South Africa has a long tradition of harmony singing, stretching back to Soloman Linda's famous 1933 song Mbube, which created a genre of its own to isicathamiya folk singing that led to one of the country's most potent popular genres, mbaqanga and on to gospel choirs.
Linda's song later morphed into a global hit Wimoweh in 1948 for the US vocal group The Weavers and then to the 1961 hit The Lion Sleeps Tonight by the Tokens.
From the early years of the 20th century as Christian churches spread across South Africa, African music was incorporated into gospel music. Fast forward to the 1990s, and new gospel stars like Rebecca Malope began to emerge and became hugely popular. During the Apartheid era, gospel music provided some solace from harsh social conditions and also was used as a subversive tool to communicate around censorship.
Despite the achievement of political independence over the past 30 years, severe economic problems remain. Since the 2010s, gospel music has provided hope. In 2016, a new sound emerged from nine young men from Diepkloof, a bustling neighbourhood within the Soweto township, who formed Diepkloof United Voice. The new gospel group entered local competitions and word spread of their music of self-empowerment.
The singers practised in an abandoned school and recorded their first international album there, Harmonizing Soweto: Golden City Gospel & Kasi Soul From New South Africa (Ostinato Records, USA), which was released last month. Kasi soul is a genre unique to Soweto. Initially, the group recorded a song, Too Late For Mama (a bubble-gum pop hit by the late superstar Brenda Fassie) on a mobile phone; after it was uploaded to social media, the song went viral.
The new album opens with a rerecorded hymn-like version of Too Late For Mama and this segues into one of the standout tracks and the first single from the album, Baninzi, which comes from The Soil and their 2011 album. The Soil have a soul-based sound, unique to Soweto, called kasi soul and Diepkloof have retained the deep bass and beatbox clicks from the original that provide the base for some wonderful vocal harmonies.
The album has many other surprises. Global R&B star Rihanna's hit Stay turns up renamed as Round & Round with a super baritone inspired bass sound and inspiring harmonies. Other standouts include Marion Brown's soul dancefloor filler Who Knows and the finger-clicking Nomalizo. But my favourite track is the last, My Brother, which harks back to isicathamiya harmonies of mbaqanga, a joyous way to end a brilliant album. Highly recommended.
Diepkloof United Voice.
I met Ostinato Records' founder Vik Sohonie, who spends part of his time in Bangkok, at a local event recently and we talked about new releases on the label. He reminded me that I had missed a fascinating album from Ostinato Records on Sudanese jazz.
Released earlier this year, Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass from Sudan's Red Sea Coast by Noori & his Dorpa Band is a must for fans of music from the Horn of Africa. The instrumental album features leader Noori playing a self-made tambo-guitar (a combination of electric guitar and an electric four-stringed lyre-like instrument from East Africa). The music has that unmistakeable and highly infectious Sudanese groove, ably supported by dreamy sax and Noori's delicate tambo-guitar playing. Hailing from Port Said, the sound of the band features soul, funk, blues, Ethiopian jazz and traditional Beja music, which goes back centuries to the ancient Kingdom of Kush. One for jazz fans. More information from ostinatorecords.com.
Finally, Les Mamans du Congo is a Brazzaville-based women's collective created in 2018 by Gladys Samba (aka Mama Glad). The group released their self-titled debut album in 2020, the result of a collaboration with hip-hop producer Rrobin of Galant Records. The group's hybrid sound features traditional Bantu singing, complex percussion (often using household utensils), Afrobeat, rap and hip-hop; and the lyrics, sung in the Lari language, tell of the daily lives of Congolese women and many of the issues they face.
In March the group released an EP, again with Rrobin, and Les Maman's second album, Ya Mizole (Jarring Effects), is out on Friday. Check out the band's very colourful and danceable music videos, which are striking and, most important of all, truly uplifting.
Beja Power!.
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
