Cover
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WILLIE'S RHYTHM BOYS' BAND
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TRACK LISTING
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ARTISTS
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NOTESThe images of the UK pressing are sourced from Christopher Ballantine's collection at the School of Music, University of KwaZulu-Natal. Many thanks to Chris for allowing me to photograph these. Search and listen to the Ballantine Collection at SAMAP. The images of the Trutone reissue are sourced from Rob Allingham's collection. Many thanks to Rob for allowing me to photograph these. Rob Allingham in Veit Erlmann's Nightsong dates a number of the Better (XU) label recordings from this period. Notably Isaac Mzobe's Crocodile Male Voice Choir recorded a number of tracks (XU 12-14) in 1939. A later recording by the same group (XU 30) is tentatively dated circa 1941. Recordings by the Amanzimtoti Male Voice Choir (XU 32, 33, 38, 41, 42) similarly are dated circa 1941 and two tracks by the All Nations Male Voice Choir (XU 63) are dated circa 1942. Based on this information I would date this recording (XU 46) from around 1941. 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. |
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