Thursday, 17 December 2009

Abdullah Ibrahim SABC Sessions (1968/9 & 1970s)

A special year-end gift to ElectricJive visitors – get these while you can. To my knowledge these recordings, made at the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s Johannesburg studios, have never been commercially available. Thank you to Olivier in France.

Abdullah Ibrahim at SABC late 1968 or early 1969
1. Portrait of a Bushman: Portrait of a Bushman - Mamma - Jabulani – The Stride – Peace – Ama Soefija – Perdeby – Portrait of a Bushman. (Lars Rasmussen’s discography lists ‘Ama Soefia’ as ‘Batavia’.
2. Jazz Suite: Sunrise – Gogga – Machopi – Tintinyana
3. Prelude to a Kiss – featuring Sathima Bea Benjamin
4. The Stride
5. Single Petal of a Rose
6. Crepuscle with Nellie
SABC LT 10,185 /LT10, 186
Rasmussen Discography 10
Link

Abdullah Ibrahim at SABC 1970s Session
1. The Pilgrim: Unknown Intro – The Pilgrim – Poetry Recital – The Pilgrim – What Really Happened in the Cornfield? – The Pilgrim – Portrait of a Bushman – the Pilgrim.
2. Khoisan
3. Sathima: Sathima – The Dream – Sathima (The Suite begins with a short quote from Ekuseni)
4. Khoisan
5. Next Stop Soweto
6. Bra Joe from Kilamnjaro: Bra Joe from Kilamnajaro – Gwidza – Bra Joe from Kilamanjaro
7. Tokai: Toaki – Ilanga – Oom Jakals – Kramat – Ilanga – Tokai.
Oom Jakkals is referred to as ‘Batavia’ in Lars Rasmussen’s discography. The song does contain the word ‘Batavia’ is more commonly known as ‘Oom Jakkals’ (Uncle Jackal).
Tracks 1 – 4 on SABC LT 15 377 / LT 15 378
Tracks 2 – 7 on SABC LT 15 379 / LT 15 380
Rasmussen Discography 29A and 29B
Link

13 comments:

Ben Ellis said...

wow, these look great, thanks! will wait til rapidshare's not so busy so I can grab these sets. looking forward to hearing them!

John B. said...

Lovely recordings. Some time ago I posted a similar recording at my blog:

http://likembe.blogspot.com/2007/11/abdullah-ibrahim-dollar-brand-live-at.html

Anonymous said...

Wonderful gift! Many thanks indeed. -- Murf

corvimax said...

thak you for this, any new Abdullah Ibrahim is welcome

bra robs said...

great, great, great, inspired sessions!
thank you

jannie hanepoot said...

Thanks, some absolute gems here. Any more info on who's playing on the Dollar sessions? Really enjoying Soul Giants (never knew about that!) and Spirits Rejoice which I've been looking for for ages.

fortherecord said...

Thanks all for the comments - sadly, no further info available on who else is playing on these sessions

Anonymous said...

@jannie hanepoot

dollar brand alone played on the 1970s session; all other instruments (saxophone, cello, perc. etc.) are overdubbed.

I think there are two separate issues of these, as SABC also did overseas transcription service radio pressings of them.

Nou Dadoun said...

The vocals are by Sathima Bea Benjamin I assume; thanks for these ... N

David Royko said...

So glad I found your page. Looking forward to hearing these sessions. One question -- I see that "Khoisan" appears twice in the second set, listed as both tracks 2 and 4, resulting in a listing of seven cuts. The file itself contains six tracks, with only Track 2 labeled as "Khoisan." I'm guessing the listing of the second version is simply a typo, but I just wanted to make sure.

Chris Albertyn said...

Thanks for leaving a comment David. The track-list I provide here is as I received it from Olivier. I am not sure your explanation is the only one. I will send Olivier a mail and ask if he can help. Regards - chris

Anonymous said...

Hi David,

Your comment is due to my mistake: in fact, it really is a 7 track record, but track 2 is "Khoisan" + "Sathima".
So, track 3 is "Khoisan" (bis repetitat as latinists say, and I just checked), track 4 is "New Stop Soweto",track 5 is "Bra Joe Kimimanjaro" and track 6 is "Tokai", the name of a little city near Cape Town.

Thanks Chris to make me listen once again to this wonderful side.

Olivier

David Royko said...

And thanks very much for the clarification.