New Tsonga Disco!!!

I mentioned in our first anniversary post a few weeks ago how pleased I was with the popularity of the Tsonga Disco tracks I have posted here. It suggests that we are slowly achieving our stated aim of bringing Tsonga Disco to the masses.

However, urgent action was needed to replenish my diminishing stocks. So, rather than wait until I go out to Cape Town at Easter, I have acquired a couple more CDs through the excellent One World Cyber Music Store. One is by an old friend, and we will feature that tomorrow. The other is by the younger brother of an old friend.

As regular readers will know, Peta Teanet reigned as the king of Tsonga Disco until his untimely death in 1996. But his spirit lives on through the recordings of his younger brother, Forsta Teanet, also known as The Black Force. He released his first album in 1990 at the age of 16, and is still recording today.

He is also conducting an ongoing campaign to protect his brother's legacy. According to the "Mopani News" (for all the news that is news in Tzaneen), Forsta has registered the title "King of Shangaan Disco Music" ("Shangaan Disco" being the name Tsonga Disco was previously known by) as a trademark. He is quoted as saying that "this will serve as a token that the title will also belong within the Teanet family", before going on to express the view that he would like others to establish themselves without trying to imperonate his brother. Hear! Hear! Let a thousand Tsongan flowers bloom!

His first album was called "Peta Teanet Presents The Black Force". Peta wrote and produced all the tracks on the album. Here are a couple of my favourites.

"Ba E Cheika" - The Black Force

"The Youth Days" - The Black Force

As with so many of the Tsonga musicians we have featured here, Forsta gets a mention in Max Thamagana Mojapelo's seminal book, "Beyond Memory: Recording the History, Moments and Memories of South African Music". As well as describing his recording career, Max tells us that "By 2007 when I paid the family a visit he was still an amateur polygamist with only two wives". So I suppose that, in a very real sense, Forsta is torn between two lovers.

I'm afraid so...

Sami On Sunday

I was taken ill while in Brussels and ended up spending an extra day there as a result. Most of it was spent in bed, but yesterday lunchtime I was able to nip in to Musicanova to pick up a few CDs before getting the Eurostar home.

Among the future treats for you are some vintage Congolese sounds from Zaiko Langa Langa and Dr Nico and Orchestre L'African Fiesta, and a couple of CDs from Cameroon on the M.C. Pop Music label (including one by Jack Palance - but not that Jack Palance, judging by the photo).

Before we get to those, here is some home-grown talent for you. As regular readers will know there is a stall on Whitechapel Road that I visit occasionally that sells Indian and Bengali bootleg CDs for two pounds a go. The last time I was passing by I splashed out on the greatest hits of Adnan Sami, born in London of Pakistani origin and a big name in Indian film music.

Adnan is a larger than life character in every sense of the word. At the peak of his powers he weighed over 200 kilograms before losing half that weight in a year. That feat, combined with his mellow musical style with its echoes of the 1980s, makes him a sort of Bollywood Luther Vandross.

However judging by his Wikipedia entry it is also one of the least interesting things about his personal life, which features child abduction, alcoholism and suing the Canadian Government. And apparently he is keeping it up, with the mysterious postponement of his scheduled wedding to a German last weekend.

Musically I find a lot of the songs on the compilation rather bland, with no sign of the skills that apparently led him to being dubbed "the fastest man on keyboards in Asia". But some of them cross over into being the right sort of mellow, including the two I have chosen today, which make excellent Sunday morning music. I particularly like the duet with the great Asha Bhosle.

"Roothay Huay Ho Kyun" - Adnan Sami (from "Tera Chehra", 2002)

"Pyar Bina" - Adnan Sami & Asha Bhosle (from "Sargam", 1995)

Here is Adnan in a very moody video. No sniggering when he opens with what sounds like "biggie, biggie", please.

Bimi's The Ting That The Doctor Order Me

I'm off to Brussels again in a couple of hours. This is just a quick in and out visit, and I am not sure whether I will have the time to nip into Musicanova to pick up some Congolese CDs. Just in case I do not, here is one I got earlier.

The CD is by Bimi Ombale, who spent the best part of twenty years singing with Zaiko Langa Langa before heading off. The CD was released on Musicanova's own label, is titled simply "Bimi Ombale", and does not have a release date on it. Bimi is backed by Groupe Basilique, and special mention must go to Benico Zangilu for some excellent guitar work on these tracks:

"Papy Masampu"

"Sakaroni"

And here is Bimi and his mates in action:

Mr Tom And Mr Johnny

Last week I went to see Tom Russell at the Luminaire in Kilburn. I have seen him many times before and, as usual, he was utterly brilliant. Great songs, great stories and - on this occasion - some great pre-emptive heckling by Tom of the unruly elements of the audience. It is a long time since I have heard the word "skags" (and he wasn't talking about Rickie).

Tom was accompanied by Thad Beckman (whenever I have seen him previously it was with Andrew Hardin, but he appears to have been traded in for a younger model). They did two sets, both of an hour or more. The first was dominated by songs from "Blood And Candle Smoke", while the second was a mix of works in progress, old favourites and - unusually for Tom - a cover version: Peter LaFarge's "Ballad Of Ira Hayes". Tom did a good job of it but, with respect, he is never going to match this one:

"Ballad Of Ira Hayes" - Johnny Cash

And now, a bonus for Johnny fans. Recently I have discovered a marvellous piece of technology that enables you to convert YouTube videos to audio mp3s. Just about the first video I nabbed was a magnificent version of Dylan's "Girl Of The North Country" by Johnny and Joni Mitchell from his TV show back in about 1971. Here is the mp3:

"Girl Of The North Country" - Johnny Cash & Joni Mitchell

And here is the video clip:

Keiths

I got back yesterday from four days in Ireland - a bit of work in Dublin on Friday, after which Mr F joined me and we spent a very pleasant weekend in Bray in County Wicklow. It is a typical out of season seaside resort, but I like that sort of thing.

The cultural highlight of the weekend was a visit to the Hardy Har Comedy Club in the Harbour Bar in Bray. Topping the bill on Saturday was Keith Anderson, not a name that I was previously familiar with although he has apparently been around for a while. And very good he was too, especially in contrast to the three warm-up acts who were all pretty dire. Despite the venue being a tiny room in the back of a pub and there being no more than twenty of us there he really threw himself into it with tremendous energy.

Here is Keith in action (note: he is not a midget, that is a giant cardboard cut-out bottle of Bavaria beer - or "Bav" as they call it in Bray):


And it appears that one of the twenty of us was recording the gig because it is on YouTube. Here is Part One. If you like this then Google "Keith Anderson Bray" and you'll find Parts Two and Three. Warning: Keith's comedy is what you might call "challenging". If you are easily offended or of a delicate constitution you may want to skip this.


I didn't get any CDs in Ireland as they are prohibitively expensive. Books, if anything, are even worse - odd for a country with such a fantastic musical and literary heritage but there you go. So I don't have any new purchases to share with you. Instead, here are some musical Keiths:

"I Specialise In Good Girls" - Keith Alexander

"I'm Easy" - Keith Carradine (from "Nashville")

"On A Saturday" - Keith West

Irish Frenzy

This is likely to be my last post for a week or so. If all goes according to plan I will be seeing Tom Russell at the Luminaire tomorrow night and will then head off to Ireland for two day's work followed by three day's leisure.

To get me in the mood, and to tide you over until I return, here are seven Irish recordings (one for each of the drunken nights the Dubliners sang about). They come in all shapes and sizes, from the literate indie pop of Microdisney and A House to the beautiful traditional singing of Cara Dillon, and culminate in Dickie Rock draining the life blood from the Pogues' "Rainy Night in Soho".

Here they are in chronological order:

"For Josephine" - David McWilliams (from "David McWilliams Volume 2", 1967)

"The Westmeath Bachelor" - Joe Dolan (single, 1968)

"Buffalo Gal" - Thin Lizzy (from "Shades of a Blue Orphanage", 1972)

"This Liberal Love" - Microdisney (from "Everybody Is Fantastic", 1984)

"Endless Art" - A House (from "I Am The Greatest", 1991)

"Brockagh Braes" - Cara Dillon (from "After The Morning", 2006)

"Rainy Night In Soho" - Dickie Rock (from "Sings Contemporary Irish Hits", 2007)

As a bonus, here is an excellent clip of the late lamented Joe performing "Westmeath Bachelor". I defy you not to jig along with this. I am trying to persuade Mister F that we should visit Mullingar this weekend to see the statue they have erected to their home town hero - which even has its own blog - but I am not sure I am going to succeed.

Soul On Sunday: JT

I haven't posted any soul music for a while, and there is no better way of putting that right than with a bit of Johnnie Taylor. Looking at the quality of his output over nearly 40 years there is definitely a case for saying he may be the greatest soul singer of all. Best known for his time with Stax from 1966 to 1974, he continued to make great records long after that, particularly with Malaco for whom he recorded from the mid 1980s up to his death in 2000.

Here are four cracking tracks, one from each decade of his recording career and two each from Stax and Malaco:

"Love Bones" (from "The Johnnie Taylor Philosophy Continues", 1969)

"Party Life" (from "One Step Beyond", 1971)

"Happy" (from "Lover Boy", 1987)

"Walk Away With Me" (from "Good Love!", 1996)

And here is the great man in action in 1976. Look at those threads!