Rediscovering a Song I Used to Really Really Like...and Still Do

Along with a brief detour into my history with African music.

I've never been good with with languages. My middle-school Spanish teacher could vouch for that. But take my word for it. I barely get by with English - my only language. So when I started this site, nearly a year ago, artist names, song titles and so on, presented in a variety of African languages, took some adjusting to.

Here's an example - the song 'Madume Ga A Jewe Dumelang,' by the Botswanan group Makhirikhiri Metsametsano. This is the sort of thing that taxes my poor, sad, mono-lingual brain.

But things are getting easier now and when I happened across a certain song title recently, it triggered something, before I even heard the song.

It had been decades since I last heard it, but just by the name alone, I recognized it. Maybe I'm starting to get the hang of this language stuff. Mrs. B, if you're reading this, there might still be hope for me.

Before starting Music of Africa, I listened to African music in a casual way. It started in the Eighties, when I worked in record stores and was exposed to a wider range of music than I might have been otherwise. Along with the classic rock that was my first interest, followed by punk and heavy metal, I gradually started to widen my interests.

There was classical music, which I had to ease my way into, and there was African music. Music stores got a lot of promotional albums back then and some African music slipped in from time to time.

Being the Eighties, it was stuff like King Sunny Ade, whose record company was trying to introduce him to the United States at the time. I'm not sure if it worked, but they introduced him to me and for that I'd like to thank them. I can't have been the only one.

The same went for Juluka, from South Africa, who were having some success on this side of the Atlantic with 'Scatterlings of Africa' and 'Kilimanjaro.'

There were also some of the better-known South African and Zimbabwean compilations (The Indestructible Beat of Soweto, Zimbabwe Frontline) that were around at the time, things a casual listener in small-town America might have run across in an era when pickings could be slim and the Internet was yet to come.

As the Nineties dawned, so did the late Geoffrey Oryema. Who was from Uganda. His first few albums were released on Peter Gabriel's RealWorld label and made a big impact on me.

Next up was a big one, a CD collection of some of Thomas Mapfumo's music. This one really hit the mark and I delved into his music deeply and had the good luck to see him perform - twice. Near the end of the decade, along came Tuku Music, a collection of Oliver Mtukudzi's music. Which I eventually came to like above all others.

Somewhere along the way I ran across a song called 'Basimanyana' that really stood out from all others. I listened to it a lot, perhaps dubbed onto a cassette or more likely a CD, along with a few other favorite African songs. I forget what those other songs were. Brains are touchy things and as the years pass, they start to fail you.

I can't remember where or how I first encountered the song called 'Basimanyana,' the song with the very exotic seeming name by the artist with the very exotic seeming name. At the time I might not have even known he was Vusi Mahlasela, from South Africa.

That was the way of things with the the mix tapes and discs we compiled back then when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Oftentimes all one had were songs on a piece of plastic. Not that it mattered in those pre-Internet (early Internet?) days. When trying to locate info about a South African musician who was little-known in the United States would have been a crapshoot.

Nowadays, of course, the trick is to sift through the deluge of info on any topic, like Vusi Mahlasela. I've done a deep dive into all things Vusi now. And found out, among other things, that he has played with Dave Matthews - yes, that one - on various occasions.

I plan to listen to a lot more of Vusi’s music and hope to feature more of it here at MoA. For now, check out his web site and an in-depth interview with Banning Eyre, of Afropop Worldwide.