The Golden City Dixies live in Pretoria

‘Coon Carnival’ is a somewhat misleading title for the album presented here today.

While most songs of a minstrel troupe are the comic songs -“Moppies” and “Lietjies”- that have been handed down by tradition and which are the feature of the Cape Town Carnival there will also be found some of the American songs which are more frequently heard in present-day Carnivals. … Not in the case of this album ‘Coon Carnival’ by The Golden City Dixies on which all songs are live versions of famous hits by American crooners, one exception being ‘Pata Pata’ originally made famous by Miriam Makeba.

Each track is being introduced by MC Dave Bestman and the accompanying band plays a tight selection of slow ballads, uptempo rock and a quite surprisingly good version of ‘Pata Pata’ by Sophia Foster.

see also Kaapse Kloppe -Cape Town Carnival January 2nd 2013 Cape Town

Sophia Foster -Pata Pata

Miley Martin -No Matter What

Coon Carnival -The Golden City Dixies live in Pretoria 1971 – MFP STEREO 5758 South Africa

Konono Nr. 1 live in Amsterdam @Minimal Africa Festival

in the sixties musician Mingledi Mawangu erects Konono Nr. 1. in southern Congo, near the border of Angola.  Later the band settles in the capital Kinshasa.

There they are noticed in 1978 by a Frenchman who records them for the renowned label Ocora. When Tony Van der Eecken, music programmer of the Brussels Bozar, encounters Konono on one of his journeys in the Congo, he decides to bring the group to the Low Countries for a tour.  Dutch punk band The Ex  released recordings of their first performances in Holland on Terp Records. Today they are connected to the Belgian label Crammed Discs, that releases their music  in the series ‘Congotronics’.

Last weekend Konono Nr. 1 performed during the World Music Festival 2013 at the new centre for modern and experimental music; Muziekgebouw aan het IJ/Bim Huis in Amsterdam. Normally  this center operates as a platform for ‘serious’ music with the spectators seated on chairs. Not so when Konono Nr. 1 was on stage. It took just a few minutes before people got up from their seats and started dancing in the aisles.

It was therefore impossible to sit still during the swinging performance. The band played a tight set on instruments made ​​from discarded household and amplified likembe. The music of Konono No 1 connects city and jungle, they play ritual trance music for special occasions. When they started in Kinshasha they had to drown out the noise of the city, so they  amplified their likembe, also known as a thumb piano, a series of metal blades mounted on a sound box. The trance repertoire receives through the additional distortion an extra dimension.

The name Konono Nr. 1 means as much as to move the dead. Whether they pull that off is debatable but their long spun performance last Friday transformed the hall into a swirling dance club.

Later the same night the American DJ/blogger/anthropologist Brian Shimkovitz aka Awesome Tapes From Africa did the same thing upstairs in the lounge during a magical set of obscure, fascinating African music, mainly from cassettes.

Kaapse Kloppe -Cape Town Carnival January 2nd 2013 Cape Town

Happy New Year 2013!

Kaapse Kloppe -Cape Town Carnival

January 2nd 2013 Cape Town

Read more on Kaapse Klopse  in the Mother City and Cape Minstrelsy in my previous post  SA Jazz -Abdullah Ibrahim speaks! Staffrider interview with poet Hein Willemse NYC Dec 1986

While most of the songs heard during the colourful parade  are the “Moppies” and “Lietjies” that have been handed down by tradition and which are the feature of the Cape Carnival, there will also be found some of the American songs which are more frequently heard during Carnivals.

Here is a rare 10” recording, probably recorded in 1956 that represents ‘The Coon Carnival Company’, a group of musicians, singers and a compere. Some of the spirit and enchantment of the Coon Carnival can be heard,  gay as a fiesta, colourful as Mardi Gras. Here is the A-side recorded in its full length, only the crackling noise of the original record has been cleaned. Side 2 follows on request.

Maurice Smith presents The Golden City Dixies in Coon Carnival Time. With Majiet Omar, Henry Wilson, Alfred Stokes, Solly Bagus, Eddie Davis, Danny Williams and The Coon Carnival Band.

Side 1. Al die Dixies-Alfred Stokes/Die Doring –Henry Wilson/Nellie Gray –Majiet Omar/Rietjie In Die Water –Eddie Davis/Faith Can Move Mountains –Danny Williams.

Side 2. Sous Boonties –Henry Wilson/Grietjie –Majiet Omar/Gone Fishing –Majiet Omar and Alfred Stokes/Kossies Van Die Kaap –Eddie Davids/Apple Pickin’ Time In Georgia –Solly Bagus/My Mama Was ‘n Hottentot-Alfred Stikes/ Compere –Solly Bagus

The Golden City Dixies have a large repertoire of feeling good tunes, some of the old Dixieland variety, others more modern. The troupe have made a feature of mimicry , and their impersonations of American singers are so lifelike that hey have often been accused of miming their songs to the accompaniment of gramophone records. The song ‘Gone Fishing” is included as an example of this type of song.

Maurice Smith was a local Durban promoter who picked up local acts from the street to record them.

Here is the story how Maurice Smith discovered The Golden City Dixies.

Although the Carnival is associated particularly with the Cape Province, an enterprising singer of Malay origin, Majiet Omar, decided to spread the idea of Coon Music even further and it was he who thought of forming a Coon Carnival troupe in the Golden City, Johannesburg.

At that time Coon competitions were held annually in Johannesburg, and Majiet, helped by his father, formed a troupe, The Dixie Merrymakers.

The owner of the hall was telephoning the police, when the Durban promoter, Maurice Smith appeared on the scene. He had been passing by, heard the singing, went in and watched the show from the back of the hall. He extricated them from their plight and took them to a cafe for their first real meal in days. There the idea of the ‘Coon Carnival Company’ was born.

Excerpts from the liner notes of ‘Maurice Smith presents The Golden City Dixies in Coon Carnival Time’ South Africa  RCA T33001

Searching for Sugar Man, a docu by Malik Bendjelloul 2012

‘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″

African triumph in Amsterdam -Paul Simon & Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Ziggo Dome 2012

Paul Simon & Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes -vid by Kyleathome59

Tonight  the documentary ‘Under African Skies’ will be showed at Amsterdam’s Tuschinski theatre, in the presence of Paul Simon.

Just last night the 70-year-old singer celebrated the 25th anniversary of his album “Graceland” and the 94th birthday of Nelson Mandela,  in Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome in a relaxed, sometimes exuberant African party.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo were on stage with other African guests like

singer Thandiswa Mazwai and Hugh Masekela who touches with his tribute to  Mandela and then with the beautiful ‘Stimela’, capturing the soul of the African continent.

But it was the a capella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo from KwaZulu-Natal that stole the show.

It was the same group that guided the American in 1986 and their leader Joseph Shabalala shone on last night’s stage accompanied by a triumphant group. ”Hello My Baby” and “Nomathemba” started their performance, then Paul Simon joined the collective.

The real Graceland classic ”Homeless” was masterfully sung, and the title track and “You Can Call Me Al”. The end of the concert deployed a set of Simon & Garfunkel hits. “The Sound of Silence”, sung by all the spectators and ‘The Boxer” before closing with “Late In The Evening” and “Still Crazy After All These Years”. A brilliant encore of a memorable evening.

As an inspiration for the recording of the now classic ‘Graceland’ Paul Simon has frequently named other South African groups as The Boyoyo Boys, General Shirinda and the Gaza Sisters but also Ray Phiri of Stimela-fame.

See also previous posts two rare 45′s by Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Stimela -Look, Listen And Decide 1986

The film “Under African Skies” is added as a DVD to this year’s 25th  anniversary edition of Graceland.

Paul Simon with Ladysmith Black Mambazo in the Ziggo Dome 2012.

Pics: Novum/ Michel Utrecht

Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Friends Tour July 2012

GETATCHEW MEKURIA & THE EX & FRIENDS

TOUR JULY 6 TO JULY 17 2012

(plus new double cd of Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex and Friends “Y’Anbessaw Tezeta” out in July 2012)

06/07 AMSTERDAM (Netherlands)- Bimhuis Roots Festival

07/07 KONGSBERG (Norway)- Jazz Festival

08/07 COPENHAGEN (Denmark) – Jazz Festival

10/07 PARIS (France) – Gaité Lyrique

14/07 GRONINGEN- Vera

15/07 DOUR (Belgium) – Pop Festival

16/07 NIJMEGEN – de-Affaire Festival

Getatchew Mekuria – Saxophone.

The Ex:

Arnold de Boer – Trumpet, Andy Moor – Guitar, Terrie Hessels – Guitar, Katherina Bornefeld – Drums.

Friends:

Xavier Charles – Clarinet, Ken Vandermark – Baritone Saxophone, Brodie West – Alto Saxophone, Joost Buis – Trombone, Colin McLean – Bass,Melaku Belay -Dance,Melelu Abebaye

Dollar Brand -African Piano -live 1969 Copenhagen Denmark

another favourite of my recent Tokyo finds! ’Xahuri Dullah Brahim’ -recorded live on October 22, 1969 in Jazz-hus Montmartre, Copenhagen Denmark. Japanese release Trio PA 7057 Stereo with obi and booklet.

See also previous post SA Jazz -Abdullah Ibrahim speaks! Staffrider interview with poet Hein Willemse NYC Dec 1986

Dollar Brand -African Piano

Side A

1. Bra Joe from Kilimanjaro

2. Selby that THE ETERNAL SPIRIT IS THE ONLY REALITY

3. THE MOON

4. Xaba

Side B

1. Sunset in Blue

2. Kippy

3. Jabulani-Easter Joy

4. Tintiyana

Japo Records 60002 / Trio PA 7057 Stereo Japan

*

readers post; Percy Sledge in Soul Africa, a movie by Ashley Lazarus 1971

updated 5th June 2012

reader Stuart Krause wrote some interesting comment on my previous post Percy Sledge in South Africa 1970 and I’d like to share it with you. Keep sending your comments, it’s inspiring and well appreciated. Thanks Stuart!

   by Stuart Krause

there is an LP called Soul Africa featuring Percy Sledge on all tracks. I found it on ebay after looking for quite some time. It was a soundtrack to a film and some of the tracks were recorded at Capricorn studios. Paul Hornsby, record producer, remembers this film being made and says the masters are still on reel to reel tape and stored at Capricorn studios. There are tracks by Percy not found anywhere else, for example “Swazi Lady” and “Sister Soul”, written by Jackie Avery, Capricorn Studios in house song writer. I did speak to Hornsby about this a few years ago, so I did get first hand info. The film was produced by a guy named Lazarus. you cannot find it anywhere. I would say this would be a rare find if you search enough. I believe the album came out in 1971. I have it here if anyone has more questions about it. I’m just glad someone else knows of its existence.

 

Of course I was titillated to find the described album, a soundtrack by Percy Sledge and his band, recorded in South Africa exclusively…17 shows! Not an easy album to track down, I must agree but last February luck was on my side as I went digging into a hospice shop in the Eastern Cape. Between all the nicks and nacks and lots of broken tracks and poor old vinyl,  there it suddenly was; Percy Sledge in Soul Africa, music from the soundtrack recording. It’s actually a film about the soul singer touring South Africa in 1970. Most of  Percy’s worldwide hits can be heard, although live creates another vibe, another energy.

Most of all it contains a few really funky tracks, unusual James Brown -type-o-sound like “Yeah Baby (You’re The Love I Know)”, ”Soul Fire” and the groovy, funky instrumental “ The First Time “. Percy and his band getting down!! And  ’Soul Fire’ is perpretated by the true Zulu spirit, with tribal chanting in a steaming 7 minutes version. Can you feel it?!!

Percy Sledge in Soul Africa. Music from the soundtrack recording

Filmed and directed by Ashley Lazarus.

 

A1 Swazi Lady

A2 Yeah Baby (You’re the Love I knew I’d find)

A3 When A Man Loves A Woman

A4 Help Me Make It Through the Night

A5 Soul Fire

B1 Sister Soul

B2 Cover Me

B3 To Bring My Love To You

B4 Knock On Wood

B5 Come Softly To Me

B6 The First Time (Instrumental)

 

The idea of making this film started at Mbabane in Swaziland, where a film crew from Aka Productions in Cape Town shot Percy Sledge’s entourage and the last concert of the tour.

Sledge held concerts for 17 weeks, breaking all records in South Africa from Mouille Point to Mbabane. He captivated audiences throughout South Africa when he threw back his head, started jiggling with microphones and sang unforgettable numbers like  ” Come Softly To Me”,  ”When A Man Loves A Woman”, “ Knock On Wood” and “ Soul Fire”.

The concert at Swaziland was the last for Sledge, but the start of Soul Africa, which may prove an even bigger legend than the live Sledge.

When Sledge left South Africa, Ashly Lazarus and two men armed with cameras went to Zululand, the Kalahari Desert, Mashonaland, the Okavango Swamps and Botswana, and in three weeks completed the filming.

The recurring theme of Soul Africa is the contrast between the original Soul of Africa and the sophisticated Soul of the American singer. Music is in the animals and birds of Africa, explains photographer Billy Crauser. Also in the desert, the sands of the Kalahari and the scorching heat.

Ashley Lazarus spared no trouble on this film. His camera swings from the magnificence of the Swazi Independence celebrations to the ritual slaughtering of an ox, from a sangoma and the bones to a bushman rubbing sticks to make a fire, from the dazzling spotlights on Sledge’s stage to insects making love.

In the end, the Swazi tribal drummers and the dancing flames in front of the rostrum join Sledge and his crew in the blue mood soul throb of ” She’s a Gentle Swazi Lady” and “Soul Fire”.

 excerpts from the liner note of “Soul Africa” -Percy Sledge  -Atlantic ATC 9366 South Africa 1971

Top 10 Singing Presidents

one of the most disarming moments of this week was the image of President Barack Obama singing at a party at the White House on February 21, 2012.

A man in a powerful position drops the mask  and sings a simply beautiful song, or attempts to… Do we need presidents like that? I think that we do, at least it makes them appear like real human beings.

And it inspired me to look for more songs by presidents or  people in important public functions such as our own Dutch Prime Minister Rutte who loosens up at a popular rave.  Or people in public functions like Julius Malema who shows his true colors when he sings a forbidden song.

Have a peep…

1) President Obama sings Sweet Home Chicago

Blues night at the White House, February 21, 2012

2) Obama sings Al Green ”let’s stay together”

Apollo Theatre, New York, January 19, 2012

3) Haitian president singing with T-vice at Club Indigo in Haiti

4) Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel  

a funny Christmas cut-up with Europe’s two biggest headz

5) Premier Mark Rutte of The Netherlands unwinds at Dance Valley 2011

Mark Rutte is the guy with the dark sunglasses, humming along…

6) Youssou N’dour for president

World famous Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour says he wants to give up music for politics and will run for president of his West African nation.

7) Sudanese President sings السودان البشير يغنى

8) Chinese President Sings “Podmoskovnye Vechera”

Chinese President (President of the People’s Republic of China) sings “Podmoskovnye vechera” (“Moscow Nights”)

9) President Zuma of South Africa  sings Umshini Wam 

The president of the African National Congress(ANC) in South Africa is known for singing ‘Umshini Wam’ which means ‘ my machine gun’. He had been excoriated several times for singing the song because ANC comrades used to sing the song during the apartheid era when they were fighting the evil apartheid government.

10) Julius Malema sings Shoot Kill the Boer song  

This is the Shoot the Boer (kill the boer)  song by Julius Malema, the president of ANC’s Youth League (is he still in that position?).  A song inciting genocide and condoned by Bono of U2 during the U2 tour in South Africa – as you can read in The Telegraph:

“…He was aware of the furore the song had caused, he reportedly told South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper, but added that protest songs were legitimate parts of political activism. ….The controversial South African song includes a line “shoot the Boer” or “shoot the farmer”, and prompted sustained debate after the murder of Eugene Terreblanche, a white separatist leader…”

see also my previous post Julius Malema speaks!

Dances of the Salampasu, Zaire

Goodbye 2011, welcome 2012. Best wishes!

so have you enjoyed the holidays? Just like last year my visit to the colonial museum in Tervuren, Belgium was a special experience. The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) in Tervuren  is one of the most fascinating and beautiful African institutions in the world. The exhibition “UNCENSORED. Colorful stories behind the scenes”, is the last exhibition before the major renovation  begins at the end of 2012 and is your last chance to visit a traditional ’colonial museum .

elephant in the snow The Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren B

This time my interest was stirred since I received these rare recordings  as a Christmas present, made by Jos Gansemans in 1973 in Zaire, sponsored by the Royal Museum for Central Africa. The recordings come from a people called the Salampasu, which are distinguished by the use of the  xylophone, similar to the music of the  Mchopi tribe or Chopi, a Bantu-speaking people of northern Mozambique on the borders of Tanganyika. See also my previous post more African tribal dances from the Witwatersrand Gold Mines …

Mask Sakashya Makondi

Dances of the Salampasu, Zaire

The territory of the Salampasu in the south of the Kasayi province/Zaire is bordered by the Lulua and the Kasayi-rivers. Their neighbouring people are the Lunda in the South, the Kete in the north and east and the Lwalwa in the west.

Because of their bloodthirsty behaviour and because of the headhunting, in the past frequently attended by cannibalism, they became very feared. Consequently they remained a homogeneous people that succeeded in keeping its traditions, language and customs free from foreign influences.

To dance, the Salampasu dress up themselves with all kinds of skins, head-dresses and body paintings. The ritual characteristics find their best expression in the head-hunting dance matambu, the mask dances and the dances held during the healing rituals as there the Luanda, the mfuku, the utshumbu and the kabulukuta, the latter exclusively being performed by women. On the organological level they differ from the Lunda, Kete and Luba by the apparent preference they give to the xylophone madimba, the most important instrument of their orchestras.

From the liner notes of the album ‘Zaire, Musique de Salampasu’ Radio France BRT 1981 by Jos Gansemans

Zaire -Salampasu -Nazuji

Zaire -Salampasu -Sanza Ensemble

Salampasu -Misengu dance

Zaire -Salampasu -Misengu

Misengu dance

The misengu dance, Mukasa Nsaka, is one of the most impressive dances of the Salampasu.

The quantity of dancers easily amounts up to around a hundred, separated in two groups.

Now and then the groups are facing each other, they run around while dancing and threaten each other with their fightful swords, meanwhile they stamp loudly on the floor and made resound their ankle-rattles isuka. The xylophone and drum orchestra accompanying this dance is composed of four madimba xylophones, two ngoma drums beaten with the hands and two cylindrical drums ikandi on which they play with two sticks.

 Zaire -Salampasu -Kalesa

All recordings from the album ‘Zaire, Musique de Salampasu’ Radio France BRT 1981