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Compilations: Doing The Right Thing

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Double-albums of classic Congolese and South African recordings demonstrate the right and the wrong ways to go about compilations.

Tabu Ley Rochereau

The Voice Of Lightness Vol. 2: Congo Classics 1977-1993

Sterns

2010

From its inception, everything about Sterns' compilation program has been pitch-perfect. Curated by enthusiasts with deep knowledge of their subjects, who assemble collections which balance greatest hits with more obscure material, Sterns' compilations are exemplary. The care with which they are put together respects artists and listeners.

Congolese singer and bandleader Tabu Ley Rochereau's The Voice Of Lightness Vol. 2: Congo Classics 1977-1993 maintains the standard. Compiled and annotated by Ken Braun, one of the world's top half dozen Congolomelomanes (his term), the 17 tracks combine the familiar and the less well-known, and come with a 56-page booklet packed with photos, track-by-track personnel listings and a scholarly commentary which incorporates previously unpublished interview material with Rochereau and some of his surviving associates, including his longtime arranger and saxophonist, Modero Mekanisi.

From the 1960s through the 1980s, Pascal Tabu—better known as Seigneur Rochereau or Tabu Ley—was one of the best selling voices in Zairean, not to say African, music. The heir to Congolese rumba's Joseph Kabasele's progressive originating style with his band, African Jazz, Rochereau—today 70 years old and dividing his time between Kinshasa, Paris and Brussels—kept the flame burning with new dances and rhythms, poetic and romantic lyrics, and new fashions and forms of stage presentation.

By the late 1980s, Rochereau had released over 170 albums, and a total of over 2,000 songs, putting him in the same heavyweight bracket as his contemporary rumbaist Franco (who has been anthologized, also by Braun, in Sterns' Francophonic series). More polished than Franco's, Rochereau's style presented his own mellifluous vocals in front of Mekanisi's sophisticated arrangements for a band which featured, over the years, such breathtaking guitarists as Nico Kasanda Mikaleyi and Dino Vangu, and horn sections which could rock out, as powerfully as did Franco's T.P.O.K. Jazz, the extended "soukous" instrumental sections which were a feature of classic Congolese rumba.

The Voice Of Lightness Vol. 2: Congo Classics 1977-1993 can only skim across the surface of Rochereau's prodigious output, but it touches down in all the right places. It includes two tracks, "Kabesele In Memoriam" and "Lisango Ya Banganga," made by Rochereau and Franco together in Paris in 1983—the pair had been reunited by a shared desire to honor their mentor, Kabasele, who had just died back in Kinshasa—and another, "Loyenghe," featuring vocalist Mbilia Bel, who Rochereau in turn mentored and made into a star. Also included, the most explicit political song Rochereau ever recorded, "Le Glas A Sonne (The Bell Has Tolled)," which compares Zaire's President-for-Life, Mobutu, unfavorably with Congolese independence heroes Kasavubu, Lumumba, Bolikambo and Tshombe. The track was made in exile in Paris, along with "Exil-Ley," also included here, in 1993.

The Voice Of Lightness Vol. 2: Congo Classics 1977-1993 shows how a compilation ought to be put together.

Mahlathini And The Mahotella Queens / Soul Brothers

Jive And Soul: The Very Best Of

Nascente

2010

Compared with the Rochereau set, Jive And Soul: The Very Best Of is a little disappointing. There's nothing wrong with the music—a CD's worth each from South African township stars Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens and the Soul Brothers—which focuses on both groups' gritty, early recordings from the 1970s and early 1980s. And the liner essay, by John Armstrong, is good so far as it goes, though it's too short to cover anything other than the basics. But crucially, the liner credits, as for Nascente's Miriam Makeba anthology, South Africa's Skylark (2010), lack session and personnel information (though they do include composers and publishers). When dealing with historically important material, it is incumbent on record labels to do the right thing by artists, listeners...and history.

That said, there are two discs of immortal music here, from the close harmonizing, rootical Mahotella Queens and their basso profundo male "groaner," Mahlathini, and the more outward looking Soul Brothers, whose Hammond B3-infused style incorporated elements of American soul, funk and gospel.

The Mahotella Queens, like the Dark City Sisters (check their lovely "Langa More" on the YouTube clip below) and their groaner, Jack Lerole, were segregation-era South Africa's voices of the townships much like Motown artists were the voices of black urban America—creating a stream of catchy, uplifting, well-crafted pop singles. The Soul Brothers created a stickier sound, based around a slower beat, florid organ lines and use of the township slang spoken by tsotsis (up to that point, most township groups sang in "pure" Zulu and other South African languages).

It's all here, except for the right packaging.

Tracks and Personnel

The Voice Of Lightness Vol. 2: Congo Classics 1977-1993

Tracks: CD1: Ekeseni; Mere Ando; Ponce Pilate; Monument; Ohambe; Ma Nono; Tanga Tanga; Monsieur Malonga. CD2: Kabasele in Memoriam; Lisango Ya Banganga; Michelle Marina; Loyenghe; Sarah; Tu As Dit Que...; Sacramento; Exil-Ley; Le Glas A Sonne.

Collective Personnel: Tabu Ley: vocals; Franco Luambo: vocals, electric and acoustic guitars; Mbilia Bel: vocals; Nico Kasanda Mikaleyi: lead guitar; Dizzy Mandjeku: lead guitar; Dino Vangu: lead guitar; Damoiseau Kambete: lead guitar; Huit Kilos Nseka: lead guitar; Maika Munan: mi-solo guitar; Brazzos Panga Kasongo: mi-solo guitar; Dave Makondele: rhythm guitar; Calen Madoka: rhythm guitar; Modero Mekanisi: alto saxophone, tenor saxophone; Empompo Loway: alto saxophone; Kongi Aska: trumpet; Kaber Kabasele: trumpet; Ntumba Muamba: trumpet; Ray Lema: keyboards; Shaba Kahamba: bass guitar; Petit Mando: drum kit; Deba Sungu: conga; Armando Muanda: conga; others.

Jive & Soul: The Very Best Of

Tracks: CD1: Pitseng Tse Kgolo; Tate Ntshwarele; Mogologolo; Monna Le Mosadi; Thonthodi; Thoko (O Jola Nobani); Tsa Lebowa; Hamba Phepha Lami; Guga Mzimba; Ngiyakkhala Ngiyabaleka; Mahlare; Jive Makgona; Wala Wayeka; Ngikhala Ngiya Baleka; Deda Endleleni; Igugu Lezwe; Umntanam' Ulahlekile; Izinyembezi Zesuliwe; Vuka Uzibuka; Yadilika Intaba; Kuqale Bani; Dinaka; We Boy; Hamba Mzala; Izinyoni; Zulu Nge Lami; Amagoduka; Bayasimiemeza; Ngibuzindlela; Shayani Izandla. CD2: Mshoza Wami; Malume; Indawo Yokulala; Mama Ka S'Bongile; Uthando; I Feel So Lonely Without You; Ke Niyeke Botsotsi; Mantobazane; Kulukhuni; Nilindeni; Ukhalelani; Usathani Simehlulile; Ke Kopa Tshawerelo; Isiphiwo; Ogandanda; Isicelo; Diketso Tsa Hao (Sotho); Abantu; Amaphutha; Mary.

Personnel: Ethel Mngomezulu: vocals (CD1); Nunu Maseko: vocals (CD1); Hhildah Tloubatia: vocals (CD1); Joyce Thabe: vocals (CD1); Mahlathini: vocals (CD1); Shadrack Piliso: saxophone (CD1). David Masondo: vocals (CD2); Moses Ngwenya: Hammond B3 organ (CD2); Solly Tameetse: Hammond B3 organ (CD2); Tusa Mthethwa: guitar (CD2) ; Zenzele Mchunu: bass (CD2); other personnel uncredited.

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