Should anyone want to make a genuine movie set in Botswana, they would not have to look very far for a sound track.
Zakes Gwazi’s ‘Kola’, seventh on the Trans-Kalahari Quintet 11-track debut CD, “Re Teng’, takes off in minor mode before it makes the subtle transition to what sounds like a relative major key.
The melody lives up to the statement made in the liner notes: “We emphasise melody over harmony, song creation over acrobatics”.
There is a sense in which the song is suggestive of the vast expanses of the Kgalagadi even as Matt Dacso’s tenor saxophone solo betrays his Texas background in the American south, a stone’s throw north of the Latin continent, the land of the ‘muchachos’.
Actually, the unimposing chord changes at the bridge speak volumes about ZaKes’ fountains of wisdom, which could only come from over half a century of musical enterprise.
Oh, now if you really want to go Latino ÔÇô more specifically, Mexicano ÔÇô have a taste of Dacso’s ‘It Takes Two’, which follows the opening track on the CD, another of his Mbaqanga oriented compositions ‘Hands Off .
Isn’t it amazing how the song sounds so reminiscent of the saxophone melodies of that great legend, Bra Sello, at the same time capturing the soulful funk associated with the early Motown years where James Brown and Wilson Pickett ruled the roost and the groove.
Botswana’s own ‘Mr Drums’, Makhwengwe Mengwe, is right on top of the beat and the roll, when it is needed. And, of course, Brian Nyakurukwa, plays a creative but disciplined bass line, making music of the firm root notes.
Dacso’s melancholy ‘Early Love’ ushers the listener to ‘Nyakurukwa’, yet another of those Gwazi ‘qanga gems constructed on a thoughtful bass foundation and a ‘sweet and sour’ melody. Yah mahn, it is all Zakes and no acrobatics…just Makhokhoba Township!
Dacso leads us through the baptismal GC Nights, which makes Gaborone sound much holier that I would have imagined. Clever ending.
‘Now’s The Time’ sounds like a Charlie Parker title of sorts even as the harmonic progression, in tiny segments, drifts a little towards that ubiquitous standard, ‘Georgia’.
Never mind, it’s all in the mind!
In the liner notes, Dacso names Grover Washington among his major influences. The listener gets a sense of that in’ Tune for Miriam’. Could that be Makeba? I’ll ask.
The album would not have been complete without the hand-clapping six over eight that introduces the ‘msakazo’ on ‘Pulse of the Kalahari’, which could very well have been brewed at Mama Tilly’s shebeen at the turnoff into Tonota. I don’t know why that flute solo sounds like a keyboard. Maybe it is?
Of course, a keyboard is supposed to sound like it does on Otse Jive where Elliot Morgan delivers it ‘short and sweet’, no acrobatics. In my book, the only thing that comes near the acoustic piano is the Fender Rhodes anyway.
Were it not for the sweet chord movement, I would have done away with ‘Zack’s Blues’. I do not hear the melody and I am not sure why the cymbal is on double time.
Overall, this recording will be counted among the 10 best exhibits of Botswana’s creative music in the Afro Jazz or Mbaqanga genre next to Citie Seetso’s ‘Initiation’, followed by Shanti Lo, Lister Boloseng and Punah Gabasiane’s early work, joined most recently by Chedza Fani.
Re Teng, as in “We Are Well”, should not be confused with Re Teng, as in “We Also Exist”, or the non-governmental organisation that seeks equal recognition of Botswana’s ethnic groups, or, put another way, proper recognition of the country’s minority groups.
Perhaps, the difference is the same.
This album is Number 1 because it sounds and feels LIVE. It is genuine. What you hear is what you get…in the studio or on stage.
Thank you, very much.
