Shebeen (1959): South African Jazz musical

Some great 50s African Jazz on this musical performed by the cast of African Jazz and Variety  – well honed after seven years of touring southern Africa from 1952 to 1959. Supported by a diverse cast, Lionel Pillay, Lemmy Special and Elijah N’kwanyana were largely responsible for musical composition while Bill Brewer wrote and produced.

Like its more famous contemporary, King Kong, this recording of Shebeen gives us well crafted stand-alone songs that do not succumb to the “group-sing” tendency of some musicals. Set in Cape Town’s District Six (before the apartheid government tore it down), Shebeen fuses African jazz, kwela, marabi, and some great vocal performances from Ben Satch Masinga and, sadly, unlisted women. The likes of Dorothy Masuka, Dolly Rathebe, and Thandi Klaasen cut their teeth in this troupe.

“One of the most notorious spots in Southern Africa is “District Six. Tough and vice-ridden, but possessing a definite dingy beauty, this is Cape Town’s “Casbah”, and no white man in his right senses ventures there at night. Crouching under the shadow of Table Mountain, the square-fronted houses crowding the pavements present impassive poker-faces behind which are hidden scores of “shebeens” – illicit drinking haunts, each presided over by its own “queen”, who distils and dispenses her own high-powered concoctions and can also provide a selection of “Nize Time Girls” for the added pleasure of her patrons”.

... The original cast of “SHEBEEN” was drawn from “AFRICAN JAZZ AND VARIETY”, a talented vaudeville company composed of Zulus, Swazis, Xhosas, Basutos, Pondos, Fingos, Indians, Malays and Cape Coloured artists. This group toured the Union of South Africa and the Rhodesias over a period of seven years, It was a hard but efficient training school from which are now emerging many of the leading figures in the new exciting theatre of Africa.” (from the record sleeve).

Rapidshare here
Mediafire here

Change through 'African Jazz and Variety'

‘African Jazz and Variety’ has been described as a programme somewhere between concert, dance and burlesque – with a touch of sensation and stereotyping. While it is certainly a mixed bag, this landmark 1952 ten-inch 33rpm recording presented by the South African Institute of Race Relations is an important archive of top African musicians deployed in a broad effort to convince white South Africans that blacks were capable. Musicologist Chris Ballantine has described this as “the liberal” approach to the use of music in the project of emancipating South Africa.

In this ‘liberal’ approach, the role of music in social change “was to demonstrate to whites that blacks were worthy of better social and economic treatment – in short ‘moral persuasion’; musical performance as an ‘eye-opener’. A second role was to ‘explode the theory’ that ‘the black man is mentally not the equal of the white man’ - as opined by the newspaper Bantu World in 1935 on the eve of black American Paul Robeson’s planned (but then aborted) tour to South Africa.

African Jazz and Variety was hailed by critics ‘as the greatest non-European show they had ever seen.’ In July 1952 the Durban City Hall attracted 55,000 (whites) in the 3 ½ weeks it ran there.

Whatever African Jazz and Variety was, it gave exposure and impetus to stellar careers of some great South African artists, including Dorothy Masuka, Dolly Rathebe, and Thandi Klaasen. Victor Ndlazilwana was at the core of the ‘The Woody Woodpeckers’ and went on to great success with the Jazz Ministers. Ben Satch Masinga, who has already featured here on Electric Jive, went on to write the first musical in the Zulu language, ‘Back in your own Backyard’, amongst a host of important musical achievements.

David Serame, who has had a long and distinguished career, modelled himself as a “sob-rocker” in the 1950s. Serame remains active, recently performing on Adam Glasser’s award-winning album “Free at First”. A 78rpm recording of Serame doing great Paul Anka covers can be downloaded from the links provided below.

1. Rock Around The Clock - King Jeff and the African Jazz Troupe
2. I Apologise - Ray Makelane
3. Fanagalo - The Woody Woodpeckers
4. Tell the Lady I Said Goodbye - David Serame
5. Pickin' A Chicken
6. Gumdrop - The Woody Woodpeckers
7. Ebb Tide - Sonny Pillay
8. Six Foot Three - Ben (Satch) Masinga
9. My Yiddishe Mama - Sonny Pillay

African Jazz and Variety: Rapidshare here - Mediafire here
David Serame: Rapidshare here - Mediafire here