James Brown certainly reached South Africa –
and is found reflected in this recording in the mood, energy and Philip Mallela’s vocals to match! It really is a thrill for me to share this
gem of a recording with you today, the Flaming Souls’ debut album – thanks to
Electric Jive visitor and Facebook friend Kataquomb Braka for sharing. Note: a new mint copy of the album has found its way to me and has now been digitised. If you downloaded the previous version with the skip in "She's Gone" - try the new version available from the link at the bottom of this post.
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| Band-leader Simon Jika Twala |
One flame that adds impetus to Electric
Jive’s archiving energies is always the potential that someone is
going to pop up and say, “hey, did you know about this one?”
Alexandra
Township – also known as Dark City – has been the
fountain from which many of South Africa’s musical legends have emerged: The
Piliso brothers, Zacks Nkosi, Lemmy Mabaso, Caiphus Semenya, and then as the
root of soul, starting with “The Anchors” – check them out here. The Movers also hailed from Alex.
Writing in the Sowetan newspaper (2nd
November, 2012) on the occasion of band-leader Simon "Jika" Twala’s passing, Victor Mecoamere
records that this here album sold 75,000 copies in South Africa. It is further
documented that the Flaming Souls played an important community building role
in Alexandra, raising funds to
improve local schools and clinics.
Follow-up albums are
reported as “Soul
Time” and “Alex Stew”. Electric Jive does have “Alex Soul Menu” which you can
find here. Does anyone out there have any other recordings?
You
can find “Soul Time” with the Flaming Souls over at Soul Safari - here.
And
if you have not heard it yet – “Soul Bandit” from Almon Memela’s AM Stragglers
is another important milestone in this genre - here.
From Ray Nkwe’s liner
notes:
“It was nearly one
Sunday morning when I arrived home from a whole-night jazz gig exhausted and
tired and all that jazz. I asked my wife not to disturb me while I took a nap. When
I work up late that afternoon she told me that The Flaming Souls had been to
see me, but they did not want to disturb me while I was resting. Without saying
a word I called out for my daughter, but instead of her answering to the call,
her mother said “SHE’s GONE”.
“What do you mean
she’s gone?”, I asked.
“Well, she left with
The Flaming Souls. You know she’s in love with The Souls, now she’s gone with
them to Mafolo Hall for an afternoon show,” was her answer.
“Oh I dig baby, I dig.
So my girl is gone with The Flaming Souls.” I said. “I’ll see that something is
done about it.”
After a few days I met
Herman Fox, The Soul’s lead guitarist. I told him what had happened the Sunday
when they went to Mafolo Hall via my house, and the answer I got from my wife
when I called my daughter. He laughed.
“She’s gone”, he repeated. “Well soul brother, I shall surely write a song about
that. “She’s gone”, and I am sure
you’ll like it,” he said.
That was the birth of
this outstanding album by the Fabulous Flaming Souls. The first non-white group
of southern African that introduced Soul Music in LIVE PERFORMANCES. So they
can easily be referred to as Pioneers of
Soul.
About the music. Surely you can feel its SOULFULNESS yet MELLONESS.
Take a song like SOUL WORLD, more
especially when she’s gone. This time not my daughter but the one you so dearly
LOVE. Then we move to the outskirts of town, Mexico. There we meet women in
colourful dresses and men with big sombreros, dancing to the soulful music
played on guitars and bongo drums. How sweet SACRAMENTO is.
About the music makers. In the
year 1964, a young man by the name of Simon Twala had a brainwave which
resulted in the formation of a group called The Anchors, whose members were six
other Alexandra Township lads, Herman Fox, Ezrom Kgomo, Phillip Malela, Abram
Rapoo, Gerard Khoza, and Collins Mashigo.
The group played
together for four years and then there was a split. Simon then formed the now
known Flaming Souls. These Fabulous Flaming Souls were formed in February 1968
and, Oh Boy ... since then soul has been the talk of the town. In other words
Alexandra Township is the home of soul greats a la South Africa. Today, the
whole country is full of soul groups.
Ray Nkwe
President, Jazz
Appreciation Society of South Africa.
Cover photo: Alf
Khumalo
Liner Photos: Dave
Diale
Producer: Ray Nkwe
Recorded 2nd and 10th June 1969 at the Johannesburg studios of Audio Kine Africa.
Simon
Twala - Leader/ Bass Guitar; Gerard
Khoza - Organ & Drums; Kenneth
Mosito - Organ; Herman
Fox - Lead
Guitar; Phillip Mallela – Vocals & Drums.
Mediafire NEW CLEAN download here
Here is another important (and great) record in the slowly emerging picture of South Africa's under-documented "Soul" history. Nineteen Sixty-Nine was the year where it all ignited - with at least five locally produced LPs - two from the Flaming Souls (and another in 1970), two from The Beaters, and one from Almon Memela ... and we are still counting.
"The Anchors" and "Almon Memela" appear to have got the ball rolling, with both their recordings being the either the first or second vinyls pressed by the subsequently successful City Special and Giant labels respectively.
