Monthly Archives: January 2013

South African Vaudeville, Jazz, Jive and Rock ‘N’ Roll

January 28, 2013_Mr Gosh

7/24/2007 Dig Up The Roots

An all to brief listen in to the sounds of South African Jazz, Vaudeville and Rock ‘N’ Roll pioneers. The recordings ranged from 1930 to 1965; from the polished Elite orchestras of the cities clubs to rural village street recordings. Zulu miners phonetically singing in English trying to sound like Elvis (who was trying to sound like a Delta Blues man anyway – weird), tight vocal group harmonies, penny whistles galore, big band Latin and ska sounds. An incredible amount of diversity of influences, yet, one can plainly hear the distinct qualities of this region of the world.

An early example of ‘World Beat’ was the first recording heard which included yodeling and Hawaiian steel guitar! We also heard music from some of the later giants of South African music: Hugh Masekala, Miriam Makeba the Mahotella Queens. Many of these recordings have little to no documentation so we will need to listen.

There is a wonderful book called Marabi Nights: Early South African Jazz and Vaudeville by Christopher Ballantine. It is on Raven Press and came with a cassette with some of the featured music on this show.

Playlist Tracks:

Griffiths Motseieloa and Ignatius Monare – Aubuti Nkikho (Brother Nkikho)
Album: Marabi Nights: Early South African Jazz and Vaudeville; Label: Raven Press

Snowy Radebe Company – eBhayi (In Port Elizabeth)
Album: Marabi Nights: Early South African Jazz and Vaudeville; Label: Raven Press

Amanzimtoti Players – Sbhino (Sponono)
Album: Marabi Nights: Early South African Jazz and Vaudeville; Label: Raven Press

Nkandla Guitar Players – Evelina
Album: Marabi Nights: Early South African Jazz and Vaudeville; Label: Raven Press

Unknown – Lammandi Ugolohlano
Album: Siya Hamba: 1950’s S. African Country and Small Town Sounds; Label: Original Music

Royal Players – (Cry Until The Tears Dry Up)
Album: The History Of Township Music; Label:

Nancy Jacobs Her Sisters – Meadowlands
Album: The History Of Township Music; Label:

Nancy Jacobs Her Sisters – Baby Are Yeng
Album: Township Jazz ‘N’ Jive; Label: Music Club

Bogard Brothers – That’ll Be The Day
Album: Flying Rock: Early South African Rock ‘N’ Roll; Label: Global Village Music

Benoni Rocket – I’m Gonna Rock
Album: Flying Rock: Early South African Rock ‘N’ Roll; Label: Global Village Music

Willard Cele – Penny Whistle Boogie
Album: Flying Rock: Early South African Rock ‘N’ Roll; Label: Global Village Music

Solven Whistlers – Something New In Africa
Album: The History Of Township Music; Label:

Lenny Special Mabuse – Kwela Blues
Album: Township Jazz ‘N’ Jive; Label: Music Club

Manhatten Brothers – Thabu Tseu
Album: Township Jazz ‘N’ Jive; Label: Music Club

Petersburg Melodians – We Are Going Home
Album: The History Of Township Music; Label:

The Black Mambazo – After Muchacha
Album: Flying Rock: Early South African Rock ‘N’ Roll; Label: Global Village Music

Bogard Brothers – I’m In Love
Album: Flying Rock: Early South African Rock ‘N’ Roll; Label: Global Village Music

Nelson Siboza Montanas – Bayilami Selmavukuvuku
Album: Siya Hamba: 1950’s S. African Country and Small Town Sounds; Label: Original Music

Dark City Sisters – Shala Shala Twist
Album: Flying Rock: Early South African Rock ‘N’ Roll; Label: Global Village Music

Allen Kwela – 500 Guitar Rock
Album: Flying Rock: Early South African Rock ‘N’ Roll; Label: Global Village Music

Blue Notes – No Doli Wami
Album: Siya Hamba: 1950’s S. African Country and Small Town Sounds; Label: Original Music

Jazz Revellers Band – Sponono
Album: Marabi Nights: Early South African Jazz and Vaudeville; Label: Raven Press

W.P. Zikali – Ntebejana
Album: Marabi Nights: Early South African Jazz and Vaudeville; Label: Raven Press

The Merry Blackbirds – iChain Covers / uMajaji / Woza we Mzala (Come on, everybody)
Album: Marabi Nights: Early South African Jazz and Vaudeville; Label: Raven Press

Hot Lips Dance Band – Marabi No. 2 Jive
Album: Marabi Nights: Early South African Jazz and Vaudeville; Label: Raven Press

Jazz Dazzlers – De Makeba
Album: Township Jazz ‘N’ Jive; Label: Music Club

Orlando Seven – Loafer’s Corner
Album: Township Jazz ‘N’ Jive; Label: Music Club

Father Huddlestone Family – Ndenzeni Na?
Album: Township Jazz ‘N’ Jive; Label: Music Club

The Young Stars – A Loafer
Album: The History Of Township Music; Label:

Jury Mpelho Band – Isicatula
Album: Siya Hamba: 1950’s S. African Country and Small Town Sounds; Label: Original Music

Hillbilly Humor on 78 RPM records with Doc Rock

January 27, 2013_Mr Gosh

This radio show was recorded on January 16th, 2007 and my guest was Doc Rock. He brought in another weird and great collection of Hillbilly humor records from the 1920’s & 30’s. Weird epic country and back-wood tales, some that spanned multiple 78 RPM record sides. Early examples of Talking blues, cheap thrills on the farm, hillbilly hijinks and drawling tall tales. The music is amazing and Doc Rock’s knowledge and style are unbeatable. This show will leave you smiling and thinking WTF in delightful disbelief.

Yodeling with Doc Rock

January 21, 2013_Mr Gosh

This radio show was recorded on May 8th, 2007 with Doc Rock in the studio and this is all his music. Yodeling from many times and places, traditional and experimental. Pygmies, Swiss, instructional, techno yodeling(!?) and early US country tunes. Half the show revolves around Jimmie Rodgers and the big three yodeling country spawn. There isn’t a written playlist for this one. Doc describes the music as only he can the history and mystery of yodeling.

78 RPM Summits

January 20, 2013_Mr Gosh

Listen to a radio show that featured four of the DJ’s.

The 78 RPM Summits were the idea of the Pepper Patriot, a 78 DJ in the twin cities, world traveler and sound artist. These were gatherings of a dozen or so record collectors who played old records on a variety of old machines. Most of the equipment was brought in by Scott & Mike from Vintage Music Co. They keep us all going with records, their expertise on repair and inventory of parts.

The posters were designed by Dale Flattum.
The films were shot by John Akre.

The video below is from the first summit. There is some nice footage of Doc Rock – may he have the rockin’est bones in the bone yard. He played a few songs about bums to start things off. Where else could the night go after that but down hill fast.

These events gathered fans, collectors and DJ’s together. The wide variety of music played was surprising, varied and great sounding too. The second event had many of the usual suspects showing up along with another crowd of younger folks just discovering the analog world. It must be the tubes and the smell of the grease in those old motors warming up. It is a pheromone like attraction that just pulls a certain person in. The first capacitors used in radios were coated in beeswax. Shellac records were made from billions of dead, spread, squashed, mashed, boiled, roiled, pressed and generally messed up Beetles. So maybe the pheromone attraction isn’t so far off.

Minnesota No Tamago-Uri

The playlist for this show is at the end of this post.

This is an old Japanese 78 RPM record about a Minnesota egg salesman who traveled around Japan. It was a big hit back in the day. I didn’t know what the song was about until a very excited phone call during a radio show one day in 2004.

I had been playing some of these old Japanese records that I’d just gotten. This one had an English title and very clearly the word Minnesota in it. After the song ended the phone rang. On the other end was a man almost yelling and laughing loudly. He was listening while driving through town and couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He said that when he was in his early 20’s he had lived in Japan doing missionary or Peace Corps work. When he would mention to elderly people that he was from Minnesota they would smile big and say: “Oh. Minnesota Egg Salesman”. He knew it was a song but had never heard it before that morning. For me, until that point, it was another interesting find but for him it was so much more. He was so happy to finally hear the song. This type of experience is what community radio is all about. Priceless momentary unplanned connections you achieve with unknown and unseen listeners.

A good idea is worth ripping off, er, researching further. Radio Rumpus Room had their All-Japanese Sukiyaki Stomp (which you all should listen to on our archive while you have the chance). So, on Tuesday December 4th we presented 2 hours of songs and music from pre and post WW 2 Japanese Pop 78 RPM records. This is the sort of stuff that should be listened to in history class. The delightful and sad; boogies and rhumbas, and a visit from the Minnesota Egg Salesman. These records are part of one of my prized obsessions and we listened to less than 1/2 of them today. Most of these records have little or no English on the labels, so the following playlist is vague in places.