Rashid Vally

Last updated

Rashid Vally was a South African music producer and record shop owner. He ran a record shop in downtown Johannesburg, and produced langarm and jazz music. He had a successful collaboration with pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, including the production of "Mannenberg" (1974), a piece which became associated with the movement against apartheid. Scholar Gwen Ansell described his As Shams label as giving "a voice to modern jazz" in 1980s South Africa. [1]

Contents

Personal life

Vally was a Muslim of Indian descent. [2] In an interview, Vally said that he began selling music in his father's shop, which was primarily a grocery store but also sold records. In his words, he had "started in the record business" by the time he left school in 1957. [3] He was described as an "easy-going" and "genial" man, [2] and as a "real treasure trunk overflowing with jazz records." [4] He had a passion for jazz, and had built friendships with a number of musicians. [2] In 1983 he was described as being "forty-something" years old. [5]

Vally ran a record shop named "Kohinoor" in downtown Johannesburg, which had a reputation as a hangout for enthusiasts of jazz, and as one of the few public places where people of different racial background could socialize. [2] The store was owned by his family, and most of its customers were either residents of the townships or migrant workers travelling to the reserves. [6] In addition to music, the shop also sold general supplies, including stoves, blankets, and radios. [6]

Career as producer

Vally also produced music as an independent producer, [7] and had recorded langarm music for South Africa's coloured market. [2] He stated that he began by recording South African coloured dance bands, and moved over time to recording jazz. [3] He ran multiple independent labels at different points in time; in 1973 he released a recording on the label "Mandla", [7] and had a new label by 1974 called "As Shams" or "The Sun". [4] [7] Scholar Gwen Answell described the studio as playing a significant role in South African jazz in the 1980s, writing that it "continued to give a voice to modern jazz". [1] Scholar Denis-Constant Martin also described him as being responsible for bringing Dollar Brand, as Abdullah Ibrahim was known prior to his conversion, back to South Africa, as well as contributing significantly to the distribution of black South African music during the apartheid era. [5]

Collaboration with Abdullah Ibrahim

Abdullah Ibrahim in 2011 Abdullah Ibrahim 06N4688.jpg
Abdullah Ibrahim in 2011

Vally had a long and successful collaboration with the musician Abdullah Ibrahim, which began in the early 1970s. Scholar George Mason states, based on interviews with Vally, that Ibrahim walked into Vally's record shop and asked Vally to record for him, [2] while Martin writes that it was Vally who asked Ibrahim to record music on his label. [4] Vally himself said in an interview that he asked to record Ibrahim after hearing him play with the Jazz Epistles. [3] Ibrahim knew Vally by reputation, while Vally had followed Ibrahim's career since the 1950s. [2] Vally produced two albums of Ibrahim's in 1971. They did not sell particularly well, but Vally recovered his costs on both. A third collaboration in 1974 titled Underground in Africa proved more successful, and brought critical attention to Ibrahim. [8]

Following the success of this album, Ibrahim began to prepare for another recording session, and asked Vally to support the recording financially. Vally hired engineers and musicians and rented a studio, going deeply into debt in the process. [9] The musicians recorded for several days using Ibrahim's scores; little of this material was eventually released. A few days into the session Ibrahim set aside his scores and began improvising at the piano, and asked the other musicians to join in. Ibrahim suggested the title "Mrs. Williams from Mannenberg" for the resulting piece, but Vally chose to market the song simply as "Mannenberg". [9]

Vally played the piece from loudspeakers outside his Johannesburg studio even before the LP had been released: hearing it, people entered the store and asked what he was playing. The LP sold 5000 copies in its first week, an unusually high number for a South African jazz record. [9] Vally later said that he asked several larger companies for financial support for marketing the record, but was turned down because the companies felt he was asking for too much money for a South African group. Vally instead marketed it himself, and the record became immensely popular. [3] Vally made a deal with Gallo Records to market the album, in the belief that he did not have the "financial muscle" for the job, and the album sold 43,000 copies in the next seven months. [9] The piece raised Ibrahim's profile, and became associated with the movement against apartheid. [10]

Related Research Articles

Hugh Masekela

Hugh Ramapolo Masekela was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for writing well-known anti-apartheid songs such as "Soweto Blues" and "Bring Him Back Home". He also had a number-one US pop hit in 1968 with his version of "Grazing in the Grass".

Music of South Africa Overview of music traditions in South Africa

The South African music scene includes both popular (jive) and folk forms like Zulu isicathamiya singing and harmonic mbaqanga. South Africa has a global music industry.

Basil Coetzee

Basil "Manenberg" Coetzee was a South African musician, perhaps best known as a saxophonist.

Marabi is a style of music that evolved in South Africa over the last century.

Abdullah Ibrahim

Abdullah Ibrahim is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cape Town, ranging from traditional African songs to the gospel of the AME Church and Ragas, to more modern jazz and other Western styles. Ibrahim is considered the leading figure in the subgenre of Cape jazz. Within jazz, his music particularly reflects the influence of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. He is known especially for "Mannenberg", a jazz piece that became a notable anti-apartheid anthem.

Hotep Idris Galeta

Hotep Idris Galeta was a South African jazz pianist and educator. His legal name at birth was Cecil Galeta, but according to local custom he was more commonly known as a child and young man as Cecil Barnard, his father's first name being used instead of a last name.

The Jazz Epistles were South Africa's first important bebop band. Inspired by Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, its members included Dollar Brand on piano, Kippie Moeketsi on alto saxophone, Jonas Gwangwa on trombone, Hugh Masekela on trumpet, Johnny Gertze on bass, and Early Mabuza or Makaya Ntshoko on drums. The group became famous after performing in the jam sessions called Jazz at the Odin in the Odin Theater in Sophiatown.

<i>Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony</i>

Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony is a 2002 documentary film depicting the struggles of black South Africans against the injustices of Apartheid through the use of music. The film takes its name from the Zulu and Xhosa word amandla, which means power.

Nikele (Nik) Moyake was born on a farm in Addo in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. He was a musician who played mbaqanga and jazz.

Cape jazz is a genre of jazz that is performed in the very southern part of Africa, the name being a reference to Cape Town, South Africa. Some writers say that Cape Jazz began to emerge in 1959 with the formation of The Jazz Epistles, many of whom were from Cape Town, including Abdullah Ibrahim, then known as Dollar Brand. Cape Jazz is similar to the popular music style known as marabi, though more improvisational in character. Where marabi is a piano jazz style, Cape Jazz in the beginning featured instruments that can be carried in a street parade, such as brass instruments, banjos, guitars and percussion instruments.

South African jazz is the jazz of South Africa.

Moses Taiwa Molelekwa was a South African jazz pianist from a family of jazz musicians. He was brought up in the town of Tembisa, situated in the province of Gauteng, South Africa.

Beatrice "Sathima Bea" Benjamin was a South African vocalist and composer, based for nearly 45 years in New York City.

Sheer Sound

Sheer Sound is a South African independent record label formed in 1994 by Damon Forbes.

<i>A Brother with Perfect Timing</i>

A Brother With Perfect Timing is a 1987 documentary, directed by Chris Austin, about musician Abdullah Ibrahim and his struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

Mannenberg Cape jazz song by South African musician Abdullah Ibrahim

"Mannenberg" is a Cape jazz song by South African musician Abdullah Ibrahim, first recorded in 1974. Driven into exile by the apartheid government, Ibrahim had been living in Europe and the United States during the 1960s and '70s, making brief visits to South Africa to record music. After a successful 1974 collaboration with producer Rashid Vally and a band that included Basil Coetzee and Robbie Jansen, Ibrahim began to record another album with these three collaborators and a backing band assembled by Coetzee. The song was recorded during a session of improvisation, and includes a saxophone solo by Coetzee, which led to him receiving the sobriquet "Manenberg".

Yarona is a 1995 jazz album by South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and his group Ekaya, recorded live over two nights at Sweet Basil Jazz Club in Greenwich Village, New York City. Yarona was released on the Enja label.

Music in the movement against apartheid One of the methods of opposition used against the apartheid regime

The apartheid regime in South Africa began in 1948 and lasted until 1994. It involved a system of institutionalized racial segregation and white supremacy, and placed all political power in the hands of a white minority. Opposition to apartheid manifested in a variety of ways, including boycotts, non-violent protests, and armed resistance. Music played a large role in the movement against apartheid within South Africa, as well as in international opposition to apartheid. The impacts of songs opposing apartheid included raising awareness, generating support for the movement against apartheid, building unity within this movement, and "presenting an alternative vision of culture in a future democratic South Africa."

<i>Hometalk</i> (album) 1990 studio album by Mango Groove

Hometalk is the second album by South African Afropop fusion band Mango Groove. The album was released in November 1990 by Tusk Music. It went gold upon release in South Africa, and has since reached platinum status. The title track, "Hometalk", was released as a single, followed by "Island Boy", "Taken for a Moment", and "Moments Away". The band recorded music videos for all four singles. One song, "We Are Waiting", was released several months early, in advance of Nelson Mandela's release from prison.

The South African Musicians' Alliance (SAMA) is a union, artist collective, and resistance movement formed by musicians in South Africa who opposed the censorship and suppression of the apartheid regime. The alliance was formed sometime before 1983. SAMA musicians flouted the government's imposed racial segregation and restrictions on music content. Three of SAMA's priorities were freedom of speech, freedom of movement, and freedom of association.

References

  1. 1 2 Ansell 2005, p. 206.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mason 2007, p. 33.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Martin 2013, p. 264.
  4. 1 2 3 Martin 2013, p. 230.
  5. 1 2 Martin 2013, p. 263.
  6. 1 2 Ansell 2005, p. 151.
  7. 1 2 3 Ansell 2005, p. 153.
  8. ↑ Mason 2007, pp. 33–34.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Mason 2007, p. 34.
  10. ↑ Mason 2007, pp. 37–39.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.