Mr Mac And The Genuines

After releasing the album Goema in 1986, The Genuines joined up with Mac Mackenzie’s father Samuel “Mr Mac” Mackenzie to release the single “Won’t Discuss It”/“Desperately” and the album Mr Mac & The Genuines in 1987.

The album was a one-off project. The group was Samuel Mackenzie (vocals, banjo), Hilton Schilder (keyboards, vocals), Mac Mackenzie (bass, vocals), Gerard O’Brien (guitar) and Ian Herman (drums).

The album also featured Robbie Jansen on alto sax and Tony Cedras on trumpet.

Mzwakhe Mbuli

Mzwakhe Mbuli rose to fame in the mid-1980s as the people’s poet, reciting his resistance poems at political rallies, often sneaking in and out because he was wanted by the apartheid security forces.

Shifty invited him to record an album dub-poetry style, with a backing band. In 1986 the album Change is Pain was recorded with a core backing band of Simba Morri (guitar), Gito Baloi (bass) and Ian Herman (drums). The album was promptly banned because of its outspoken political message.

In 1989 Mzwakhe recorded a second album with Shifty, Unbroken Spirit, which in part documented his time in prison. In the 1990s he continued to record albums but with major labels.