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Things are looking up

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:22:20 +0000

While it is slightly shaming that I haven’t updated this blog for months, I haven’t neglected the website. I still regularly add new singles to it as I come across them, so that it now features more than 6,000 discs spread across more than 560 labels.

In recent months I am particularly grateful to Paul Becquart in Tanzania who sent in a long list of records from his collection that filled gaps in the listings for some labels and also introduced a crop of new labels including Munyubei Ngeny Sounds and Edition Malembe.

It is also great that more East African music is being reissued. Doug Paterson has done – and continues to do – a sterling job of restoring material from the AIT archives for Sterns. He has followed up last year’s excellent Moreno & Orch Moja One compilation with Mazembe@45rpm Vol 1, which will be on sale as a CD or download from April 1. I’ve been lucky enough to obtain an advance copy and, believe me, it is a scorcher.

There’s more on the way, too. Soundways is releasing Kenya Special: Selected East African recordings from the 1970s and 1980s on 29 April. It is a double CD/Triple LP release that covers everything from benga to brass-driven floorfillers. Can’t wait!

CMS SPECIAL

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:34:10 +0100

It is always a pleasure to meet Danish musicologist Flemming Harrev when he passes through London not least because on every visit he always produces some unexpected piece of information or sets me off on a new train of thought about East African records. His most recent visit in late April was no exception. Much to my astonishment, Flemming handed me a photocopy of a 1960s CMS catalogue that lists 238 45rpm singles, most of which were missing from this discography.

They show the label to have been much more diverse in the music it recorded than was evident from previously available information, featuring recordings in a wide range of languages and, I suspect, styles. I say “suspect” because there is no way of hearing these records. It’s good to know they exist - and, once again, I am incredibly grateful to Flemming for his generosity in giving me the catalogue - but it is frustrating not to be able to listen to them.

But, who knows, perhaps a member of the family of Mr Meghji, who recorded all these songs, will read this, recognise the historical importance of these records and be able to dig out a few of them from a dusty storeroom and offer them for remastering. We live in hope.

ANOTHER MILESTONE

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:18:41 +0000

Thanks to Alan Wheeler, who sent in a selection of eight new records, including one on the Kiang’ang’i Production label illustrated above,and Michael de Konongh, who provided details on a series of AGS releases, this website/discography now lists more than 5,500 East African 45s.

One prospect in store could add many more to the site. Last year Flemming Harrev gave me a couple of lists of East African records added to the BBC Gramophone Library. Once I had added these to the site, I set about trying to find what else the BBC had. It has proved a fruitless task with e-mails and phonecalls unanswered or suggestions I pay a lot of money just to look at the BBC’s catalogue. So I have put in a Freedom of Information Act request for the information. If the move comes off, I will have months of work adding to the discography.

The one black cloud on the horizon is that Apple, the host of this site, is pulling out of hosting websites later this year. It’s a move that has made a lot of people very angry and Apple seems to be looking at it as the website owners’ problem not theirs. The prospect of rebuilding a site with hundreds of pages and thousands of links fills me with dread. I really don’t want to see almost four years of work go down the drain.

Carrying the torch

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:57:20 +0000

Funny how things pop up. I spotted a lone single on the 45Cat website on the Mwenge label and that let me to a batch of recordings by Luo artists in AIT’s master catalogue on the same label.

Miles Cleret, Alan Wheeler and Fredrik Lavik have all recently sent in information of recordings on other labels too.

Fredrik has alerted me to the exist of yet more new labels - Coconut Records, Thum Mor, Les Volcano, Super Funzo and Kiru Brothers Sound - as well as recordings on Ba-Mbute, Wachezaji, Edition Salongo and African Eagles.

Miles, who runs the excellent Soundway record label, tipped me off abut a Kilwa Jazz single on CMS.

Alan pointed out a Nuta Jazz Band single on Philips that I failed to spot when it appeared on Ebay recently. he also sought my advice about a Orch Mokano single on another new label, BIEM. The band are Congolese and also recorded for Hit Parade. The question is, Are they connected to Orch Super Mazembe, who had a hit with a song called Mokano?

If you know anything about the band, lput Alan and myself out of our misery and let us know.

Mystery RECORD: CAN YOU HELP?

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:16:01 +0000

Ayo Arlo, who runs Spinning45rpm, a Flickr photoblog about crate-digging for 7in singles has asked for help identifying the record illustrated above.

A-side is Belinda Mama; B-side is Ewe Fatuma

The band name appears to be Afro-Tus and the songwriting credit is to Charlie. The label, as you can see is Afro, catalogue number AFRO 001.

I haven’t been able to help Ayo with any information about the record,which he describes as very mellow with nice picking guitar work on both sides, but thought one of the site’s knowledgeable visitors might know something about the band and/or the label.

Drop me an e-mail at kentanzavinyl@gmail.com or comment on this post and I will pass on the info to Ayo.

A QUICK SHOUT

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:46:35 +0000

I am a bit remiss in celebrating two matters of note to East African music fans.

One is the latest release in Doug Paterson’s series of compilations for Sterns that draw on the AIT catalogue. This features the music of Tanzania’s Vijana Jazz Band. Like previous releases devoted to Western Jazz Band, DO Misiani’s Shirati Jazz and Issy Juma’s Super Wanyika Stars, it features excellent remasterings and authoritative sleevenotes.

You can get a taste of the new release here. Listen then go out and buy the CD. You know it makes sense.

The second cause for celebration is that Fredrik Lavik, owner of what is probably Europe’s largest collection of East African 45rpms, has set up a blog that will offer a chance to listen to some of his records. It is early days for the blog, but you can find it here.

A BUSY MONTH

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:44:50 +0100

I blogged about Norway’s Fredrik Lavik last month and he has very kindly sent in details of more records from his amaazing collection, including ones on five labels that haven’t appeared in this discography before: Munyaka Sounds, Atinga, Magoma, Waingo and Zimb.

This month I also discovered by chance that Berlin’s Ethnological Museum has an African music collection, so I have added more than 30 from that source. Again, lots of new labels - Makonde Music, Elimu, Comet Productions, Avocados, Kenya Stars Jazz, Fadhili Sound - as well as additions to familiar labels such as Melodica, Waanyika, African Beat, AGS, Doromy and Polydor.

Museums and libraries catalogue their holdings in very different ways and sometimes it can be difficult to sort out what is going on. One of the Berlin records is a case in point. It is on the Kotengo Entertainment Arts label and is in the museum’s catalogue as “African Weavers, Kulutu Pts 1 & 2, Samba Mapangala”. So are African Weavers the band being helped by Samba Mapangala or performing a song written by him or is it a record by him? If any readers can shed any light on this mystery, I would be very grateful to know what is going on.

Finally, Miles Cleret of the very wonderful Soundway Records kindly took time to send in information about records on Mercury, Atlantic, Kumi, African Eagles, Athi River, African Beat, Sirocco, Polydor and Pathe. Soundway specialises in lovingly assembled reissues of African, Latin and, most recently, Asian music. Check out its website here.

AUTUMN UPDATE

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:39:35 +0100

Inspired by my trawl of the University of Mainz catalogues, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time researching and updating this discography in recent weeks. Firstly, I’ve added records from the US Library of Congress collection that have filled a few gaps in the Melodica and Angel listings and, more intriguingly, have added a new label to the discography. Light & Sound is the only label I have encountered so far dedicated to releases in the Somali language.

JFK’s Wanamuziki wa Tanzania blog also recently ran a post on Orchestra Fauvette that provided information on 10 singles by the band on the Stranger of the 70s label.

Earlier this year Fredrik Lavik, a DJ based in Stavanger, Norway, discovered a collection containing about 25,000 singles in Mombasa, bought the lot and shipped them home. He has spent the summer sorting and cleaning this collection and has very kindly begun to send me details of records in this cache. So far, I have added details from him of records on the Sawa Sawa Sound, CBS, KBS, City Boom, Kalambya Sounds, N.G. Dound, Editions d’Ivoire, Obwogo Jowanya and Holy Ghost labels. I am sure there are many more to come.

Here’s an article in Norwegian, about Fredrik’s crate-digging discoveries and look out for his online auctions on Ebay.

Lastly, do explore the links to other blogs and websites on the Home Page of this website. While I don’t currently offer downloads, many other sites do and there has been a steady flow of great East African records posted in recent weeks.

DISCOVERIES IN GERMANY

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 11:22:05 +0100

A couple of weeks ago I remarked how the University of Mainz’s African Music Archive had pushed the total of records in this discography past the 5,000 mark. I have since completed adding to this website as many records from the archive as I could find - almost 350 in total.

What’s great about the Mainz archive is that it fills in many missing titles from important labels. More than 80 titles have been added to the Equator listings and more than 60 to those for Polydor, for example, as well as important additions to the Philips, Pathe, Mzuri and Moto Moto discographies.

In addition, German record collector Martin Fuchs stumbled upon the site and has very kindly took time to send in details of East African records in his collection. These include discs by top Congolese bands on ASL as well as recordings on two new labels, Editions Boyoma and Swaga. The latter is a single about a controversial moment in Kenyan history that still reverberates in political circles.

a milestone of sorts

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:42:00 +0100

I recently discovered the African Music Archives of the University of Mainz in Germany and have spent the weekend trawling though it, looking for new additions to add to the website. My German is just about adequate enough to order a meal and get directions but no more, so navigating the archives online catalogue has been a bit hit and miss. I’d hoped to find all the East African records in one convenient place that I could cross-refer to entries already on this website. No dice. Instead I have made a start at trawling through by individual label and artist, which is a much more time-consuming business.

But it’s worth it as the university collection is large and full of records I haven’t encountered before, including no less than 16 45rpms by Mbaraka Mwinshehe on Polydor. I’ve added lengthy listings to the Equator Records, Moto Moto and Polydor pages in particular, as well as a couple of new labels, Simba wa Bara and Border Guards.

Along the way I realised that the website now has more than 5,000 records listed, a target I have been carrying around in my head for a while. So I shall have a glass of wine tonight to celebrate and consider what’s a reasonable target to aspire to hit in the next few months.