Dec 13/07
Vice and the mines
Today we’ll hear a couple tracks off Original Music’s compilation of Zambian miners’ songs, From The Copperbelt. The recordings were all made by the amazing Hugh Tracey.
I’ve always had a thing for southern African, mid-20th century music. George Sibanda and The Forgotten Guitars of Mozambique compilation were early favourites.
From The Copperbelt covers a range of styles present in the Zambian mines in 1957, all based around the European acoustic guitar. Most of the musicians are bards who traveled from mine to mine, entertaining the miners. Others are by the miners themselves. All are great, if you’re into this kind of thing.
Zambia occupies an interesting part of the continent. Its geography influenced its inhabitants’ music, especially at this early stage of “modern” African musical development, such that some music sounds distinctly South African, while much of the rest sounds very Congolese.
You might have already heard some John Lushi, who appears on this compilation, on Original Music’s Africa Dances release.
Isaac Matafwani – Eko Bali Mukanina Bamayo
William Siwale – Mayo Mayo
Four Pals – Nifwe Ba Four Pals
Matt: have you been following the releases by the SWP (Sharp Wood Records) label? Producer Michael Baird has been re-issuing a ton of authorized Hugh Tracy recordings and other materials from Southern Africa, many in the field-recording /traditional vein, but other popular records as well, many from the 50s. In particular, relevant to this post, a pair of recent albums came out recently called Zambush: Zambian Hits From the 80s. I just searched Benn Loxo and only found one SWP release covered, the Legendary George Sibanda, back in ’04. Baird is based in the Netherlands; you should get in touch with him. Also distributed by Sterns.
“Tai Yaka” by Julizya Band on Vol. 1 is particularly notable–over the top, Zambi-Pop!
http://www.swp-records.com
Hey CC.. thanks for the tip. I have five SWP releases in my collection, but you’re right, I’ve only ever posted about George Sibanda and The Forgotten Guitars of Mozambique.
I’ll check-out Zambush, it looks good.. despite the association popular music in sub-Saharan Africa during the 80s.
I should also mention that Calabash carries pretty much the whole SWP collection.
Here here to Hugh Tracey and Sharp Wood. I don’t know about you, Matt, but African acoustic guitar playing is so sublime I can barely stand it. It’s a major pursuit of mine in the 78 world, for sure. Awesome audio choices!