July 22, 2010

Sax & flute jive

Called it synchronicity, call it a coincidence, call it whatever you like: I was busy uploading this cassette when I saw ElectricJive had posted the next volume in this series.

I gladly refer you to ElectricJive's post, and not just for this post.

I can confirm that there are five volumes in this series, and I will post them all, if you are patient. If I remember correctly I bought these cassettes in the early 1980s in a small shop in Soho, London, together with two volumes of Congolese music from the 1950s. Later on I also found a cassette by Monguito El Unico from the (probably) same source. The rest you can read in my earlier post of the first volume.

Even more than the first volume it has taken a while for me to grasp this music. I think it was after my visit to SA in the late 1990s that I could ´translate´ the atmosphere and feel of these recordings, and connect it to the people. Not that could find a lot of this music when I was there, by the way. But that´s another story....

South African Jive Vol.2: Sax & flute jive

11 comments:

quique ruiz said...

Your "Beware of natives" podcast i liked it a lot. Beautiful and amusing music. Have you posted the first artists on that podcast somewhere in your blog?

Matt Temple said...

Thanks moos for confirming vol 4 and 5. I have a few queries out as to who compiled these but I suspect it was Trevor Herman, Jumbo Van Reenen or Nick Carnac prior to the establishment of the Earthworks or Carnacdisque labels. That would put it around 1981/2.

WrldServ said...

Moos? You're in the wrong blog!

Matt Temple said...

Stefan, that is so embarrassing! My apologies to you for not paying attention! My weekly blog visits include you and Moos over at Global Groovers. Thanks again for the post and looking forward to Vol 4 & 5.

Anonymous said...

need your help. You know the name of this song and the the orchestra. remember has submitted in your blog some Arabic music. I wonder if the melody is Arabic.

http://www.mediafire.com/?n5qru89zfsfq52g

http://www.sendspace.com/file/3kxe8u

http://www.zshare.net/download/7863543771b2a556/

thanks for your information.

alexisgal@hotmail.com
Alexis Galeano Toro
California - U.S.A

Tim said...

I'm pretty sure these were compiled and released by Trevor Herman and Jumbo van Reenen.

I know the cassettes opened a lot of ears to Africa's amazingly rich musical scene, past and present, though I'm not certain whether Trevor and Jumbo were too concerned about copyright at that point.

My own copies of two of these cassettes died the death of overplay a long time ago, so I am really glad to see them resurface.

Thank you

Love Letters Journal said...

Thanks a ton! Great to hear the rest of the series will be going up.

Feq'wah said...

Moos? lol!

Thanks for these nice compilations!

david said...

I know it's a bit late because I was away on vacation but i can confirm these cassettes were made by my friend Keith who sold them exclusively on his stall in Camden Market from the mid-80s until he left for a teaching post in Africa, when the stall was taken over by Mel. No one else was involved as the other people mentioned were already involved in legitimate releases of music, and these wonderful cassettes are technically all great bootlegs!

donpiper said...

Thanks for sharing this great compilation. I am a whistle player and a big fan of Black Mambazo, & Alex Shamber Boys. Enjoying the sax jive as well but the pennywhistle tracks on side b are the big thrill for me.

Thanks also for vol.1, some really nice stuff.

cheers,
donpiper

kdub22 said...

Wow, this is some awesome music. I don't even know how to describe it, these people just seem so excited about creating such a quirky yet groovy sound, not mention it's from the 1950s and 60s.