Changing gear during a glorious long-weekend afternoon in Durban, it must be time for some sunny and sumptuous mbaqanga disco jive from "The Zombies".
While we make final preparations to share another long sought-after gem of an album next week (Kon and Amir sampled a tune from it) - herewith thirty minutes of some feel-good upbeat sounds.Knowing nothing about this polished band I soon learnt it was quite pointless to search "The Zombies" on the internet.
Lively and interesting rhythm and lead guitars, male vocal harmonies that may or may not include Willie and Paul. Rubbery base bouncing around crisp stick-work .... no synthesisers!!.
Produced by the ever-present David Thekwane, the Zombies recorded in Johannesburg on the 29th November 1979. Composer credits go to Bethwell Bhengu - guitarist, bassist and sometime groaner for an array of mbaqanga bands during the '70s. As recounted in Louise Meintjes' excellent 'Sound of Africa', Bethwell performed with Banana City Queens, Amataitai, Jive Boys, The Movers, Abathakathi, and Isigqi Sesimanjemanje among countless others. He also briefly worked with Almon Memela (Thanks Nick for the details).
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Thanks for this one Chris.
ReplyDeleteThe composer is Bethwell Bhengu - guitarist, bassist and sometime groaner for an array of mbaqanga bands during the '70s. As recounted in Louise Meintjes' excellent 'Sound of Africa', Bethwell performed with Banana City Queens, Amataitai, Jive Boys, The Movers, Abathakathi, and Isigqi Sesimanjemanje among countless others.
He also briefly worked with Almon Memela - a nice link to recent EJ postings!