LESOTHO CALLING
LESIBA & SEKHANKULA MUSIC (Sharp Wood SWP 033)

When I first put this on I was taken aback -- I thought it was an Art Ensemble of Chicago album, then I remembered where those cats were coming from. This is real bush music, as in Burning Bush, Lick a Bush, Fermez la Bush, all of that. If you were in the bush in Lesotho and heard this instrument, the Lesiba, you might think it was a big insect getting ready to pounce. Lesotho is a kingdom in the highlands of South Africa. The intrepid Michael Baird went in the footsteps of Hugh Tracey to find out if anyone still played this instrument which is a woodwind with an unique organic sound, suggesting ancient culture. It is a metre long with a feather mouthpiece and a vibrating string, like a jew's harp, attached. The sound is buzzing, polyphonic, wonderful. The second instrument on here is the sekhankula which is a musical bow played by young boys who herd sheep. But it doesn't sound like any other African lyre: in fact it sometimes sounds like a brass instrument! The musicians compose topical songs about their lives. There's a squeezebox to round out the selection, but the lesiba is the striking sound on here. After editing and recreating the legacy of Hugh Tracey for us, Michael Beard has taken the logical step of continuing the legacy. HUGH TRACEY LIVES! This is a phenomenally good album. I imagine Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Kronos will be all over in a year or so, but before they spoil it and it turns trite and trendy on us, check out some pure African roots music.

GOLDEN AFRIQUE VOL 3
(Network 495115)

I recently purged my Southern African LP shelves and weeded out stuff I no longer care about. So that I wouldn't have seller's remorse I ended up listening to everything and burned a few CD compilations of favourites. I kept the Earthworks compilations, a few gems of Soweto Jive, Mahotella Queens & Soul Brothers. Now here is what the intrepid ears at Network consider worth preserving from that vast trove of musical riches. Gallo began recording in South Africa almost 80 years ago, so it's no surprise the album starts with the well known "Mbube" (aka "the Lion sleeps," aka "Wimoweh") recorded in 1939. I am pleased they remembered Donald Kachamba from Malawi & his pennywhistle group. Sipho Mabuse's "Jive Soweto," a catchy dance number from 1981, was an international hit. There was a brief time (after Paul Simon's GRACELAND) when South African pop started to make it as far as California and we were fortunate to see Sipho, West Nkosi, Ladysmith BM, and of course Mahlathini and Mahotella Queens in concert. I have already waxed lyrical about the Makgona Tshole Band but it's still amazing to hear them: so light and fleet-fingered. There's no Spokes Mashiyane or Dollar Brand, but they have been anthologized before. I suppose they had to include Miriam Makeba: it's the weakest track on here, just a bad R&B jam, but at least it ain't "Malaika." The Cannibals, up next, are the surprise entry, and turn in a pleasant mbaqanga groove, followed by another choice cut from the Soul Brothers. Letha Mbulu and Hugh Masakela are also gratuitous inclusions, like the programmers are running out of ideas. So we move to the second disc.

There's a whole new area to explore with the fresh folkloric sounds of Zimbabwean mbira music. Then the flanger and horn chorus and the big hollow Shed Studios sound signals the arrival of the Four Brothers and continuity as the finger-picking guitar style relates to the mbira patterns. It's a rather light touch on Zimbabwe, Mtukudzi rather than Mapfumo and the usual suspects, Devera Ngwena & Jairos Jiri Kwela Band, with their "Take Cover" (which has been anthologized before) standing out. Then we lurch to Zambia with Dolly Rathbane doing a New Orleans blues. The Network take on South Africa is excellent, spanning as it does the earlier styles which can be found on compilations such as TOWNSHIP JAZZ 'N' JIVE (Music Club50041) and the Earthworks INDESTRUCTIBLE BEAT OF SOWETO compilations which create a broad picture of the scene. But it's a little compressed: Tanzanian has to share a disc with Zambia and both deserve broader treatment. Tanzania has been well-served by previous compilers. For the record the best are VIVA ZIMBABWE! (Carthage CGLP4411, New York 1984), MAUNGIRA ZIMBABWE (Teal Records TEL2008 1985), ZIMBABWE FRONTLINE (Earthworks/Virgin 1988), AFRICAN SUNSET (CSA Records CSLP5000, London 1988), and two albums on Discafrique: TAKE COVER: ZIMBABWE HITS (AFRI LP01) & GOODBYE SANDRA (AFRI LP05 1988). In addition, of course, there's the incredible Hugh Tracey archives which have given us that great Bulawayo jazz recently unearthed, as well as the ZAMBUSH series on Sharp Wood. And, if you can find them, there's John Storm Roberts' compilations on Original Music: AFRICAN ACOUSTIC FROM THE COPPERBELT (OMA112) and on CD: THE TANZANIA SOUND (OMCD018) and AFRICAN ACOUSTIC: SOUNDS EASTERN AND SOUTHERN (OMCD001 1988, drawn from the Hugh Tracey archives). To dog the fled horse a little further, Zambia was well-served by Mondeca records (I still see those in the used bins) and compilations on WOMAD and Earthworks, but those are doubtless out of print now.

This set (particularly the first disc) is a well-sequenced, exemplary compendium, worthy to stand alongside its two Francophone predecessors. I am wondering what's next: East Africa in the form of Kenya and Tanzanian dancebands, or perhaps Taraab, or maybe a jump to Lusophone connections? There's thousands of miles of bush and bad road to go but certainly some great tunes to get us there.

ZAMBUSH VOL 2
Zambian hits from the 60s and 70s (Sharp Wood SWP028)

Another collection of Zambian oldies, this one predates Volume One which anthologised the big bands of the 80s. Nashil Pichen Kazembe is the only familiar name here. The other names are legendary, meaning people remember them in Zambia, but no one outside the country got to hear them. Their sounds are also very different. The Big Gold Six were started as a spin-off of Radio Zambia announcer Alick Nkhata's backing band. They advertised Players Number 6 cigarettes which had a big gold 6 on the packet! They played live on the radio almost nightly and were encouraged by an ex-pat pianist from England who was into jazz and explained western music theory to the bass player. The band were all self-taught. After touring the world and playing at Expo 70 in Japan the band were hired to back visiting musicians at a local hotel in Lusaka. But then were accused of being unprofessional when it turned out they couldn't read the charts. The band were duly enrolled in night school to learn musical notation and in exchange gave classes in music performance to the other students! Drawing from folklore, fables and morality tales from all over Zambia the Big Gold Six had numerous hits. Their sound is catchy, the guitars cut out leaving them singing acapella over the congas in "Titwe titwe," based on a grain-pounding song. Excellent liner notes explain the lyrics and the cultural context of each song.

Nashil Kazembe is well-known for his hit "Malaika" in 1970, recorded when he was living in Nairobi. He adapted Swahili rumba and the Twist to Zambian and Congolese beats. He started many bands including African Eagles Lupopo and Super Mazembe and had hits all over East Africa in the 70s. He died of AIDS in 1991. His sound is light and sprightly and more urbane than the others here.

In 1974 Kenneth Kaunda declared that 90% of all music played on the radio in Zambia had to be national. Emmanuel Mulemena's career took off at this point. He died aged 41 in a car accident. Fans of the finger-picking style of East African guitar will adore his four tracks here. Overall, a well-selected set: the sound is a little thin but the spirit of great music run throughout this series.

ZAMBUSH VOL 1
ZAMBIAN HITS FROM THE 80s (Sharp Wood SWP 027)

Somehow in the 1980s, when "World Beat" first caught on in the West we fans thought it would sweep everything up in a tidal wave. Places we'd barely heard of -- like Zambia -- suddenly disgorged their great musical secrets and held us in thrall. Just as suddenly I had a Zambian section (of ten discs!) in my library. Until 1964 Zambia was half of Rhodesia along with what became Zimbabwe. A vast landlocked country with 73 ethnic groups, Zambian music was heavily influenced by its neighbours, particularly the Congolese rumba. Hugh Tracey recorded Zambian miners songs in 1957 and these were reissued as FROM THE COPPERBELT on Original Music. George Sibanda was the best-known Zambian artist from this early era. Alick Nkhata was another pioneer of the Zambian pop scene during this time. His 1952 hit "Taxi Driver" and 16 other hits were collected on SHALAPO by RetroAfric in 1991. President Kenneth Kaunda, a musician himself, decreed in the 1970s that 90% of the music played on the radio should be homegrown. This did a lot to boost national self-esteem and stem the creeping rumba tide. In the early 80s the traditional kalindula rhythm from the Copperbelt was adopted to pop music and became a national sound. This coincided with technical developments when the Roland corporation of Los Angeles, who manufactured Dr Rhythm, the first popular drum machine, introduced the Boss Flanger. No one to my knowledge has discussed the impact of these effects pedals on African popular music but for me the sweet sweeping sound of the flanger is closely identified with East African music of the 1980s. In the mid-80s Nachil Pichen Kazembe (who had returned from working in Nairobi) became a big star, his hits resonating in Kenya and Tanzania with a distinctive Zambian sound that lay, appropriately, midway between Mapfumo's mbira-based lilting ballads and the rocking rumbas of Franco & OK Jazz, though more akin to Kenyan music than either, to my ears. WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) in Bristol discovered Amayenge and Shalawambe in 1988 and issued SHANI! a fabulous compilation from the Teal Records catalogue including "Lelo Baleisa" by Amayenge, Alfred Chisala Kalusha's "Basumbula" and "Kamusisi" by Shalwambe, all of which were smash hits in the small world I inhabit. 1989 was the great year of Zambian music. Amayenge did a session for John Peel (issued on Strange Fruit) which included the instant hit "Free Nelson Mandela"; Globestyle issued ZAMBIANCE! as ORB 37, also from the Teal Records catalogue; and the London-based Mondeca label went one step beyond issuing ZAMBIA!! (with two exclamation points), a compilation, along with three glorious LPs by Amayenge, Masasu Band, and Shalawambe's classic SAMORA MACHEL. Then predictably, things dried up for the next fifteen years. Now the torch has been picked up by Sharp Wood Productions, the estimable Netherlands label who are steadily working through the Hugh Tracey material but have taken time off for some other gems produced by Michael Baird. Baird points out that the breakneck rhythms are played on the drums, allowing the other instruments to drag a bit, seeming more laid-back, although they are also frequently playing at top speed. Most interestingly, he points out that the bass guitar is the lead instrument (just as in traditional Zambian music the lowest drum has the lead). The bassist also plays an octave-spanning style that creates a zooping busyness that propels the rest of the musicians. There are two cuts from Amayenge; among the other bands I had only heard of Julizya. The songs were chosen for topical or political lyrics which are explained in detail. Baird mentions that after inflation, piracy and the toll taken by AIDS, the Zambian music industry collapsed in 1993 with the closure of the Teal record plant. Another sad tale, but here's a chance to hear some vibrant and significant music that will warm the cockles of your heart.

CHANTS ET RHYTHMS DU MALAWI
(Playasound PS 65140 1994)

In summer 1995 the Malawians staged "Artists for a Better Life" to educate villagers about the degradation of the environment and other problems of overpopulation. Of the forty artists who performed, some of the bands were captured on this vital CD that proves there is still a native African pop music bubbling under, untainted by drum machines. The percussion is often as simple as handclaps and bells on the ankles. Kasambwe Brothers, Kwatcha Troupe, and the Makazi Band have the lion's share of the cuts, but the whole is well balanced, lively and a return to a more rural sound.

DONALD KACHAMBA ET SON ENSEMBLE
CONCERT KWELA (Le Chant du Monde LDX 274 972 CM 212 1994)

Light, but uplifting set from an acoustic quartet recorded in the strife-free South African country of Malawi. The penny whistle melodies will sound familiar to fans of Soweto pop, but here they are sometimes transposed to clarinet which adds a fuller, woodier tone. The concert also features jive, two-step and rumba melodies. Five-string guitar or banjo and wash-tub skiffle-style bass provide the backing, with percussion coming from what sounds like peas rattled in a tin can. Occasional jazzy solos by the clarinetist (including a version of "In the Mood") and nicely dissonant harmony singing keep it lively and prevent the mellowness slipping into stupor.

JAZZIN' & JIVIN' (M.E.L.T. 2000)

I've been lamenting the dearth of good music from South Africa for some time and now I'm cheered by JAZZIN' & JIVIN' that shows what jazz musicians are up to down by the Cape of Good Hope. Pops Muhammad is here, doing an "Mbira Jive," along with some other artists who are new to me. Moses Talwa Molelekwa has a nice touch on the piano, hoving between Abdullah Ibrahim and Monty Alexander, with a solid drum and bass groove reeking of reggae on "Down Rockey Street." Zulu Jive meets funk on Barungwa's "Abongcono." The guitar reminds me of Philip Tabane at first but then it expands into a large sound with organ, electric guitar, and studio effects. Sipho Gumede is much sparer on "African Wedding" using just drums and voice. "Scamtho" by Vusi Khumalo kicks off like Average White Band and keeps rocking. In contrast, the mouth-organ and guitar intro to "Amagoduka (Migrant Workers)" by Zim Ngqawana is pure Zulu jive. There's even mouth percussion. One track show a different approach and that is Gathering Forces' "Space Time," featuring Darius Brubeck and Deepak Ram. The latter adds Indian flute. The arrangement is a little too Weather Report for my taste but it doesn't spoil the album. More Western jazz influence can be heard on Spector M. Ngwazi and N. Shezi's "Ngiyabonga Themba," which leans more to ECM than Ellington. The final cut, "Song for Doc," shows the blending of Zulu drums and vocals with Western jazz in a mellow melding.

JEAN BOSCO
AFRICAN GUITAR LEGEND: THE STUDIO ALBUM (Rounder CD 5061 1995)

The legend began in 1952 when Hugh Tracey was roaming Africa with a reel-to-reel tape recorder looking for indigenous music. In Stanleyville he heard Jean Bosco busking under the town clock and recorded him on the spot. That recording, released as GUITARS OF AFRICA in 1954 brought the unique sound of dry guitar to the world. The contrapuntal melodies, based on thumb piano fingerings, sound as much like Bach's "Two-part Inventions" as folk music. Bosco's record influenced Pete Seeger as well as a generation of African musicians, leading to his appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1961. This is the last chapter, recorded before his accidental death in 1992, and includes "Masanga" (the "Classical Gas" of Africa), along with seven other of his 150 compositions that brought joy to a continent.

VARIOUS ARTISTS
JIVE NATION (THE INDESTRUCTIBLE BEAT OF SOWETO VOLUME 5) (Earthworks STEW34CD 1995)

The hits literally keep coming on this fine compilation of pounding jive music from South Africa where pennywhistle street music meets rock and roll. Not content to replicate the winning formula of the earlier volumes in this series, compiler Trevor Herman has dug out some great obscure talent like the Tiyimeleni Young Sisters and Makhubela & Nkhohlwani Girls who add eerie vocal harmonies to the solid, wind-up-your-waist rhythms.

Of course there's the familiar bubbling dance groove of Mahotella Queens laid over the gutbucket stomp of Makgona Tsohle (the hardest working band in show business), the squirreling, squelchy organ of the Soul Brothers, and the sweet strains of Abafana Benkokhelo. By now Herman knows exactly when to hold his fire and when to throw the knock-out punch. Even if you have the other volumes and think you have this scene covered, you'll be surprised at the freshness of this set. Your neighbours will hate you for it.

KAMPI MOTO AND GEORGE PHIRI
ACHA MASIMANGO (Sheer Sound SSCD 060)

It's hard to find good new releases from South Africa unless you go to the source. From Sheer Sound comes more groundbreaking stuff that shows how alive the music scene is in South Africa. Among their latest crop, ACHA MASIMANGO by Kampi Moto and George Phiri grabbed me immediately. Neither musician is originally from South Africa: Moto was born in Congo and cut his teeth musically in Zambia where he had a hit in the seventies. Phiri was born in Malawi and has lived in Zimbabwe and South Africa where he continued to develop his guitar style. The pair have fused two of their traditional musics: Mashasha is a ballad tempo used to accompany slow-moving dances from Congo (helpful in relieving stress!) and Manganje is a popular Malawian dance used during festivities and ceremonies. The fusion results in a laid-back groove that has lots of rhythmically effective interplay in the background. There's sax and synth but the predominant sound is acoustic guitar and percussion and the whole presents a very mellow slice of the evolving music of South Africa.

BEST OF MAHLATHINI & MAHOTELLA QUEENS (Earthworks/Stern's)

In South Africa, the gut-bucket, kicking sound of the Makgona Tsohle Band is still, after 25 years, the fiercest thing to come out of Africa, and one of the strongest traditions that resisted the Zairean influence. Though it enjoyed brief popularity with the spurt of enthusiasm from Paul Simon's patronage, this sound has not gone away and only gets better with age (unlike Simon). Far from a blip on the world beat dance floors, Mbaqanga is a tsunami of sound that won't quit and shows no mercy. BEST OF MAHLATHINI & MAHOTELLA QUEENS is a superb collection drawn from their last four albums, bottom-heavy bass and drums (by the aforementioned M.T. band) provide a real dance workout.

When I first saw them perform a few years ago I felt like a teenager at Shea stadium experiencing the Beatles for the first time: I was hysterical! If you already have their albums, or want more, try the INDESTRUCTIBLE BEAT OF SOWETO VOLUME 4, another gem in one of the most consistently great anthology series in popular African music, with Kwela, Zulu jive, pennywhistle and accordion tracks.

VARIOUS ARTISTS
BRINGING IT DOWN/SOUTH AFRICAN SAX JIVE (Trojan TWLP002)

Having bankrupted fans with his obsessive repackaging of the gems of ska and rocksteady, Trojan's Steve Barrow now turns his sharp eye to Soweto with four albums of township music of the 60s and 70s leased from Gallo, the pioneer South African recording company. One entitled simply TOWNSHIP is a sampler of the different styles, which showcases wicked fiddle playing and establishes the shuffling James-Brown style guitar as a basic thread in this music; the other two focus on Spokes Mashiyane's Kwela or pennywhistle music and accordion jive. I opted for the raw urgency of the sax jive album. Mbaqanga is stomping music that sticks to the soles of your feet; anyone who saw Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens on tour in 1989 has blisters to corroborate that. Their band, the Makgona Tshole Band are the link to these historic recordings. It's odd that Gallo hasn't cashed in on the Zulu fever started by Paul Simon's first hearing a tape by Marks Mankwane, but when you realize they paid the musicians no royalties and only a couple of dollars per session you figure they don't understand where the South African gold is really buried. No musicians are listed or even perhaps known, only the producer is credited. Two of the terse titles in English are particularly telling: "Permit," and "Gig 74." Instrumental music is considered safe under apartheid because there is no likelihood of lyrics having hidden political meanings and creating problems for the record companies. Like other upbeat music recorded under oppressive regimes, there is a manic intent, a deadly seriousness behind the joyousness that lifts this music out of the ordinary.

SHEERSOUND PRESENTS THE AFRICAN CONNECTION PART II (Sheer Sound)

Jazz is alive and thriving in South Africa. From the Sheer Sound label comes a batch of new releases showcasing music that superficially sounds like its North American counterpart. Start with the sampler SHEERSOUND PRESENTS THE AFRICAN CONNECTION PART II and you might want to check out individual albums by some of the artists on here like pianist Paul Hanmer, guitarist Errol Dyers or singer Gloria Bosman, who collaborates on her first solo album with both Hanmer and saxophonist McCoy Mrubata.

After four mellow jazz tracks, Mrubata's "Phosa Ngasemva" is the first clearly South African piece, recalling the work of Chris McGregor or Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim)'s longtime collaborator Basil Coetzee. A big ensemble branches off to solos and I'm a sucker for a good trombone rant. It goes beyond Zulu Jive into pan-African jazz. The versatile Mrubata toured the US with Hugh Masakela in 1993 (that was a memorable tour) and backed Lucky Dube on his album TRINITY.

Errol Dyers is an acoustic guitarist from Cape Town. Though predominantly South African jazz, his music shows touches of gospel and Latin music. Paul Hanmer, who gets two cuts on the sampler, also has a solo album from Sheer Sounds called PLAYOLA. Again Abdullah Ibrahim is invoked in his piano playing, but you could do a lot worse (indeed Keith Jarrett built a whole career out of one memorable Dollar Brand riff). As a classically trained pianist, Hanmer writes out the music for his accompanists and uses a classical lineup including violins, viola, cello, marimba, cor anglais and clarinet.

As the sampler album progresses the more familiar South African drum patterns and parallel sax lines emerge. Bheki Khosa's "Ngoshanaphi" is a Soweto classic and the vocals give it away even before the band kicks in. But Gito Baloi throws you off with "Tiamo," a salsa jam in Portuguese that features steel pan as a lead instrument! Baloi is from Mozambique and has toured with Mzwake Mbuli, the great dissident poet, and also collaborated with Kenyans, Zaireans, Ivorians and even Frenchmen. This atypical track smokes.

My favorite cut is the acoustic track for percussion and xylophones, "Luvuoyo" with vocals by Heshu Beshu from their forthcoming album.

SUTHUKAZI AROSI
UBUNTU (Sheer Sound SSCD067)

A more familiar South African sound can be heard on Suthukazi Arosi's UBUNTU. She's backed by guitar, bass, accordion, sax and drums. There's zulu and jazz influences (Stimela and Abdullah Ibrahim come to mind as well as Malombo and Makgona Tshole band) and a touch of good old R&B, soul and funk. All in all this is a good blend of traditional and modern sounds.

VARIOUS ARTISTS
ZAMBIA ROADSIDE: MUSIC FROM SOUTHERN PROVINCE (SWP 019)

One of the world's great musical archives is the International Library of African Music at Rhodes University in South Africa, assembled by Hugh Tracey. ZAMBIA ROADSIDE sounds like a missing part of the Tracey recordings but is in fact a new recording, and shows how some regions of Africa have folk music unaffected by radio and international influence. The recordings were made by Michael Baird, a young man with the same kind of gift and determination as Tracey. A musician himself, and also the eproducer of the Tracey reissue series, Baird has sought out exponents of various indigenous styles in the bush, but because he has an educated musical ear it's not just some random field recordings. Like his predecessor Tracey he knows how to spot great talent and get it on tape. And there is some towering talent here, like the band Green Mamba who are represented by three cuts. They have an energy that belies the fact that their percussion is played on a bottle, their guitars homemade. You can hear trap drums and electric guitars in their simple arrangment, it's so propulsive. The beat is Congolese rumba but that's just a framework for their own ideas. Another blistering performance is put on by guitarist Short Mazabuka singing a story-song about a girl named "Maggie" with his son pounding on a box and singing a passionate choral line in the background. For diversity there's a women's choir and court musicians (xylophone and thumb-piano) of Chief Mukuni's Palace performing two traditional Tokoleya songs. Hard-core folk is heard from the Ngoma Roots Band who play an hour-glass shaped drum with built-in buzzers, ngoma drums, xylophone and shaker. The members come from different parts of Zambia and find inspiration in their heritage. This is a well-crafted and thoughtfully arranged album that continues to surprise and delight.

ZIM NGQAWANA
ZIMPHONIC SUITES (Sheer Sound SSCD072)

I put on Zim Ngqawana's ZIMPHONIC SUITES while listening to some older jazz and it worked perfectly. Forget for a moment it's a new issue from Southern Africa, it has a lot in common with classic American jazz of the 70s. I hear Roland Kirk, Pharoah Sanders, even Leon Thomas in this. The obvious parallel is to the early work of Abdullah Ibrahim with Carlos Ward. Zim is a horn player (saxes and flutes) working with a piano, bass and drums. It's a consistent album and sets a mellow mood. Of all African musics, South African has been most closely parallel to gospel and jazz traditions of North America, ZIMPHONIC SUITES is well-sustained, ballad-like and beautiful.