Willie Gumede and his Concertina Band - Abafana / Umgoboti
Cover
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LINER NOTES

 

WILLIE GUMEDE DISCOGRAPHY
Compiled by Siemon Allen

1941c   Willie Gumede and his Concertina Band - Singer - GE 898
      1771 - Abafana
      1777 - Umqombothi
1941    Willie Gumede and his Concertina Band - Singer - GE 899
      1773 - Magoane
      1774 - Oa Loya
1942c   Willie Gumede and his Concertina Band - Trek - DC 71
      1946 - Springs Dance
      1949 - Florida Dance
1942c   Gumede’s Happy Concertina - Gallotone Singer - GE 1000
      2120 - Ulala Kanjani
      2121 - Egeheni
1945c   Willie Gumede’s Concertina Band - Singer Gallotone - GE 935
      ABC 749 - Johannesburg Vastrap
      ABC 751 - Crown Mines Vastrap
1945c   Willie Gumede Concertina Band
      ABC 750 - Fordsburg Vastrap
1945c   Willie Gumede Concertina Band
      ABC 754 - African Vastrap
1945c   Willie Gumede and his Concertina Band - Trek - DC 53
      ABC 755 - Heidelberg Dance
      ABC 756 - Orlando Dance
1945c   Willie Gumede Concertina Band
      ABC 757 - Denver Ver Vastrap
1945    Gumede’s Swing Band - Singer Gallotone - GE 942
      ABC 825 - Madala
      ABC 826 - Mkhize
1945    Gumede’s Swing Band
      (unpublished until Marabi Nights CD and cassette)
      a) Mabuza
1949c   Willie Gumede and the Dark Town Darkies - Nyakaza - B 101
      a) Ekofee
      b) Sa Vumelana Aawe
1949c   Willie Gumede and the Dark Town Darkies - Nyakaza - B 102
      a) Uyolobola
      b) Blumas
1949c   Willie Gumede and the Dark Town Darkies - Nyakaza - B 103
      a) Ukabide
      b) Temba
1949c   Willie Gumede and the Dark Town Darkies - Nyakaza - B 104
      a) Ibalazi
      b) Amabela
1949c   Willie Gumede and the Dark Town Darkies - Nyakaza - B 105
      a) Ubezele
      b) Marabi
1949c   Willie Gumede and the Dark Town Darkies - Nyakaza - B 106
      a) Isishimane
      b) Matanazana
1950-09 Willie’s Madcap Band - HMV - JP 110
      0AS 351 - Unodrohwe
      0AS 352 - Ukucattula
1951    Dark City Dance Band - Audion - BZ 1
      with Willie Gumede and Solomon Sitole
      a) Spaza
      b) Opondo
1951    Dark City Dance Band - Audion - BZ 2
      with Willie Gumede and Solomon Sitole
      a) Ulova
      b) Utando
1951    The Zululand Group - Audion - BZ 5
      with Willie Gumede and Solomon Sitole
      401 - Icala
      403 - Ulele Nge Sisu
1951    The Pimville Group - Audion - BZ 11
      with Willie Gumede and Solomon Sitole
      a) Section 17
      b) Nomahuba
1951    The Free State Ramblers - Audion - BZ 14
      with Michael Nkole and Willie Gumede
      130 - Alida
      131 - Materebe
1951    The Modernaires - Audion - BZ 15
      with Michael Nkole and Willie Gumede
      126 - Eveline
1951    Willie Gumede, Kay Kumalo and Co. - Bantu Batho - BB 522
      N 1279 - Sambadi
      N 1280 - Noma Ngnama
1951    Gumede’s Concertina Band - Ulala Kanjani / Madala
      Zulu Music and Songs (Compilation 10” LP) - London - LPB 431
      Zulu Music and Songs (Compilation 10” LP) - Decca - LF 1054
1951c   Gumede’s Swing Band - Gallotone - GB 1289
      ABC 10031 - Thando Rumba
      ABC 10032 - Isidakwa Rumba
1952-08c Willie Gumede with Guitar Acc. - Troubadour - BZ 62
      AD 77 - Itombi Yami
      AD 78 - Ngi Ya Ziqenya
 

WILLIE GUMEDE AND HIS CONCERTINA BAND
ABAFANA / UMGOBOTI


recorded 1941c
issued 1941c
Singer (black)
Gallo
made in UK
GE 898
matrix 1771
matrix 1777
78 rpm
mono
first issue
source: ILAM, International Library of African Music

TRACK LISTING

 

1.1Abafana

(uncredited)

2.2Umgoboti

(uncredited)

ARTISTS

 

WILLIE GUMEDE AND HIS CONCERTINA BAND
WILLIE GUMEDE - concertina

NOTES

 

Many thanks to the Diane Thram and the International Library of African Music (ILAM) for allowing me to photograph their collection.

Multi-instrumentalist, Willie “Ndubane” Gumede recorded a wide range of tracks in a career that must have spanned over three decades. It is possible that Gumede played banjo on a number of early Singer and Gallotone recordings in the 1930s including tracks by the Natal Champions, the No Fear No Harm Choir and most notably on Mbube the iconic tune by Solomon Linda’s Original Evening Birds. (Dlamini, Introduction to Mbaqanga, 2019 lecture).

Gumede’s most notable output included numerous tunes with his concertina and swing bands who recorded under a range of names throughout the 1940s and into the early 1950s. According to Chris Ballantine, much of the material from this period showed the influence of “Coloured” and white Afrikaans music styles such as tikkie-draai and vastrap (Ballantine, Marabi Nights, 1983).

Around late 1949, Gumede recorded at least twelves tracks with the Dark Town Darkies on the Nyakaza label. The Durban-based Shalimar Record Company, owned by I.M. Mather in partnership with I. Soosiwala, focussed primarily on recordings in Tami, Hindustani and Urdu, catering to the Indian-South African population in KwaZulu Natal. But the company also marketed recordings in isiZulu on their Nyakaza label. The label is first mentioned in a November 1949 advertisement in The Leader; and then Gumede’s tracks are listed in a February 1950 issue of Indian Views. (Malveen Jackson, Indian South African Popular Music, 1999). Gumede’s track’s do appear to be the label’s first output of Zulu recordings, but I have never seen any of these discs.

The Flatinternational archive does have one disc by William Mseleku’s Bantu Metro Brothers on the Nyakaza label. According to Melveen Jackson, the K matrix number denoted that these were recorded by the Shalimer Record Company at Saville Street in Durban. “Jamal told me he remembered someone coming from Gallo in Johannesburg to do the recording in Saville Street. Sushila Rani said that she remembered Kathree from Kathree's Radio Service, which was located at 2 Saville Street, doing the sound recording.” In her research, Jackson then speculates that the K prefix may refer to Kathree. It is notable that some Gallotone recordings also carry this K matrix prefix and it is likely that they were recorded in Durban.

In 1951 Gumede recorded a series of tracks with Solomon Sitole on the fledgling Audion label under a variety of names including the Dark City Dance Band, The Pimville Group and The Zululand Group. He also recorded with Michael Nkole as The Modernaires and the Free State Ramblers. International Transcriptions, the publishers of Audion, began advertising their first discs in the April 1951 issue of Zonk magazine. By the end of that year, the company had changed the name of the label to the very familiar Troubadour.

According to Rob Allingham, Gumede worked on the record presses at Troubadour and was often featured as an instrumentalist on many of their recordings for example he played lead guitar on Dorothy Masuka’s Unamanga (AFC 651) recorded around 1961. (Allingham, Dorothy Masuka CD)

According to Mary Thobei, Willie Gumede grew up in the Nkandla district of KwaZulu Natal, before moving up to Johannesburg and living in Alexandra Township. (Ballantine via Allingham, Marabi Nights). It is not clear when he was born or when he passed away.