In recent weeks I have been inundated with increasingly strident comments from assorted residents of Giyani, demanding more tunes from General Muzka. For those of you who are new here and don't know him, the General (real name Chris Mkhonto) is the leading light of the current wave of Tsonga (or Shangaan) Disco artists.
Giyani is pretty much Tsonga Central, being as it is the home district of the likes of Penny Penny and an increasingly bustling place with - judging by the photo on Wikipedia - very scenic traffic lights. So if that's what Giyani wants, that is what Giyani is going to get.
Fortunately I managed to pick up three General Muzka albums while in Cape Town at Easter, and am going to feature them over the next three posts. We will start with the most recent of them, "Malanga-Langa", which came out in late 2008/ early 2009.
I think this is probably my favourite of the three albums. What I particularly like about it is the slightly broader musical palette. Synths dominate as with all Tsonga Disco, but they are nicely supplemented by some very nifty guitar work by one Bernardo Domingos. Going by the name I would guess he is from Mozambique, where there is a sizeable Tsonga population in the South. See what you think of it:
"N'Wana Mamana" - General Muzka
"Hi Wena Ungati Lovola" - General Muzka
Speaking of nifty guitar work, here's Hank at his best:
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