Traditional mbaqanga from Mahlathini and his brother - uMahlathini nabo uLungile (1984)

Today, a return to mbaqanga and to Simon 'Mahlathini' Nkabinde. This LP, recorded in collaboration with his brother Zephaniah Lungile Nkabinde and a team of session greats, is an easygoing and eclectic blend between mbaqanga and Zulu-traditional (better known now as maskandi).

Mahlathini made his return to Gallo and Mavuthela in late 1982 after a decade recording for rival record companies. The main reason for his surprise departure from the Mahotella Queens lineup in 1972 was failed promises from producer and manager Rupert Bopape, who refused to pay the members their wages after a long tour. Mahlathini was able to trade on his hugely famous persona post-Mavuthela and made a number of hits for Satbel Record Company, but musical tastes started to change and producers continued to swindle. Mahlathini went to CCP but by the early 1980s had only misses instead of hits. With Bopape now in retirement, the feud was unlikely to be reignited and Mahlathini started to pick up the pieces back at Mavuthela, the home of some of the finest musical support in the country complete with state-of-the-art production standards.

Mahlathini's first new Mavuthela recordings were compiled onto the LP Uhambo Lwami (Motella BL 396), released in 1983. In these he was mostly accompanied by the bands who had supported him through his recent fallow period, including the Mahlathini Girls and the Mahlathini Guitar Band, with producer Lucky Monama. But the album - enjoyable as it was - made little impact on the local music scene. The Makgona Tsohle Band had recently reunited to become the first true stars of African television and had already started recording two reunion albums, released with the same title as their TV show Mathaka. Guitarist Marks Mankwane decided to reunite the original triumvirate of the Mahotella Queens, Mahlathini and Makgona Tsohle. As the Mahotella Queens lineup of the time - of which Mankwane was the producer - featured no original members but was still fairly popular, Mankwane reunited some of the original Queens under a new name. The reunited act, Mahlathini nezintombi zoMgqashiyo, recorded a handful of LPs under Mankwane's production. Sales weren't extraordinary but still substantial, and it showed that with the right producer and musical support, Mahlathini could still fire on all cylinders.

In the middle of recording two of these reunion LPs, Mahlathini found time to make yet another LP produced by Lucky Monama, this time a left-field release featuring the voice of his brother Zeph. This marked the first time in nearly twenty years the duo had recorded together - the last time was as part of Abafana Bezi Modern, a shortlived male vocal jive group put together by Bopape in 1966 (an attempt to recreate the magic of the hugely successful Black Mambazo, the late 1950s-early 1960s pennywhistle-vocal jive group that had featured both Nkabinde brothers).

It's no surprise the LP carries a more traditional feel than the fervent pop-feel of the usual Mahlathini/Mahotella Queens mbaqanga - Lucky Monama was Mavuthela's producer in charge of traditional music at the time and he recorded a large number of groups with obscure, intriguing sounds. On this LP the band includes George Mangxola on lead guitar, Christian Nombewu on rhythm guitar, Zeph Khoza on drums and Noise Khanyile on violin, plus Makgona Tsohle regulars Monama on percussion and Joseph Makwela on bass guitar. The vocals are handled by Mahlathini, Zeph, Selby Mmutung (alias 'Bra Sello') and Richard Chonco.

(The title of the LP should be correctly rendered as one sentence - uMahlathini nabo uLungile - but thanks to a production screw-up, 'Umahlathini Nabo' is the 'artist' and 'Ulungile' the LP title.)

Some of the standout tracks here include "Bumnandi" with the repetitive, almost menacing groans; the laidback "Labhonga Ibhubesi" with those classic George Mangxola lead guitar licks; the unashamedly clean, crystal clear traditional vibes of "Sakhala Isiginci" and "Umcusi Nomacingwane"; plus the random bendy synth effects alongside Makwela's trademark bass phrases in "Lishonile Ilanga". Another great tune, "Qhude Manikiniki", was included in the influential 1985 compilation The Indestructible Beat of Soweto.

Enjoy!

UMAHLATHINI NABO
ULUNGILE
produced by Lucky Monama
engineered by Keith Forsyth
Motella BL 474
1984
Zulu Vocal

MF

Boyoyo "900" Umjiko Wamarabi (1973)

As summer comes to an end in the north, we feature an exciting early 70s compilation on the Trutone label. Strangely, none of the artists are credited on the cover, but the composer notes do reveal some of the best from Gallo — Marks Mankwane, Lucky Monama, West Nkosi and others — playing an eclectic array of mbaqanga instrumentals on sax, concertina and organ.

Thomas Phale’s first major hit with the T-Bones was “Boyoyo” in 1972. The title also happened to be the nick-name of the group's first drummer. The track was so successful the group decided to change their name permanently to the Boyoyo Boys. Issued in February 1973, the Trutone LP featured today, is clearly riding the wave of the "Boyoyo" phenomenon. Nevertheless I am not sure if any of the Boyoyo Boys are featured here.

Watch this space for some more comprehensive archival material coming soon!

Boyoyo "900" Umjiko Wamarabi
Trutone
MSLP 502
(1973)

Sax Jive Special - Vol. 2

We're keeping this instrumental theme going for just a little bit longer here on Electric Jive. Why? Well, why not?! Sax jive happens to be one of the most peppy and sweet styles of instrumental dance music that has ever existed - and what better way of celebrating the genre than sharing with our readers another bumper collection of the very best sax jives? Following on from our last delve into the archives, we present to you Sax Jive Special - Vol. 2.

The Makgona Tsohle Band were the first guys on the scene in the 1960s to take the swing-style instrumental jive and reshape it into the more danceable, more electric and elastic mbaqanga beat which soared to amazing heights. If just one listen to real gems like "Umzinto", "Cowboy" or "Sithunyiwe Thokozile" doesn't at the very least get your foot tapping, then there's something truly wrong with your musical tastes. Under various recording pseudonyms, the men behind the Makgona Tsohle Band created the biggest instrumental hits of the day. That team - Marks Mankwane on lead guitar, Vivian Ngubane on rhythm guitar, Joseph Makwela on bass, Lucky Monama on drums and West Nkosi leading on alto saxophone - was the gold standard, the benchmark against which all other mbaqanga bands were measured.

The Makgona Tsohle Band didn't just back West - they were the Mavuthela house band who generally backed every one of the stable's saxophone players and vocal jive groups. Lemmy 'Special' Mabaso shot to fame as the child pennywhistler of the late 1950s - but by the 1960s, with kwela out and mbaqanga in, he turned to the alto sax and joined forces with Makgona Tsohle for a series of recordings that included "Sipho Special". You can clearly hear everyone in the studio feeding off each other's high spirits on this bouncy number.

Spokes Mashiyane, the man who brought sax jive to prominence, also joined forces with Mavuthela during the 1960s. It might be true to say that the great Mashiyane became sidelined and unappreciated as the style developed further and further into the more hard and bouncy mbaqanga, with the spotlight focusing instead on fresh young talent like West Nkosi, David Thekwane, Reggie Msomi, Boy Masaka and others. Mashiyane did continue to record sporadically though and did create some great sax jives with the Makgona Tsohle Band, such as "Kgwale". "Sediba" is also an enjoyable tune featuring Mashiyane on top form. The real star here though is Vivian Ngubane who bends the melody fantastically with his rhythm guitar. Ngubane, for some rather puzzling reason, seems to be generally forgotten compared to those he worked with such as Marks Mankwane and Joseph Makwela. This is all the more strange because Ngubane was nothing less than a trendsetter. His rhythm guitar, sandwiched between Mankwane's lead guitar and Makwela's bass, became the signature elastic bedrock of the music. Until Ngubane joined the Makgona Tsohle Band late in 1964, the rhythm guitar line was still being filled by an acoustic guitar player who strummed nothing more than simple chords. Ngubane's trademark sound opens "Umzinto", a good example of the staple instrumental mbaqanga that Makgona Tsohle pumped out of the Gallo studio every week.

Sipho Bhengu, before joining the famous Mango Groove and lending them his wonderful talents, was a supreme sax jive star of the 1970s. His "Welani Imifula" opens with a boisterous spoken word from Mavuthela's boss Rupert Bopape and then gives way to the musical backing of the Jets and Sipho's great sax rhythms. Another sax jive star was Selby Mmutung - better known to you and me as Bra Sello. Sello made his name playing with Abafana Bentuthuko and later joined Mavuthela, working with the late genius Mzwandile David to produce sax-accordion jives under the name Mathwalimbuzi. "Umsuzo" rather bizarrely refers to someone breaking wind and Sello certainly creates the right impression during the opening of the tune. Reggie Msomi was also a talented somebody. During the 1960s, Msomi and his Hollywood Jazz Band (usually comprising Reggie on sax backed by the talented Makgona Tsohle Band!) produced some rather adventurous instrumental hits - taking sax jive and mixing it with various other styles such as soul, ska or reggae. "Chumba" is a great tune with some hints of Congo rumba. Aaron Jack Lerole also turned and twisted sax jive and took it to newer heights. "Space Age" is simply amazing - just listen and hear for yourself.

The marvellous Zwino Zwino Boys, led by bass guitarist James Mukwevho, bring our compilation to a fitting close with the excellent "Thala Thala". This has to be one of my favourite sax jives of all time. Sam Jagome effortlessly kicks everything off with a few calm strums of his electric lead guitar. The rest of the band joins in and this combined force works up some truly magical rhythms. The late Sam has to be one of the forgotten geniuses of mbaqanga music. He followed Marks Mankwane's unique innovations and ended up creating a signature style all of his own. Sam's beautiful lead guitar strains could be heard not only in the Zwino Zwino Boys but also behind the spirited vocals of Izintombi Zomoya.

Our thanks to Laurent Dalmasso for contributing two wonderful tracks to this compilation from the original 78 rpm discs - "Sediba" and "Sipho Special". All you need to do now is download this mix and get yourself ready for some serious jiving until you drop.

ENJOY!

SAX JIVE SPECIAL - VOL. 2

01) PAKU PAKU - MAKHOLOKHOLO (1965)

02) SEDIBA - SPOKES AND HIS GOLDEN SAX (1966)

03) UMZINTO - LUCKY MONAMA AND HIS PARTNERS (1968)

04) CHUMBA - REGGIE MSOMI AND HIS HOLLYWOOD JAZZ BAND (1969)

05) SIPHO SPECIAL - LEMMY MABASO AND HIS SAX (1965)

06) JIVE SMODERN JIVE - MAKHOLOKHOLO (1965)

07) COWBOY - WEST NKOSI AND HIS SAX (1967)

08) TADIMA TADIMA - ZWINO ZWINO BOYS (1971)

09) WELANI IMIFULA - SIPHO BHENGU AND HIS JETS (1973)

10) MANYANE JIVE PART TWO - POPS AND SONS (1976)

11) PULL MAN NO. 2 - MARKS AND THE SHALUZA BOYS (1976)

12) UMSUZO - MATHWALIMBUZI (1976)

13) BATHATHE GEORGE - ABAKHWENYANA (1973)

14) KIT BAG - MAMBAZA NABAFANA BOMSHOSHOLOZO (1971)

15) FOUR MABONE - WEST NKOSI NABASHOKOBEZI (1973)

16) AMANZI AMANCANE NO. 5 - LUCKY MONAMA AND HIS PARTNERS (1971)

17) SITHUNYIWE THOKOZILE - MAKGOLOKGOLO (1967)

18) KGWALE - SPOKES AND HIS GOLDEN SAX (1967)

19) SPACE AGE - BIG VOICE JACK (1971)

20) THALA THALA - ZWINO ZWINO BOYS (1971)

MF

Reggie Msomi SABC Transcription circa 1963

Reggie Msomi, the legendary composer, arranger, producer, guitarist, saxophonist and more, was, in my opinion, one among a handful of South Africans who have contributed in such a high quality, prolific,  diverse and boundary-stretching manner to this country's musics over a sustained period of time.

Just browse through Electric Jive's archives (use the search bar on the right-hand column) and you will find his contributions stretching over twenty years: as composer and band-member of the Tophitters in a 1957 kwela-jive, then as a key member of the ND Hotshots in 1960 on the wave of inventing mbaqanga along with a big-band swing infusion - all the way via twist, ska, and mbaqanga through to his 1976 hit albums "Soweto Grooving" and "Swing Africa." If you have not heard these, do yourself a favour and search 'Reggie Msomi' in the side-bar - the links are still live.

Reggie Msomi (1962)
From an album featured on
Flatinternational here

As Siemon Allen describes in an earlier posting on this blog: "In 1962 he formed the Hollywood Jazz Band and also became a producer/talent scout for Gallo. Alas, in 1964 he was replaced by Rupert Bopape in an unfortunate turn of events recounted in Nick Lotay’s classic post Jive Motella! on the history of Mavuthela at Matsuli." While Msomi was touring with the Hollywood Jazzband north of the border in Southern Rhodesia there was a palace coup of sorts.

Today's rarity is an SABC transcription of "Reggie Msomi and His  Hollywood Band", we believe to be from 1963. By this time Reggie Msomi had recruited Joseph Makwela (bass) and West Nkosi (saxophone) to the Hollywood Band - after he heard them repeatedly busking outside the doors of Gallo. Lucky Monama (rhythm guitar) was already at Gallo and part of the Hollywood Band. Makwela, Monama and Nkosi would go on to later form the core of the Makona Tsohle Band.

This transcription features six great Msomi tunes from by a very polished band. I tried all I could to remove the slight interference that accompanies the beginning of most of these tracks. They are brief - the music endures.

View more of Msomi’s albums at flatinternational.

You can also find a few more references to early Reggie Msomi on the South African Music Archive Project (SAMAP) site here.

Reggie Msomi and His Hollywood Band - SABC Transcription (LT5222)
All compositions by Msomi.

1. Highway Blues
2. No Pay No Play
3. S.W.A.
4. 7th Floor Blues
5. Black Cat
6. Go Man Go

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