Dorothy Masuka -60 years and counting

Dorothy Masuka celebrating 60 years in biz

  after 60 years in showbiz, music veteran Dorothy Masuka still has no plans to retire. For the singer retirement doesn’t exist in her vocabulary, music is in her soul.

She explains; “I’ve always respected my profession as well as myself as an African woman. When I was younger the world was a different place. Music was like great wine -the more mature, the better. These days, with technology and media, things happen faster for the youngsters. I am glad I have crafted a legacy for the young generation that will be left behind when I pass on,” she says laughing.

 ”Young people must keep on singing indigenous African music because that’s what the world is looking for. And they must keep on composing beautiful new tunes.”

Dorothy Masuka -Ngi Hamba Ngedwa

see also South African Soul Divas pt 2 Dorothy Masuka, Mahotella Queens, Irene & The Sweet Melodians

To celebrate her musical output during her long career Gallo Records just released Dorothy Masuka’s ‘Ultimate Collection’ on CD/DVD. 

Label: GRC – Product code: CDGMP 41062. Available from May 2013

 Dorothy Masuka – ‘Ultimate Collection’ 

Disc 1

1. Hamba Nontsokolo
2. Umakhumalo
3. Into Yam
4. Lendaba
5. Suka Lapha
6. Handsome Guy
7. Khanyange
8. Impi
9. Magumede
10. Hapo Zamani
11. Somandla
12. Nginje
13. Kulala
14. Igoli
15. Kwamamazala
16. Mamela
17. Bari
18. Sofa Silahlale

Disc 2

1. Hapo Zamani
2. Kulala
3. Umakhumalo
4. Magumede
5. Mamela
6. Khanyange
7. Ei Yow
8. Suka Lapha
9. Lendaba
10. Into Yam
11. Yombela Yombela
12. Sofa Silahlale
13. Lokhuza
14. Mandela
15. Khawuleza
16. Nontsokolo

source; Sowethan + ‘Mama Dorothy’ by Richard Galler, Sawubona travel magazine South African Airlines May 2013

Spring! The Chris Schilder Quintet featuring Mankunku

ah…spring has finally settled here in Holland and I feel that there is no better way to celebrate the start of the festive season then with this seriously rare LP ‘Spring’ by The Chris Schilder Quintet featuring Mankuku.

Contradictory to the information published on flatinternational please notice that the record presented here today is not on the Atlantic City label but a later pressing on Up Up Up released in 1974. Pics of the band on the back cover were taken during the Port Elizabeth Jazz Festival 1968. Unfortunately the front of the cover is missing from my copy so if anyone has a spare empty cover of this release then make yourself known in case you would like to swap or sell. You will be rewarded!

Chris Schilder Quintet featuring Mankunku -Spring (Springtime In The Cape)

Chris Schilder- piano

Winston ‘Mankunku’ Ngozi- tenor sax

Garry Kriel- guitar

Phillip Schilder- bass

Gilbert Matthews- drums

Recorded November 22nd 1968 at the Herrick Merrill Studios Johannesburg.

Issued 1974 by Up Up Up Records/Teal UPL 5007.  Made in South Africa

Produced by Ray Nkwe

A.1 Spring (Chris Schilder)

A.2 Before the Rain and After (Chris Schilder)

A.3 Look Up (Chris Schilder)

B.1 The Birds (Chris Schilder)

B.2 You Don’t Know What Love Is (Raye, De Paul)

This exceptionally rare LP was finally reissued on CD by Gallo Record Company in 1996, 2007. The CD features Mankunku’s first two albums and is titled Yakhal’ Inkomo after his first record—South Africa’s best selling jazz record of all time. Spring is Mankunku’s second and it’s scarcity can be attributed to a fire at the EMI factory which destroyed the original master tapes.

source flatinternational

a rare one from The Drive -Iphi Intombiyam 1976 -SA Jazz

a wonderful David Thekwane production in today’s post, written by Henry Sithole and performed by The Drive.  A studio recording released as a 45 rpm in 1976, just a year before both Luthuli and Henry Sithole died in a car accident on May 5th, 1977.

Rare title,  not found on any of the albums known so far…

The recording was probably done with the same personnel as on the album Drive Live  from 1975.

The Drive -Iphi Intombiyam Pt 1

The Drive -Iphi Intombiyam Pt 2

THE DRIVE

HENRY SITHOLE – leader, alto sax

STANLEY SITHOLE – tenor, baritone sax

D. SITHOLE – trumpet

ADOLPHUS ‘BUNNY’ LUTHULI – guitar

BHEKI H. MSELEKU – synthesizer, electric piano, hammond organ

ANTHONY SAOLI – fender bass

NELSON MAGWAZA - drums, percussion, congas

source: flatinternational

see also David Thekwane & The Boyoyo Boys -Township Jive 1977

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

*

Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath -1971

a recent find blew my mind. Especially two tracks  from  ” Brotherhood Of Breath “,  a self-titled LP from 1971, with two great tunes written by alto saxophonist Dudu Pakwana;  ’Mra’ and ‘The Bride’.  An album that fuses the influence of African music, jazz-rock, and free improvisation. Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath shares affinities with the ’70s music of Don Cherry and Miles Davis. Rare and unusual Afro Free Jazz by Chris McGregor with the very  first version of his band The Brotherhood of Breath.

The Brotherhood of Breath was a big-band, essentially an extension of McGregor’s previous band The Blue Notes, created in the late 1960s by South African pianist/composer Chris McGregor (1936-1990).

The Brotherhood of Breath included many members of the South African expatriate community resident in London, including McGregor himself, Louis Moholo, Harry Miller, Mongezi Feza, Dudu Pukwana, (occasionally) Johnny Dyani; and many of the free jazz musicians who were based in London at the same time: Lol Coxhill, Evan Parker, Paul Rutherford, Harry Beckett, Marc Charig, Alan Skidmore, Mike Osborne, Elton Dean, Nick Evans, and John Surman.

The personnel was fluid, depending on who was available. The music resembles a mixture of the hard-driving blues of Charles Mingus and the wild experimentalism of Sun Ra, but retains a unique feel due to the South African influences and the intelligent arrangements.

The original Brotherhood Of Breath ended in the late 70′s, with the deaths of Mongezi Feza and Harry Miller (whose label, Ogun Records, released some of the Brotherhood’s albums.) McGregor formed a second version of the group in France in the early 80′s. In 1987, a third edition was formed with African and British musicians such as Annie Whitehead. In this incarnation the music was more tightly arranged and controlled, with less free improvisation.

Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath

Neon (RCA) Catalog#: NE 2. Released: 1971 UK

musicians

Bass – Harry Miller
Clarinet – Ronnie Beer
Cornet – Marc Charig
Drums – Louis Moholo
Flute – Mike Osborne , Mongezi Feza
Percussion – Louis Moholo
Piano – Chris McGregor
Saxophone – Alan Skidmore , Dudu Pukwana , John Surman , Mike Osborne , Ronnie Beer
Trombone – Malcolm Griffiths , Nick Evans
Trumpet – Harry Beckett , Mongezi Feza
Xylophone – Chris McGregor

A1 MRA
A2 Davashe’s Dream
A3 The Bride

B1 Andromeda
B2 Night Poem
B3 Union Special

text contains excerpts from source  Wiki

Township Jive & Kwela Jazz (1940-1960) May 2012 update

`’Township Kwela Jazz & Jive (1940-1960)’ has received a warm reception so far, even above my expectations. It’s great to know that the music on this compilation can be heard again after being forgotten for so many years. The 180 gram vinyl pressing was  sold out in a few months and the CD  is available from Tokyo to Munich. On  iTunes the album looks like a popular search too.  Given the success of this first compilation another volume is now planned and we’re working hard to release ‘Township Kwela Jazz & Jive (1940-1960)’  Volume 2 soon.

…and the radio loves it too!

last Sunday I was invited to DJ at “Wicked Jazz Sounds” on Radio 6, the Dutch national station, where host Phil Horneman plays a wicked selection of rare Soul and Jazz. He was kind enough to give me  some airtime during his show to present a selection of the compilation. Ultimately, the entire album was broadcast.

Wicked Jazz Sounds on Radio 6, broadcast 29 April 2012  

and a few reviews from various newspapers and sites…

The album was even featured as pick of the week on the site of American newspaper The Observer’s Very Short List 

This is joyous, irrepressible stuff, which sounds much fresher in its original incarnation than it ever did in American appropriations (yes, Paul Simon, we’re talking to you!).

and another review from deepabsurdum.com

 these gems produce a direct line to jazz-hands-in-the-air moments of naked enjoyment. This is the jive that set the night alight, before the raw dawn on Sharpeville cast a pale light that threw dark shadows.

Featuring a strong showing from the stand-out stars of the kwela scene during its seminal years of 1940 to 1960, there’s an innocence and enthusiasm in the music on this compilation which belies its age. It’s raw, it’s funky, it’s highly infectious and it’s entirely impossible to ignore as a sample of a more beautiful space in time. Selected from the International Library of African Music in Grahamstown, this is as authentic a sample as you can get, with all the tracks having been remastered. If there was ever a definitive sampler of this genre, this is it. Hats off to the Soul Safari blog for playing their part in putting the spotlight on these gems!

Words by Travis Lyle -deepabsurdum.com

CD here

vinyl -180 gram- LP here

iTunes downloads here

Stimela -Look, Listen And Decide 1986

This album has been on my turntable for the last past days and its appeal is growing with each spin. I find it hard to resist the magic coming out of these grooves; jazz, funk, afro-beat; definitely a fusion of styles that blend into a gentle South African swing. 

Each of the featured tracks are winners, especially the tracks ‘Sishovingolovane’   and the comical funky ‘Who Is Fooling You’     and the title track ‘Look, Listen And Decide’ but the full album deserves your attention so all tracks are featured here today.

 

Stimela – Look, Listen And Decide

A1            Look, Listen And Decide        

A2            Who Is Fooling You

B1            Whispers In The Deep         

B2            Sishovingolovane          

B3            Nkata Mgreeka “Danger Signs”

Gallo – HUL 40109 -released in  South Africa 1986

Stimela, the Zulu word for “locomotive”,  is a South African Afro-fusion band, founded by Ray Phiri in 1982 after his previous band  The Cannibals, the soul music giants of the 70’s, disbanded.

 Stimela have since become little short of an institution in South Africa. Born and raised in Mpumalanga Phiri used to dance to his troubadour father’s puppet shows and had his first break in 1962 when he managed to dance for the legendary Dark City Sisters when they performed in Mpumalanga. From this performance he made enough money giving him a chance to travel to Johannesburg and start his own band.

Phiri, along with Jabu Sibume on bass, Isaac Mtshali on drums, and Lloyd Lelosa on keyboards were The Cannibals and during this time the group supplied instrumental accompaniment on recordings of other artists including Irene Mawela and the Mahotella Queens. The four joined forces with vocalist Jacob “Mparanyana” Radabe in 1975, continuing to work together for four more years until Mparanyana’s untimely death at the peak of his career. In 1982, renamed as Stimela, the band was further expanded with the addition of Thabelo Kgomo and Charlie Ndlovu on keyboards.

In 1985 the American singer and musician Paul Simon asked Phiri, along with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to join his Graceland project, a hugely successful project that helped a number of South African artists to make names for themselves abroad. Phiri was the arranger of the Graceland album and he collaborated with Paul Simon again on Simon’s Rhythm of the Saints album, which saw Phiri tour for six months and perform on stages such as Central Park and Madison Square Garden, in Europe (1987) and the Soviet Union (1989), as well as appearing on top television shows in the US.

Although largely inactive nowadays, the mbaqanga/jazz/fusion band occasionally still appears on stage.

As  Phiri explains, “We all have different things that we do in life. Stimela is an institution and therefore we will come together if there’s something we want to achieve.”

Source:  http://www.gallomusicpublishers.co.za/

BUY ALBUM HERE and HERE

Members

 Ray Phiri -lead guitar, lead vocals

Isaac “Mnca” Mtshali -drummer

Thabo Lloyd Lelosa -keyboards

Jabu Sibumbe – bass guitar

Nana Coyote – lead vocals

Thapelo Kgomo – keyboards

Charlie Ndlovu – organ

Ntokozo Zungu – lead guitar

  

readers post;Tebogo Lerole on Elias and His Zig Zag Jive Flutes

some interesting news out of Soul Safari’s mailbox as a comment to my previous post Penny Whistle Kwela -Alexandra Shamber Boys, Benoni Flute Quintet. Readers comments are always welcome….keep sending!

On Apr 7 2012, 8:19 am reader Tebogo Lerole wrote:

I agree this is an amazing blog and I must say my dad truly appreciates all this. His name is Elias Shamber Lerole – founder of Elias and His Zig Zag Jive Flutes and composer of the hit Tom Hark. He is a very proud man, his legacy and that of other famous penny whistlers lives on through my brothers and I. Our band Kwela Tebza has been striving hard to put Kwela music on the map.

Now, ain’t this a very special message? It moved me because of the historical link and  the fact that Elias Shamber Lerole has a son who keeps the legacy of his father alive by playing kwela with his band Kwela Tebza. If only I could hear Tebogo’s music!

Little Lemmy & Big Joe -Kwela No 5 

Here’s an rare kwela track that I’d like to share today as a tribute to the great Elias Shamber Lerole, founder of Elias and His Zig Zag Jive Flutes and as a kudo to Tebogo for his comment on my post.

See also something new from Africa -Kwela with Lemmy

Superfunk 1976 -Lawrence Koonin & David Bravo

Ultra smooth and rare jazz-funk recordings from an unknown South African studio-group. Produced by Lawrence Koonin & David Bravo and released by Logo Records in 1976 in South Africa. Not much more than that info can be found for the moment so enjoy the music!

12-03-2012 -Chris from Electric Jive added the following update;

Lawrence Koonin could not even remember the recording sessions of this particular album in Cape Town. Which led me to conclude these tracks were out-takes from other albums done with the same band members around the same time – some of these tracks have the same feel as stuff from Morris Goldberg’s Urban Jazz Band (1975), and the Morris Goldberg Quartet (1975).

The other band members are likely to be as per the Morris Goldberg Quartet

 Cecil Ricca on Drums

Marc Duby on bass

Morris Goldberg on Sax

Bravo on Keyboards

 The fifth member on Morris Goldberg Urban Jazz Band was Monty Weber on percussion

 Superfunk -s/t

Side 1

1. So Long Jug

2. South Side Shuffle

3. Lavender Hill

Side 2

1. Superfunk

2. Oh My!

3. Let It Out

Superfunk -s/t Logo Records 1976 South Africa

Miriam Makeba -Mama Africa- TV docu Mika Kaurismäki

Last night Dutch TV channel The Hour of the Wolf  broadcasted a colorful portrait of Africa’s most famous singer Miriam Makeba . You can watch this documentary in flash or via Microsoft Silverlight.

This documentary gives not only a great visual overview of Makeba’s career but through the many interviews with the singer and guests one can gets a really good impression of the life and circumstances in South Africa before 1994, during Apartheid and Makeba’s struggle against the regime.

Especially the early years of Miriam Makeba are well highlighted; her performances as part of the African Jazz & Variety shows at the City Hall in Johannesburg, her start as a singer with The Manhattan Brothers, her rise and fall in  the USA, living as an exile in Guinea…there is even some rare footage from an unofficial film ‘Come Back Africa’ (1959) by American filmmaker Lionel Rogosin that was smuggled out of the country and contained 2 songs by a very young Makeba. Essential film footage and a treasure to all lovers of the music of  one of South Africa’s greatest singers.

Or see the flash version.

She married five times, lost her only daughter and lived in exile in the United States, Guinea and Belgium. She was surrounded by President John F. Kennedy, actor Marlon Brando and singer Ella Fitzgerald. She scored an international smash hit with Pata Pata. That precisely this apolitical dance song was so successful made ​​her slightly sad but she was not complaining: “The audience chooses what it wants.”

Makeba was born in a South African township, broke through as a jazz singer and grew under the wing of Harry Belafonte into a musical and political legend. Makeba had enormous presence and never publicly took a mince words: “I do not talk politics, I tell the truth.” In 1963, she said to the United Nations, and became a figurehead of the anti-apartheid struggle in her country. It earned her the nickname Mama Africa and led to thirty years in exile.

In 1990, Nelson Mandela asked her personal “coming home” and return to South Africa. She died in 2008 of a heart attack. This richly documented ode celebrates her unforgettable voice, her charisma and her high-priced idealism.

Director: Mika Kaurismäki
Producer: Starhaus / ZDF

see also my previous posts 

African Jazz & Variety -Alfred Herbert 1952

South African Soul Divas pt 1-Miriam Makeba

King Kong, the first All African Jazz Opera 1956

South African Soul Divas Pt 4 -The Skylarks

see & hear my previous post with MP3 Preview

Township Jive & Kwela Jazz (1940-1960) Available Now!

Soul Safari’s  first compilation featuring 2 rare recordings by Miriam Makeba with The Skylarks & Spokes Mashiyane

 The Skylarks w/ Makeba & Spokes Mashiyane -Ekoneni

 The Skylarks w/ Makeba & Spokes Mashiyane -Inkomo Zodwa