Bona Bantu, as the cover so wonderfully reveals, consists of a compilation of tracks previously released as 78 rpms on Trutone's Envee, Winner and Quality labels and probably range in date from around 1958 to roughly 1962. Notably the album was pressed in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) but almost all tracks are by South African artists.
The vast majority of the tunes are kwela-based featuring amongst others Abia Themba as well as the Elite Swingsters' Albert Ralulimi and Christopher Songxaka. Betty Khoza also contributes two excellent Zulu vocal jives with Nellie Shabalala, Khosi Bayeni and Tiny Gumede. According to Rob Allingham, Khoza led this popular Durban-based all-female vocal quartet and subsequently most of the group's records were credited to her. Check out also the sounds effects department in action on Frans Mudau's Radio Announces Kwela.
Short this is... please enjoy!
BONA BANTU (c1962)
Quality, Trutone
LTJ 211
1. KID ZORRO
Bona Bantu (Quality, TJ 314)
2. ALBERT RALULIMI, CHRISTOPHER SONGXAKA
Chisa Chisa (TJ Quality Special, TJ 580)
3. JUNIOR EXQUISITES
Tornado Twist (Winner, OK 095)
4. ABIA THEMBA & HIS RHYTHM
Stand By (Envee, NV 3363)
5. ABIA THEMBA & HIS RHYTHM
eZoo Kwela (Envee, NV 3363)
6. JUNIOR EXQUISITES
Lucky Strike (Winner, OK 095)
7. ALBERT RALULIMI, CHRISTOPHER SONGXAKA
Fakisa (TJ Quality Special, TJ 580)
8. FRANS MUDAU
Baby Uya Sphaza (TJ Quality Special, TJ 606)
9. BETTY KHOZA, KHOSIE BAYENI, NELLIE SHABALALA, TINY GUMEDE
Kudala Ngiboshiwe (Envee, NV 3408)
10. FRANS MUDAU
Radio Announces Kwela (TJ Quality Special, TJ 606)
11. KID ZORRO
Jewish Times (Quality, TJ 314)
12. BETTY KHOZA, KHOSIE BAYENI, NELLIE SHABALALA, TINY GUMEDE
Enyageni (Envee, NV 3408)
absolutely cannot get enough kwela lately, this is so good, thanks
ReplyDeleteGreat Stuff! thanks for the share.
ReplyDeletedonpiper
Super-great record! Now an essential component of my kwela collection.
ReplyDeleteYou say in the post that it's "a compilation of tracks previously released as 78 rpms on Trutone's Envee, Winner and Quality labels and probably range in date from around 1958 to roughly 1962...".
Since the album itself is from 1962 (most likely), I'm dating each track as being from 1962, but I was wondering if you knew the exact release date of the original 78rpm version of each song? If it's too much effort, don't bother, but since you give the label and record number for each release, I thought you might be able to figure out the dates easily. If not, no problem, I'll just go with 1962, even though some might be from a few years earlier. As you can tell, I really like to nail down the exact release date of every song I have! I'm particularly interested in The Junior Exquisites and Kid Zorro.
Thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteSure, based on the 78 rpm matrix numbers that are visible on the cover of the LP I would estimate the dates are as such:
c1958 - TJ 580
1959 - TJ 606
c1960 - TJ 314
1962 - NV 3362
1962 - OK 095
1962 - NV 3408
Matrix numbers and catalog number for these records do not necessarily ascend uniformly together.
Hope this helps!
Siemon --
ReplyDeleteWow, that's great, really helpful. I have now fixed the release dates according to your new notations. Thanks!
The only remaining mystery is why Kid Zorro named a song after the Jewish Times (there really was a newspaper called the South African Jewish Times back in the early '60s -- I checked). I can only guess that he was playing pennywhistle on the streetcorner and named his new song after the first thing he saw -- the title of a paper in a newspaper rack. Essentially random, presumably!