Marimbas marimbas I love marimbas! Which are like giant xylophones! Masanga are a 7-piece group, who except for a drummer, play all sorts of marimbas - enormous bass ones, baritone, and various smaller ones, creating a veritable marimba orchestra. Are there really people who think this is "weird" and only want to hear guitars and pianos? This stuff is rock'n'roll - three-chord tunes pounded out with mad energy, making me want to jump and dance like a silly person.
Masanga are lead by a music prof from my alma mater Cal State Northridge (go Matadors!) and the band is composed of his students. Don't worry, this isn't bland "World Music" - said band leader Ric Alviso studied in Zimbabwe and brings an authentic African energy and excitement to the music. "Skokiana" is a version of an old Zimbabwean tune that, as "Skokkian," was a big American hit in the '50s.
Masanga: "Skokiana"
Strangely enough, only days before I discovered this group in live performance and bought their album, I had heard a remix of Louis Armstrong's version of "Skokkian" by DJ Dale B. It's a great bit of Ursula 1000-ish lounge-tronica, which you can listen to or download here.
2 comments:
I too lurve marimba's - I have been searching for a vinyl only release of Amampondo’s self titled record, now over 20 years old. Never recreated on CD this was my first lesson (yes I studied Ethnomusicology at UNI) on the sounds of a large marimba band, although this had drums, chants & homemade instruments. Nowadays they are a much smaller unit then when they first started due to Zulu & ANC politics.
Read about them here
http://www.mp3.com/artist/amampondo/summary/?tag=summary%3bquicklink:more&om_act=convert&om_clk=artsummary
Watch them in performance here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exIfWYhvQxQ
Also one of the reasons so many South African bands have marimba is due to this project.
http://www.marimbas.co.za/academy/index.php
Follow through to hear the band & buy the CD.
!!!
NICE. I love South African music. Thanks for this, will deffo check this out, and keep an eye out for 'em next time I hit the African vinyl section at Amoeba.
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