Percy Sledge opened on Friday, May 29th 1970 at the Luxurama Theatre, Cape Town to stay for a long series of concerts and tours. Before that date the American singer had never set foot on South African soil.
This rare album, released in 1969 in South Africa, showcases the best of Percy Sledge with a few Christmas songs added as a bonus. And a very special wish for his dear friends in South Africa.
‘Searching For Sugarman’ is a touching film about hope, inspiration and the inspiring power of music. Certainly one of the most impressive documentaries during the IDFA festival in Amsterdam this year. And the winner of the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival of 2012.
The search for the so-called ‘sugar man’ -named after one of his songs- Rodriguez, an American artist, was initiated by two South African fanatics who were on a quest for the man who was believed to have died while on stage. Was the singer whose legacy is a national part of South African culture still alive?
In 1970, the progressive class of South Africa came by his socially critical songs for the first time in touch with the concept of ‘ anti-establishment ‘ and his music provides the soundtrack for the protest generation. Some of the songs on the album ‘Cold Fact’ were banned by Apartheid’s censor board from radio-play. Even without this important support his name & fame spread through the Union like wildfire.
Although an estimated half a million of his albums were sold in South Africa, Rodriguez remained a mystery. Very little was known of his origins, backgrounds and his music. According to tradition he died during a performance in the USA before the eyes of his audience when he shot himself.
Although he now is considered one of the greatest talents of his generation, it is true that he ended his music career as a misunderstood artist – without an inkling of the extent of his popularity in a very different part of the world. Twenty-five years later on a record dealer from Cape Town and a South African music journalist begin to unravel the puzzles surrounding Rodriguez. The reconstruction of this quest can be read as an exciting detective story, which takes us from Cape Town to Detroit and all over the world.
It is lovingly filmed and recorded, the beauty of Rodriguez lyrics and vocal performance touches all senses. His poetry and music overwhelms and is coming clearly from a totally unique talented singer. A streetwise beat-poet who we are finally able to meet, a gentleman whose modesty and character is exemplary and engaging.
But most of all, ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ is an uplifting, powerful story about hope, inspiration and the inspiring power of music. Go and see this film…
Searching for Sugar Man
by Malik Bendjelloul, Sweden / Engeland, 2012, 82′.00″
It feels a bit strange to be interviewing a Dutchman in English, about the history and culture of a certain white tribe in South Africa, the Afrikaners.
Dutch writer Fred de Vries (1959), former Africa editor of the Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’ now residing in Johannesburg, has interviewed a cross-cut selection of Afrikaners, from the poor ‘white trash’ to rich successful businessmen and well respected writers alike to find out if their language and culture has a future in South Africa.
His extensive research resulted in a most detailed and –almost- complete history of white settlers and the evolution of their descendants. In case you have never heard of the Boer War, and your image of Afrikaners was of people who had come to South Africa in the 17th century and degenerated into a racist bunch then you need to read this book and adjust your opinion.
It is a most up-front and moving book with a special emphasis on Afrikaanse music and poetry. Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in the complex political and social structure of South Africa or to people who are planning to visit the country for the first time. Read this before you go and you will understand the new South Africa much better then ever before.
Why the Afrikaners? Why write a book on a minority group with a language that few people outside South Africa, Holland and Belgium will be able to read or understand?? Is there a future for white Afrikaners in South Africa? Should we listen to their music? Read their poetry??
So many questions popped up after reading the book that I decided to direct these directly to the writer himself. Here is an exclusive interview with Fred de Vries for Soul Safari.
The book ‘Afrikaners, een volk op drift’ has been published in Afrikaans as ’ ‘Rigtingbedonnerd: Op die Spoor van die Afrikaner Post-’94 (Tafelberg/NB Uitgewers.Cape Town, SA)
the Afrikaans word “rigtingbedonnerd” (which suggests a person who has no sense of direction) has a wonderful resonance, since “bedonnerd” in Dutch means to be cheated. The word thus has a dual valency: Afrikaners feel cheated, and they do not know where the country is going.
Parts of this text based upon a report by Annel Pieterse -August 28, 2012 Stellenbosch Literary Project
published by Nijgh & van Ditmar Amsterdam -2012
1) Why did you buy a house in South Africa?
I had been in the country for two years and me and my South African girlfriend had this dream of a kind of retreat, a weekend house, a holiday home, away from Johannesburg, a place where you were closer to nature and silence. A place to read and write, walk the dog, eat healthy food etc. We had been in RhodesVillage, near the Drakensbergen, lovely place, but too far. We had also visited Nieu Bethesda where the Dutch Princess Irene has a farm and organizes healing sessions, a place with a ‘magic mountain’. Again, lovely place, but also way too far from Johannesburg. We wanted something within a two hour drive. First we went to Memel, a beautifully situated village in the Free State province. But an American had already bought all the empty places (sixteen or so). So eventually I settled for nearby Vrede, 1h45 from Johannesburg, also in the Free State, just where the landscape is getting pretty again.
2) Do you see the recent racial problems –like the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE)- as temporary and an inevitable consequence of a society in transition or something more permanent?
I think BEE and affirmative action (positive discrimination) were inevitable and necessary consequences of and responses to four centuries of racial repression. And I think that for a while they helped to restore the economic balance. Negative side effects were that many hard working, competent whites lost their jobs and were replaced with less competent “previously disadvantaged” people. But that was also inevitable and will slowly come right in the future.
I assume that the government at some stage will realize that BEE and affirmative action are no longer the best solutions to an increasingly dire economic situation. In fact, you can already see the populists (led by Julius Malema) move away from verbally attacking white South Africans to attacking the new black upper class which acts almost more callous than their white counterparts.
The problem is of course that it’s still very easy and handy to play the race card and blame apartheid for all kinds of problems. So as the economic and social situation slowly deteriorates, as political battles within the ANC heat up, and as the differences between rich and poor (read: between black and white) remain as striking as they are, the racial tension will remain and will be played out. It will take one or two generations to really diminish.
3) I have noticed that you have learned a lot about the situation of white Afrikaners in South Africa through their music. But few people besides Afrikaners and the Dutch speaking people will be able to understand the poetry or relevance of these Afrikaanse texts. To what extent is white Afrikaner music interesting for Western ears?? Why should we listen?
True, it’s hard for Afrikaans writers, poets and musicians to find an audience outside South Africa, Holland and Belgium. The authors have to rely on translations. And for some of them, like Breyten Breytenbach, Antjie Krog, Etienne van Heerden and Marlene van Niekerk this has worked wonderfully well.
For musicians it’s much harder. Of course language shouldn’t be a barrier, as long as the music is catchy or very original. After all, we also listen to Algerian raï, Asian hip hop, Danish prog rock and Norwegian death metal. The problem is that musically the Afrikaans sounds aren’t very special. Most bands play a kind of generic rock and the ‘poets’ sing slightly ordinary, folky songs. An exception is someone like Gert Vlok Nel who has a huge following in the Netherlands and the late Johannes Kerkorrel who was quite popular in Belgium.
But new outfits such as Die Antwoord and to a lesser extend Jack Parow have proven that it is possible to cut through to an international audience, playing modern electronic music with fat beats and using a mix of Afrikaans and English. Instead of stressing the language they focus on the universal appeal of the “white trash culture” and cleverly used the internet to advertise and promote themselves. It landed Die Antwoord with an American record contract and world tours.
4) In the book you mention briefly that the colored population has very different problems then the white Afrikaners although they speak the same language. But is it not true that the colored people, and especially the Cape Malay are closely related to the original Dutch settlers? Like for instance: most of the Cape Malay people still sing old Dutch songs that have vanished since long from the Dutch culture. And that Cape Malay groups and colored people alike cherish Afrikaans as their own language and identity??
The term “coloured” is of course a purely artificial label, given by the apartheid strategists to the people who weren’t ‘African’ but were too dark to be labelled ‘European’. So the coloured group comprises of a strange combination of mixed race South Africans, Khoisan (the original inhabitants of South Africa) and descendants of slaves that were brought from Asia. Some of them indeed feel very close to the Afrikaans language, because it initially developed as a kind of Creole with Dutch roots but also a lot of other influences, including Indonesian words like baie (very) and pisang (banana). Others hate everything to do with Afrikaans and Afrikaners with a passion because it reminds them of the inhumanities that were carried out in the name of apartheid. I think the majority, certainly those outside the well-educated Cape Malay group, have now very little in common with the Afrikaners. This was largely due to the forced removals that happened during apartheid, when coloured and mixed communities were uprooted and transported to truly unpleasant places like Manenberg in the Cape Flats.
Anyway, in my book I wanted to look at what happened to a people who held all the political power and lost that power in a very short space of time: the white Afrikaners. The coloured people were second class citizens during apartheid and under the new government they are still largely treated as such.
5) Has the original Dutch settler just imported their language or also their culture of sub-division and religiously based separation? Gereformeerd vs protestants vs Catholicism vs traditional African religion?
It wasn’t so really the original Dutch settler who did that, but his later descendants. I think the idea of racial and religious separation was much very influenced by Dutch religious theorists such as Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920), whose notion is seen as the core idea of apartheid. Kuiper’s propagated the idea of ‘sovereignty in your own circle’, which meant a strong separation between various ethnic and religious groups. This idea caught on with the soon to be first apartheid prime minister D.F. Malan and his followers, many of whom had studied theology in the Netherlands.
But that said, the English colonialists were also very good at separating people. They came up with the 1913 Natives Land Act, which meant that black South Africans weren’t allowed to own land outside the designated reserves. This was probably the first real apartheid measure.
6) Is there some sort of knowledge or revival in today’s South Africa’s black heritage and it’s culture before Apartheid?
Not that I’m aware of. There is definitely a revival of Black Consciousness and Steve Biko (a new Biko biography came out recently), but that movement dates from the 1970s. I think the pre-apartheid, traditional culture is pretty much frowned upon, certainly by most of the young and urban blacks who long to be hip and modern. They have become very Americanized and are very happy to reap the fruits of liberation, which means they are obsessed with material goods (cars, cell phones) and have a fascination for American movies, music en celebrities.
7) Do you see yourself as a resident or as a fifo (flying in, flying out as you mention). And how easy/difficult is it to make friends in South Africa with other people than your own?
I definitely see myself as a resident. The main reason why I spent quite a bit of time in Holland the last few years was because my parents got ill and died, and because I also worked on a book about the music and literature of Rotterdam (Gehavende Stad, uitgeverij Lebowski), but otherwise my new home is here. In Johannesburg it’s fairly easy to meet people of all classes and races. Jo’burg people are chatty and open, much more than white Capetonians who are quite cliquey and still feel very European. So making white (both Afrikaans and English speaking) friends is quite easy.
Making real friends across the racial divide is a bit harder though. Mainly because people have been separated, both physically, socially and mentally, for so long and there are still so many racial hang-ups. I found it much easier to have black friends in Kenya and Uganda, where I lived before.
8) At the end of your book you present a lot of people who express their views on the future of South Africa. I miss a balance; what do black or colored people really think?
The question you refer to was not so much about “the future of South Africa”, but about whether the people I interviewed (white Afrikaans speaking South Africans) saw “a future for white people in South Africa”. My book was about these white Afrikaners, which meant that blacks, coloureds, Indian and English South Africans fell outside the scope of my research.
musical selection from Cape Malay -The Music of the Malay Quarter -Cape Town-sung by The Central Malay Choir (Gallo DLPA 165/6 -released 1973 South Africa)
9) Would you consider it wise to invest / immigrate at present time?? What is your personal impression right now?
Most of the people I interviewed in Australia had migrated “because of the children”. In other words: because they didn’t see a real future for their children in South Africa, mainly relating to education, safety and job opportunities. I find it hard to make broad statements about whether it’s wise or not to migrate now. I do think South Africa still has plenty of opportunities for those with a bit of guts and initiative, and I also think that the mythical “overseas” is highly romanticized. Life in the UK, Australia or Holland for that matter isn’t all that great for many immigrants. It’s much more expensive and competitive; integration is not so easy; and given the current global financial turmoil it’s not that easy to find a job.
South African emigrants also get incredibly homesick and they find it hard to deal with all the rules and regulations in “nanny societies” like Australia, New Zealand and England. South Africa is after all quite a “cowboy country” where rules and laws are pretty amendable.
On the other hand I do think that things like the decline of education, health and safety are real issues in South Africa, and a lot of your well-being here depends on whether you can afford private education and private health, because the state run schools and hospitals and police are definitely struggling.
10) Why did you sell your house in South Africa?
There were several reasons. The most important one was theft and vandalism. The house didn’t have high walls or a security system, so we had break-ins and virtually everything (washing line, fire wood, fruits etc.) was stripped from the garden. Then there was our new neighbor who decided to have seven yapping dogs in cages in her garden, which was a bit of an obstacle to the peace and quiet we were longing for. Also, the little town of Vrede was struggling hard (and probably in vain) to stay afloat as a thriving commercial center. Plans to have a nature reserve not far from our house were shelved because as soon as a gate and fence were placed at the entrance, they were stolen. Trees in the ‘reserve’ were cut down at an alarming rate and used as fire wood. The roads in town got increasingly worse, refuse was piling up in the gutters and the water started to taste very funny. There were several serious corruption scandals in the municipality. In the end, like many of the other small towns in South Africa, also Vrede seemed destined for a slow but irreversible decline.
All in all we didn’t have much fun going there anymore. The trips became more of an obligation than enjoyment. So it was time to sell… (which, by the way, wasn’t easy. We got mainly interested white people from cities like Pretoria and Vereeniging who were looking for a bargain. But they got a fright when they noticed that there were “blacks!” living nearby. I used to tell them that this wasn’t so surprising since 90 percent of the South African population is black. But that didn’t make them change their mind. Eventually we sold to a middle-aged man who wanted to live there with his mother).
During further research on my previous post a diggers lament I discovered a rare book that gives quite a bizarre visual report of a bygone era; ‘Kimberley Diamond Mine, South Africa’ by photographer Robert Harris (1880-1894) and others. This rare book was estimated at $10000–£15000 and sold for $10000 on 24th October 2007 during an auction by Bloomsbury Auctions.
The album features a series of photographs recording the infamous practices of the mine owners in the early days of the South African diamond fields. The first ten photographs in this album form a quite standard ‘anthropological’ collection of images: the majority are of naked or semi-clad men and women from the Zulu people and other ethnic groups.
None of these photographs include a photographer’s name, but all are accompanied by manuscript titles. The second group of nine images, all by Robert Harris, show scenes inside the mining compound at Kimberley and record in detail the degrading body searches that the miners had to undergo at the end of each ‘shift’ to ensure that they were not trying to smuggle out diamonds. Each of the photographs is accompanied by manuscript titling and, in most cases, explanatory notes. The mine owners were able to exert strong political pressure and in 1880 “Seaching Ordinance No.1″ was passed which allowed for the establishment of a comprehensive system of searching, including strip searching, at every mine. In 1883, the new Mining Regulations re-inforced the ordinance by requiring all mine workers, other than the managers, to wear uniforms, and to strip naked in searching houses at the end of each shift.
One contemporary account stated that “The most extraordinary sight at the compound is the searching room when every ‘boy’, before he can leave the company, is subjected to a week’s solitary confinement and given doses of “Eno” or “Cockla” to gently dislodge any diamonds he may have swallowed; and every inch of his body critically examined to see that none of the coveted gems are concealed in his hair, nose, mouth, ears, etc.”
source; BLOOMSBURY AUCTIONS NYC, USA
And to finish I’d like to select a tune that reflects the mood and content of today’s post. The English lyrics of the song by Ladysmith Black Mambazo go like this…
With Bernard Akoi-Jackson, Dorothy Akpene Amenuke, Serge Clottey, Zachary Formwait, Iris Kensmil, Aukje Koks, Navid Nuur, Jeremiah Quarshie, kąrĩ’kąchä seid’ou, Katarina Zdjelar.
A most remarkable and charming exposition organized by the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam in collaboration with the Nubuke Foundation, Accra, Ghana just opened last weekend here in Amsterdam.
I was mostly intrigued by the photographic work of Bernard Akoi-Jackson and by the video ‘My Lifetime (Malaika) by Katarina Zdjelar. The video is neither a portrait of the musicians, nor is it a documentary about the National Symphony Orchestra of Ghana. With great sensitivity Zdjelar rather deploys the orchestra in order to draw a sketch of a complicated state of affairs in which grand ideas and the mechanism of a nation state takes root in and affects individuals. Zdjelar’s ‘My Lifetime (Malaika) video directs attention to the discrepancy between the fact that, on one hand, the Western musical tradition has never fully become part of Ghanaian culture and, on the other, the fact that the Ghanaian state continues sponsoring a national symphony orchestra.
Most musicians are working hard to scrape together a living during daytime so it’s hard for some to keep up with the intense rehearsing schedule after work. The images of ‘My Lifetime (Malaika)’ show musicians sometimes so tired that they doze asleep during their long wait to blow a few notes on their shattered instruments. Funny and tragic at the same time…
Time, Trade &Travel -K. Zdjelar -My Lifetime (Malaika) video 2012
The song ‘Malaika’ is a African song written by Fadhili Williams and made famous by Miriam Makeba, Boney M and most recently by Angélique Kidjo who sang it at the kick-off concert of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Malaika -lyrics
Malaika, nakupenda Malaika
Malaika, nakupenda Malaika
Ningekuoa mali we, ningekuoa dada
Nashindwa na mali sina we, Ningekuoa Malaika Nashindwa na mali sina we, Ningekuoa Malaika
Pesa zasumbua roho yangu
Pesa zasumbua roho yangu
Nami nifanyeje, kijana mwenzio
Nashindwa na mali sina we Ningekuoa Malaika.Nashindwa na mali sina we Ningekuoa Malaika
Kidege, hukuwaza kidege
Kidege, hukuwaza kidege
Ningekuoa mali we, ningekuoa dada
Nashindwa na mali sina, we Ningekuoa Malaika
the complexities of global exchange
Grouping the works of Dutch and Ghanese artists under the sweeping exhibition title ‘Time Trade & Travel ‘ is a curatorial decision that points to the collaboration’s extended focus on the complexities of global exchange fostered by capitalism and its effects on life and art.
‘Time Trade & Travel ‘launched the participating artists on a quest into the historical encounters between Europeans and Africans, a quest in which trading and the cultural exchange receive particular attention. The exhibition functions as a platform for the presentation of their artistic inquiries into pre-colonial trade and colonial legacies and their traces in continuing imperialistic relations. The exhibition does not shy away from looking at the harrowing aspects of these relations, but does not focus solely on them. In the works of Iris Kensmil and Bernard Akoi-Jackson for instance, the practice of slavery is consciously touched upon from an accentual temporal distance.
Bernard Akoi-Jackson -Dutchman
Just like Iris Kensmil and Bernard Akoi-Jackson, who indirectly deal with the legacy of slavery in divergent ways, Serge Clottey and Jeremiah Quarshie, the youngest participants in this exhibition, touch upon the issue of slavery as a present-day phenomenon. They presuppose that forms of slavery continue to take place in form of dubious employment contracts from which the one party profits more than the other, and under which people are evaluated differently on the basis of their descent. In this sense, the colonial system that divided people into civilized and uncivilized continues to exist, albeit in altered, contempary forms.
Just look at the most recent bloody uprising of miners in South Africa or the inhuman treatment of Indonesian house-servants in countries like Saudi-Arabia. Various forms of slavery still take unexpected turns even in our modern ‘liberated’ times.
Bernard Akoi-Jackson -Greyman
The exhibition ‘Time Trade & Travel’ not only shows the result of a soul-diggin’ journey throughout Ghana and it’s former colonial oppressors but touches the difficulties that are grounded in the fact that colonial and local structures have become intermingled in such complicated ways that at times it is impossible to distinguish them from each other.
Time Trade & Travel -25th August – 21 October 2012
Rozenstraat 59 1016 NN Amsterdam, The Netherlands
‘Time Trade & Travel’ is to be seen at the Nubuke Foundation, Accra, Ghana from 25th November 2012 to February 2013
Africa has always been a great inspiration for many contemporary artists, designers and musicians alike. No wonder that the record industry in the 1950′s-1960′s sent their best team of designers on safari discovering the great forgotten continent, either for inspiration or exploitation.
This gallery is dedicated to the wonderful art of Africana record covers from my collection.
2 vintage paper record bags from Davidson Bros. Port Elizabeth, South Africa 1950s
Horst Wende & his Orchestra-Africana (Africa In Rhythm) (Polydor LPHM 46336, Germany)
This record from 1958 released on German Polydor Records showcases the variety of popular musical styles of South Africa re-arranged by producer and band leader Horst Wende, also known as Roberto Delgado.
The big band orchestra of Wende/Delgado adapted their music to the various destinations of the time when tourism boomed; in ‘Blue Hawaï’ for Hawaï, South American Rhythms on ‘Caramba’, ‘Latin Flutes’ for Bolivia en Equator, while ‘Along Mexican Highways’ was a tribute to Herb Alpert (trumpet) and Julius Wechter (marimba). The LP ‘Africana’ celebrates the music of South Africa in the 1960s, originally popularized by local musician Nico Carsten and bandleaders like Sam Sklair and Dan Hill.
The Trans-World Symphony Orchestra-Edmond de Luca’s -Safari (Somerset Records SF5500, USA)
aah…Safari. I found this LP during my recent Japan trip and was immediately attracted to the title and the fabulous cover. The selection turned out to be a musical safari throughout Africa by The Trans-World Symphony Orchestra, orchestrations based upon classical compositions as ‘Polovtsian Dances’ from ‘Prince Igor’ and ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ by Manuel de Falla. Symphonic shlock to the extreme but man, what a cover!
Prince Onago & Princess Muana & Native Drummers of the Belgian Congo: The Drums of Africa (20th Century Fox S20F-4008, 1959 Japan)
10″ record found in a small shop in Osaka, Japan.
The artwork was designed by Irving Seidmont Docktor who was a prolific artist and educator best known for his work as a book and magazine illustrator in the 1950s and 1960s.
Irv Docktor in his studio in the 1960s
The cover intrigued me as did the story and picture of Prince Onaga and Princess Muana. As the credits say this music was recorded with native drummers of the Belgian Congo, but in reality the recordings were probably more designed for the Silver Screen and the adventure of Stereo.
Les Baxter -The Soul of the Drums (Reprise Records – R9-6100, 1963 USA)
no further explanation necessary. In the 1950s and 1960s Les Baxter, the king of lush Hollywood movie themes defined a sound and style that called itself ‘Exotica’. Great cover too…
African tribal masks have always intrigued artists from Picasso to Art Blakey to UK rapper MC Mello.
MC Mello -Open Up Your Mind (Republic Records LICT 033, 1990 UK)
Anna Russell -In Darkest Africa (CBS BLD 7084, South Africa)
Anna Russell’s jokes ain’t funny any longer but this cover surely is….those warriors ain’t real Zulu Warriors for sure. That photograph is oh so politically incorrect nowadays but as record cover art it works as good as it gets.
Nico Gomez & his Afro Percussion INC-Ritual (Omega International 444.022, Holland)
classic! Well searched after for the track ‘Lupita’.
Nico Gomez & his Orchestra -selftitled (Omega International 444.039, Holland)
musically the menu is all cha cha, mambo and Latin trashy sound-alikes but hey, what a funky Afro-hairdo!!
Soul Safari is proud to be associated with new travel magazine Mzanzi, primarily a paper edition written in the Dutch language.
From issue No 2 Soul Safari will be contributing a regular music column to the magazine.
Rob Hartgers, editor-in-chief of the new magazine explains the name; “However, as an addition to our name: ‘mzantsi’ the Xhosa word for ‘south’, in Zulu ‘Mzansi’. We write it with a double z, because we find this typography beautiful. Moreover, here in SA we are not the only ones doing so. A word like ‘Mzansi’ or ‘mzantsi’ is only in vogue since the nineties as an indication for South Africa (not just ‘south’). In that sense it is an ‘invented word’, which is why we have the freedom of the different spelling dare to afford.”
In every issue Mzanzi pays attention to South African culture, books, performances, local events, food, etc. Sections of South African literary and musical classics to be added in future issues. All the writing staff of the magazine correspondents are permanently established in SA.
visitor Afrika Burn festival
Ever wondered what a masked hairy man is doing in the Karoo desert, or what the best hiking routes around Cape Town are?? Well, in case you wonder, Mzanzi writes about such subjects and publishes the stories with stylish photographs and artwork.
Although basically a travel magazine, the stories are in many cases written with more journalistic depth than usually found in other travel magazines. Mzanzi also wants as much as possible to see South Africa through the eyes of South Africans.
In the 2nd issue the cover article follows the footsteps of Nelson Mandela next to reports on the mines of Johannesburg, South African summer festivals like Afrika Burn, Cango Caves, a special report on Mozambique’s capital Maputo, an interview with Dutch ambassador André Haspels, trekking around Cape Town and much much more on all things South African. The articles are all well written and most of the beautiful photographs are supplied by collaborating reporters.
The first issue was published in March 2012 and distributed in the Netherlands in 1,200 stores, including Ako and Bruna. Mzanzi will be released three times a year, next issue will be released in November 2012.
the LP ‘Atakora Manu & His Sound Engineers’ was part of a small haul of vintage African records found in the El Sur Records shop in Tokyo. Please note that they do not trade African music only. The selection is generally oriented in Latin/Carib/World music but the stock changes with the flow, always with a keen eye on quality and rare vinyl. Next to the shop El Sur runs a small label to release some of their most favorite World music. Go see their selection and releases at www.elsurrecords.com
reporter Eddy De Clercq & Takashi Harada -May 2012-Tokyo Japan
As I was intrigued by the selection in the shop and the style and vision of owner Takashi Harada I decided to ask him the following questions. The original Japanese version of the text has been translated by Iain Lambert. See previous post diggin’ in Japan, vol 3; One Box Record Fair Tokyo
1. 簡単に自己紹介をお願いします。 Please introduce yourself in a few sentences.
I’ve listened to music every day since I was in my early teens. Now I’m 53, and for nearly 30 years I’ve been working in record/CD shops. At first I was a clerk in someone else’s store, and now I have my own shop that I opened 15 years ago. I sometimes write articles on “World Music” in magazines, and introduce people to music on the radio.
2. あなたは自分で自分のことを、DJ／コレクター／トレーダー／文化人類学者だと思いますか？ Do you see yourself as a dj/collector/trader or cultural anthropologist?
ただの音楽好きです。
I’m just someone who loves music.
3. アフリカの音楽だったら、伝統的な音楽と現代の音楽のどちらが好きですか？ Do you choose traditional tribal music or contemporary popular musicfrom Africa?
In 1984 Sunny Ade played shows in Japan and this got a lot of people interested in Nigerian music, especially Juju. Even before that, in the 70s Fela Kuti and Manu Dibango were popular. Myself, I loved Assagai. From the late 80s Papa Wemba and Zaiko LangaLanga came to Japan and there was a boom in music from Congo (formerly Zaire).
Then in the 90′s Youssou N’Dour, SalifKeita, Thomas Mapfumo, Hukwe Zawose, Mahlathini & Mahotella Queens toured here and the audience for music from all over Africa increased.
But when the Japanese economy started to decline, so did the audience for not just African music, but all kinds of “World Music”, and that brought us to where we are today. It’s rare nowadays for African artists to visit Japan.
7. どうしてアフリカ音楽を世界のために守ることが重要ですか？ Why is it important to save African music for the world?
I don’t really think it’s necessary to save any particular kind of music. When music perishes we should let it go. However, if there are recordings or records then I suppose someone could continue listening to them.
8. あなた自身が発見した中で一番大切なアフリカのレコードは何ですか？ What is your best African record find ever?
FRANCO & OK JAZZ の VERKYS 参加の一連のレコードです。
A bunch of records by Franco & OK Jazz that Verckys appears on.
9. 探しているアフリカ音楽でまだ見つからないものは何ですか？
What is still on your wishlist?
I’m not a collector. I just enjoy the CDs or records I come across day by day. That’s one of the reasons I keep my shop going: to listen to as much new music as possible. Having said that, I want to listen to more original Algerian Shaabi 78s. Also, as many 78s on the Opika label from Kinshasa as possible.
there are just too many records available in Tokyo! But not enough African records, at least not for Iain Lambert who was so kind to guide me through my recent trip of the Japanese metropolis.
Iain Lambert
Collector friend MP Flapp had introduced us and after a few wee malts the music of Africa became the topic, as Iain loves African music as well and is an avid record collector but most of all, the man’s got a vision too.
Next to his regular work as an English teacher he organises One Box Record Fair in Tokyo, a small-scale event for invited sellers to buy/sell/trade records in all genres. The most remarkable aspect of the fair is the fact that sellers and traders are allowed to bring one box only (!). Now that requires a hefty task for sellers to select only 1 box! Expect deep diggin’ and ultra specialized stuff in most genres. The first fair coming up will be held on Saturday June 30th 2012 at Bar Dynamo Tokyo.
Our conversation about local record shops took an unexpected turn when I mentioned Fela Kuti’s ‘pidgin English’ . Little did I realize that Iain was well familiar with the subject. Reason enough to interview the man for Soul Safari. Thanks also for his translation of the interview with Takashi Harada-san, owner and label-manager of El Sur.
I’ve been buying records for over 30 years – the last 20 of them in Japan – and the more I hear, and the more people I meet, the more I realise I’m still just scratching the surface of what’s out there. It’s a great feeling! Now I co-run the One Box Record Fair event in Tokyo: a small-scale event for individuals to buy and sell records in all styles & genres. We’re into our second year and enjoying it immensely.
2. Do you see yourself as a dj/collector/trader or cultural anthropologist?
I’m undeniably a collector, though I get as much, if not more, pleasure from playing stuff to other people as I do from the process of acquiring records. I love to trade, and find out about a lot of good things that way. A friend once said to me that he saw himself as a “custodian” of his records … someone owned most of them before him, and someone else will have them when he dies, so his job is just to look after them and play them with love while he has them. I like that idea.
3. Do you choose traditional tribal music or contemporary popular music from Africa?
Much of what I like is a kind of intersection between modern instruments and styles and traditional musics. I’m mainly drawn to popular music of the 50s-80s from Zaire/Congo, West Africa, Tanzania & Madagascar, and I also love South African Jazz and Kwela. I like particular instruments, such as the kora, balafon or valiha, and vocal stuff like the polyphonic singing from Cameroon.
4. What is more important to you; the rhythms or the words/poetry? Words that you may not understand, why do they speak to you?
Definitely the rhythms and the interplay between instruments, especially if you take the voice as being another instrument. The vocal harmonies of singers like Djo Mpoy, Carlito and Josky from Franco’s TPOK Jazz are among some of the most beautiful sounds ever committed to vinyl, but I can remember the first time I saw some of Franco’s lyrics translated, I think it was for the track La Vie des Hommes, I’d loved that track for years without understanding the Lingala, but once I knew what it was about it opened up a new level of enjoyment.
5.What was the biggest challenge for you to start collecting African music?
Probably overcoming my own stupid prejudices about it. The first time I heard African music was on the radio. A British DJ called Andy Kershaw had a show in the 1980s where he played a lot of guitar bands from Zimbabwe like The Bhundu Boys, and I didn’t really think it was anything special. However, after I moved to Edinburgh I met a guy who worked in a record shop there and he was the first to play me stuff like Fela Kuti or Franco. I remember going up to his flat with a bunch of other people as we were going to a football match that afternoon and seeing all these African masks on the walls and speakers in all four corners of the room. I don’t remember much about the game, but I can still remember the feeling I had when I heard the first notes of side one of Franco et le TPOK Jazz 20ieme Anniversaire. To say I was blown away would be an understatement. Of course then all I could do was ask him to tape me the album, as there was nowhere in Edinburgh that had anything like that. Then, when I came to Japan in 1991 I discovered shops like Wave in Tokyo and Rhythm Box in Kobe and started accumulating CDs and VHS tapes. I actually stopped buying vinyl when I first came over here as I only planned to stay for a year or two …
6. Please explain your interest in ¨pidgin` English?
As part of my day job I research non-standard varieties of English, and pidgins are one of the most fascinating examples of that. I’m especially interested in their use in literature as a way of marking an oppositional stance and have written about Nigerian pidgin and its use by authors like Ken Saro-Wiwa, Chris Abani and Uzodinma Iweala, as well as musicians like Fela Kuti.
7. Please describe the Japanese fascination for African music. When did it start? Any live /shows? Favorites? DJ’s/Clubs/bands?
I think someone who lived here in the late 80s would be better qualified to answer that than I would. At that time there was a boom in “Afro Pop”, especially with Sunny Ade and Zairean groups like Papa Wemba & Viva la Musica or Zaiko Langa Langa being flown over to tour and record. The label Pili Pili put out a lot of great albums. Then the fashions changed and the next trend took over. When I was first here I lived in Nagoya so didn’t often get to Osaka and Tokyo, where all the best clubs were. You could (and still can) hear African music on the radio thanks to DJs like Peter Barakan or the Sunday night “World Music” show on NHK Radio.
8. Why is it important to save African music for the world?
It’s not just African music, there are many countries whose musical tradition is undervalued domestically as we move towards an increasingly digital and disposable age. I imagine that if I was growing up in a relatively cosmopolitan African city nowadays I’d have so much foreign music from all eras available through the internet that I’d almost naturally neglect my own in favour of something I saw as “exotic”. In the same way many Japanese people are dismissive of the Japanese rock bands that western collectors fawn over, saying “why would I listen to Flower Travellin’ Band when I could listen to the first Black Sabbath album”. I think it’s important to preserve the records especially, as each one carries its own history … be it a name scrawled in pen on the sleeve or a big nasty scratch where someone bumped into the turntable at a party, each scuff or mark tells us something about how they were used and who had them at one stage or another on their journey.
9. What is your best African record find ever?
Not valuable or rare records at all, but I often play these in my African sets: Vivita by Orchestre Veve, Kokoliko by Orchestre Kokoliko du Malawi, Nya na Fesa by Abeti, Namabele by Josky Kiambukuta. I remember finding Sensible by Bibi Den’s Tshibaye in a shop in Amsterdam a few years ago and needledropping the first few songs before the first bars of the title track grabbed me and I had the rush of adrenalin you get when you hear something so good. I think I stood at the listening station with the headphones on through the whole eight minutes literally weeping for joy at how good it was.
10. What is still on your wishlist?
In terms of African records, nothing really. So much great music has been reissued that I feel satisfied with what I’ve got and am happy to just find out things by chance. There are some SA Jazz bits I’d love to have, and some Franco records I need better copies of, but I’m not sweating over them.
the LP
