Deep Horizon

Here is one of those rapid posts.

This cassette of Jonah Sithole and his band The Deep Horizon was given to me by the artist himself, when he visited Amsterdam in 1996, a year before his sad demise (see my earlier post).
I don't wish to sound stubborn, but despite efforts by others to push this great artist into the mist of oblivion, to me Jonah is still one of the Greats of Zimbabwean music. Not just the man himself, but Thomas Mapfumo too has pointed to him as the 'inventor' of mbira-guitar in the Chimurenga music of the Blacks Unlimited. And who am I to argue with 'the horse's mouth'?

This wonderful cassette by Jonah's own band was recorded in the mid-1990s, and has - as far as I know - never had a global distribution.

L4 RTLP 115 or L4 RTLP 115

More Jonah to follow in a later post....

The Mapfumo's

A few months have passed since I posted music by Thomas Mapfumo. There was some discussion about the choruses in "Marehwarehwa", and even suggestions that the singing is off-key. Comments on "Moyo Wangu" focused mostly on guitarist Ashton 'Sugar' Chiweshe, and the reasons Thomas Mapfumo had for sacking him. And in the first part of a series on the partnership between Thomas Mapfumo and the inventor of the mbira style guitar*, Jonah Sithole, you could hear the late guitar master talking about his early career with Thomas.

This is more of an intermediate post, with two 45s. Or to more precise two remarkable maxi-singles. Both feature Thomas Mapfumo with Jonah Sithole.

The first was recorded in London in 1985, and contains three tracks. The track on the A-side is a remix of a track recorded for the album "Chimurenga for Justice", but far more noteworthy are the two tracks on the B-side: versions of "Pidigori" and "Hwahwa", recorded in one take at Capital Radio. I have posted the last track before, but I am sure there is no harm in posting it again...

Both these tracks are kicked off Jonah in his typical understated guitar style, and vocally Thomas is in great shape. But I would like to draw your attention to the conga playing and the handclapping in these tracks. Handclapping is very much a part of traditional Shona music, and the conga is the modern replacement of the traditional ngoma drum. I assume Thomas' brother, Lancelot Mapfumo, is playing the conga, and Thomas is doing the clapping. Both are brilliant.

But on the B-side of the second single, "Guruwe", released in Zimbabwe a few years later (probably in 1989 or 1990) on Thomas's own label and also featuring Jonah on guitar, I suspect Lancelot is doing the handclapping. I have seen him doing it lots of times during concerts, and have watched him several times with great attention, and I have come to the conclusion that the man has taken handclapping to another, higher level. Clapping as an art form....

RTT 190
TM 02

*and I am quoting both Jonah and Thomas!

Chimurenga

This is the first of a series of posts about a partnership that played a critical role in the development of African music, and more particularly Zimbabwean music: Jonah Sithole and Thomas Mapfumo.

In this first part the focus is on Jonah Sithole, the man who 'invented' the mbira style guitar playing.
Here are excerpts of an interview with Jonah, recorded March 16, 1996 in Amsterdam. Jonah passed away in Zimbabwe a year later. The other musician present is the -unfortunately also late- Alan Mwale. Between the excerpts are 'related' tracks.

• about his youth (1954 - 1971)
• Lipopo Jazz, Great Sounds and other bands (1971-1975)
• meeting Thomas / the origin of the mbira guitar (1975-1977)
• Sabuku (first single, 1977)
• about Sabuku
• about the mbira guitar style
• Kuyaura (1979)
• bonus track: Hwahwa (1985)

A zip combining the 8 tracks cab be found here.

By the way: here you can find another version of "Moyo Wangu", with an explanation by Mukanya himself.
And here is an interview by Banning Eyre with Jonah Sithole.

PS: The links have been renewed on August 18, 2012.