“SANGOMA" by MALOMBO
Digital and Vinyl album released 21 November - https://matsulimusic.bandcamp.com/album/sangoma
Afro-jazz ancestral healing at the crossroads of tradition and tomorrow
Digital and Vinyl album released 21 November - https://matsulimusic.bandcamp.com/album/sangoma
Afro-jazz ancestral healing at the crossroads of tradition and tomorrow
Philip Tabane (1934–2018), the mercurial guitar genius of South African music, forged a sound that was as rooted in the spirit world as it was in daily life. With the Malombo Jazzmen of the 1960s, Tabane disrupted Western notions of “jazz,” bringing the resonant rhythm of cowhide malombo drums into the foreground. While outsiders and the uninitiated often reached for labels like “primitive yet sophisticated,” Tabane and his collaborators named it more truthfully: “music of the spirit.”
By the time of Sangoma, Tabane stood at a crossroads. Fresh from a period of three years’ touring in the United States where he graced the Newport Jazz Festival, and played alongside Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Pharoah Sanders and others, he brushed off comparisons with characteristic self-assurance: “No, I don’t play like Miles. Miles plays like me.” Back home in South Africa, and with a newly signed international distribution deal with WEA Records, he harnessed this momentum into a larger band setting, capturing a rare intensity.
The result was Sangoma—an album that bridges contradictions: expansive yet intimate, celebratory yet haunted by exile and return. Tracks such as “Sangoma,” “Hi Congo,” and “Keya Bereka” are not simply performances but living testaments, songs that would remain in his repertoire for decades. Unlike the moody, immersive character of much of his work, here Tabane is on the move—urgent, restless, uncontainable. As he announces on the second track, “Maskanta wa tsamaya” (“something that kicks ass”).
By the time of Sangoma, Tabane stood at a crossroads. Fresh from a period of three years’ touring in the United States where he graced the Newport Jazz Festival, and played alongside Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Pharoah Sanders and others, he brushed off comparisons with characteristic self-assurance: “No, I don’t play like Miles. Miles plays like me.” Back home in South Africa, and with a newly signed international distribution deal with WEA Records, he harnessed this momentum into a larger band setting, capturing a rare intensity.
The result was Sangoma—an album that bridges contradictions: expansive yet intimate, celebratory yet haunted by exile and return. Tracks such as “Sangoma,” “Hi Congo,” and “Keya Bereka” are not simply performances but living testaments, songs that would remain in his repertoire for decades. Unlike the moody, immersive character of much of his work, here Tabane is on the move—urgent, restless, uncontainable. As he announces on the second track, “Maskanta wa tsamaya” (“something that kicks ass”).
More than four decades on, Sangoma is both an historical document and a timeless invocation. From his home in Mamelodi to the world and back again, Tabane’s spiritual healing endures—raw, electric, and unbowed.
****************************************************
ALBUM CREDITS
Philip Tabane - Guitar / Vocals
Franz Monareng - Drums
Raphudu Phale - Drums
Alpheus Koloti - Flute
Amos Lebombo - Bass
All selections written by Philip Tabane.Produced by Lofty Schultz. Engineered by Peter Cerronio. Recorded at Gallo Recording Studios, Kerk St, Johannesburg.
Produced for reissue by Matt Temple and Chris Albertyn at Matsuli Music.
Audio restoration and lacquer cut by Frank Merritt at The Carvery.
Design by Siemon Allen at Flatinternational.
Back cover photo by Peter Stewart.
Licensed from Gallo Recording Company.
Original © & ℗ 1978 Malombo Music.
This reissue © & ℗ 2025 Matsuli Music.
Franz Monareng - Drums
Raphudu Phale - Drums
Alpheus Koloti - Flute
Amos Lebombo - Bass
All selections written by Philip Tabane.Produced by Lofty Schultz. Engineered by Peter Cerronio. Recorded at Gallo Recording Studios, Kerk St, Johannesburg.
Produced for reissue by Matt Temple and Chris Albertyn at Matsuli Music.
Audio restoration and lacquer cut by Frank Merritt at The Carvery.
Design by Siemon Allen at Flatinternational.
Back cover photo by Peter Stewart.
Licensed from Gallo Recording Company.
Original © & ℗ 1978 Malombo Music.
This reissue © & ℗ 2025 Matsuli Music.
No comments:
Post a Comment