Tetemuka Jive (1969)

Welcome to December on Electric Jive! In my humble opinion, there can be no better way to kick off the festive season than with a seriously large dose of the greatest South African sax jive. Tetemuka Jive, released on the Inkonkoni label in 1969, collects 12 of the best mbaqanga instrumentals (originally released as singles) of the last 12 months.

At the time of this album’s release, Mavuthela Music – Gallo Africa’s black music production facility headed by Rupert Bopape – had successfully solidified its position as the most dominant African record label in the industry. This success was initially generated by a number of popular recordings from a line-up of female singers, later to be known as the Mahotella Queens, together with groaner Mahlathini and the Makgona Tsohle Band. The triumvirate recorded a frankly astonishing amount of hit singles during the 1960s in addition to extensive tours across the country to fulfil demand – so it was inevitable that the formidable and shrewd Bopape sought to replicate the success by forming a number of junior bands to follow in their footsteps.

Tetemuka Jive spotlights a couple of the more successful instrumental combos that Bopape formed to capitalise on the success of Marks Mankwane and company – Abafana Bemvunge (Boys of the grapevine) and Abafana Bama Big Bag (Boys of big bags). On this album, both teams provide the instrumental accompaniment to some of Mavuthela’s great sax jivers including Sipho Bhengu, Jack Lerole and Lemmy Mabaso. There are also two other numbers provided by the premier house band, Makgona Tsohle, in conjunction with premier sax jiver West Nkosi. This LP was the first issued on the Inkonkoni label, then the latest in a long line of Mavuthela labels (Motella, Gumba Gumba, C.T.C. Star Record, Smanje Manje… and so on). Though the term has since been adapted for other uses by the younger generation, ‘inkonkoni’ was at the time the straightforward Zulu term for 'wildebeest'.

It’s rare to come across an album of this style and vintage and find that every single track is nothing less than amazing. But I must admit to having a few personal favourites. “Tetemuka” (“Cruise along”) echoes some of the other sax jive singles of the decade including “Jive Mojikisa” and “Ice Cream and Suckers”, but this one must have been successful enough to warrant its appearance here as the title track and a follow-up recording, “Tetemuka No. 2”, from Izingane Zomgqashiyo (available on Indoda Mahlathini, Motella LMO 110). Big Voice Jack’s four numbers on Tetemuka Jive make remarkable use of other musical styles including tango, ska and soul. Marks Mankwane’s jive-tastic “Marks Special” started a huge craze and, with West Nkosi on alto sax and the rest of the Makgona Tsohle Band backing them up, he proceeded to record as many follow-up singles as possible over the next couple of years. But Marks’ “Pheladi” (“daughter-in-law”) is my absolute favourite and one can quite clearly hear the infectious beat eventually stir the band members up into a musical tizzy.

A huge, huge thanks to Manzo Khulu for providing the translations here.

Readers please stay tuned to Electric Jive this month for your usual end-of-year mixture of musical treats. I hope this one starts the party with an absolute bang! Enjoy!

TETEMUKA JIVE

VARIOUS

produced by Rupert Bopape

Inkonkoni LNKO 2000

1969

Sax Jive

MF

Game 1 - Game 2 (1970)

This isn't a groundbreaking album. But there is something quite attractive and endearing about it, from the striking cover art to the tasty, bouncy sounds gracing the grooves of this record. Like hundreds and hundreds of LPs released in South Africa during this particular era, Game 1 - Game 2 is a compilation of 12 songs from previously-released singles, comprising some of the best sax jive material of the last year. In other words - this is instrumental mbaqanga heaven.

The tunes on Game 1 - Game 2 are short, sweet and peppy - and why would one want anything more than that...? Alto saxophonist Sipho Bhengu launches the album on a bright and happy note, and he is joined immediately by the rest of the members of the Mavuthela studio band Abafana Bezimpalampala. "Inselelo" is a simple tune but, like every other song on the LP, very infectious. Bhengu, who recorded under such memorable pseudonyms as "Sammy Boy and His Sax", "Sipho and His Jets" and "Sammy Boy Nezimpisi", features in three other songs, including "Black Stick Soul", a lovely soul-type number with florid late-60s organ.

There's another soul-influenced tune on the LP, "Jungle Soul" (one of my personal favourites), as recorded by Joseph Makwela and His Comrades - yet another 'black music'-era smokescreen for the musicians of the Makgona Tsohle Band. For those wanting the sound of the original sax jive formula though, not to worry - there's plenty of that on Game 1 - Game 2, and it's seriously good stuff. Makwela and his Makgona Tsohle bandmates turn up again for "Umgqizibo", another 'little but big' tune. Marks Mankwane's hugely popular "Marks Special" series of songs isn't forgotten either, with No. 3 represented on this LP, featuring the sound of his legendary lead guitar alongside the groundbreaking Makwela on bass, the excellent (and often forgotten) Vivian Ngubane on rhythm guitar, and the rhythmic brilliance of Lucky Monama on drums.

...and speaking of Monama, let us not forget about the back-and-forth amazingness of "Phakama Masuku", a great number recorded by Lucky Monama and His Partners (yes, the Makgona Tsohle Band under yet another different name!)

There is one other tune, "Chumba", recorded by Reggie Msomi and His Hollywood Jazz Band - a fabulous number that shouldn't be missed.

Game 1 - Game 2 - a veritable melting pot of staple sax jives. Enjoy!

VARIOUS

GAME 1 - GAME 2

produced by Rupert Bopape

Smanje Manje LSJM 1002

1970

Instrumental

RS / MF

A Mavuthela Christmas - Part One

Christmas is almost upon us, and it would be somewhat unusual for Electric Jive not to welcome in the festive season without providing our readers with a hefty dose of mbaqanga. Therefore, I am proud to present the first of a two-part compilation entitled A Mavuthela Christmas. This is the fifth volume in my series charting the music of the Mavuthela Music Company, a series that began back in 2009 with a post on the Matsuli Music blog.

A Mavuthela Christmas – Part One pays tribute to the glue that held everything together. That glue was a tight unit of instrumentalists who not only provided beautiful musical backing for the vocal stars, but also created their own wonderful melodic hits. This compilation traces not only some of the most rhythmic sax jive recordings of the company, but also some of the unusual ventures into others music styles such as ska, soul, the keyboard-led marabi, and the mid-1970s “African Jazz” revival. All in all, this mixture of recordings provides something of a peek into what made the Mavuthela instrumental section the supreme, creative and talented powerhouse it was.

At Mavuthela’s start, the musical backing was provided mostly by former pennywhistle jive stars who had been forced to learn newer instruments – these included Jerry Mlotshwa on electric lead guitar, Lucky Monama and Jerry Mthethwa on acoustic rhythm guitar, Ben Nkosi on string bass and Wilfred Mosebi on drums. Reggie Msomi, who had been pushed out of his Gallo producing role when Rupert Bopape was recruited to start up the Mavuthela division, also provided electric guitar and saxophone harmonies. The early Mavuthela sax jive material made for pleasant listening, but it was nothing revolutionary, rather it was Bopape carrying on at Gallo from where he had left off at EMI. Thankfully, the Mavuthela team was boosted by the arrivals of three key individuals. These were Marks Mankwane on electric lead guitar, Joseph Makwela on electric bass and Vivian Ngubane on electric rhythm guitar. With their appointments, the new harder-edged mbaqanga sound became a staple of the industry. Mankwane, Makwela, Ngubane and Monama (now on drums, replacing Wilfred Mosebi) formed the nucleus of the new Mavuthela house band, which was later named the Makgona Tsohle Band in about 1965. Makgona Tsohle backed the company’s top artists including Mahlathini, the Mahotella Queens, the Mthunzini Girls, and many others, as well as the saxophone stars such as West Nkosi, Reggie Msomi, Spokes Mashiyane, Lemmy ‘Special’ Mabaso, Mario Da Conceicao and many others.

The Makgona Tsohle Band – West Nkosi combination was a popular one. The combination of elastic guitar rhythm with the screaming alto sax was irresistible to audiences of the day. The material was released across a number of different pseudonyms, including Marks Mankwane and His Band, West Nkosi and His Sax, Joseph Makwela and His Comrades or Lucky Monama and His Partners – usually depending on which member had composed the tune, or led the music in the recording. The name that gained currency was, of course, the Makgona Tsohle Band, a Sesotho term loosely translating to “the band that can do anything”. It was a literal statement, for the team could easily move from sax jive to soul or ska, infused with that classic Makgona Tsohle sound. All of these examples are represented in the compilation.

There was also a mushrooming collection of “junior” members who formed small bands and released some successful material. It was an active training ground to prepare them for the stardom they would encounter later in their careers at Mavuthela. Abafana Be Mvunge was a team of musicians that arose in the later 1960s, showcasing the best of the more second-tier members such as Nathaniel Mthembu on lead guitar (who later went to Hamilton Nzimande’s Isibaya Esikhulu team at CBS-GRC) and Sipho Bhengu on alto sax. It was an energetic session group, and their material was always extremely infectious and enjoyable. During the early 1970s, the Marabi Kings – who also recorded under the name Abafana Bamarabi – was another popular group comprised of more junior members like Marubini Jagome on lead guitar, Christian Nombewu on rhythm guitar, Sipho Mthethwa on bass and Eddie Ndzeru on drums. The Big Bag Boys, on the other hand, appeared to be a group that mixed musicians from right across the board. They were in fact named after a hugely successful 1967 single titled “Big Bag No. 1”, recorded by the Makgona Tsohle Band.

The Mavuthela instrumental team was lucky enough to be supported by Shadrack Piliso, a former trumpet player whose unique ear for music and talent for songwriting helped to create many, many pop hits for the company. He was the vocal arranger for most of the girl group material, and also came up with a lot of the melodies for sax jive songs. Piliso also contributed to recordings as a keyboard player when soul music became popular in South Africa, and his group – S. Piliso and His Super Seven – focused on creating indigenous cover recordings of American soul hits. He also worked up a brief “marabi revival” in the early 1970s, bringing the pedal organ into the Gallo studios and playing it alongside the guitar-led band. In 1975, when Mavuthela decided it needed to branch out into the bump jive sound already being made popular by the likes of producer David Thekwane over at Teal Records, Piliso became leader of the “African Jazz” group The Members, which also featured his younger brother Edmund ‘Ntemi’ Piliso on soprano/alto/tenor sax, Ellison Themba on tenor sax and Aaron Lebona on piano, alongside Lemmy 'Special' Mabaso on alto sax and Roger Xezu on tenor sax - all backed by younger blood such as Boxer Kheswa on rhythm guitar, Jerry Mlotshwa on bass guitar and Zeph Khoza on drums.

A Mavuthela Christmas – Part Two will be posted later in the week, and will focus on classic female and male vocal jive recordings. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this mixed bag of instrumental goodies. Many of them are simply beautiful pieces of works, and all are a complete joy to listen to.

Enjoy!

A MAVUTHELA CHRISTMAS – PART ONE

COMPILED BY NICK LOTAY

VOLUME 5.1

1. Compliments of the Season

Reggie Msomi and His Hollywood Jazz Band

Gallo-USA 282

1964

*Courtesy of Chris Albertyn

2. Molodi Wabadisa

Marks Mankwane and His Band

Gallotone GB 3664

1967

3. July Handicap

West Nkosi and His Sax

Gallo-USA 358

1967

4. Shintsha Zulu

Abafana Be Mvunge

Inkonkoni NKO 7-2

1968

5. Marks Reggi

Makgona Tsohle Band

Inkonkoni LNKO 2001

1969

FROM THE LP "MAKGONA TSOHLE REGGI" (1970)

6. Thula Umsindo

S. Piliso and His Super Seven

Mashalashala MSL 16

1971

7. Imbangi

Abafana Be Mvunge

Inkonkoni NKO 7-3

1968

8. Izonyosi

Big Voice Jack

Inkonkoni NKO 7-4

1968

9. Soul Track

Makgona Tsohle Band

Inkonkoni LNKO 2001

1969

FROM THE LP "MAKGONA TSOHLE REGGI" (1970)

10. Put It On

S. Piliso and His Super Seven

Mashalashala MSL 39

1972

11. Somewhere

Big Bag Boys

Inkonkoni LNKO 2001

1969

FROM THE LP "MAKGONA TSOHLE REGGI" (1970)

12. African Fingers

Sipho and His Jets

Soul Jazz Pop SOJ 91

1976

13. Tsikiza Jive

S. Piliso and His Super Seven

Soul Jazz Pop SOJ 74

1975

14. Mr. Big Face

Teaspoon Ndelu and His “T” Boys

Mashalashala MAS 2009

1973

15. Sweet Water

Sipho Mthethwa and His Friends

Up Mavuthela UPM 814

1973

16. Speedy Man

West Nkosi and His Mouth Organ

Inkonkoni NKO 68

1971

17. Inkalakatha

Makgona Tsohle Band

Inkonkoni LNKO 2001

1969

FROM THE LP "MAKGONA TSOHLE REGGI" (1970)

18. Esigodlweni

Marabi Kings

Polydor POL 305

1972

*Courtesy of Chris Albertyn

19. Veza Mvelase

Abafana Be Mvunge

Inkonkoni NKO 7-3

1968

20. Roll Away

Big Voice Jack

Inkonkoni NKO 7-4

1968

RS / MF