Southern African CD Reviews
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Nhava |
Oliver Mtukudzi continues to delight with his patented sound on his latest cd NHAVA. "Patented sound"? Well, not literally patented, of course; but his sound is unique and all of his cds have it: similar to other musics of Zimbabwe such as chimorenga and jit; but not quite the same.
Mtukudzi has obviously listened to the styles of neighboring South Africa and perhaps also of Zimbabwe's eastern neighbor Mozambique. Whatever his influences, Tuku (as he's affectionately known) has his own groove: a gentle but still driving pulse that gets people listening and dancing.
And if you're lucky enough to understand the lyrics, Oliver believes black Africans can do anything they set out to do: hence the name of his band The Black Spirits - but Mtukudzi is no militant or racist; he has friends and collaborators of all races in the music business.
He may occasionally scold or cry, but his message is almost always uplifting, drawing people together, not apart. Many white Africans attend his shows: you can't help but feel loved, listening to the truly special music of The Black Spirits.
Oliver has been recording for more than twenty-six years now, and no longer has a need for outside producers, no matter how sympathetic: with NHAVA, Oliver now produces his own recordings.
It would be most difficult to pick a favorite tune on NHAVA: I keep changing my mind.
Cut 7, 'Tiregerereiwo', continually captures the uniqueness of Mtukudzi's sound, but everything is so good, it's impossible not to enjoy the whole work. Very highly recommended indeed.
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Greatest Hits 1964-2004 |
With Brenda Fassie's premature, totally unexpected death in 2004, South Africa lost its biggest pop star, and the world lost a great singer - but outside of south Africa, few people knew of her. This is so sad in many ways: while international fans might revere Mahlatini and the Queens, in South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s their a style of Mbankanga had been replaced by a more modern style using electronics and other studio tricks, incorporating a big influence from America with soul and disco.
The two biggest acts in South Africa during this time were the Soul brothers and Brenda Fassie. Brenda had one album released in the USA during the South African music mania caused byu Paul Simon's GRACELAND album, but it was too modern and slick for American fans seeking a more 'authentic' style (meaning, in reality, an older style).
Brenda wasn't about nostalgia: she was used to being a trend-setter.
Listening to her music today, one can appreciate what Brenda was about: many of the studio ideas that were cutting edge then are commonplace now; they don't seem like distractions and I can hear her voice better (though I will admit it never sounded better than it did singing backup on Miriam Makeba's SANGOMA album.)
Many of the same effects were used by Johnny Clegg on the later Juluka and Savuka albums.
For a great Mbakanga sound, listen to cut 5, 'Higher & Higher'. Imagine the Mahatella Queens kicking out the jams with Johnny Clegg producing: wow.
So now Brendea Fassie is gone, and we're left with these twenty greatest hits to remind us of her greatness: it may not be as good as having Brenda gigging at the local auditorium, but thankfully we have these great recordings to remember her by.
Thanks, Narada!
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Renascence |
Waldemar Bastos is from Angola in southwestern Africa: like many Angolan singer/songwriters his music has a soft, soothing lilt despite the decades-long war that nearly destroyed Angola.
Bastor lives abroad now, but since the end of the civil war, he's returned to Angola several times to participate in Angola's renascence: hence the title of his cd.
Waldemar grew up on the Angolan Congo border, so every once and a while a bit of Congolese rhumba perks up his music.
He grew up listening to all types of music, including Western classical, jazz, and rock as well as Brazilian and other music of the Portuguese Diaspora (Angola's a former Portuguese colony).
Listeners will be surprised and hopefully delighted to hear a song from a soft ballad to Congolese rhumba, then jazz/rock with a Middle Eastern string section.
Some of Waldeman's vocals remind me of French cafe singers meeting bossa nova vocals.
There are two versions of the song 'Pitanga Madurinha', which has a reggae type beat reminiscent of early ska bands.
RENASCENCE closes out in a stronger Jamaican version remixed with vocals added by Jamaican toaster (the original rappers) Chaka Demas.
To call RENASCENCE an African cd is a bit of an understatement, for this is true world music or music without borders.
You can dance to it, or just chill out and listen. Good stuff.
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BataMbira |
I've heard of Cuban and West/Central African collaborations before; but never Cuban and Southern African - in this case, Zimbabwe.
Cuban music is primarily derived from West African and Congolese musics, and the musicians have been listening to each other for years.
The key to the amazing collaboration in BATAMBIRA was a common spiritual belief in the idea of an African ancestor 'walking in my path, helping to fulfill my destiny', resulting in over three years of hard work doing research to find tones that would blend together.
Michael Spiro and Michael Williams, the chief musicians behind the BataMbira project, are also university professors, so hard work and years of research aren't new to them. The result is a very spiritual, engaging sound.
This isn't background music, nor is it dance music: each tune is made up of sections of songs from Southern Africa, West Africa, the Congo or Cuba, in many different variations.
Michael Williams plays various types of mbiras as well as bass marimba, and sings or chants in Shona (Zimbabwe's largest ethnic group).
Michael Spiro plays various hand drums and percussion pieces, as well as bass marimba. He sings Cuban vocals, as does Jesus Diaz and Sandy Cressman, Carol Steele, and Sonyalsis Feldman.
Occasionally Sylvian Leroux adds fula flute, which is a somewhat harsh voice like a shout from West Africa.
On Cut 3, Munose plays a soothing Bansuti flute.
With so many changes, the listener is kept 'on his toes' and constantly surprised: few musicians anywhere would have the patience to attempt such a task.
Congratulations to Spiro, William, and all those involved in the complex, revealing BATAMBIRA project.
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Luna |
Luna is from South Africa, but her her own sound that reveals no trace at all of what we un the USA think of as 'South African Music': it reminds me more of cutting-edge female singer/songwriters from New York City, but with a slightly softer edge (yet not as soft as the sounds associated with Los Angeles).
Luna writes and sings in English. Her composition skills are very good: if she was from New York, she'd probably be the latest rage.
The longer I listen to LUNA, the more I hear and admire her voice: she really projects emotion without shouting or screaming.
This type of music doesn't usually appeal strongly to listeners looking for 'world music', but most of us listen to pop/rock, country or some other styles not quite so ethnic, also, and Luna is very good.
My favorite cut is #3, 'Lady': strangely, this cut is not nominated airplay - it's too long perhaps - but the emotional wallop: wow!
Get Luna on MTV or VH1 and let her fly.
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1. History of Township Music
2. Long Walk to Freedom
THE HISTORY OF TOWNSHIP MUSIC is an amazing cd that I dreamed would be released somebody, but feared I'd never live to hear: black South African music recordings going back to the 1930s.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any recordings going back any earlier than the late 1930s, but much of what was recorded is here in THE HISTORY OF TOWNSHIP MUSIC.: the many different styles of Marabi, Mbube, South African jazz, swing, Mbanganga, soul and others - including fusions of two or more styles n one song.
It's a treasure just to get the original 1939 recording by Solomon Linda's original 'Evening Birds', or the great classic 'Mbube', later known as 'Wimoweh' or 'The Lion sleeps Tonight'.
If you're interested in where Miriam Makeba or the Mahotella Queens sound evolved from, listen to Nancy Jacobs and her sisters doing 'Meadowlands', Dolly Rathebe doing 'Unomeva', or the legendary Dorothy Masuka doing 'Ufikizolo'.
Speaking of legends, check out Cut 11 by Kippie Moeketsi and the Marabi Kings: this should tell you where Dollar Brand came from.
Of course Miriam Makeba is here: this time with the Skylarks, a female vocal group, plus Spoke Mashiyane on pennywhistle: truly an all-star Kwela recording.
Want to know where the south African Jazz Pioneers get their sound from? Listen to Cut 13 by the Jazz Dazzlers or the following cut by the Elite Swingsters, or the Ten Troubadours doing 'Umbuzi'.
We're talking about essential historical recordings here. It's surprising reading the liner notes and discovering the same musician on three or four totally different styles of music playing pennywhistle on one recording, bass guitar on another.
Cut 24, 'Omzala Bakho' by Izintombi Zesi Manje Manje sounds so much like Mahletini and the Mahotella Queens you'd swear it's them, but this group needs two 'groaners' to replace the great Mahlatini.
Johnny Clegg fans will hear some of his inspiration on the song' Bayeza' by the Soul Brothers, which sounds so South African it could have come from no other place; yet 'Thakane' by the Cannibals sounds like American r&b sung in a South African language.
Twenty-eight cuts of sheer joy: what a collection - thanks, Wrasse, for also including terrific liner notes!
The fabulous two-cd set of popular, primarily black, South African songs and instrumentals LONG WALK TO FREEDOM: A CELEBRATION OF FOUR DECADES OF SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC covers a span of nearly forth years in which Nelson Mandela languished in prison.
The first cut by the internationally popular a cappella choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo is actually a modern piece congratulating South Africa on the release of Mandela and the end of apartheid: we then jump back to the 1960s with the Manhattan Brothers doing a song about Chaka Zulu, followed by guitarist Ricordo Bornman, a fusion of Africanner and black South African styles (we could listen to a whole cd of him alone), and the legendary Kwela hit master/speaker Mashiyane.
Miriam Makeba's still with the Manhattan Brothers apparently, but by this time swing had completely merged with Marabi and Mbaqanga was a growing influence.
A standout piece is cut 8, 'Midnight Ska' by the Hollywood Jazz Band, showing a Jamaican influence in south African even in the 1960s. Even stranger is that at least part of the song is based on Buddy Holly's 'Well Alright': talk about cross-cultural pollination!
The 1970s bring us Miriam Makeba's famous 'Click Song': a huge departure from the swing-influenced recordings of the 1950s and 1950s. It's during the 1960s and 1970s that a rootsier black South African sound merged with American recording advances and rock music emerged.
American soul music also begins to be a big influence in the 1970s: some groups trying to sound as American as possible, except for the language on the vocals. Later on these groups and others blend back more of a local sound into their soul music.
One of south Africa's biggest groups of all time, the Soul Brothers, emerges at this time, represented here on Cut 12, 'Mary', one of South Africa's most powerful female vocalists of all time.
Margaret Singana is profiled on 'Mama Thembu's Wedding': this is full on Mbanqa at its best.
The 1980s section is represented by the incredible Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens doing 'Gazette', a tune originally recorded by its author Ngombani, as 'My Wife Bought a Taxi'.
Reggae influences aren't neglected here either: South Africa's great contribution to reggae, Lucky Dube, here does 'Remember Me'.
Great South African choirs are represented in nearly every decade. Sipho Mabuse, the international star of the 1980s and 1990s, is featured in his 1980s recording 'Burnout': very South African, yet very international pop at the same time.
The 1980s also was the era of the great nostalgic South African jazz bands: the African Jazz Pioneers here present their hit 'Hellfire': Marabi updated to the 1980s!
In the 1990s some groups keep the sound moving forward, getting more modern and more internationally-influenced i.e. 'Bayete'; while old favorites like the Mahotella Queens look back to the 1930s meets 1970s with Mbube influences.
West Nkosi steps out of his producer's chair for a while with his 'African Spirit': an instrumental that combines 1950s Kwela with 1960s and 70s sax jive: beautiful! He will be missed, along with Margaret Singana, Mahlathini, and all the other late music gods and goddesses of south African sound captured in the gorgeous LONG WALK TO FREEDOM celebration.