The Manhattan Brothers dominated the black South African musical scene during much of the 1940s and 50s. They recorded, toured and performed under difficult circumstances given the political climate of early-apartheid South Africa. Despite occasional jailings, troubles getting visas and general discrimination they managed to attain great success.

They played with many greats over the years and inspired a whole generation of black South African musicians such as Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim. Among others, Miriam Makeba got her start singing with them.

Their style is simple, catchy and straight-up representative of the time. They borrow from American jazz and soul influences but still come off with a distinct sound.

Throw these tracks on this Valentine’s night after a few glasses of wine, and then twist real close to that lady…

You can get both of these songs on their greatest hits album that came out in 2000.

The Manhattan Brothers – Yaku Yaku
The Manhattan Brothers feat. Miriam Makeba – Ntyilo Ntyilo

Benn loxo listener, Scott, has a guest post for us today. Listen past the initial 80s synth to hear interesting, politicised lyrics and melody that he describes below:

“The song “Weeping” has an interesting history, both in itself and in how I found it. The song first came to my attention as sung by Vusi Mahlasela, about whom Matt has posted before. He sang a chilling, inspired version of the song with the backing of the Soweto String Quartet on his 1994 album Silang Mabele (it’s also included on his 2003 US-released compilation The Voice / Ilivi Lebantfu). Vusi calls it a song of reconciliation, a song critical of the architecture of apartheid with lyrics written by a white South African who served as a conscripted soldier. You can read the song’s lyrics here.

I thought the music was by Vusi until this year, when the Soweto Gospel Choir included the song on their new album Blessed, and I discovered that the song was originally done by the South African rock group Bright Blue in 1987. You’ll notice that the song includes the melody of “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika,” the Black South African anthem, which has since been incorporated into the new official national anthem, but back in 1987 anyone performing it was courting arrest.

Such a history, and a song that brings a shiver to the spine. By the way, Bright Blue drummer Peter Cohen is now with the delightful South African pop band Freshlyground.”

Thanks, Scott, for the music and background. Let this be a reminder to others that guest posts are always welcome!

Bright Blue – Weeping

Happy new year, Benn loxo listeners. I know it’s been a while (again), but I’m over it.. and so are you once you listen to today’s selections. In fact, why don’t I do a few posts to play catch-up. I’d rather do this than clean-up my apartment. You see, last night was games night and there are cards, whisky glasses and poker chips everywhere.

South African pop music started hitting Western ears when the marabi sound emerged in the early decades of the 20th century. Marabi mixed American-style blues and jazz with some of the traditional forms popular at the time with black youth in South African urban centers.

To keep the post somewhat seasonal: at some stage during my family’s Christmas party someone inevitably busts out some Elvis’ Blue Christmas, sung or recorded. It’s a personal favourite. So it’s with great pleasure that I bring you some Elvis imitation post-marabi South African 1950s pop music from Benoni Rocket. Not only does Rocket have a great name, but his voice is smooth and the guitar jangle jangles just the way I like it on a Thursday.

Zim, thanks as always. Ms. Irish and the TristeOne, this music may just motivé me up to Gambetta for that late night dance afterall…

ps- that’s not Rocket in the photo, but instead Kool Keith from his album, Black Elvis.

Benoni Rocket – I’m Gonna Rocket
Benoni Rocket – I’m Gonna Shake Rattle and Roll
Benoni Rocket – Last Night

I’ve been meaning for some time to post some kwaito music from South Africa. I couldn’t find the discs I’d bought while down there, but I picked up a couple more recently so we’ll do some sampling.

Kwaito is sort of a mix of dancehall, house and hiphop that emerged out of the South African townships after apartheid. It’s now the unofficial sound of South African urban youth, and one of the truly original new musical sounds coming out of the continent.

The track I’m posting is a touch old – late 2000 – but still sounds good and is representative of a lot of what you’ll hear. If you’re interested in a more modern sound I’d recommend checking out Zola. I’ll see if I can dig some of his music up for a post this week, or just go buy it.

You can find today’s track on the 2001 EMI South Africa compilation Ezimtoti Kwaito Hits.

Tokollo – Indlovu Iyangena

Ismail Mohamed-Jan, better known as Pops Mohamed, is an important figure in the South African jazz and traditional music scenes. What sets him apart from the others is his combination of fierce devotion to preserving and promoting local styles and his tendency to experiment with electronic music and production styles.

Well liked both at home and abroad, Pops Mohamed has been playing various instruments for various bands including about a half a dozen solo releases, for the last twenty or so years. One of his early influences was Abdullah Ibrahim, a great South African jazz musician featured on the Freedom Blues album I posted a track from.

The track I picked for today’s post demonstrates this particularly well, mixing several kinds of percussion and electronic noises with flute, mbira and electric bass. I also picked this one because, as those who’ve been listening to the music on this site for a while will know, I have a particular weakness for the mbira. It’s off his second latest release, 2000′s How Far Have We Come?.

Pops Mohamed – Mbira Shuffle

A Benn loxo du taccu listener, Joe, wrote me an e-mail wondering whether I could post the first track off the South African jazz album that I mentioned the other day.

Joe sent me a copy of Sean Bergin, a South African ex-pat saxophone player, and Ernst Reijseger, a dutch cellist, playing Yakal N’Komo. He wondered whether Winston Ngozi’s version on the Freedom Blues album was the original. I have no idea, but if anyone else does please post a comment.

Either way, here’s the supposed original and a nice-sounding cover. Perfect music for 5:45pm on a sunny Dakar Sunday afternoon, no?

ps- let this also be a reminder that requests and e-mails are always welcome.

Winston “Mankunku” Ngozi – Yakal N’Komo (A young bull crying for his mother)
Sean Bergin & Ernst Reijseger – Yakal N’Komo

I’ve read both negative and postive reviews of Freedom Blues – South African Jazz Under Apartheid. Some feel that it’s an inspiring collection of uplifting jazz music by black musicians who, despite living under the brutal repression of South African apartheid, still managed to crank out great music. Others feel that the music on the album is just another example of African pop imitating American musical style, and that the “joyous” sound has more to do with sounding like John Coltrane than expressing a desire for freedom or happiness. Still others think that the real “freedom music” of South Africa sounds nothing like this.

Personally, I don’t care. Bottom-line is that “despite this” or “not despite that” there were some amazing jazz musicians living and playing in South Africa and Zimbabwe during the apartheid years. The most well-known among them are of course Dollar Brand and Hugh Masekela, but the album also features several lesser-known talents.

I had a hard time picking a track to post. I finally settled on Dollar Brand because I play piano and like to think that in another life I may have been able to play as well as he does. Give this track some time – it breaks nicely at around the first minute.

Dollar Brand – Bombella

A while ago I wrote a post about Amampondo, a great Xhosa group from a town near Cape Town, South Africa, who specialize in marimba music. Today we’re going to listen to Madosini, another South African musician interested in preserving local culture and history who once sung with Amampondo.

Known as “The Veteran” in her homeland of Mpondoland-Transkei, Madosini is an amaMpondo musician who uses the uhadi (music bow), umhrubhe (mouth bow) and isistoloto (Jewish harp) to accompany her rhythmic singing, chanting and dancing. Her performances are more theatre than straight music as she mixes them with story-telling and traditional dance.

Madosini has a dual political agenda: preserving indigenous culture and fighting for women’s rights in Africa and beyond. She has done much to awaken South Africans, particularly the Xhosa peoples (whose music I love so much in case you haven’t noticed), to their own rich musical and and cultural history. She’s also empowered a whole generation of women to assert themselves in the face of an often misogynistic society.

Musically she has a very unique sound. Today’s pick is particularly cool in my opinion because of its dub feel – hypnotic. You can buy the album for download here if you’re into it.

Madosini – Nozimanga (Uthando Luphelile Dub)

I’ve had quite a few requests for some Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens. You’ll recognize the South African mbaqanga sound if you tuned in a few posts ago. It’s Zulu pop music that came out of the townships of South Africa’s big cities during the 1970s. (That’s only sort of true. It’s been around since the 60s but mbaqanga as you might know it – in its electric, energized form – wasn’t too popular until the mid-70s.) Mahlathini was right in there with the first of them to popularize the style and was the most well-known voices (or groaners) of mbaqanga.

The Mahotella Queens call their particular flavour of mbaqanga mqashiyo. I read something that likened them to a Southern African version of the Supremes. This seems right on point since their synchronized dancing and harmonized backup vocals really remind me of the soul train ladies from the American 60s.

Mahlathini didn’t really get popular outside of South Africa until the mid-1980s when a track that he released on a South African musical sampler got some attention in the US. Following that he went on tour with the Mahotella Queens and they all attained international success fairly quickly.

Two tracks today: one from Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens off their album The Lion Roars, and another solo work by the Queens off 1991′s Marriage Is A Problem. Both tracks are heavy on the harmonies that I like so much. Mahlathini’s groaning will be featured in another post some time in the future…

ps- Yes, the song choices reflect what I’m thinking about while bored at work today. And yes, that’s you, K.

Mahotella Queens -Selailai (Attractive woman)
Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens – Khubetswana Yeso (Light-skinned woman)

I know this is stupid of me, but I love saying the word Xhosa. The way you get to click your tongue off the top of your mouth on the ‘X’, and the kick I get when I manage to slip it into a sentence without pausing to reorganize my mouth.

The Xhosa people are actually called the amaXhosa and they speak isiXhosa, a Bantu language. They’re one of the major ethnic groups in South Africa and comprise a large part of the ANC – South Africa’s ruling coalition party. Nelson Mandela is a Xhosa.

They’ve been pushed around for years, first to the West by the Zulus and then East by the Boers. Eventually the British/Boer colonial governments forced them to take-up lands in present-day Eastern Cape where most of them still live.

No longer oppressed, the rich Xhosa culture is flourishing. Aside from a beautiful language the amaXhosa have a long tradition of dancing and music. One group that captures this tradition particularly well is Amampondo.

Although they’re now touring the world and signed to MELT, Amampondo is still based in their hometown of Langa, a township outside of Cape Town, South Africa. They mix all kinds of traditional Xhosa musical and dance styles with some modern rhythms and instruments to come up with a pretty unique sound. They’re most famous for their marimba music and you’ll see why on today’s two tracks off their 2000 album Vuyani.

ps- I hope it’s pretty obvious why I picked today’s first song.

Amampondo – State of Emergency
Amampondo – 915