Mavis Maseko & The Movers: Amabungu (1978)

This rare South African soul & disco groover is my greeting card to the folks over at Electricjive who celebrate 5 years of blogging these days.

Which reminded me that i started my first blog five years ago, too, sometime in spring 2009. After a name change (anyone remember Guitar & The Wind?) and several changes of address, i'm surprised to find myself still around. So thanks and greetings to all friends and enemies, readers, commentators, contributors and fellow bloggers.

Now back to the music. I had a hard time finding any significant info on this album. The Movers are a well-known SA soul band with several posts over at EJ and they are the reason i picked this album up. But Mavis Maseko? Was she a member of one of the girl groups so popular in SA in the 1960s/70s? I hope someone can shed some light on her!

The Movers are tight and funky, while Maseko's voice is strong and soulful, although not too distinctive. You sure gotta like disco music too enjoy this album fully, since there's a tendency to fall into a four-to-the-floor beat. Thankfully the South African basis is present on most songs and the production not too slick.

Find a discog of the Movers over at Flatinternational and hear other versions of the tune Bayeza at Matsuli. And don't forget to explore the Movers' incredible music further at Electricjive!

Mavis Maseko & The Movers: Amabungu
RCA (SA) RCL 1223

1 Living In The City (Wonder) 4:08
2 Time For Love (Rabin) 5:55
3 Buza 4:02
4 Loving Style (Rabin) 4:27

1 Amabungu 3:01
2 Jika Jika 3:47
3 Umenzi 3:50
4 Bayeza 6:21
5 Hallelujah 3:15

All tracks written by M. Maseko/P. Moticoe except as noted.
Produced by David Thekwane