Lekker!!!

Which means "Nice!!!" in Afrikaans, which should be enough to tell you that we are following up yesterday's post of that name with some smooth jazz sounds from South Africa.

Today we feature "Yho! Yho!" by Winston Mankunku Ngosi, and "Stokvel Gumba" by Sipho Gumede. Sax player Ngosi is from roughly the same generation as Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim but unlike them never left South Africa during the apartheid years (during which he apparently used to regularly perform behind a curtain to disguise his identity). While he missed out on international fame, he is held in almost as high regard as they are in South Africa and like them is still going strong. Bassist and band leader Gumede got started in the 1970s and sadly passed away in 2004.

http://www.box.net/shared/kzgrn0vh66

Quiz: As a bonus, here is a mystery track from Bobby Hendricks - not the one who used to sing with the Drifters, the one who was the acknowledged king of "langarm" music (a sax led style most popular in rural parts of the Cape Province which mixes the dance band sound with traditional South African "boeremusiek"). This is a cover version of a song that was a major hit in the UK in the 1980s. The first person to identify it will win a prize. What would you like, Mr F?

http://www.box.net/shared/mzmuyfkyry

And if after all that you still crave more smoothness, take my hand...