- A legendary South African record of new jack swing and R&B gets reissued for the first time.
- In the late '60s and '70s, the South African band The Beaters, later renamed to Harari, provided one of the most idiosyncratic soundtracks to the long fight against apartheid. Founded by high school friends Selby Ntuli, Monty Ndimande, Alec Khaoli and Sipho Mabus, and recently reissued on two records, the group radically reimagined Black American music. They combined Sun Ra-style funk with prog rock psychedelia, R&B soul and improvised jazz song structures—all in the service of African revolution.
Harari would go on to become something of a South African institution with an ever-evolving cast of musicians in their 20-year run from the late '60s to the late '80s. One of the most exciting names to emerge from this melting pot of experimental fusion and political protest was Mzwandile "Tashif'" Kente. For a certain type of collector, his sole release, the 1991 album A Boy And A Dream, is one of those records always on the wantlist. It sounds equally steeped in American R&B and British street soul as South African genres like bubblegum and kwaito, which were reaching their zenith at the time. Some 30 years later, London crate diggers Heels & Souls have cherry-picked four of the record's best tracks for a long-awaited reissue that will finally satiate the Discogs heads.
The A-side has the party tracks. "Tell Him I Became Your Lover" is straight up Teddy Riley-era new jack swing, with b-boy chords and a rapped verse for good measure. "Somebody's Got My Love" starts off as a late-night ode to a lost love. But after the breakdown, it gets funkier with slap bass licks and a piano solo worthy of an acid house record. On the flip, things are softer and the swagger is replaced with some heartache. But even amid his emotional turmoil, there's a bit of silliness as he sings, "Who's that boy and what's he got to do with you? Is he your cousin, or your neighbour, or your lover?" over pockets of synthetic woodwinds and organ-like chords on "Who's That Boy." The whole track is a high-gloss piece of silver screen melodrama before the slow dance finisher, "I Like The Way You Love Me."
For the purists out there, rest assured: the record also sounds great. Heels & Souls have done a fastidious job hunting down the original tapes and remastering them. And, sure, there are a few album cuts I was sad not to see on the record (I've got a particular soft spot for the electro workout "Is It O'Rite"), but still the 12-inch is a perfect distillation of Kente, capturing his range as both singer and producer. His music is at once familiar and strange, expertly darting across genres as he fashions out a singular sound from a transitory moment in South African dance music history.
Tracklist01. Tell Him I Became Your Lover
02. Somebody's Got My Love
03. Who's That Boy
04. I Like The Way You Love Me