South Africa music reviews

this is excellent stuff.by the end of the song your feet are tapping to the rhythm.a must for all afro-jazz lovers.

This is the excellent soundtrack to the 1970s documentary of the same name about South African music. An excellent introduction to S/A Music. Ladysmith Black Mambazo contributes two really nice tunes (their second selection is a real toe-tapper) acapella. There is a lovely instrumental featuring just guitars and congas and an equally sweet gospel song. But the highlights are the live selections from the S/A counterpart to the Apollo Theater from the documentary. The tune that features the Mahotella Queens will get you hooked even if you don't have a clue of what's being said. You feel it, though. This is hard to find, but WELL worth the effort.

and it is still one of my favorites. i would have to say that the music of west africa tends to move me the most, but this is one excellent compilation. every single song is a masterpiece. it is as varied as africa, and represents areas that most people never give a second thought to. this is not your paul simon discovery, these are the real artists. they move, they groove, and they croon with passion.

Appx. 35 minutes in length, the back cover says this album, of all male chorus, is sung in the "traditional South African music known as Mbube". Steeped in South African tradtition, Mbubes' exact origin is unknown; but, it has been dated back in Zulu tradition as a form which was sung to the king, as royal music. The style appeared in the early 20th century and became popular to industrial and domestic workers from the rural areas. In the 1940s' one of these groups recorded "Mbube" meaning "the lion" which became a model for the international hit song "Wimoweh". Amaduduzo is a choir of Christians. Their style is most accepted by older South Africans, as the style of their ancestors. This is apparantly their only CD, made in 1989. Too bad, as this is a powerful CD to listen to. I have enjoyed this CD for years. African music you can actually hum along too. Good rhythms, drumming and vocals in english, zulu, and sotho. When I play this in my office I always hear positive remarks.

I think this is classic. You have to buy an listen to know what I'm talking about!

Good Job artists of this album!

I picked up a copy of Philip Tabane's one and only U.S release "Unh" when it first came out 11 years ago and it still sounds as fresh and inovative today as it did then. Malombo represent an anomaly in african music.With one electric arch-top guitar(Tabane)and two drummers playing an assortment of traditional Venda percussion instruments Malombo has produced a type of african free-form jazz that sounds very traditional and at the same time very modern.Philip Tabane's guitar style has an almost minimalist quality about it(very reminiscent of Ernest Ranglin's playing on "In Search Of The Lost Riddim")His vocal's can go from wild "scat" style singing on the more up tempo selections to a smooth almost spiritual quality on the more meditative pieces."Unh" overall has a very contemplative ambiance about it.This is one of those rare recordings that seems to get better each time you listen to it.

This cd celebrates their 20 years of making music. It is all acoustic and the songs are for the most part joyful, energetic and infectious and is one of my favorites. Listen for yourself and decide, I think it's a wonderful album.

This music is a celebration of womenhood. It transcends any cultural barriers that we may place around one another. Reminding women that we are all one.The pains and pleasures of our love have no racial or ethnic fences. It reminds all of us that our emotions are the fiber that unite our lives. The amazing range that these beautiful queens can voice will send your heart to a happy place. The song themes are as contemporary now as they were when this was recorded. This is a classic of African music, and these singers can be compared to the divas from the United States such as Aretha Franklin,or Diana Ross. Definitely a good pick for anyone who is down to earth and can appreciate goodness and beauty.

greeting to all viewers of this message,i personal think this album is one of the best album globally,it is just that south african music industry is poor when it comes to advertise the traditional jazz artist, yet we all know this music does not bring a lot of money to recording companies.i will urge any buyer to read attentively so that he/she understand the sequence of the tracks and its global meaning therfor it will be easy to know the context.MUSIC SHOULD HEAL OUR INNER SOUL.

Here are the groovy guitar riffs, the low groan of singers like Mahlatini to the high tremolo warble of Joseph Shambala leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
�South Africa is justly famous for its vocals, especially its group singing: ROUGH GUIDE TO SOUTH AFRICAN GOSPEL shows why and how.

I'm not, personally, a huge fan of the South African gospel/group vocal style... (Living in Berkeley in the 1980s, I kind of got overexposed to the secular version, exemplified by groups such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, et al...) Still, I can recognize a class act when I see one, and this collection of harmonically rich, dense, soulful religious songs, sung primarily in Zulu and Sotho, is an excellent introduction to the genre. Drawing on the archives of several record labels, this concentrates mainly on recordings made in the 1980s and '90s, but also dips lightly into the '60s and '70s, when the music was going through a period of intense development and modernization. If you like the style, or you're just curious what it's all about, this is a fine disc to try out.