Funny Thing: Ensemble of Rhythm and Art (1977)

Now here’s a ‘Funny Thing’ ... top-drawer musicians, whose core was no doubt drawn from Soweto’s Pelican Club House Band – playing up a funky 70s afro-jazz storm on Mavuthela’s Soul Jazz Pop label, produced by the legendary West Nkosi, but absolutely no band credits, other than to composer Simon Serakoeng aka Baba Themba Mokoena, the lead guitarist featured on Dick Khoza's "Chapita".

Themba Mokoena at the
Rainbow Restaurant, Pinetown - 2011

Take the banks of layered horns and tight rhythms from “Chapita”, the intricate keyboard and arranging sensibilities of “The Drive” and “Abacothozi,” sprinkle a little dash of “The Movers” tending only ever so slightly towards disco, put in a blender, hit the switch, and voila, you have “Ensemble of Rhythm and Art” – an 'ensemble' who seems only to have existed to produce this once-off gem of a record.

In addition to his strong afro-jazz guitar pedigree at the Pelican Club, Mokoena  is referenced as one of South Africa's finest mbaqanga guitar players by Calabash. Calabash go on to say the following:
"Simon Baba Mokoena was born at Umkumbane in Durban in the late '40. He started making music at the age of 12, playing a home-made guitar made from a five-liter oil container. At 17, he picked up his brother's acoustic guitar and has never looked back. Baba's first gig was with a group called Mhlathi and His Comets, whom he stayed with for four years. Next he met Dick Khoza, a jazz drummer. They formed a small jazz group with Pat Matshikiza on piano and Victor Gaba on bass, playing gigs around Durban.

After two years Baba left the group and went to Johannesburg to play mbaqanga, because he had always wanted to play African music. He played for a group called Izintombi Zamangwane. This was followed by guitar work on Gibson Kente's musicals Sikhalo and How Long.

Yours truly with Themba Mokoena at the
Rainbow Restaurant in Pinetown last year -
Getting an autograph on "Chapita" -
pic by Cedric Nunn

Baba joined the resident band at the Pelican Night Club, playing with Winston "Mankunku" Ngozi and Khaya Mahlangu, to name but a few. This stint at the Pelican was a chance to explore different kinds of music — mbaqanga, jazz and rhythm and blues — and to meet names like American jazz organ player Jimmy Smith and U.S. group The Realistic." Calabash go on to describe how Mokoena toured Europe with "Township Fever" and continued to enrich the music of artists such as Mbongeni Ngema and Madala Kunene.

In addition to Baba Mokoena on lead guitar, as to who else is actually’ playing on this great album, we cannot say with certainty – but the Electric Jive team members have had fun listening and tossing ideas around. We all agree, “Pelican regulars ..”. Matt and Nick are pretty sure that West Nkosi’s sax is to be heard, along with Dennis Mpale’s trumpet. Nick wonders about one or both the Piliso brothers, pointing out they were “certainly very active in soul-jazz-pop sessions at the time"? Anyone have any other suggestions?

 For those album cover lovers among you – another Zulu Bidi artwork – see and listen also here for "Night at Pelican". As the ace bass player for Batsumi, Zulu Bidi also did the Batsumi cover, at least two for the Makhona Zonke Band, and one Mpharanyana and the Cannibals (Zion), as well as this 1975 “Reggae Man” cover.

Matt has put up excerpts from the BBC doccie on Zulu Bidi here - “Life and Death in Soweto” here.

Funny Thing: Ensemble of Rhythm and Art

Soul-Jazz-Pop BL110

Recorded 25^th July 1977.

Produced by West Nkosi

Engineer: Glen Pearce

 

Side 1

The Dustbin

Funny Thing

Side 2

Pelican Fantasy

Hello There

Rapidshare here

Mediafire here

Saitana - Baby Don't Go (1976)

Saitana (Monty Mdimande) was an original member of the "monkey jive" or "Soweto soul" group The Beaters. He is pictured above in an early publicity shot with Selby Ntuli, Alec Khaoli and Sipho Mabuse. Some examples of their early organ-led material can be found on this earlier posting.

1976 saw the band achieve overwhelming popular appeal in the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and as a result the band changed their name to Harari - after the "blacks-only" township of Harare. But tensions in the group were rising. This saw Saitana depart Harari during 1976 and record the album Baby Don't Go followed by Jenakuru a few years later. With clear reference to their success in Zimbabwe the lead track on the Baby Don't Go album is Rufaro - a suburb of Harare. But the full story of his departure is still not clear.

This YouTube clip interviewing Masike "Funky" Mohapi explores the early days of Harari.


Rashid Vally recalls the recriminations between the members of Harari and Saitana's desire to follow his own dream of stardom. And so today we share with you his first solo album. His second and arguably stronger album - Jenakuru - mines his love of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. A proper commercial reissue of Jerankuru has been under discussion from a long time but without any clear indication of a release date as yet.


Saitana - Baby Don't Go (JAS Pride BL98)
1. Rufaro
2. Baby Don't Go
3. My Pretty Thing
4. Soweto
5. The Disco
6. So Lucky
7. Maroaches Are Back
ENJOY
MF / RS

The Brothers - Khwezi Station No.7 (1976)

Today I am having a lazy afternoon watching the sunset over Johannesburg and listening to The Brothers perform Khwezi Station No.7. This is one of those albums that has sat on my "current" record shelf in a stash of interesting items for the better part of two years.

This great 1976 recording features four extended up-tempo tracks produced by David Thekwane that most definitely come out of the bump jive tradition. Certainly the opening track, Special Job, has glimpses of Abdullah Ibrahim's 1974 classic Mannenburg.

It is not clear to me whether The Brothers have any relation to the later group of the same name featuring Tete Mbambisa, Duke Makasi and Victor Ntoni, that recorded for Rashid Vally's Roots label fourteen years later in 1990. Having not heard the later I can't say, but if you recognize a connection drop us a line.

Put this album in your car... this is great road music!

THE BROTHERS
Khwezi Station No.7
Up Up Up
UPL 5012

A Tribute to Joyce Mogatusi

Electric Jive today honours a veteran of the South African music industry, an individual whose distinctive voice and emphatic leadership helped to define the sound of the female harmony group of early-1960s South Africa – Joyce Mogatusi, the lead vocalist of the Dark City Sisters, who passed away this month. Mogatusi’s death comes almost exactly one month after the passing of Rupert Bopape, the prolific producer who founded the group that she subsequently led for more than five decades.

Mogatusi was more than just a talented vocalist; she was the driving force behind the Dark City Sisters. Her very keen ear ensured that the resultant recording featured nothing but perfect female harmony, a delightful amalgamation of four to five voices to create a lush and smooth sound. It was this sound that became the Sisters’ trademark, a sound that was developed almost as soon as Mogatusi joined the group the year after it was formed.

Initially formed of a band of session singers that included Francesca Ngubeni, Nunu Maseko and Kate Olene, the Dark City Sisters began life as rough-and-ready recording act. Their sound deviated wildly from the tender vocals of their nearest rivals, the established Skylarks led by Miriam Makeba over at Gallo, instead preferring a more boisterous and animated singing style. Their sound was a key part of the development of what was later called “mbaqanga”, a shift that signalled the end of the jazz and swing-based sounds that had dominated the music scene heretofore. However, within about a year or two, the sound of the Dark City Sisters had changed to focus on well-blended close harmony. Key to this was the recruitment of several new singers including Irene Nhlapo, Hilda Mogapi, Grace Msika and, most significantly, Molepolole-born Joyce Mogatusi. 22-year old Mogatusi was recruited to EMI by Rupert Bopape in 1959 and was immediately ensconced within the female vocalists team at the company, recording songs in rotating line-ups under such famous names as the Killingstone Stars, the Flying Jazz Queens and – of course – the Dark City Sisters. Mogatusi possessed an amazingly well developed, delicately sweet voice that early on helped to develop an image for the latter pseudonym. By 1964, the Sisters had become the most popular female group in South Africa – and a large part of this success can be attributed to the vocal talents of Mogatusi and her ability to lead the team of women in joyous song. Mogatusi was far from someone who just turned up for the rehearsals and the recording sessions – she soaked up the talents and skills of those around her (Almon Memela, Aaron Lerole, Zacks Nkosi and Zeph Nkabinde) to nurture a prolific arranging and composing career.

The famous STARTIME album

Gradually, with the departure of Rupert Bopape from EMI (he joined Gallo and became the executive head of the new Mavuthela operation), Mogatusi assumed complete control of the Sisters. A magnificent talent for arranging harmonies helped to sustain the group’s popularity through the 1960s with the release of hundreds of singles, in spite of the rise of Bopape’s newly formed Mahotella Queens. Together with Grace Msika, Esther Khoza and Audrey Zwane, Mogatusi continued composing and leading the group until a brief disband in 1971. A yearn for music saw Mogatusi regroup with the ladies a mere two years later, returning to Bopape’s stable but under the wing of producer West Nkosi – by which time Mogatusi had married and given birth to two children. The Sisters were able to maintain some degree of success at Mavuthela and continued to record for the company until 1981, when they departed for a new producer and label. It could be that creative differences formed a part of their decision to move – West Nkosi had by now begun to reimagine the mbaqanga sound to cater for the changing tastes of the audience – as well as the lack of royalty payments. Now a trio (the other two members being the now-married Grace Moeketsi and new recruit Doris Ntuli), the Sisters joined Black Cat Productions – distributed by their old company, EMI – and producer Roxy Buthelezi. Another fallow period followed, during which Mogatusi returned to her domestic life to help raise her family.

Mogatusi made a return to West Nkosi at Mavuthela in 1984. She cut a solo album entitled Basadi Balla, a Tswana LP released under the name Joyce and The Shoe Laces (The Shoe Laces being West’s team of instrumental players). Mogatusi was the only vocalist on the album but was multi-tracked to create a smooth girl group harmony, a testament to her abiding and by now well-honed gift. With the explosion of international interest in the music of South Africa, it was perhaps inevitable that the Sisters would reunite to capitalise on this chance. Several original group members had since passed away, but Mogatusi reformed the group, together with Moeketsi, Ntuli and two new recruits, Caroline Kapentar and Emily Zwane, both of whom had spent the last twenty years in the Mahotella Queens (although Kapentar had had a brief spell in the Sisters during the mid-1960s). Zwane was to later depart but Mogatusi enlisted the talents of session veteran Isabel Maseko, and the quintet began to resume their live appearances.

JOYCE MOGATUSI and GRACE MOEKETSI,
circa 1997

Until recently the group had continued to make live appearances across the country, although not on the scale of some of their other musical counterparts such as the Soul Brothers and the Mahotella Queens. There were also a few new forays into recording in the post-apartheid era. The last major development in the history of the Dark City Sisters was the formation of the Musician Organisation of Gauteng (or “M.O.G.”) in 2006, led by Lulu Masilela, an outfit set up to challenge local promoters about the lack of live performances for veteran performers and groups.

Mogatusi was described as motherly and dedicated, and always encouraging. Her role was more than the face of the Dark City Sisters; she was the heart and soul of the group, she was determined to defeat the obstacles that the Sisters endured through the years, and she was a perfectionistic individual. The breadth of her talent was magnificent – from joyous celebration (“Searchers”, “Papadi Oyakae”), to soft, tender, lullaby-style (“Imphefumlo”, “Mafutsana”, “Lefu”), to plain-out expressive singing (“Umkhwekazi”, “Poppies”).

Electric Jive was only made aware of Mogatusi's passing following an internet search this week. The fact that such an iconic figure - indeed she was a legend of South Africa, one of the country's heroines - had lived quietly and peacefully for years speaks volumes about the ungrateful attitude of the media. A number of reporters stepped up to pay tribute to this great lady once news of her passing reached them. Where were the journalists when Mrs. Mogatusi was alive and well? Why did no-one even attempt to find this great lady, interview her and publish her amazing life story to the world? Such stories are sadly prevalent in today's South Africa. Legendary figures are left to fend for themselves once the public and media decides that their sound is no longer hip - and they are left to try to scramble together a secure income somehow. Mogatusi, noteworthily, advised her children and grandchildren to seek an education above anything else. Had she been born in the West, she would be as celebrated a figure as Aretha Franklin or Diana Ross.

Joyce Mogatusi died of heart failure on Saturday 14 July 2012, aged 75. She was buried in Ga-Rankuwa on Sunday 22 July. The world has lost a legend, but her memory will continue to live on in the hearts and minds of everybody who has and will continue to hear her music. We at Electric Jive are merely honoured to present some of her best recordings for you to enjoy.

A TRIBUTE TO JOYCE MOGATUSI

1. MOKUPI

2. PAPADI OYAKAE

3. MOYA WAMI UKHATHAZEKILE

4. UMTSHITSHIMBO

5. ISQWAYI

6. IMPHEFUMLO

7. KUSA KUSILE (MAPOPOTANE)

8. LETLAPA LABUTSOA

9. UMKHWEKAZI

10. EYA GA-RANKUWA

11. MEHLOLOHLOLO

12. MAFUTSANA

13. POPPIES

14. KGAREBE

15. EMANXIWENI

16. WABONAKALA

17. IKHUBALO

18. ZOLA

19. SEARCHERS

20. LEFU

RS / MF

Becoming Free In Cape Town (1967)

The quality of both the music and the audio reproduction on tape 39 of Ian Huntley's reel-to-reel recordings is something quite special. From the grooving twelve-bar blues of 'Hip Twitch' via "Good News" (the same composition made famous a few years later by Johnny Dyani and Dollar Brand) through to the free-jazz explorations in 'Always', this 83-minute eight-tune live set at The Art Centre in 1967 has four exceptional Cape Town musicians becoming more than the sum of their parts. It really is a pleasure to be able to share this previously unreleased recording with you.

Midge Pike
Pic: Ian Bruce Huntley

While I have billed this as 'The Morris Goldberg Quartet', I am not certain they were introduced in this way on the night. The original tape does have some low-res recording of Morris Goldberg in a thick 'Safrican' accent introducing one or two of the songs, including the second untitled number which he and Chris Schilder co-wrote.

Sensitively led by Goldberg on saxophone, Chris Schilder's playing on Richard Rodgers' 'Spring is Here' has beautiful contemplative echoes of the evocative1959 Bill Evans Trio recording of the same classic song - you can check out the Evans version here. Ian Huntley recalls Chris Schilder going through an intense phase of listening to Bill Evans. The same certainly applied to Midge Pike with respect to Scott LeFaro on bass. This particular recording puts me in a beautiful 'place', and even if Spring is not yet here, I believe in it.

I sometimes wonder how much the choice of playlist, the mood and interpretation of great songs like these were a conscious, talked through, response of these young musicians to the context that was Cape Town and South Africa in 1967? Or, at another level, did they choose to play what inspired them and just felt good or right? Ian Huntley recalls most of the musicians being very much focussed on producing good music. While growing apartheid oppression did put significant obstacles in the way of their musical goals, and specificaly on the lives of those musicians who were not classified as "European / White", their unity in music gave them the persistence to find ways of working around these barriers.

Ian recalls Chris Schilder becoming very agitated when new laws were promulgated making it nearly impossible for mixed bands to play for mixed audiences. "Chris got very upset and swore on the spot that he would never play for an all-white audience again, but he did eventualy relent on ocassions, with the support of musicians and some owners of venues who worked their own ways to bend the rules wherever possible. There were a number of venues that continued to enable mixed audiences, including the Zambezi in District Six, until the bulldozers knocked that down.

"Winston Mankunku was another musician who at times expressed great agitation at what apartheid was doing, and he would take it out in his performances with his screams, wails and squawks. There were few other viable avenues for protest at the time, they were focussed on their music and the most immediate choice was either to stay, or to go (leave the country)." Midge Pike (1973), Selwyn Lissack and Morris Goldberg did leave the country. Chris Schilder did not. Morris Goldberg returns often, most recently playing the 2012 Grahamstown Festival.

Selwyn Lissack provides a performance on these eight numbers that herald him as the world-class free-jazz drummer he became known for after he left South Africa. Check his monster solo out on track four.

Morris Goldberg and Chris Schilder at The Art Centre (1966)
Pic: Ian Bruce Huntley

If you have not yet acquainted yourself with Morris Goldberg's later recordings, do yourself the favour and visit the following postings on Electric Jive here and here. If you have missed the previous shares from the Ian Huntley Jazz Archive thread, you can find them here (Blue Notes) and here (Intro samples) and here (Mankunku).

Multiple demands this month limit the time I can spend researching and adding further info to do justice to this splendid recording. If anyone has further info, or comments, please do share them with us. I am collecting and collating as much historical information for a book a few of us are planning.

Morris Goldberg (saxophone), Chris Schilder (Piano), Midge Pike (bass), Selwyn Lissack (drums). Recorded live by Ian Bruce Huntley in stereo on a Tandberg Six reel-to-reel recorder with four microphones on stage.

1. Hip Twitch (7:33)
Mediafire here   Rapidshare here
2. Untitled (8:59)
Mediafire here    Rapidshare here
3. Good News (8:43)
Mediafire here Rapidshare here
4. Unknown title (anyone recognise it?) 16:09
Mediafire here Rapidshare here
5. Big George (10:07)
Mediafire here Rapidshare here
6. Blue Med (11:01)
Mediafire here Rapidshare here
7. Spring is Here (8:35)
Mediafire here Rapidshare here
8. Always (12:34)
Mediafire here Rapidshare here

Teta Lando - Independencia (Angola, 1975)

We sojourn once more outside South Africa to bring you one of the more significant recordings of Angola by Teta Lando, which was issued shortly after independence.

"1961 marks the year of the start of the struggle against colonial oppression. The people's desire for freedom spread through the countryside like bushfire. The grief and pain do not mean despair because the goal of independence was clear. This long play record launching CDA captures the chant and dress expression of an artist who is the voice of the people. The need to forget the harshness of the struggle and the joy of announcing victory is signalled. Teta Lando is devoted to the people, no-one better than he could sing Indepencencia." (translated from the original liner notes)

And from various sources on the web: Alberto Teta Lando (1948 – 2008) was born in Mbanza Congo, the capital city of Zaire Province in the north of the country. His music focused on Angolan identity, the country's civil war, the saudades (nostalgia, melancholy and longing) of Angolan exiles, as well as young love and family. He spoke and sung in both the Portuguese and Kikongo languages. Among his most well known songs were "Irmao ama teu irmao" ("Brother, Love Your Brother") and "Eu vou voltar" ("I Will Return"). He died in Paris, France, on 14 July 2008, after battling cancer. During the last several years of his life, he managed to re-unite a group of many Angolan musicians.

Teta Lando - Independencia (NALP6000)
1. FNLA - MPLA
2. Irmao Ama O Teu Irmao
3. Cecilia
4. Lulendo Mpaxi
5. Luvuvamo
6. Lembele Iembele
7. Angolano Segue Em Frente
8. Poto Poto Barro
9. Menina De Nove Anos
10. Pele Escura
Issued by Companha De Decca De Angola (CDA)
ENJOY! MF / RS

Mabel Mafuya on 78 rpm (1956 - 1960)

“Don’t let this picture fool you. It is the somber, dolorous and docile portrait of a lively bubbling brook of hep cat, Mabel Mafuya. The jazzingest twenty-four inch waist I’ve seen in a recording studio. And what can you get in a wiggly waggly twenty-four inch waist that heps and jives and dashes behind partition to rehearse the next verse in the middle of the recording session? Lots. You get her Troubadour AFC 353 that paints the grim grime of a miner’s life in jumping tones.” (Drum, February 1956, in Coplan)

David Coplan uses this fragment of Todd Matshikiza’s 1956 review in Drum magazine to illustrate Matshikiza’s style of “word jazz”. But the text also paints a wonderful portrait of a young Mabel Mafuya, who in the mid to late 1950s was one of South Africa’s top-selling jive vocalists. At Troubadour, Mafuya was only second to Dorothy Masuka, and in the mid to late 1950s Troubadour dominated the African market (with at times up to 75% of sales).

Mafuya in 1993 by Mike Mzileni

Remarkably very little material by this legendary artist has been available. To my knowledge, only one track — Nomathemba — has been reissued on CD. Moreover after searching the web, it appears that only two other tracks come up: one in the SAMAP archive, and the other, a late-career track at Soul Safari. In many ways the collection below of 26 songs spanning four years from 1956 to 1960, captures Mafuya at the peak of her singing career and is a unique and valuable window into a dynamic social period.

Mafuya’s destiny as a star seemed to be set in a fortuitous meeting, that Z.B. Molefe describes in A Common Hunger to Sing, when as a young teenager in Orlando she passed by her idol Dolly Rathebe. At that moment Rathebe happened to toss aside a half eaten apple. Mafuya picked it up and took a bite. In her interview with Molefe she recalls: “My mind and heart told me that if I bit that apple where the great Dolly had bitten, I would grow up and sing like her one day.”

That destiny was soon confirmed. While Mafuya was still a student at Orlando High School around late 1955 or early 1956 Cuthbert Matumba, producer and talent scout for Troubadour Records invited her to make some recordings at their studios. There she would soon rub shoulders with another of her idols, Dorothy Masuka, who would also became a mentor to her in those early days.

At Troubadour, Mafuya became one of the regular artists brought in to record not only her own compositions but also as a group and/or backing vocalist with a number of other artists including Dorothy Masuka, Dixie Kwankwa, Doris and Ruth Molifi, and Mary Thobei. The company had a roster of artists who rotated and recorded under a number of different pseudonyms and the groups Mafuya performed with included the Girl Friends, the Satchmo Serenaders, Starlight Serenaders, Starlight Boogies, the Starlight Singers, etc.

Mafuya appeared as a backing vocalist on a number of songs by Dorothy Masuka, notably one of my all-time favorite tunes, Five Bells, recorded September 3rd, 1956. But her career really took off with the hits Nomathemba and Hula Hoop recorded with her group the Green Lanterns that same year. Rob Allingham describes Nomathemba as her masterpiece in that the “song’s narrative of broken ties […] encapsulated the dislocating experience of rural-to-urban migrancy for many township residents.” (CD liner notes, History of Township Music)

Interestingly, Nomathemba has been at the center of a recent legal battle over copyright between Sting Music and Gallo Records. A song called Nomathemba was used in the stage production Umoja. Gallo claimed that it was originally released by Ladysmith Black Mambazo on their debut LP in 1973. The plaintiff claimed that the song was traditional, free of copyright and pointed to a number of earlier examples including Mafuya’s 1956 version. That version was written by Zachariah Moloi, one of the Green Lanterns, but is not clear to me whether the song is the same as that composed by Joseph Shabalala. Read more about the court case in the Sowetan.

The social references in Mafuya’s Nomathemba were typical of a number of her songs from this period. In fact, where other record companies shied away from political or social content, Troubadour openly embraced it. Matumba often encouraged critical or topical commentary in the recordings during this period, and despite visits by the Police "Special Branch," remarkably the owners of Troubadour did not temper the activity.

Troubadour was initially founded in 1951 by three and then later two Jewish businessmen, Morris Fagan and Israel Katz. Their approach was to focus on material that appealed to working class urban blacks, a market that was going through quite a renaissance in the 1950s. Still, the political environment in South Africa at this time was particularly turbulent. Sophiatown, one of the key centers of cultural production for a multi-racial community, had just been dismantled in February 1955 by the apartheid government, making way for a new white area soon to be called Triopf. The Treason Trial had begun after 156 people including Nelson Mandela were arrested in December of 1956. Nevertheless, music that carried a political message was able to get through to the public, either by record sales or less frequently by way of the rediffusion service, a cable based radio system available to blacks in some townships. This of course was the case until the Sharpeville massacre of March 1960, which resulted in a severe increase in censorship and self-censorship of political content.

The compilation of Mafuya tunes below opens with a 1956 track Regina, a homage dedicated to Regina Brooks, a white woman who had been arrested under the immorality act for having a child with a black policeman. In 1955 Brooks became controversial after she asked to be re-classified as coloured (or mixed-race) in order that she could live in Orlando, Soweto (some sources have it as Dube) with her husband, Sergeant Richard Kumalo, and child. Drum photographer, Bob Gasani captures Brooks and her child, Thandi, in this 1955 image sourced from the Bailey Archives. Read more about the story at IOL.

Regina Brooks and Thandi in 1955 by Bob Gasani (Bailey Seipel Gallery)

Mafuya’s homage to individual heroes was also not unique in the case of Regina Brooks. After the suicide of Ezekiel ‘King Kong’ Dlamini on April 3rd, 1957, Mafuya and her Troubadour colleague Mary Thobei immortalised the boxing legend in their song King Kong Oshwile Ma. Unfortunately friends and family of the boxer interpreted the song as a mockery and subsequently both Thobei and Mafuya were badly beaten by his supporters one day at the Jeppe Railway Station — an assault severe enough to land Mafuya in Johannesburg General Hospital. (Molefe, Coplan) Before his suicide, Dlamini had been sentenced to prison for murdering his girlfriend and later became the subject of the famed musical King Kong in 1959.

Thobei in 1993 by Mike Mzileni

At Troubadour, topical issues of the day were reported upon, sang about, recorded and out in the public often within 24 hours of an event. The company had a pressing plant in the same building as their recording studio and this along with some key marketing skills by Matumba (for example he used a mobile-unit to test new recordings at railway stations and other public venues), made turnover rapid and the company unrivalled by its competitors. In many ways Troubadour operated like a news service or as Mary Thobei refers to it: “We had our own ‘Special Branch,’ a sort of bush telegraph, and as a result we knew in advance what would happen in our communities, be it social or political.” (Molefe) This is also most apparent at the beginning of some records, which open with the announcement: “News in Record…” or “This is the Troubadour Daily News…”

Azikhwelwa (We will not ride), a kwela tune by the Alexandra Casbahs, is attributed to Mafuya and Thobei and operates as a form of news item alerting people to the bus boycott of 1957 in Alexandra. Thobei opens the tune saying: “Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it was on Monday morning, the 7th of January, 1957 when everybody was shouting Azikhwelwa…” The bus boycott had been implemented by residents of Alexandra against the Public Utility Transport Corporation (more commonly known as PUTCO) over a rate hike of 4 to 5 pence. This spontaneous action lead to the formation of the Alexandra People’s Transport Action Committee (APTAC). Of course, during apartheid in South Africa, blacks were segregated into townships that were some distance from city centers and places of work and thus bus and train were, for many, primary modes of transport. Rate hikes would deeply affect every household’s bottom-line. With the boycott, residents chose other forms of transport to get to and from work, but most walked the 30km roundtrip journey. At its peak, 70,000 residents refused to ride the local buses and the action also spread to other townships including Newclaire and Mamelodi. The boycott lasted for at least three months and was only finally resolved on April 1st, 1957, when the 4 pence rate was restored. The protest drew the daily attention of the South African press and is generally recognized as one of the few successful political campaigns of the apartheid era. Read more about the campaign at Dan Mokoyane’s Blog here and more here.

 Sourced from SAHO (Drum Photographer, Bailey Archives)

Likewise the track Asikhathali (We never get tired) by Ruth Molifi and the Starlight Singers opens with this annoucement: “This is the Troubadour Daily News! Many People are going to meetings everyday in Sophiatown and Alexandra. Some shout Azikhwelwa and some shout Ziyakhwelwa. It would be too cold to walk in winter. This is the song the people sing when they go to meetings… Asikhathali…” As Rob Allingham reveals, the tune features sisters Ruth and Doris Molifi, Mabel Mafuya and Mary Thobei on vocals with Cuthbert Matumba as ‘groaner.’ Thobei has an additional monologue where she states: “We don’t care if we are arrested. But we want our freedom. So pray people of Africa. We want our freedom.” Marks Mvimbe while coughing in the tune also moans “We are suffering going to meetings.” (Allingham)

Asikhathali is a classic of the struggle and this 1957 track probably marks the first time that it was recorded. Do a search for the term on YouTube and you will find many later renditions of the song, some professional, some really informal. Notable versions can be viewed here and here.

Other political classics by Mafuya include the tracks Cato Manor and Beer Halls, probably both recorded late in 1959 or very early in 1960. Cato Manor opens with a whistle that emulates the opening pitch of a radio broadcast and Mafuya announces “Zulu… Zulu… This is Durban Calling… This is Durban Calling…” (Similar to the opening broadcast of the day on radio.) “Women are fighting in Durban. They don’t want their men to drink in Beer Halls…” On the surface the song appears as a feminist critique, but rather it is a call to action against the government.

Cato Manor was the official name of an area that become home to a vibrant, informal settlement just outside Durban. To the local resident Cato Manor was known as Mkhumbane. Read more about the place and Todd Matshikiza’s 1960 musical of the same name here at Electric Jive.

The Durban City Council had long established a revenue system of selling alcohol to the black population exclusively through a series of beerhalls. The acquiring of alcohol from sources other than these official beerhalls was declared illegal for black South Africans and the residents of Cato Manor resented such control over what had been regarded as a tradition. Illegal brewing developed as a result, and in response the South African authorities regularly raided what were considered to be illicit businesses and made numerous arrests. Protests at such police action resulted and often led to violent clashes.

A nervous Durban City Council issued a proclamation in June 1958 to relocate inhabitants from Cato Manor to the more distant regions of Umlazi, Chatsworth and the newly developed township of Kwa Mashu. In 1959 the City Council declared Cato Manor a white zone under the Group Areas Act and in June began the process of forcibly moving residents.

At this time a response to the increased liquor raids in Cato Manor put into play a series of actions that soon spiraled into significant violence. It began on July 17, 1959 when a group of women gathered at the Cato Manor beerhall, threatening the men drinking there with sticks. This same group of women then proceeded to attack the central beerhall in Durban and a boycott of the beerhalls began. On July 18th, the following day, 3000 women gathered around the Cato Manor beerhall, and while clashing with police, set it on fire. It is significant to point out that these grievances were not over moral issues around the use of liquor, but rather the control of its production and sale. After more raids on January 23rd (some have it in early February) of 1960, an angry mob killed nine policemen at the Cato Manor Police Station.

In the song Beer Halls Mafuya announces in English: “They say do not buy potatoes! Do not eat fish and chips!” probably referring to the boycott of food items that were sold at beerhalls.

At Troubadour other political themes were tackled, most famously Dorothy Masuka’s song Dr. Malan with a line that translates as “Dr. Malan has difficult laws.” Allingham in the liner notes to the Masuka CD suggests that this marked the first occasion that an actual political leader was cited in a critical song. The disc sold well and was even played over the rediffusion service, but eventually the Special Branch came to the company requesting the master-tape and remaining copies. Fagan, the co-owner of the company had misleadingly claimed that he thought the song was a praise song for Malan. Records were confiscated but Fagan was able to hold on to the master recording. Ultimately Fagan and Katz did little with Police intimidation and remarkably continued to give Matumba significant latitude over content with Troubadour's ‘African’ catalogue.

Although Troubadour was bringing in significant sales, Allingham points out, that the technical quality of the actual product was quite poor when compared to the other major competitors. Still the studio was able to maintain an edge by using some unorthodox policies. For example it was well known that musicians under contract with rival companies were welcome to record, under-the-table, with pseudonyms if they needed cash. Many took advantage of this grey approach including Kippie Moeketsi, Ntemi Piliso and others. Sadly, none of the recording ledgers have survived and very few songs can be accurately dated with the full personal. (Allingham)

The company’s fall was as dramatic as its rise. After Matumba died in a car accident in May 1965, Troubadour began a rapid decline and by 1969 they were completely consumed by Gallo and ceased to exist.

Mafuya’s own singing career was severely affected after a botched thyroid operation in 1957. But still she was able to perform and towards the end of the decade formed a group with Thobei and Thandeka Mpambane known as the Chord Sisters. In 1958 the group was encouraged to join the King Kong crew and Mafuya played a small acting role in the classic 1959 play. After that success she was invited to travel with the cast to London and stayed there for a year. Mafuya eventually returned to South Africa and continued with her acting career. She would later perform in the hit TV sitcom Velaphi.

While her singing career turned out to be quite short, Mafuya was nevertheless prolific and the tracks featured below reveal just a small part of her excellent output during a turbulent but also dynamic time. For a provisional discography of Mafuya visit flatint.

Postscript: Mafuya in her 1993 interview with Molefe, laments over the fragmentation of the music tradition in South Africa: “The young sisters nowadays seem to have no idea of where they come from. They don’t know us. But who can blame them. Nobody told them about us.” (Molefe)


MABEL MAFUYA ON 78 RPM
(1956 - 1960)
(Flat International / Electric Jive, FXEJ 9)

01) MABEL MAFUYA AND HER GIRLFRIENDS
Regina - 1956 (Matumba, Troubadour, AFC 364, RSA)
02) MABEL MAFUYA AND HER GIRLFRIENDS
Baba - 1956 (Matumba, Troubadour, AFC 364, RSA)
03) MABEL MAFUYA AND THE SATCHMO SERENADERS
Tsili - 1956 (Monamoeli, arr. Mafuya, Troubadour, AFC 387, RSA)
04) MABEL MAFUYA AND THE SATCHMO SERENADERS
Satchmo Special - 1956 (Monamoeli, arr. Mafuya, Troub., AFC 387)
05) MABEL MAFUYA AND THE SATCHMO SERENADERS
Khumbula - 1957 (Mafuya, Troubadour, AFC 416, RSA)
06) MABEL MAFUYA AND THE SATCHMO SERENADERS
Woza Skanda Mayeza - 1957 (Mafuya, Troubadour, AFC 416, RSA)
07) MABEL MAFUYA
Bumba Lo Ntsimbi - 1957 (Mafuya, Troubadour, AFC 417, RSA)
08) MABEL MAFUYA
Ungibalele - 1957 (Mafuya, Troubadour, AFC 417, RSA)
09) MABEL MAFUYA AND THE STARLIGHT BOOGIES
Heyta! - 1957 (Mafuya, Troubadour, AFC 427, RSA)
10) MABEL MAFUYA AND THE STARLIGHT BOOGIES
Kehlela - 1957 (Mafuya, Troubadour, AFC 427, RSA)
11) ALEXANDRA CASBAHS
Azikhwelwa - 1957 (Mafuya, Thobei, Troubadour, AFC 429, RSA)
12) ALEXANDRA CASBAHS
Alexandra Special - 1957 (Mafuya, Thobei, Troub., AFC 429)

13) MABEL MAFUYA AND THE STARLIGHT SERENADERS

Charlie - 1957 (Mafuya, Troubadour, AFC 434, RSA)

14) MABEL MAFUYA AND THE STARLIGHT SERENADERS

Chomie - 1957 (Mafuya, Troubadour, AFC 434, RSA)

15) RUTH MOLIFI AND THE STARLIGHT SINGERS

Asikhathali - 1957 (Molifi, Troubadour, AFC 440, RSA)

16) RUTH MOLIFI AND THE STARLIGHT SINGERS

Mfana - 1957 (Mafuya, Troubadour, AFC 440, RSA)

17) MABEL MAFUYA

Silindele Christmas - 1959 (Ngubane, Troubadour, AFC 534, RSA)

18) MABEL MAFUYA

Sisaphila - 1959 (Ngubane, Troubadour, AFC 534, RSA)

19) MABEL MAFUYA

Cato Manor - 1960 (Ngubane, Troubadour, AFC 567, RSA)

20) MABEL MAFUYA

Beer Halls - 1960 (Ngubane, Troubadour, AFC 567, RSA)

21) MABEL MAFUYA

Sibarie - 1960 (Ngubane, Troubadour, AFC 579, RSA)

22) MABEL MAFUYA

Umtata - 1960 (Ngubane, Troubadour, AFC 579, RSA)

23) MABEL MAFUYA

Happy Xmas - Happy New Year - 1960 (Ngubane, Troub., AFC 584)

24) MABEL MAFUYA

Jabulani Xmas - 1960 (Ngubane, Troubadour, AFC 584, RSA)

25) MABEL MAFUYA

Ngi Yeka - 1960 (Ngubane, Troubadour, AFC 608, RSA)

26) MABEL MAFUYA

Itlalo Ya Lizwe - 1960 (Ngubane, Troubadour, AFC 608, RSA)

MABEL MAFUYA ON 78 RPM

(1956 - 1960)

(FXEJ 9)