“Inkunzi Emnyama” by Moses Mchunu - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1975Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s

TJR says

Excellence abounds on the debut set from the 26-year-old, native to the rural village of Nkandla in the East, but now several years based more centrally in Johannesburg. After meeting with influential producer West Nkosi in 1972, Moses went from strength to strength with his music, a wonderful hybrid of the traditional maskandi style of his Zulu heartlands and the mbaqanga style so beloved of the urban township dwellers. Folk roots and zulu blues are never too far from the surface here, although the tempo is usually upbeat, with the fiddle playing of Noise Khanyile and the gospel-like plaintive wails of his female singers, Nezintombi Zengoma (who appear on 4 of these cuts) contributing authentically. Moses writes all 10 of the pieces on which he is billed; compiler West Nksoi also includes two numbers by Mbaliseni Mkhize, another traditional roots artist, who has a predilection for randomly breaking into rapid-fire fast-tongue spoken parts on his inclusions, evidenced on both “Sambamba” and “Qinisa Mkhize”. Best from Moses himself are “lnkunzi Emnyama” (“Black Bull”), “Emzini Bakhala Ngawe” (“The City Looked For You”) and “Ngizula Nomhlaba” (“Wander the Earth”). This terrific LP is out-of-print, but is available for download at Electric Jive (linked above).

The Jukebox Rebel
08–Dec–2014

Tracklist
A1 [02:53] 9.4.png Moses Mchunu - lnkunzi Emnyama (Moses Mchunu) Africana
A2 [02:45] 8.2.png Moses Mchunu and Nezintombi Zengoma - Magugu Omhlaba (Moses Mchunu) Africana
A3 [02:27] 8.4.png Moses Mchunu and Nezintombi Zengoma - Emzini Bakhala Ngawe (Moses Mchunu) Africana
A4 [02:53] 7.7.png Moses Mchunu - Lishonile llanga (Moses Mchunu) Africana
A5 [03:05] 7.7.png Mbaliseni Mkhize - Sambamba (Mbaliseni Mkhize) Africana
A6 [02:43] 7.5.png Moses Mchunu - Ekhweni Lami (Moses Mchunu) Africana
B1 [02:44] 7.9.png Moses Mchunu - Amagama (Moses Mchunu) Africana
B2 [02:29] 8.8.png Moses Mchunu - Ngizula Nomhlaba (Moses Mchunu) Africana
B3 [02:35] 8.1.png Moses Mchunu and Nezintombi Zengoma - Sibongile (Moses Mchunu) Africana
B4 [02:41] 7.4.png Moses Mchunu - Kuhle Ukuzenzela (Moses Mchunu) Africana
B5 [02:28] 7.3.png Mbaliseni Mkhize - Qinisa Mkhize (Mbaliseni Mkhize) Africana
B6 [02:39] 8.2.png Moses Mchunu - Ngibuyile Baba (Moses Mchunu) Africana
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