maandag 28 oktober 2013

Tshotsholosa (1961) / Shosholoza (1965)


TSHOTSHOLOSA
(trad. arr. Matshikiza)

Tshotsholosa or Shosholoza is a Ndebele folk song that originated in Zimbabwe but was popularized in South Africa. The song is a traditional South African folk song that was sung by Ndebele all-male migrant workers that were working in the South African mines in a call and response style. The song is so popular in South African culture that it is often referred to as South Africa's second national anthem.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela describes how he sang Shosholoza as he worked during his imprisonment on Robben Island. He describes it as "a song that compares the apartheid struggle to the motion of an oncoming train" and goes on to explain that "the singing made the work lighter".
Although the original author of the song is unknown, Shosholoza is a traditional miner's song, originally sung by groups of men from the Ndebele ethnic group that travelled by steam train from their homes in Zimbabwe to work in South Africa's diamond and gold mines. The Ndebele live predominantly in Zimbabwe (formerly, Rhodesia) near its border with South Africa, and they can also be found in the northern border of South Africa.



"Tshotsholosa" was introduced in 1961 by Nathan Mdledle and Company in the London Cast recording of "King Kong".
Nathan Mdledle was a member of the Manhattan Brothers and played the title-role.
The London Production of King Kong opened on the 23rd February 1961 at the Princess Theatre, London. Most of the songs from King Kong were written by Todd Matshikiza and Pat Williams, but "Tshotsholosa" was not written by them, Matshikiza only arranged this traditional road song.
"Tshotsholosa" was not part of the ORIGINAL 1959 South-African production of "King Kong".


The London Production of King Kong was released in 1961 on Decca album LK 4392.




The song was also released on the next Decca EP:


Listen here:



The song was usually sung to express the hardship of working in the mines. It expresses heartache over the hard work performed in the mines. The word Shosholoza or "chocholoza!" means go forward or make way for the next man, in Ndebele. It is used as a term of encouragement and hope for the workers as a sign of solidarity. The sound "sho sho" uses onomatopoeia and reminiscent of the sound made by the steam train (stimela). Stimela is the Zulu word for steam train. "Kweso ntaba!" means (At those far away mountains), "Stimela Siphume eRhodesia" (the train come from Rhodesia), "Wen´ uya baleka" (Because you're running away/hurrying).
In contemporary times, its meaning is to show support for any struggle.

Tshotsholosa, ezontaba stimela siphuma erhodesia
Wen uya baleka kweso ntaba stimela siphuna erhodesia

In English, ``Steam away, steam away over the hills, you train from Rhodesia.
You are fast-moving through hills, steam away, you train from Rhodesia.''





(c) Pete Seeger (1963) (as "Tshotsholosa")
Pete Seeger recorded this song June 8, 1963 on the album "We Shall Overcome".
Seeger must have known the version from King Kong, because on his album the credits read: Matshikiza / Williams. (we now know that Matshikiza only arranged the traditional "Tshotsholosa")



Listen here:





(c) The Ian Campbell Folk Group (1964)  (as "Cho Cho Losa")
When the South African revue,"King Kong" appeared at the Edinborough Festival in 1963, they were heard by Ian Campbell, and his group.
The Ian Campbell Folk Group recorded the song in 1964 on an LP called "Across the Hills", on the Transatlantic label.


Listen here:





(c) Johannesburg African Music Society (1965) (as "Tshostholoza")
Label: Gallotone GALP 1350


Listen here:





It was also in the 1965 South-African movie Dingaka, (as "Shosholoza")
The music for this movie was written by Bertha Egnos and Eddie Domingo.
But "Shosholoza" has the credits: (Trad. Arr. Bertha Egnos-Basil Gray)


The soundtrack for that movie was released in 1965 on the next album:
Label Gallotone GALP 1385





Listen here:





In 1974 it was included in the South-African musical "Ipi Tombi" (as "Tshotsholosa")
The music for this musical was written by Bertha Egnos and her daughter Gail Lakier



Listen here:




(c) Peter Gabriel (1980) (B-side of "Biko") (as "Shosholoza")
Gabriel must have known the version from the 1965 Dingaka movie (see above), because on his album the credits read: trad arr Egnos / Gray & Gabriel




Listen here:




Eric Bogle's "Singing the Spirit Home" (1986) incorporated "Tshotsholosa" at the end of the song.
The song's been published in Sing Out! Magazine vol. 34#1 (winter, 1989).


Listen here:



How apartheid died on a rugby field

The song gained further popularity after South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and is a favourite at sport events in South Africa. It was sung by the then Talk Radio 702 Breakfast Show co-host, Dan Moyane. The song was recorded, mastered and released in 5 days, having been mastered in the UK in order to get it ready in time for the first game in the 1995 RWC. It was conceptualised and produced by Famous Faces Management's CFF Stuart Lee. The record went gold in sales terms.





(c) Overtone with Yollandi Nortjie (2009) (as "Shosholoza")
This version was included on the soundtrack of the movie "Invictus", a film based on Nelson Mandela's life during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa.
Directed by Clint Eastwood, the film stars Morgan Freeman as South African President Mandela, and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, the South African team captain.

Listen here:



Shosholosa is now THE rugby song in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
It was also used as a TV theme tune for coverage of matches on TV there, and is sung as an anthem by the crowds. Ladysmith Black Mambazo recorded the TV version,

Ladysmith Black Mombaza






(c) Ternielle Nelson, Jason Harman, UJU, Louise Carver (2010) (as "Shosholoza")
Recorded for the official 2010 FIFA World Cup album.

Listen here:


And here's another version also recorded for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South-Africa.





dinsdag 22 oktober 2013

Junker Blues (1941) / Junco Partner (1951) / 6 Months Ain't No Sentence (1924)



"Junker Blues" is a song written by blues pianist "Drive 'Em Down" (=Willie Hall) from New Orleans. He played it in the streets in the Twenties.

"Junker Blues" was finally put on disc in 1941 by Hall's protege, Champion Jack Dupree.


Champion Jack Dupree  (Junker Blues)
Recorded in Chicago, Jan. 28, 1941;
Matrix C-3592-1
Champion Jack Dupree, voc, p; Wilson Swain or Ransom Knowling, b
Released on Okeh 06152


Listen here:


Part of the lyrics:

They call me a junker, cause I'm loaded all the time
I don't use no reefer, I be knocked out with that angie wine
Think smart, think smart, say no, say no

and warn you I ain't got time
they got boys in penitentiary doing from 9 to 99



More Junkers here:




In 1951, Bob Shad, a musical producer and owner of the “A&R at Mercury Records”, a company that worked with jazz and blues, renamed and rewrote "Junker Blues" as "Junco Partner", and credited it to himself and Robert Ellen.


Shad knew the song because of his work in the New Orleans music scene. Since then, most artists who have recorded the song have credited it to him and Ellen.
The first record of "Junco Partner" was made by James Waynes. Waynes' version became popular in the United States, though actual artists affirm that it was already a classic in New Orleans.


Listen here:


Part of the lyrics:

Down the road came a Junco Partner
Boy, he was loaded as can be
He was knocked out, knocked out loaded
Boy he wobbled all over the street
Singing:
“Six months ain't no sentence

and one year ain't no time
I was born in Angola
I was serving 99"



More Junco Partners here:


"Junco Partner" was the junkies' anthem in New Orleans and in the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola): "Six months ain't no sentence, one year ain't no time, they got boys there in Angola doing nine to ninety-nine".

"6 Months Ain't a Sentence" is also the title of an anonymous field recording Lawrence Gellert made in 1924 in Greenville, South-Carolina, ending up on lp Nobody Knows My Name: Blues From South Carolina And Georgia (Released in 1984 on the Heritage-label (Heritage HT 304).



Click on the next link to read the back-cover and click again to zoom in:


Listen here:





Fats Domino 1950 (The Fat Man), Lloyd Price 1952 (Lawdy Miss Clawdy) and Professor Longhair 1953 ("Tipitina") have been casually borrowing lines from "Junker Blues" ever since Dupree's original 78 RPM record was released.






In 1952, many artists covered "Junco Partner", such as the Richard Hayes & Eddie Sauter band, and Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five for Decca (these two groups credited the song to Shad and Ellen).


Listen here:


Richard Hayes' version is here:






Roland Stone (born as Roland LeBlanc), a jazz and blues musician, recorded two versions, the first in 1959 as "Preacher's Daughter", and the second in 1962 as "Down the Road".






In 1961 Chuck Berry recorded a live-version of "The Man and the Monkey" , which is a clever re-write of "Junco Partner".
Berry's version was released on the album "Chuck Berry On Stage" (Chess LP-1480)




In 1969 Canned Heat recorded a version which was a rewrite of Fats Domino's version.


Listen here:



(c) Dr. John 1972 ("Junko Partner")


Liner-Notes on Dr John's "Gumbo"-album
This is what he said about "Junko Partner":


Lee Allen wails on this one, how many tenor choruses does he have, four? I love it! The song was first made popular by James Wayne's hit on the "Sittin' In" (Bob Shad's) label. But it was a New Orleans classic; the anthem of the dopers, the whores, the pimps, the cons. It was a song they sang in Angola, the state prison fams and the rhythm was even known as the "jailbird beat". Dudes used to come back with all different verses. The hard-core dopers couldn't wait to hit the streets after their release so they could score again:

"Six months ain't no sentence
One year ain't no time
They got boys there in Angola
Doing nine to ninety-nine"

Meaning they had no intention of reforming even before beginning their sentence. It'a a song all New Orleans bands had to play; kind of a Calypso-oriented rhythm with a Cajun dialect. I heard it first on Poppa Stoppa's radio show... Louis Jordan covered it later on, and he did an even heavier Calypso thing with it. The great thing on this record is our drummer Freddie Staehle's laidback second-line drumming. This is classic New Orleans second line style where the drummer plays relaxed licks all around the beat, but with perfect time. You could call it "melody drums."


Listen here:




The 101'ers, of which Joe Strummer was a member, covered the song in 1976.


Strummer later recorded it again with The Clash on their triple album Sandinista!, released in 1980.
On Sandinista!, they recorded two versions: a reggae version, "Junco Partner", and a dub version, "Version Pardner".






English actor and vocalist Hugh Laurie covered "Junker's Blues" on his 2013 album Didn't It Rain.






dinsdag 15 oktober 2013

Chicago Stomp (1924) / Pine Top's Boogie Woogie (1928) / Guitar Boogie (1929 / 1946)


"Guitar Boogie" is a guitar instrumental recorded by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. In 1948, the song became a hit, eventually selling nearly three million copies. Since then, "Guitar Boogie" has been interpreted and recorded by a variety of musical performers and has been among the songs "often cited as the first rock & roll song".



"Guitar Boogie" is an uptempo twelve-bar boogie-style instrumental that features Arthur Smith on guitar backed by a small combo. The song is patterned after older boogie-woogie piano pieces (SEE FURTHER ON IN THIS POST) and, throughout the song, Smith alternates between boogie rhythmic patterns and soloing.
He first recorded "Guitar Boogie" in September 1944 with the Tennessee Ramblers and it was released in 1945 as "The Rambler Trio featuring Arthur Smith" (Super Disc 1004A)



Listen here:



In 1948, the same master was released on MGM Records (MGM #10293) as "Arthur (Guitar Boogie) Smith and His Cracker-Jacks".


In 1949, "Guitar Boogie" reached #8 during a stay of seven weeks in the Country chart and #25 in the Pop chart.



(c) Super-Sonics 1953 ("New Guitar Boogie Shuffle" )
Released on Rainbow #214


Listen here:




(c) Esquire Boys 1953  ("Guitar Boogie Shuffle")
Released on Nickelodeon #102A



Listen here:




(c) Virtues 1959 ("Guitar Boogie Shuffle")


Listen here:




(c) Bert Weedon 1959 ("Guitar Boogie Shuffle")


Listen here:




(c) Shadows 1961 ("Shadoogie")
Released on the album "The Shadows"


Listen here:




(c) Rene and his Alligators 1962 ("Guitar Boogie")
Tune of Dutch weekly radio-show "Het Steenen Tijdperk".
Released on the Fontana-label (#266 345 TF)


Listen here:




As I said above, Arthur Smith's "Guitar Boogie" is patterned after older boogie-woogie piano pieces. specifically Blind Roosevelt Graves' guitar part in "Guitar Boogie".
Recorded in Richmond, IN. Friday, September 20, 1929
-Roosevelt Graves: Vocals & Guitar
-Uaroy Graves: Tambourine
-Baby Jay (James): Cornet
-Will Ezell: Piano
Released on Paramount 12820



Listen here:


On all his recordings he played with his brother Uaroy (or Aaron) Graves, who was also nearly blind and played the tambourine. They were credited as "Blind Roosevelt Graves and His Brother". Their first recordings were made in 1929 for Paramount Records.
Pianist Will Ezell, who worked for Paramount as a session musician and scout in addition to being a recording artist in his own right, essentially supervised the 1929 session, which also featured the talents of cornetist Baby Jay, an associate of his. The combination of guitar, tambourine, piano, and cornet gives these tunes a unique sound, but we can not deny that "Guitar Boogie" (especially the piano part) was inspired by a race hit from the year before: "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie"
Pine Top Smith recorded "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" on December 29, 1928 in Chicago IL.
It was released on the Vocalion-label #1245



Listen here:



Much of "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" consists of spoken instructions on how to dance the boogie-woogie: "Hold yourself, now! Stop! Shake that thing!" But nearly all of it rides an ascending walking bass pattern—four doubled notes, eight beats to the bar—similar to the one in "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues" (or, for that matter, to the one in Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up").

Pine Top Smith borrowed the trilled opening of "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" from Hersal Thomas's piano introduction on Sippie Wallace's 1926 recording of "Special Delivery Blues", which features Louis Armstrong on cornet.


Listen here:




In addition, Pine Top Smith took the main theme—a treble figure repeated over the walking bass—from a motif that appears near the end (at 1 min and 42 seconds) of James (Jimmy) Blythe's 1925 recording of "Jimmie Blues".
Released July 1925 on Paramount 12304


Listen here (at 1 min and 42 sec.)



"Jimmie Blues" was written by James Blythe and Aletha Dickerson.
Aletha also co-wrote (with John Bishaw) the B-side "Fat Meat and Greens" (which was covered by Jelly Roll Morton for Vocalion in 1926).



In 1925 the same theme was published as "Syncophonic No. 5", as part of the "Syncophonic" series of piano solos by Axel Christensen, a Danish-American pianist from Chicago, who ran a nationwide chain of ragtime schools.


Listen here (at 25 seconds) in the YT below:





But already in April 1924 Jimmy Blythe had recorded that Boogie Woogie theme in Chicago, IL. as "Chicago Stomps"
Released on Paramount 12207.




Listen here:



And in the same year Axel Christensen published Blythe's "Chicago Stomp" under his own name, crediting Blythe as his co-composer,  republishing it as "Walking Blues".


Later, in December 1927, Axel recorded the sheet music version of “Walking Blues” as a piano solo, on Paramount 20603, without composer credits.




Listen here:



Or here:


And in 1927 Christensen republished it as "Boogie Woogie Blues", without crediting Blythe at all.


(For another theme in "Syncophonic No. 4", Christensen used Blythe's 1924 piano roll of George Thomas's "Underworld Blues", which was used much later in "The Hucklebuck". (SEE: .............Joop's Musical Flowers: Weary Blues (1915) / Underworld Blues (1924) / Now's The Time (1945) / D-Natural Blues (1948) / The Hucklebuck (1948) / Blues Stay Away From Me (1949))




zondag 13 oktober 2013

Sally Ann (1925) / Sail Away Ladies (1927) / Don’t You Rock Me Daddy-O (1957)


“Sail Away Ladies” is one of the most popular fiddle tunes of all time, and belongs to a family of tunes that also includes “Sally Ann”, “Great Big Taters in Sandy Land” or “Dineo”. Its popularity is also due to the lyrics that goes with the tune, with a refrain that repeat the phrase “Sail away ladies, sail away” or ” Don’t she rock day-dee-o”. Almost every fiddler and string band has the tune in his repertoire and it is very popular among folk singers also.
British skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan recorded it also under the name “Don’t you rock me Daddy-O”, making it a skiffle favorite in England in 1957.
A few years later it appeared on the set-list of the band The Quarrymen, out of Liverpool, who metamorphosed into the Beatles

For more detailed informations on the tune, see  Fiddler’s Companion



(c) Uncle Dave Macon and his Fruit-Jar Drinkers (1927)
New York (Brunswick studio): May 7, 1927
Vocalion 5155 (mx. E-4936)



Listen here:



1 year earlier John L. “Uncle Bunt” Stephens had recorded an instrumental version of this tune with a slightly different title "Sail Away Lady"

(c) Uncle Bunt Stephens (as "Sail Away Lady")
Recorded March 29, 1926 in New York
Released on Columbia 15071-D



Uncle Bunt Stephens' version was also contained on Harry Smith's "Anthology of American Folk Music", originally released in 1952 as a quasi-legal set of three double-LPs and reissued several times since (with varying cover art), "The Anthology of American Folk Music" could well be the most influential document of the '50s folk revival.


Uncle Bunt Stephens "Sail Away Lady" is here:




Yet another year earlier Fiddlin' John Carson sang "Sally Ann", which had the exact same tune as "Sail Away Ladies" and "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O".

(c) Fiddlin John Carson 1925 (as "Sally Ann")
Recorded June 24, 1925
Released on Okeh 40419



Listen here:




And the oldest version in this song-cluster I could find:
(o) The Hill Billies (1925) (as "Sally Ann")
Vocal: Al Hopkins
Recorded January 15, 1925 in New York
Released on Okeh 40336
 


Listen here:





On October 22, 1926 the Hill Billies recorded a "new" version of the song.
Released on Brunswick 105 (group-name Al Hopkins and his Buckle Busters)


Also released on Vocalion 5019 (group-name Hill Billies)

Listen here:






More coverversions


(c) Wagoners (1956) (as "Sail Away Ladies")


Listen here:





(c) Odetta (1957) (as "Sail Away Ladies, Sail Away")



Listen here:





(c) Vipers Skifle Group (1957) (as "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O"
Their second single, "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O", produced by Martin, reached number 10 in the UK Singles Chart in early 1957. Although the songwriting credits were given to Whyton, the song is a variant of the folk standard "Sail Away Ladies", as recorded by Uncle Dave Macon in 1927.

Released on Parlophone R 4261


Listen here:



The Vipers came into direct competition with Lonnie Donegan on the rival Pye label, who imitated Whyton's arrangements but had the bigger hits, both with "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O" and with its follow-up "Cumberland Gap".



(c)  Lonnie Donegan (1957) (as "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O") 
# 4 HIT UK
Released on Pye Nixa N 15080



Listen here:





Back before he became Britain's first successful independent record producer -- if not its quirkiest and most controversial -- Joe Meek engineered or produced countless sessions in the 1950s for established British labels like Peggy Seeger, Guy Carawan, and Isla Cameron's "Sail Away Lady".

(c) Peggy Seeger with Isla Cameron and Guy Carawan (1957) ("Sail Away Lady")
Released on the album "Origins of Skiffle"




Listen here:




(c) Joan Baez 1959 (as "Sail Away Ladies")
Recorded by: Stephen Fassett in Boston, May 1959 
Released on Veritas XTV-62202/3



Listen here:




(c) Guy Carawan 1959 (as "Sail Away Ladies")


Listen here:





(c) Kingston Trio (1960) (as "Sail Away Ladies")
Recorded May 26, 1959 (Guard, Shane, Reynolds)
Oddly enough, the first track recorded at the sessions for the album "Here We Go Again", never found a home on that album.
"Sail Away Ladies" was released on EP


Listen here:




(c) New Lost City Ramblers 1963 (as "Sail Away Ladies")


Listen here:





(c) Rooftop Singers 1964 (as "Sail Away Ladies")
The Rooftop Singers recorded a vocal version and an instrumental version.
The instrumental version was titled "Twelve String" and was on the B-side of the vocal version



Here's the instrumental version (on the B-side of the 45) 




(c) Holy Modal Rounders 1965 (as "Sail Away Ladies")


Listen here:





(c) John Fahey 1966 (as "Sail Away Ladies")
Instrumental





(c) Harry Belafonte 1967 (as "Sail Away Ladies")


Listen here:






(c) Leo Kottke 1969 (as "Sail Away Ladies")


Listen here (at 24 min and 28 sec in the Youtube below)




(c) Gerry Goffin 1973 (as "Sail Away Ladies")
Released on the album "It Ain't Exactly Entertainment"



Listen here:




(c) Roger McGuinn 1999 (as "Sail Away Lady")
Recorded for his Folk-Den project





(c) Roger McGuinn (& Odetta) 2001 (as "Sail Away Lady")
In 2001 McGuinn recorded a version for the album "Treasures from the Folk Den"
Accompanied by Odetta on vocals.


Listen here:






(c) Eric Bibb 2002 ("Sail Away Ladies")

Listen here:


Or to a sample (song #12) here:






(c) Mike Seeger 2003 (as "Sail Away Ladies")


Listen here:





(c) Van Dyke Parks & Mondrian String Quartet (2006) ("Sail Away Lady")

In 1999 and 2001, producer Hal Willner, best known for his creative mixing and matching of talents on tributes to the likes of Thelonious Monk, Kurt Weill, and cartoon music composer Carl Stalling, curated three multi-artist concerts to pay tribute to Harry Smith's Anthologyof American Folk Music

The CD "The Harry Smith Project: Anthology of American Folk Music Revisted" is a distillation of highlights from those shows, which were held in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and London.
It was released in 2006:

Listen here: