just unearthed this beautiful single with one side sung in the Doo Wop Jive style and a surprising b-side. The Bachelors and Thoko Tomo is a South African vocal group unknown to me, maybe a reader can shine a light on their origins? The label mentions Jive and as far as I can find out this must be Zulu Jive while the b-side is sung in English.
Gibson Kente wrote the song ‘I Got Troubles’. His name appears on the credits for two other productions,’Ekoneni’ and ‘Inkomo Zodwa’, recorded by The Skylarks with Makeba & Spokes Mashiyane. See also my previous post Soul Safari presents Township Jive & Kwela Jazz (1940-1960)
‘I Got Troubles’ reminds me of Isicathamiya by the likes of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, even American Gospel. Such heavenly voices! This single was probably released in the early 1960’s following an earlier release as shellac 78 rpm. This was normal practice in the days when the 45 single format replaced the old breakable 78’s. The label New Sound is a subsidiary of Gallo Records, hence the image of the cock in the logo.
…and another excellent compilation of lesiba and sekhankula music, “Lesotho Calling”
to American ears, South African pop sounds utterly blithe. It lilts along with harmonies that are always consonant, and it revolves around the three major chords -and, usually, the 4/4 beat and four-bar phrases – that are also basic to rock-and-roll. British, East Indian, European, North African and American music have all had a continuing impact on South African pop
Zulu choruses, for instance, made connections with hymn-singing (via British missionaries), jubilee songs (from black American minstrels) and more modern gospel and soul music, while retaining vocal interjections and a rhythmic sophistication that are unmistakably African. Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the a cappella Zulu-Swazi chorus that recorded with Paul Simon and that has three albums available in the United States, won’t sound alien to anyone who’s heard the Five Blind Boys, the Four Tops or the Persuasions.
Within South Africa, the music carries mixed meanings. Under Apartheid, the Government worked to segregate blacks into tribal groups, as if decades of urbanization and shared culture had not occurred; separate, state-controlled radio stations, for instance, broadcast in Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho. Explicitly and implicitly, performers are steered away from political songs. So when a group sings in Zulu about the perils of urban life, it can be seen as endorsing a return to some rural homeland, away from the wealth and power of the cities.
It’s citified rural music. Call-and-response vocals mix traditional melodies with the imperatives of pop catchiness; tinny electric guitars, and sometimes fiddles or accordions or pennywhistles, recall the the sound of African instruments above saxophones, keyboards, electric bass and American trap drums. While the bands vamp, the vocal melodies expand and contract; familiar as the music sounds to rock-trained ears, singing along isn’t easy.
Soul Safari 
