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The Best South African Music – 2020

2020 was a rough year for everyone: Covid infections affecting some and lockdowns affecting us all. Such a rough year, in fact, that it has taken Mixtapes.ZA almost two months to recover, and get going again in 2021!

We are starting the year with a look back on what we thought were some of the best songs of 2020. We have chosen twenty in all, although there were others by the artists already listed which we have left out so as to include a diverse range of musicians.

Although there are twenty distinct artists listed, some musicians appear on more than one song. Lucy Kruger features in her own right as Lucy Kruger and the Lost Boys while also part of Medicine Boy, while Arno Carstens appears with a solo release in addition to being the lead singer of the Springbok Nude Girls. And, Nduduzo Makhathini sings a duet with his wife, Omagugu Makhathini, while also being a member of Shabaka and the Ancestors.

Despite the lockdown, 2020 saw various releases recorded outside South Africa and/or with some form of international collaboration. Julia Church (England), Lucy Kruger (Germany), and Medicine Boy (Germany) were all based in Europe for the recording of songs listed here, while Nigerian Tony Allen (who sadly died in 2020) and Hugh Masekela recorded the original sessions for the album Rejoice together in London in 2010, with the album only coming out in 2020, with additional tracks added in 2019. Meanwhile Simphiwe Dana collaborated with Malian Salif Keita who co-produced (with Dana) many of the songs on her album Banako. In addition, several Malian musicians (including Keita) perform on the album. Shabaka and the Ancestors was formed by British-Barbadian musician Shabaka Hutchings after a trip to South Africa several years previously. The rest of the group are South African jazz musicians with whom Hutchings developed a rapport during his initial visits to South Africa. Seba Kaapstad too, involves international collaboration with members coming from Germany, Swaziland and South Africa, while being based in Cape Town.

There are number of South African musicians who have developed a reputation over several years who are featured on our list: Amersham, Arno Carstens, Benguela, Simphiwe Dana, Lucy Kruger and the Lost Boys, Hugh Masekela, Medicine Boy, Seba Kaapstad, Shabaka and the Ancestors, the Spectres, Springbok Nude Girls, Van der Want/Letcher and Anna Wolf (aka Tailor). There was a debut album from relative newcomers the Medicine Dolls who continue to establish themselves, as do Ami Faku, Sun El Musician and Spaza. Julia Church followed her 2019 debut EP Take What You Want, Do As You Please with the very impressive follow-up EP To Have, Not Just To Hold and then yet another 2020 EP, Cups and Balloons. Hopefully the best songs from these along with some new tracks will be put together on a debut album in 2021. An exciting debut album, Buffering Juju, was released by Dumama and Kechou, very well worth adding to your collection.

A big heads up to new label Mushroom Hour Half Hour who brought out both the Dumama and Kechou and Spaza albums in 2020. Their albums are very professionally produced and packaged as downloads and also on CD and LP. This is very refreshing in a recording environment in which music is increasingly released as download only. UK-based Matsuli Music is also putting out well-packaged and exciting South African releases (re-releases) including (in March 2021), the Beaters’ Harari and Harari’s Rufaro Happiness. Their releases are available as downloads and on LP but unfortunately not on CD. The only way these initiatives can keep going is if we support them financially, so make sure you explore their release and buy whatever grabs your fancy.

Finally, enjoy listening to some new South African music on this mixtape and be sure to let us know if you we have left out anyone who you think should have been included.

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Special – Gary Herselman Fundraiser

Gary Herselman is a legend of the alternative South African music scene. Recently Shifty Records championed a campaign to raise finds for Gary who, like many veteran indie South African musicians, has fallen on hard times. As Shifty noted:

It has recently come to our attention that notorious (only in the best way) shorts-sporting Kêrels frontman Gary Herselman (AKA Piet Pers of the Gereformeerde Blues Band) has fallen on hard times, within already hard times for him, within what are, as I’m sure you are aware, hard times for everyone. To help Gary out, we have organised a Back-a-Buddy campaign and are working on a compilation album of his best tunes (https://shiftyrecords.bandcamp.com/releases), as well as a few other treats for fans. Visit https://www.backabuddy.co.za/gary-herselman to lend your support .

Gary Herselman is best known for his band The Kêrels, but prior to forming the Kêrels he began his career in the music industry by forming various bands while at school before getting a long-standing job at Hillbrow Records in 1980 and during that time playing in the band Hard Lines (contemporaries of The Asylum Kids) and then the Kêrels. Like many musicians of that time they ended up playing at Jamesons and, also like several musicians of that time, were signed by Shifty Records. In 1988 they recorded the album Ek sê. As Gary remembered:

“Lloyd … came up to me after one gig at the Jameson’s and said ‘look I want to record your band.’ And it took me about eight months to accept that this guy was actually serious, you know, I thought he just was pulling my leg! But eventually I accepted that he was serious and went and make the record.”

The album did not sell very many copies but gained a cult following. Not long after that the Kêrels broke up but a second phase of the group formed in the 1990s and they released a second album, Chrome Sweet Chrome (1995) which met with a similar fate to the first album. meanwhile Gary had formed his own record company, Tic Tic Bang, recording some South African music and distributing both their own and other independent artists as well as licensing overseas music.

Musically, from 1989 until the late 1990s, Gary was involved in other projects, such as being a member of Johannes Kerkorrel’s Gerefomeerde Blues Band for the Eet Kreef (1989) album and on the Voëlvry tour, playing on the Koos Kombuis Niemandsland (1989) album and on the Radio Rats Big Beat (1990) album and also playing with the Radio Rats around the same time. In 1997 the Kêrels played on two tracks on Matthew van der Want’s debut album, Turn on You (1997) and also periodically backed him on stage.

Gary has always been supportive of other musicians and worked with the likes of Matthew van der Want, Jo Edwards and Sue Charlton in recording music in the late 90s/early 2000s period. For Gary, music wasn’t just a serious business, it was a creative calling and fun. Matthew van der Want remembered he and Gary recording the satirical song “The Worst Song in the World … Ever! (Battle of the Bads)”, about a terrible Battle of the Bands competition, where the musicians played their instruments badly:

“It’s supposed to be a dig at crap SA bands: ‘It’s Friday night at half past ten the band’s about to start. Everyone who’s nobody is loitering at the bar. The singer is a looker, she’s invested in her clothes. Isn’t there a law against lyrics like those?’ and behind the vocals, there’s this drummer who keeps playing on the wrong beat and a bass player who is intent on making the song go in another direction. I did the music with Gary Herselman and we were in hysterics while we were doing it.”

Gary’s life has always centred around music and he has been most satisfied when able to make music and make a living from music. Back in 1998 he commented:

“In my books I’ve been successful already. I’ve managed to do exactly what I’ve wanted to do. The music was absolutely without compromise, and there was a sector of the population that accepted it, that really loved it. There was a kind of a feeling that I had there that you either really loved it or you really hated it. So I think that the success in the first time that the Kêrels played was just in making the album. That was the success. I never wanted to be on the cover of Billboard or to change the world or you know … I just wanted to maybe change a few people’s minds and have a bit of a laugh along the way … to me I think the success is in having not made a compromise in that I don’t have to take a job at the OK Bazaars and I’m still working in music and I can record the music that I like.”

Since the demise of the Kêrels and Tic Tic Bang, Gary has battled on, working with other musicians, including co-producing (with Matthew van der Want) the tribute to Koos Kombuis Kombuis Musiek compilation album and periodically putting out his own music, including the highly acclaimed Die Lemme’s Rigtingbefok (2014) album in which he collaborated with several South African musicians and House For Sale (2018).

This mixtape is our attempt to celebrate Gary’s contribution to South African music. From his own work with the Kêrels, as a solo artist, and with Die Lemme to his output as part of Die Gereformeerde Blues Band and the Radio Rats and his collaborations with South African musicians Matthew van der Want, Sue Charlton, Q-Zoo and Jo Edwards. Whatever he has done, ultimately Gary has always played his music on the outskirts of the music industry, and having a hellova time while doing it. As Gary noted:

“musicians … going down, getting their own together with the help of no corporates or no major companies were behind things like the Voëlvry tour. It was an Indie like Shifty who understood what was going on. And it was in fact a case of that: that you just actually took the microphone for yourself rose up and took … the small man rose up and took a slice of the boerewors!”

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Capital 604 – The Miss Parade: 1991

1991 saw a dismal number of only eight South African songs on the Capital Radio Top 40 countdown, and two of those were by a single artist: Wendy Oldfield. Others to chart that year were Robin Auld, Big Sky, Jo Day, Little Sister, Mango Groove and the Radio Rats. We have come up with a further 14 songs which we think were good enough to chart that year, and which would have added some welcome diversity to the South African music on the charts.

We suggested a second song by Robin Auld “Charlie Go Crazy”, but the rest of the songs we suggest are by artists who did not chart on Capital in 1991, although most of them have featured in previous “Missed” Mixtapes. There are four artists who had previously featured in Capital Top 40s: Robin Auld (as previously mentioned), Lucky Dube (“House of Exile”), Sipho Mabuse (“Thiba Kamoo”) and Tribe After Tribe (“White Boys in the Jungle”). Manfred Mann had also charted on Capital (“The Runner” by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band) but we didn’t feature that as a South Africa song because the entire group was British apart from Manfred Mann himself. However, Manfred Mann’s Plains Music album from which we feature “Medicine Song” is a neo-traditional South African album which features several South African musicians alongside Manfred Mann. Another new group, not previously featured on Mixtapes.ZA are the Getout, a relatively new band from East London. The song featured here is the title track of their one and only album Emerge And See.

In 1991 Shifty Records featured for the first time on the Capital Top 40 with the Radio Rats’ “Turn on the Radio”, a song from the 1990 Big Beat album, which is why we featured another song from that album in out 1990 Missed Mixtape and not the 1991 Missed Mixtape. Another Shifty artist, James Phillips, features here with “Africa is Dying” a song recorded in 1991 but only released by Shifty on the Soul Ou album in 1997. We have included it here because we think it should have ideally been released in 1991! Former Shifty artists the Genuines feature here with “Love Song”. Other artists who we think should have charted in 1991 are: Yvonne Chaka Chaka (“Who’s Got the Power”), Basil Coetzee (“Monwabisi”), Miriam Makeba & Dizzy Gillespie (“Eyes on Tomorrow”), No Friends of Harry (“Never Seen a Better Day”), Prophets Of Da City (“Boomstyle”) and Sakhile (“Welcome Home”).

This is our last missed tape for now. This is because, as mentioned in the sleevenotes for the Capital 1991 Mixtape, we do not have sufficient copies of charts from 1992 until the closure of Capital Radio in 1996 to determine a full list of the songs that charted in any one of those years. If by some chance we come across those charts we would love to explore the hits and misses on Capital right through to the station’s closure in 1996.

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Capital 604 – The Miss Parade: 1990

In 1990 a fair range of South African musicians charted on the Capital Radio Top 40 countdown, 15 songs in all, including four released in 1989 but which charted in early January. These included Big Sky, Jonathan Butler, Cinema (two songs), David Kramer, Little Sister (three songs), Mango Groove (four songs), Marc Alex, Edi Niederlander and Trevor Rabin. We have come up with a further eightteen songs from 1990 which we think ought to have charted on Capital.

Of those musicians who did chart in 1990 we have included an additional song by Big Sky (“Diamonds and Dirt”) but all the other musicians whose songs we recommend escaped Capital’s attention that year.

In February 1990 Nelson Mandela was finally release from prison and to celebrate this Bright Blue recorded the song “Madiba” but unfortunately did not release it at the time, which is a pity because it would have perfectly captured the celebratory feel so many people experienced on that momentous occasion. Another song that captured that moment was Brenda Fassie’s “Black President” which Capital mysteriously did not promote, despite the significance of Fassie’s sentiments. Roger Lucey made a welcome comeback to music in 1990. His “Cape of Storms” was written at the time of Mandela’s release. Lucey, who was then working as a TV cameraman recalls, “I came to Cape Town in 1990 to cover Mandela’s release and I swear the wind blew without a break for four months. I spent a lot of time out on the Cape Flats. Then winter came and the rain started …”.

Shifty Records began the new decade with some significant releases, including Tony Cox’s In.To.Nation (from which we have included “Dinaledi”), Jennifer Ferguson’s Untimely (from which we have featured “Where you gonna be tomorrow”) and the Radio Rats’ Big Beat (from which we have included “Diary of a Diseased Coke Rep”). We also feature former Shifty artists, Tananas with their songs “Shake” (originally recorded with Shifty before Tananas switched labels).

3rd Ear Music made a big comeback in 1990 and deservedly also feature in our choices for 1990. They released new albums by Juluka’s Sipho Mchunu, Umhlaba Uzobuya (The World is Coming Back), (from which we feature “Jomane”), former Shifty artist Simba Morri, Celebrating Life,( from which we have featured “Unity”) and Roger Lucey, Running For Cover, including (as mentioned) “Cape of Storms” . There was also a recording comeback from Tony Bird, who, back in the 1970s used to play alongside many of the folk musicians associated with 3rd Ear Music. Here we have included his song “Wings Like Vivian’s”.

South Africa’s first notable hip-hop group, Prophets Of The City released the Our World album from which we feature the title track. There were also great songs released by Yvonne Chaka Chaka (“Umqombothi”), Bakithi Kumalo and Robbi Kumalo (“African woman”), Mike Makhalemele (“The Guys”), Mahlathini and the Mohatella Queens (“Music of Our Soul’) and the Soul Brothers (“Umhlola”).

Finally, Piet Botha’s band Jack Hammer released their second album of polished blues-rock.

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Capital 604 – 1991

In 1991 there were only eight South African songs which made it onto the Capital Top 40 countdown. The top two songs of the year were both by Wendy Oldfield and only six other artists reached the Top 40 including the Radio Rats, the first ever Shifty Records artists to do so, after seven years of drawing blanks. Robin Auld, Big Sky Little Sister and Mango Groove were all back in the charts and there was a debut from Jo Day, with her first solo single, “Tender Love”.

The Radio Rats were the first previously commercially successful band to sign with Shifty Records and it is perhaps their fame which led to Shifty finally getting a song onto the Capital charts. The Radio Rats had a big hit with “ZX Dan” back in 1978 and this must have played a part in their success on Capital in 1991, especially as the song which made the charts – “Turn on the Radio” – was not even released as a single. It is also noticeable that many artists who charted on Capital over the years did so more than once while songs by other similar artists were overlooked. It seems to suggest that artists’ names as a form of branding certainly helped to spark further recognition.

Wendy Oldfield was the only South African artist to reach number one – for one week – with “Miracle”, while her song “Acid Rain” peaked at number 2. Robin Auld’s “Love Kills”, Big Sky’s “Slow Dancing”, Mango Groove’s “Moments Away” and the Radio Rats’ “Turn on the Radio” all failed to reach the top 20, while Little Sister’s “Peace on Earth” and Jo Day’s “Tender Love” peaked in the top 20 but we are not sure how high they reached because we do not have the charts for December 1991.

1991 is the last year we are able to provide a definitive list of South African songs which charted on Capital. We only have a scattering of top 40 countdowns for 1992 and 1993 and none at all for 1994, 1995 and 1996. The station closed down on 29th November 1996. If you have copies of any Capital Radio Top 40 countdown charts (from December 1979 through to 1996 when the station closed down) please get in touch as these will be able to help us fill some gaps.

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Capital 604 – 1990

Having featured all the South African songs to have charted on the Capital Radio Top 40 countdown in the 1980s we have decided to continue into the 1990s, although we only have compete lists for 1990 and 1991. Capital Radio continued to function until 1996, but we do not have complete chart listings from 1992 until the station closed down.

In order to provide a full reflection of the 1980s songs which charted on the Capital countdown, our 1989 playlist included four 1989 songs which entered the Capital charts in the first two weeks of January 1990. These will not be included in the 1990 playlist, but for the record these were: “Special Star” by Mango Groove, “Dance To Me” by Edi Niederlander, “Matchbox Full Of Diamonds” by David Kramer and “Sorrow (Your Heart)” by Trevor Rabin. Apart from these songs there were 11 South African songs which charted on Capital Radio in 1990, several of which had very successful runs in the Top 40.

“Boyz B Boyz” by MarcAlex and Little Sister’s “Dear Abbie” both spent two weeks at number one while Little Sister’s “Young Hearts” and Cinema’s “The Fire Of Love” spent one week at the top of the charts. All three Mango Groove songs peaked at number two: “Too Many Tears”, “Hometalk” and “Island Boy” (following “Special Star” which had reached number one earlier in the year). “Little Sister” by Little Sister and Jonathan Butler’s “Heal Our Land” both peaked at number 5,   while “Waiting For The Dawn” by Big Sky reached number 17. Cinema’s “Dancing Away With My Heart” only reached number 22, where it spent two weeks.

With the exception of Big Sky and Little Sister, who were newly formed bands, all these artists had charted on Capital in the 1980s, although Steve Louw of Big Sky had been part of All Night Radio, who did not chart on Capital but were around in the mid-1980s. Jonathan Butler first charted on Capital in 1985, Cinema and Mango Groove in 1987 and MarcAlex in 1989.

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Capital 604 – The Ones We Missed

In the course of putting together our series of songs that thought should have charted on Capital Radio in the 1980s, we missed out on a few songs that surely should have made it. Most of these we left off because we decided to restrict ourselves to one song per artist per mix tape.

These include songs by Bright Blue, Dog, eVoid, Jennifer Ferguson, Harari, Koos Kombuis, Mapantsula, Simba Morri, Edi Niederlander, No Friends Of Harry, Nude Red, Colin Shamley and Savuka. We like the Nude Red album so much that we decided to include two songs here, thus breaking our rule at the last opportunity! In addition, we have included Dudu Pukwana and The Softies because they ought to have been included to begin with, but they weren’t.

Thank you to anyone who gave us suggestions on what to include on this mixtape. We have you have enjoyed the series, and most importantly, we hope you enjoy this final selection for this series.

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Capital 604 – The Miss Parade: 1989

The eighties ended with a wide variety of South African music making the Capital Radio Top 40 Countdown (14 songs released in 1989 made the charts) and even more which did not chart. Of the songs we suggest should have charted, three are by artists who did make the charts but who had other songs worthy of radio play: David Kramer, Edi Niederlander and Savuka.

In a market where so many South African musicians packed in their musical ambitions after a single or an album or two it was reassuring to see so many musicians who were still releasing music who had been there at the beginning of the 1980s: Johnny Clegg (as part of Juluka), Dog Detachment (as Dog), Sipho Gumede (as a member of Spirits Rejoice and then with Sakhile), David Kramer, Sipho Mabuse (as a member of Harari), Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Sipho Mchunu (as part of Juluka) and Tim Parr (as a member of Baxtop and then with Ella Mental) all released significant music which either charted on Capital Radio in 1980 or which curiously missed out. There were also others who were performing in 1980 who released music in 1989: members of the African Jazz Pioneers, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens and Edi Niederlander.

Shifty Records were still releasing poignant music for the times: Johannes Kerkorrel’s Gereformeerde Blues Band and Koos Kombuis, main attractions of the Voelvry Tour, as well as the Kalahari Surfers, Noise Khanyile & the Jo’Burg City Stars and Winston’s Jive Mix Up. There were also good tunes from Cape Town-based musicians, Amampondo and Niki Daly.

We recognise that even in our missed mixed tapes we have ironically missed other songs from the 1980s which you might think were worthy of airplay at the time. Some of these have already been pointed out to us. If you have noticed any songs which have been missed, either by Capital Radio or on Mixedtapes.ZA please leave your suggestions in the comments section and we will do out best to include them in next week’s double missed mixtape!

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Capital 604 – The Miss Parade: 1988

1988 was a poor year for South African musicians on the Capital Countdown: only eight artists with nine songs made the Top 40 (there were two songs by Cinema). As always, we have put together a playlist of additional songs which we think should have charted.
Once again, we have Shifty Records to thank for recording various musicians who otherwise would not have been recorded and thus more easily forgotten: The Gereformeerde Blues Band, The Kêrels, Koos and Tananas. Shifty got behind the Voelvry tour in 1988 and three of these groups: the Gereformeerde Blues Band, The Kerels and Koos were included on the Voelvry compilation album of that year. As the Voelvry spirit of white Afrikaans rebellion swept through the dorps and cities of South Africa it is strange that Capital missed out on the opportunity to capture that moment.

1988 saw further releases from now established artists: Bright Blue, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Dog Detachment, Sipho Mabuse, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, Malopoets, Mango Groove and Savuka all released great new music, while David Kramer was back with music from the Cape Town musical, composed by Kramer and Petersen. Veteran folk guitar player, Steve Newman, was back with a group formed with two established Shifty artists, Gito Baloi and Ian Herman. 1988 also saw the emergence of Ralf Rabie (Johannes Kerkorrel) who was the main force behind the Gereformeerde Blues Band. Both of these Shifty initiatives went on to greater mainstream success over the next decade and a half. 1988 also saw a once-off album from the Jazzanians. While they did not record another album Zim Ngqawana went on to enjoy a successful solo career.

The Psycho Reptiles also recorded their first and only album in 1988, and are still remembered for their single “Monster From The Bog”. Bakithi Kumalo had risen to fame through his collaboration with Paul Simon on the Graceland album and tour and he released his first solo albumin 1988. Shake Baby was one of several Carl Raubenheimer initiatives after his collaborations with James Philips (Corporal Punishment and Illegal Gathering) but although they were a popular band on the live circuit in Cape Town they never went on to release a full album. Koos were a bilingual English-Afrikaans avante garde punk band who sadly also only brought out one album. The Kêrels released their debut album in 1988 and their “Golden Days” single has ended up on the occasional compilation album.

This eclectic mix of songs makes for interesting and enjoyable listening. Sit back, turn up the volume and have fun!

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Capital 604 – The Miss Parade: 1987

There were fourteen South African songs that charted on the Capital Countdown Top 40 in 1987 and we suggest another sixteen which we think should have joined them. Two of these songs are by groups (Bright Blue and Savuka) who made the Top 40, but with only one song each. The rest were well-established musicians who somehow or other escaped the Capital music manager’s radar.

Once again their was a cluster of Shifty Records artists with some iconic songs deserving of a wider audience: Cherry Faced Lurchers, Jennifer Ferguson, Kalahari Surfers and Mr Mac and the Genuines. Syd Kitchen had been around for a decade and a half and finally recorded his debut album Waiting For The Heave, but he had to keep on waiting because his music was ignored by virtually everyone other than a few campus radio stations. All Night Radio had been around for a few years but were also battling to be noticed by radio stations. Bayete’s debut album also escaped Capital’s attention, as did anything ever released by Chicco, Mahlathini And The Mohatella Queens, Hugh Masekela, Sabenza, the Soul Brothers and Zia. Gothic band No Friends of Harry released an impressive debut EP but also failed to make the Capital Top 40.

The elephant in the room was the fear of the security branch and the possibility of losing the license to broadcast and so it almost went without saying that Capital would not playlist an overtly anti-apartheid song like Savuka’s “Asimbonanga” (although the slightly less obvious political song, “Missing” did chart in 1987). Perhaps this is why Capital ignored Shifty’s music, even though there were several classic songs which they released which would not have interested the security branch in the slightest, “Bay Of Bombay” by Jennifer Ferguson being one of them. Interestingly, the SABC sponsored a video of the song which they screened:

Capital could have got away with Chicco’s clever “We Miss You Manelow” in which he playfully laments the absence of someone called Manelow, but which everyone knew was Mandela.

Sadly, a lot of the exciting musical contests of the day seemed to bypass Capital. Be sure to give these a songs a listen now, they deserve your attention!

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