed sence of internationalism than the average American.