The Movers – ‘Vol. 1 – 1970-1976’

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For those unaware of the label, Analog Africa is the brainchild of founder Samy Ben Redjeb. A cratedigger extraordinaire, Samy trails the globe, not just the eponymous continent of the label’s title, seeking out and unearthing musical gems, many of which have never seen the light of day outside of their country of origin, and then making them available to a worldwide audience. The standard of Analog Africa’s releases is never short of the highest quality and, in so many ways, is the benchmark by which all others in the field should be measured.

Their latest compilation, The Movers – ‘Vol. 1 – 1970-1976’, highlighting one of the South African soul scene’s foremost bands with a legacy of over a dozen albums and numerous hit singles, only adds to the label’s reputation.

Whilst Samy’s discovery of the band dates back to his first “record safari” to Bulawayo in 1996, when he came across a couple of their tracks on a cassette purchased for the road trip in Johannesburg, the story of the group begins in the late 1960s.

In 1967 two unknown entrepreneurial musicians, brothers Norman and Oupa Hlongwane, approached a successful businessman from the Alexandra township, Kenneth Siphayi, offering him a slice of any future record deals or live shows in return for him purchasing them new musical instruments. Kenny, however, ended up playing a much greater role. Acknowledged as the founder of The Movers, indeed being responsible for naming the group, he became their manager, established provision for rehearsals, and, very significantly, introduced an organist into the fold.

Towards the end of the decade, The Movers, with their instrumental music firmly rooted in the regional Marabi style, also known as ‘Township Jive’, had begun to attract countrywide attention. By 1969, founding members Sankie Chounyane, organ, Oupa Hlongwane, guitar, Norman Hlongwane, bass and Sam Thabo, drums, had come under the radar of a music producer named David Thekwane, who, at the time, was also a talent scout for the Teal Record Company, and a deal was signed.

Their first release, in 1969, on the Teal label, Crying Guitar, sold over half a million copies within the first three months, furnished them with two hits, Soul Crazy and Mountain Breeze, and within their first year had catapulted them from being local township sensations to being the first band of black South Africans to have their music played on white radio stations in the apartheid regime.

Although this debut release was entirely instrumental, the distinctive wah-wah pedal sound may have given the album its name and indeed had become the group’s trademark sound, along with the distinctive Rhodes piano; the group began working with different vocalists immediately following this, incorporating American jazz, soul and funk and even elements of reggae into their later work, which was enhanced by horns, extra percussion and a wider variety of keyboards. Elements of Marabi and Mbaqanga, however, ensured that the dominant ingredient would always be the sound of the townships. The group reached their zenith in the mid-1970s, but in 1976 the group decided to cut their ties with Kenny, and things were never the same again.

With the PR stating that all 14 tracks on this compilation are from Teal Records recordings released from the period of 1970-1976, further research as to their more detailed provenance has proved challenging to say the least, with even the usually informative and reliable Discogs site only listing one LP on Teal for The Movers, whilst one or two of the tracks fail to appear in any search engine trawl. Nevertheless, this minor personal irritation does nothing to diminish the enjoyment provided by the quality of the tracks selected.

Each and every one of the nine instrumental cuts is a corker. The first few bars of the opening track, Give Five or More, are a delicious, reggae-tinged sultry groove before tasteful lead guitar lines come to the fore, only to be superseded by gorgeous organ tones. With the rich bass and drums totally aligned, this epitomises the group’s distinctive sound from the get-go.

Gentle rippling guitar and simmering keys are a feature of Tau Special, the first single to be released from this compilation, whilst on Soul Crazy, the only cut here from the above-mentioned debut Crying Guitar album, there is more of a Booker T groove over the chilled, laid back guitar.

A driving drum beat permeates Gig Soul Party, with Oupa Is Back, the longest track by far on this album at a shade over four minutes, showing that a slightly rockier guitar sound was also within their grasp. Both 2^nd Avenue (the third single release) and Pukeng Special are heavily organ-led before the trademark guitar cuts in, all over pulsating rhythmic beats. The album closer, about which I can glean no information, Plenty Time, offers more of the same, with the addition of brass, and leads me to suspect that this might be from the mid to late period covered by this release.

Another standout track is Hot Coffee, clocking in, as do most tracks here, at around two and a half minutes; this ska-like track has not only an irresistible rhythmic groove but also a dazzling bass solo.

The tracks featuring vocals are, for the most part, of similar high quality, although the omission of Hopeless Love is surprising. On Balele, the woozy keys produce almost a Stylophone sound and, as with Hot Coffee, again features brass and a definite ska feel; while Soweto Inn, one of their biggest hits, sung by Sophie Thapedi, is a key song in the context of student revolts against the apartheid government, is nigh-on indispensable.

The same cannot be said for Ku-Ku-Chi, however. Out of kilter, in so many ways, with the rest of the album, no amount of research can shed light on its history. Kudala Sithandana, another fine track, fairly chugs along and has also proven to be elusive in terms of tracking down its release as a Movers’ track. Seemingly written by Thekwane, it seems to have been a hit for The Sound Proofs, who appear to be Sankie Chounyane in a different guise, which is intriguing.

The track Six Mabone was originally a Mbaqanga tune and a big hit for Lulu Masilela. This Zulu word for dumpling was originally a term of derision and abuse used by the conservative whites to describe music they felt was basic and crude. This backfired spectacularly, and the term was adopted by those it was aimed at as a term of endearment for their new style of music. David Thekwane was so impressed with the song that he even created a Teal label named “Six Mabone”. Although the version recorded by The Movers is far removed from the original, to these ears, the “township sound” is most apparent on these vocal tracks.

There can hardly ever have been a more appropriately named group than The Movers, and this compilation is a true testament to one of South Africa’s most legendary bands.

The Movers – ‘Vol. 1 – 1970-1976’

Out 5 August 2022 on Analog Africa

LP (AALP095)/ CD (AACD095)/ Digital download & streaming (AA095)

Pre-Order: https://analogafrica.bandcamp.com/album/the-movers-vol-1-1970-1976-analog-africa-nr-35