• Music

    Mahotella Queens – Abaculi Bethu / Umculo Kawupheli

    March 10, 2023 - By 

    Today’s share is a joyful slice of township jive out of South Africa from the legendary Mahotella Queens.  It’s a tragedy that it took a cretinous thief like Malcolm McLaren to turn the world on to such music.  From the Umsakazo Records Bandcamp site: “The reach and influence of “Umculo Kawupheli” spread far beyond its intended destination. In 1981, the song was plagiarised note-for-note by punk rock manager Malcolm McLaren, who replaced the meaningful isiZulu words with soundalike English gibberish to create “Jungle Boy (See Jungle)” for his new wave band Bow Wow Wow. The song’s origins were not acknowledged…

  • Music

    Kgwanyape Band – Mephato Ya Maloba

    October 5, 2021 - By 

    I’ve read over the years about Botswana having a very interesting metal scene, but I knew nothing about the local music.  This might not be the purest form of regional music, but this disc by Duncan Senyatso (may his memory be eternal) and the Kgwanyape Band is pretty catchy and infectious. There is a lot of horn work on this disc, and one can hear influences from South African music, and more pop-related artists like Paul Simon and others who were delving into ‘World Music’ during the late 1980s and early 1990s.  Pleasant.