South Africa music reviews

Pretty decent CD. A good overview, but not fabulous. I suppose any compilation like this will not please all.

If you are a fan of S/A music, this Cd will make your mouth water. If you don't have a clue, it's great introduction. All the greats (minus Hugh Masakela) are here. The Mahotella Queens make you want to stomp, Ladysmith Black Mambazo ring out like heavenly angels, and Miriam Makeba performs some early wonders with the Skylarks. The track "Grooving Jive" sums things up nicley. But hardcore fans of the music get a bonus with the inclusion of the tune that started it all, Solomon Linda's "Mbube" (1939) which has since mutated into "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." But enough of that, just get it and enjoy!

This CD, yet another excellent compilation from the Rough Guide series, focuses on the musical traditions of South Africa, which have become fairly popular in the west in recent years. As one would expect, there is a track featuring the a cappella sounds of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and the heavenly voice of singer Miriam Makeba, but South African music is far more diverse than just that. There are such famous South African performers as the Soul Brothers, Boyoyo Boys and Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens, who all give excellent performances on this CD. Reggae has its roots in African traditions, and this becomes more appearent after you hear the South African reggae stylings of Lucky Dube. Jazz also has its roots in the African continent, and this can be seen in such songs as "Jive Township", "Yaze Yangala", "Celebration" and "Groovin Jive No. 1". All of these, while uniquely African, feature a jazzy groove which cannot be denied. If you listen to this CD, you'll find yourself dancing along to it yourself after a while. Its contaigous. Over all, this is an excellent CD, giving some insight into the diverse world of South African music today.

i dig this album a lot. It has many of the usual afrobeat artists on it: Antibalas, Tony Allen, Daktaris (now defunct: contains a number of members of Antibalas), Femi, Egypt 80. I already had a number of these tracks (and there are only 10 tracks on the album), perhaps that's why this review is only 4 stars.

I would definitely recommend that all you afrobeat heads check out a 100% charity afrobeat compilation for sudan called "ASAP: the afrobeat sudan aid project." The CD is only [...] and contains 12 tracks from many of these artists: Tony Allen (featuring fela kuti), Antibalas and Dele Sosimi, plus a number of really hot emerging afrobeat artists like Akoya, Kokolo, and Ikwunga. [...]

I initially got this CD because it had the only other Lagbaja song that I don't have in my collection -"Side by Side". Perhaps, that's why I was pleased with the CD...I wasn't expecting much. It's a good CD, I particularly like Hugh Masekela's uniqueness in the song tittled "Fela"...nice! It's not a dancesong but it's something you'll enjoy listening to. And for the folks who were regulars at Fela's Shrine, I'll recommend the track- "Se Rere"(Baba Ani's national anthem at the Shrine). Baba Ani(Lekan Animashaun)wasn't as sharp as the good ol' Shrine days..but there's still that deep feeling when you listen to this song....ha! If only the truth were known. The other tracks like "Gbedu1" , "Dirt and Blood" etc are nice modern Afrobeat songs. How can I forget Egbon Femo's energizing "Beng, Beng, Beng"?

It's a real shame that afrobeat never became mainstream in the states. Then again in this era of TRL and bland boy bands singing manufactured pop songs, I guess it's crazy to expect an American audience to sit through a 15 minute composition from afrobeat legend, Fela Kuti. Anyway, it's their loss.
This CD features a compilation of some of the best contemporary afrobeat tracks around. There are some great tracks like Dele Sosimi's "Gbedu 1", Kiala's "Batumwindu", and "Se re re" by Baba Ani. It took me a while to get into "Dirt and Blood" by Antibalas but it's slamming. However, my favorite track is "side by side", a commentary by Lagbaja on young girls( and their mamas ) in miniskirts giving young dudes high blood pressure.
A minor grouse I have with the playlist is the first track "The same blood". Tony Allen has far better material. "N.E.P.A" and "Road close" come to mind. Also, Groove Collective's "Crisis" does nothing for me. Perhaps a new compilation will feature some material from Lagos based musician Alariwo? The cat has some talent.
All in all, this is a good CD to have whether you are a fan or a newbie to afrobeat.

The best of the regrettably small catalogue. If you have the hits Crossing and Tough Enough already from a best of compilation, do not hesitate to purchase this anyway. African Dream, When The System Has Fallen, and Foreign Nights are outstanding songs also, easily worth the price of the CD. The background chorus is unique and inspiring.

If you're like me and would not have had the opporunity to see them live, I seem to remember them making an appearance on SNL many years back that you could catch.

I first heard Johnny Clegg in the early 1980's, just before I had the pleasure of seeing Juluka in concert. After Sipho McHunu left, the band was renamed Savuka, and is just as good to me. More accessible to western pop & rock listeners, but still very rooted in African music. Zulu is a beautiful language and this album is accented with zulu background and chorus vocals.

Out of the thousands of vinyl LPs and hundreds of CDs I have, this album remains in my eternal top 20. If I were stranded with only a CD player and 10 CDs, I would hope this would be one of them.

Johnny Clegg is overlooked in the U.S., and this album proves he is 100 times better than the majority of dreck on the airwaves today. This album succeeds on many levels...strong hooks, enchanting rhythyms, memorable melodies and lyrics...even the Zulu language parts of the songs blend so well with the English lyrics that you will start to phonetically sound them out and try to sing it...you can't stop dancing, singing and loving this album...older fans of Clegg's various bands will think this more commercial and slick...it is a little different than his Juluka band days, but great nonetheless! A must have in any collection.

This album is more than a mere compendium -- it is a narrative of how music is organically linked to culture. The tracks not only offer glimpses of the development of South African music from the 1950s through the end of Apartheid, but also indicate the social significance of music in a divided society. "Sip 'n Fly" "Yiyole" "Pula Kgosa Seretse" "Lelani" and "Vuka Vuka" show the vitality of jazz in S Africa's black community, while offering somewhat revolutionary messages. Later tracks are increasingly politicized, especially "Heavyweight" "Phansi Ngodlame" and "Asimbonanga," which was recorded by a band composed (against state regulations) of black and white musicians. The music is good; the window into the world of Apartheid and revolution is fascinating. The only caveat: this album is unified only by the fact that all the music was created in Mandela's lifetime in South Africa. The difference in style, tempo, and attitude between songs can be jarring. Still, a great introduction to S. African music and history!

I'm french and when a friend offers me this CD. I was crazy because all songs are fabulous. I hear this disk every weeks, I love it.

i couldn't wait to get this.i wanted to hear the sounds of South Africa.the music has adventure.i love to hear the drums and the different artists featured.

The music of the Manhattan Brothers emits such a warmth that it takes you places. Unlike any contemporary music, one can hear critical experience simply in their voices, regardless of the words they're saying. In fact, as with all foreign language musics, it may very well be an advantage for non-natives of Africa to not understand anything they're saying because then all you're hearing is their soulfulness and technique.

The Manhattan Brothers are not just something to be sought out by culture-vulturers, they were top-shelf harmony singers, sometimes singing Western songs - either straight-forward or translated into their native language - but more often songs of native concerns in an American style influenced by black vocal groups like the Mills Brothers. I find the juxtaposition of African themes and American styles to be very satisfying. It's one thing to call music coming from another continent 'world music' but it's quite another to find a collaboration between continents, especially during such an early period of recorded music.

Another thing to consider and appreciate about the Manhattan Brothers and their black South African contemporaries is the way they dealt with and expressed their frustration with their poverty and treatment by Apartheid whites. The music of the Manhattan Brothers suggests a confidence of being that exists regardless of socio-economic situations. They weren't using their music to elevate themselves to the status of the whites, they were doing their thing DESPITE the whites, and often in fear of whites. Of course they wanted the kind of financial rewards white workers and performers were getting but they were making music on their terms for people whose adulation THEY valued - their fellow blacks - and if whites chose to appreciate it, then all the better.

In similar urban environments in present-day America blacks often turn to the violence, chauvinism and revenge tactics of rap music that's fueled by the feeling of having something to prove to those of a higher economic status and education. They have nothing of substance to present to the world when or if they do attain greater resources like the Manhattan Brothers did so they turn to an iconography of rococo materialism that has no reference to a productive culture. The Manhattan Brothers' sense of personal taste included dressing sharply, as indicated in the liner notes, but as a vehicle to simply look good and appear professional, not as a billboard for excess. Would the Manhattans have changed had they become million-dollar recording stars? Almost certainly, but I don't think they would've lost their appreciation for a day's work.

The recordings on this compilation span the period of 1948-59 with a heavy emphasis on the later years, and about half of the songs feature Miriam Makeba in her first appearances on record before she made a go of it on her own. It would've been nice to hear some more of their earlier recordings but the availability of the original records was likely a factor.

A stunning, joyous set of doo wop-like "jive" vocals from some of South Africa's greatest post-WWII musicians. The Manhattan Brothers were one of the first groups to benefit from a booming postwar economy that brought black South Africans into the cities in large numbers, making their sort of pop success possible. Singing in Shona, Xhosa, Zulu and English, the Manhattan Brothers mixed sleek swing vocals with proto-doo wop and jubilee gospel, and were the group that set the standard for the many vocal groups that came in their wake, including Miriam Makeba's late-'50s ensemble, The Skylarks. Makeba herself first came to prominence as a soloist in the Manhattan Brothers ensemble, and appears on several of these tracks. The feel is playful and glorious, with some of the lushest, most swinging vocals you're ever likely to hear on disc. This is a great record - a highly welcomed addition to the all-too-small pool of similar records that uncover this forgotten style of American-influenced South African pop. HIGHLY recommended!

The Manhattan Brothers were one of the first South African groups to achieve superstar status, and greatly influenced the fruitful township music scene. This remarkable collection gathers together 20 fabulous songs transferred from shellac 78 rpm discs recorded between 1948 - 1959. Before this CD, their incredible music was next to impossible to find outside of a random song or two on various compilations (such as Music Club's outstanding "Township Jazz 'N Jive" collection). The quartet employed the finest musicians to accompany them, and their backing bands, both in the studio and on stage, produced such South African stars as Hugh Masekela, Dollar Brand (a.k.a. Abdullah Ibrahim), and Kippie Moeketsi. A young Miriam Makeba also got her start singing with the quartet, before moving on to work with the Skylarks and then eventually international fame as a solo artist. She can be heard on four songs in this collection, one of which, "Laku Tshoni 'Ilanga," was released in an English version to the US market as "Lovely Lies" and became the first South African recording to enter the Billboard Top 100 (it reached number 45 in 1956). While only a few of the selections are sung in English, the entirety of the album's irresistable joy comes across regardless of your native tongue. Excellent liner notes lay out their entire legacy, from their earliest days and through the various lineups to their eventual exile and their recent reunion. Put it on and prepare to smile.

This album, collection of Zulu and English songs by British born, South African adopted, music legend Johnny Clegg captivates many of his great music over the last 25 years.

Clegg's highly contraversial partnership with Sipho Mchunu was unsuprisingly often politically charged but always faithful and appreciated. Such tracks that illustrate this and often bring tears to the eyes of South-Africans the world over are Asimbonanga, Great Heart and Africa.

However I do not believe this is his best compilation album. If you would prefer to find a better Johnny Clegg collection, then you may wish to give "In My African Dream" or "Premium Gold Collection" a listen. They include songs such as Ibhola Lethu, Siyayilanda and Third World Child - that were unfortunately ommited from this album.

If you don't know Johnny Clegg - then you are missing a lot. Give him a try: this album is a good introduction.

Great album!! Go for it!! This is everything the Putumayo selection was not - including outstanding pieces like the trademark 'Scatterlings', the rousing 'Bullets for Bafazane', 'Woza Friday' and of course 'Dela' which was used in the George of the Jungle film. It also has 'Nan's Impi' from the hard-to-get album Musa Ukungilandela; and great live recordings of Asimbonanga and Hambile. Good stuff!!

Chris Stapleton's review is almost right. There are time when concentration seems to wane, but the sheer power and captivating quality of Busi's voice always draws you back. This is high on my list of favourite albums, but Urbanzulu ranks higher - check it out.

I couldn't disagree more with Chris Stapleton's review. This album is on my top ten list. Busi Mhlongo's singing embodies such a range of feeling - at times powerful and commanding, at times tender and vulnerable, at times anguished or even ecstatic. Although I don't understand the language, many of the songs, especially Babhemu and Ujantshi, impart a profound feeling of longing and intimacy with the sadness of human existence. However, these are not depressing songs, nor is the album in any way heavy. Listening to this album, for me, is having an encounter with a wise and philosophical spirit, one that is brave enough to FEEL all of the emotions that life can put a person (or a people) through.

I couldn't disagree more with Chris Stapleton's review. This album is on my top ten list. Busi Mhlongo's singing embodies such a range of feeling - at times powerful and commanding, at times tender and vulnerable, at times anguished or even ecstatic. Although I don't understand the language, many of the songs, especially Babhemu and Ujantshi, impart a profound feeling of longing and intimacy with the sadness of human existence. However, these are not depressing songs, nor is the album in any way heavy. Listening to this album, for me, is having an encounter with a wise and philosophical spirit, one that is brave enough to FEEL all of the emotions that life can put a person (or a people) through.

Abdullah Ibrahim's "Cape Town Revisited" captures the pianist's trio perfroming live at the Spier Estate in Capetown, South Africa, joined on three tracks by trumpeter Feya Faku. Pertinent background is that Mr. Ibrahim, born in South Africa but in self-imposed exile during apartheid, began performing in his homeland again during the 1990's. It is in this context that the CD is aptly titled "Cape Town Revisited". The joy of his homecoming is admixed throughout this CD with Mr. Ibrahim's influences from living abroad, notably that of his early mentor, Duke Ellington. There are classic, sweet jazz melodies, such as "Someday Soon Sweet Samba" pulsing with township rhythms below the melody. The three-part suite "Cape Town To Congo Square", strangely interrupted between the second and third movenmment by another track, nevertheless evokes the African cultural landscape within an easily recognizable jazz idiom that knows no boundaries. Mr. Faku's contributions add variety to the trio sound, and by the time we reach the stunning gracenotes of the last three trio only tracks, culminating with "Barakaat (The Blessing) we know that we have been blessed indeed to glimpse the musical and cultural wisdom of this stellar artist.

While I overall prefer Mr. Ibrahim's larger ensemble work (see my review of his "Voices of Africa" CD) and thus have given this CD 4 stars only, it is a wonderful, intimate listening experience that allows one to travel musically to other lands yet still feel the immediacy and familiarity of timeless, cross-cultural art. "Cape Town Revisitied" is music that people of all nations can cherish.

Ibrahim Caresses the piano with such nuance - blessed with his midas touch.

Hopefully this record is the first in a line of Hugh Masekela's other '60s recordings to be released on CD. The 'Lasting Impressions of Ooga Booga' pairing was all we had to work with until now.

Unlike the two records on the 'Lasting Impressions of Ooga Booga', 'Grrr' is a studio recording, and so it's tighter and the songs are shorter and more concise, even though they were recorded at roughly the same time as the live ones found on '...Ooga Booga'.

Masekela was married to Miriam Makeba during the time of this release and some of the material bears a strong similarity to Makeba's work. Masekela delivers an instrumental version of Makeba's 'Ntjilo-Ntjilo' as well as another song Makeba recorded, 'Phatsha-Phatsha', and it's easy to imagine 'Umaningi Bona' and 'Sharpville' being in her repertoire too. 'Sharpville' is a nifty guitar-driven tune that doesn't seem like an unusual song unless you consider that Sharpville was the site of one of South Africa's bloodiest massacres. Then it becomes a rather odd contradiction, perhaps written by Masekela to celebrate the lives of those who were killed rather than as a funereal dirge.

'Grrr' has an odd sound for a jazz recording. True, Masekela was more than a jazz musician, but rarely will you hear a jazz-based record as poorly recorded as this one. It could be said that it sounds like 'garage jazz' in that the sound quality is very lo-fi but not so much that the music suffers. In fact, I think it adds to the music, giving it a warmth and character that a good amount of jazz lacks due to sterile recording practices. Masekela's music often traded virtuosity for soulfulness and 'Grrr' is a good example of that. The element of the folk song is something that he never left behind, and he wasn't ashamed to wear pop on his sleeve either. However, I do think he took his pop leanings too far in the late-'60s in terms of just covering pop/rock songs and not writing original pop-influenced material ('Grazing In the Grass' excluded). He and Gabor Szabo shared the same disease.

If for nothing else, points are to be given to one of the greatest album covers around. The tiger pup and trumpet are understandable given Masekela's iconography, but the small 'grrr' coming from the pup's face is boss. If it had only been placed lower so that it lined up with the mouth...

I can't find much else to say. The song features Hugh at his best (in my opinion), before he got a little TOO into the world vibe and also before he got into synthesizers. Here, his vibrant powerful trumpet voice is at its best, and his arrangements perfectly bridge the gap between American jazz and South African township jive.

Of particular note is the gorgeous ballad Ntjilo-Ntjilo, which I am having difficulty describing without expletives (so just take my word for it).

Two quibbles with the CD however. One is that the names of the other performers are lost - as Hugh had left for the United States by this album it's hard to assume anyone (except maybe Jonas Gwangwa who is credited with arranging a track).

The second is the occasionally atrocious sound quality. Fortunately, the dips in the sound are rare...but when they occur they really hurt the otherwise glorious music.

Ultimately though, the sound problems disappear as far as listening is concerned. This is amazing music; check it out.

it helps me feel my unexplanable emotion

Planet Africa is a wonderful introduction to the world of African pop blended with traditional styles. The variety of artists from all regions of Africa is a grand tour of regional and ethnic musical styles and themes. Some are great dance numbers but all speak from the heart about the plight and wonder that is Africa. A great disk.