The Xhosa Sacred Singers - Ndinike

Ndinike sung by the Xhosa Scared Singers was pressed in the 1940's on a silver and black 78 rpm Gallotone shellac record. Possibly the legendary Hugh Tracey has recorded this song. We do not know this for sure but the only other recording of the Xhosa Sacred Singers we could find was mentioned on "flatinternational" - The South African Audio Archive.

If you have not heard about Hugh Tracey, just keep his name in the back of your head. We are going to dedicate an article to him. Hugh Tracey, who has founded ILAM "The International Library Of African Music" situatued in Grahamstown, has had an extraordinary life and we do not know of anyone who has done more recordings of African music than him in years when African music had not yet captured the attention of other nations.

One word about our youtube channel. In short it is a channel dedicated to the music and stories of our favourite continent Africa, but not exclusively about Mdantsane. 

You can find some interesting playlists like 78 rpm gramophone records, African music on vinyl and 78rpm and many more. And of course there are a lot of movies like the Mdantsane Tales and The Tales of Africa. 

We will build this channel up over time and add more and more songs and movies. 

Now enjoy the sound of one of the first Xhosa Choir Recordings. 

Mafuta Amahlope - The Basin Tone Drifters - Who's That Girl With The Beautiful Skin.......

Today we have a great and rare piece of music for you. And we want you to read this article first, because we are pretty sure that you will enjoy the song even more after knowing what is the story behind it.

The following article was written and researched by: The Electric Jive http://electricjive.blogspot.com/2010/07/50s-south-african-jazz-punts-skin.html. 

We thank them for digging into the background of this great piece of music. Every African music lover should check out their blog.

50s South African Jazz punts skin lighteners 

 

The insidious impact of mass media in shaping our identities and preferences goes way back and more than skin deep! Take this 78rpm South African Jazz record from 1956, singing the praises of skin lighteners and Vaseline. “Who’s that girl” … “the best looking girl I ever did see” performed by the "Basin Tone Drifters" and sung in the style of the Manhattan Brothers in English and Zulu extols the virtues of Pond’s Vanishing Cream and Blue Seal Vaseline.

A further twist in this fascinating early advertising tale is that the composer is registered under the pseudonym “Mafutha Amahlope” – literally meaning “Fat Whitey”. At least the real author Christoffel Nicolaas Du Toit had some sense of humour? The U.S. Library of Congress Catalogue of Published Music also records that Melody Music of Johannesburg registered these two songs on 1st October 1956.

South Africa’s first commercial radio station, Springbok Radio, was launched on 1st May 1950. African language broadcasts to the metropolitan areas began in 1953. We wonder if these recordings were paid-for advertising jingles or passed off as Kwela jive harmony hits? There can be no doubt though, this record must be amongst the first examples of purpose-made music/advertising aimed at South Africa's black consumers.

Despite being banned in South Africa in 1986, skin lighteners are still used, and the broader debates around skin lightening, identity, beauty and aspirations continue. Going by a recent article in the Sowetan, these debates are changing though.

“More than ever South Africans are realising that black is beautiful. As a nation we have overcome the baasskap mentality that suggests that anything dark is ugly and therefore undesirable.

“Politically we are maturing and we are taking pride in who we are. This is filtering through to the modeling industry and the media,” Mazibuko says.

Sudanese Supermodel Alek Wek

Mazibuko observes that the curse of the darker skinned woman was broken by African model Alek Wek, (right) a Sudanese refugee who made her US modelling debut a few years ago. She has since become one of the most sought-after models in the business.

In addition to her magazine covers, Wek has modelled for scores of top designers, walked in major fashion shows all over Europe and the US opening shows for huge names such as Ralph Lauren.

Mazibuko adds that the Africanist ideals of people such as Thabo Mbeki and former Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah have influenced the way a lot of Black South Africans think about themselves.

Amalope Mafuta Who's That Girl Label

Amahlope Mafuta Blue Seal Jive  Label

Now looking at 2013. Just this month Ponds has launched a new face cream called BP and the advert running every evening a dozen times on TV goes like this; " I want radiant and flawless skin in an instant"......., said by a stunning beautiful girl of very light skin tone.....

The Queue Sisters - True Zulu Jive found in Mdantsane

Our publisher Chocolat and her brother Chris collect African sounds on vinyl and shellac for the love of music - not profit. Africa is blessed with an incredible diverse heritage of music that must be passed on and appreciated again and again.

In The Mdantsane Way Mgazine we try to keep it local and focus on out of print South African, and other African music, that is very difficult to find. We make the sounds available on our youtube channel.

Today we are happy to present you one of (many of) Chocolat's beloved babies - true Zulu Jive found in Mdantsane. On our trips through the township we have been buying vinyl and shellac records as often as we could. 

Khulumandoda by the Queue Sisters is a very rare species because it is not even 33 rpm pressing. It comes as a 78 rpm shellac record and is played here on one of Chocolat's President gramophones. You are listening to a very rare jive, that was pressed on the Gallo New Sound label in the late 1950's. We do not have an exact year.

Gallo, the leading record company in South Africa, introduced the New Sound label in 1958 as a marketing strategy to brand their more popular jive and kwela releases. 

And the label has an interesting history.  All about this label here. A blog that many South African music lovers will enjoy.
http://flatint.blogspot.com/2013/06/new-sound-label-lp-ep-discography.html

ZAZI - Eastern Cape Musicians Must Start Doing It For Themselves!

We are back with the 2^nd year journalism students of the Walter Sisulu University. Today we are publishing an article written Philasande Tukute. 

The article taps into the music business in South Africa and profiles Mwezi Zazi, a sound engineer, multi-instrumentalist and producer born in Duncan Village (to find out how Duncan Village is related to Mdantsane click the link), who believes that Eastern Cape musicians should start doing it for themselves instead of depending on production companies. 

Many of the young and talented young musicians, who send us their tracks and who are in desperate search of a producer or production company might find this interesting and inspiring. And if some of you need advice: why not contact ZAZI, a man who has survived in the music industry for 30 years! 

Mwezi Zazi is a Duncan Village based sound engineer, multi-instrumentalist and producer who has worked with the best in the industry. He is a self-taught musician who plays both bass and acoustic guitar, drums, piano and keyboards.

Zazi said: “I’ve worked with the likes of McCoy Mrubata, Jimmy Dludlu, Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse, Moses Ngwenya from the Soul Brothers, Tsepo Tshola, Thembi Mtshali of Sgudi Snaysi fame among many others.”

The well-travelled Zazi is now an in-house chief sound engineer and producer at the Duncan Village Studio situated in Duncan Village. It started operating at the end of 2010. He joined the studios at the beginning of 2012.

“This is where I produced Butho Vuthelas latest album titled Ah! Mvelingqangi in which I produced 13 tracks out of the 15,” he said.
Before joining DV Studios, Zazi worked in many places across the country as a singer and later as a producer and sound engineer. “I worked at Saules casino in Mdantsane during my high school days in the late 80’s, moved to PE where I worked with a band called the drifters,” he said.

Letting Go Of  Producers.....

Zazi then moved to Johannesburg where he worked with Chicco Twala as a keyboarder in the late 90’s. “I produced Tsepo Tsolas album titled Lesedi during my time in Joburg,” said Zazi.

Having been in the industry for more than 30 years Zazi knows what it takes. “Being dedicated and having lots and lots of patience are what it takes to make it in this dog-eats-dog industry,” he said.

The Ziphunzane-born multi-instrumentalist attributes his longevity to dedication and persistence as he believes that there is no one who is going to do it for him and that there is only one way for him to go and that is up.

Zazi describes his sound as “smooth, soulful and jazzy” while it also caters for the hip-hop,house and kwaito fanatics. He was also part of a band with McCoy Mrubata, Jimmy Dludlu, Lucas Khumalo, Nhlanhla Magagula and Chippa Mashuku.
“The band was called McCoy’s Brotherhood under the leadership of Mrubata and we produced an African jazz album called Firebird,” he said.

Zazi is a graduate of Siegen Institute of Audio Technology in Germany where he studied on a scholarship from the Department of Arts and Culture in 1998.

“I was always interested in audio technology so I took the opportunity with both hands,” he said.
“I spent four years in Germany doing my degree. Now I am in charge of all the production and engineering in the Duncan Village Studios.”
Looking at the current state of the Eastern Cape music industry, Zazi believes that there is room for improvement.

“Our music is sounding good and there are more 100% locally produced products that are doing well in the market but there is a lot to be done in terms of marketing and distribution,” said Zazi. 

“I think it’s high time that artists started to do things for themselves instead of depending on production companies to sign them. Learning the business side of things is always a plus,” he concluded. – Article by Philisande Tukute, Walter Sisulu University, Image Chocolat Negro