Bright Moments Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 has this ever been released? King Kong (musical) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search King Kong was a South African jazz influenced musical, billed at the time as a jazz opera. The music and some of the lyrics were written by Todd Matshikiza. The lyrics were by Pat Willams and the book by Harry Bloom. It was directed by Leon Gluckman with orchestration and arrangements by pianist Sol Klaaste, tenor saxophonist Mackay Davashe, alto saxophonist Kippie Moeketsi and composer Stanley Glasser. The decor and costumes were designed by Arthur Goldreich, a Jewish communist, architect and visual designer (who was later arrested during an apartheid clampdown). King Kong had an all-black cast. The musical portrayed the life and times of a heavyweight boxer, Ezekiel Dlamini, known as King Kong. After a meteoric boxing rise, his life degenerated into drunkenness and gang violence. He knifed his girlfriend, asked for the death sentence during his trial and instead was sentenced to 14 years hard labour. He drowned himself at the age of 32. This musical was a hit in South Africa in 1959 and played at the Princes Theatre in the West End of London in 1961. The musical launched the international career of Miriam Makeba who played the shebeen queen of the Back of the Moon, a shebeen of the time in Sophiatown. The male lead was Nathan Mdledle of the Manhattan Brothers. There was cast of 72. Others in the cast were Hugh Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim, Kippie Moeketsi and Thandi Klaasen, all of whom went on to have successful careers. Note: The song Sad Times, Bad Times was a reference at the time to the infamous South African Treason Trial in Pretoria. Among the accused were Albert Luthuli (ANC president), secretary Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo. The trial lasted for more than four years before it collapsed with all the accused acquitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 Yes, it came out in Britain in the late fifties. I think it was on the UK Decca label. MG Correction to say it must have been early sisxties. But I recall seeing it in shops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted January 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 Yes, it came out in Britain in the late fifties. I think it was on the UK Decca label. MG Correction to say it must have been early sisxties. But I recall seeing it in shops. ah - now the search begins!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 My parents have that LP... not as jazzy as you might wish, but it's been a while that I played it. Decca is right. This was the beginning of the european exile of the ZA jazzers... most I think went back, but they had tasted a bit of free air... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 front cover: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 backcover: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 and here's the part with the credits (I can do the liners like this, too, if you wish): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 This was the beginning of the european exile of the ZA jazzers... most I think went back, but they had tasted a bit of free air... That's right - that show was often quoted by exiles as being the turning point. Actually, I think the sleeves you posted were of the original on Gallo. I think the Decca version had a pic of a man on them. Tried Googling for it but couldn't even find the one you did - but there were some ripe birds in bikinis. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 Featuring the hit tune "Gorilla My Dreams". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 he he, "birds in bikinis" - great name for a band... (would have been cooler than "the supremes", no?) just saw "the italian job"... michael caine (in "alfie") was the first person I heard using the b-word... (will catch him in "get carter" again tomorrow night - what a great actor!) yes, decca was the label that issued some of that stuff in yurp or the us or wherever domesticated. (I have another LP from my parents - my dad lived in ZA for a year or so in 1968-69, I assume they're from there - which is on decca, then... a pennywhistle compilation, can't remember what it's called) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted February 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 and here's the part with the credits (I can do the liners like this, too, if you wish): please do ubu!!! and thanks!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted February 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 is there a way to find out if it has ever been released on cd? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted February 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 and here's the part with the credits (I can do the liners like this, too, if you wish): hmmm - i thought Abdullah Ibrahim was in the cast (see first post above). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Uncle Meat. that's all I'm sayin'.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Last year I found a CD in the 99 cent bin at my local thrift store called The Best of Miriam Makeba: The Early Years (2002, Wrasse Records, distributed in the UK by Universal). It has two tracks from King Kong, "Back of the Moon" and " Quickly in Love." The two tunes strike me as decent retro-pop/jazz of the day, along the lines of something like "Hello Dolly" without the banjo. Nothing really African-sounding about them, but not bad either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeline Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 (edited) South African jazz sounds a good deal closer to pop music from a US perspective. Nonetheless, it's part of a continuum - very complex subject, really. A great site for more info. on all kinds of African music (includes archived radio programs that can be cued to specific tracks) is Afropop Worldwide. check their "country" menu for South Africa and go from there... Edited to add: King Kong burst on white South Africa with the first ever black show at the Witwatersrand University Hall. Its star: Miriam Makeba. Singing in the townships since she was a little girl, her voice caught the ear of a young black writer, Bloke Modisane. 'A new nightingale is born' he said. Makeba electrified King Kong's white audiences. In one scene, as shebeen queen of the 'Back of the Moon' shebeen, she stood absolutely still, back to the audience, white dress marking every inch of her superb body. The tsotsis on stage - small time criminals, drinkers, gamblers, dancers - stood equally transfixed. Everyone waited for the cue. It came at last, with the Matshikiza sound of the kwela* as Miriam swung into her dance, the song, and turned slowly to face her audience, who rocked and swayed with her. Never again would King Kong recapture the magic of that moment - when white 'liberals' discovered township jazz, the kwela, and Miriam Makeba. Certainly not in London, where the musical was played in smart costumes and with little of the local Jo'burg flavour. But by that time Miriam had already left South Africa, lured to fame and fortune far from home by fellow black artist Harry Belafonte. In the Caribbean, his calypsos tried to re-create what was original in Jo'burg's township jazz. It was great Caribbean music that could clasp hands with the music of Makeba - and Masekele, who soon followed her into exile. The entire cast of the London King Kong left South Africa, and because passports were seldom issued to blacks, most of them were never to return. the rest is here. Edited February 1, 2008 by seeline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 If I remember right, Ibrahim (Dollar Brand then) was woodshedding in South Africa while all the others went to Europe and had a ball... after that he was one of the first to leave, though, making Zurich his home for a while, and there influencing lots of local musicians and in the end igniting a whole new thing which is still going on with folks like Irene Schweizer, Co Streiff, Tommy Meier and others - for musical evidence, check out Tommy Meier's large band project (including Schweizer and many other mainstays of the local scene) that was just released on Intakt: Maybe discriminating folks would call this all just a fake, but I'd prefer thinking of it as a genuine attempt to fuse some of those south african strains and rhythms (that you can and always could hear in Irene Schweizer's piano playing) with European and American jazz. And to add one more local footnote: in November, Schweizer performed a concert with drummer Makaya Ntshoko here in Zurich (alas I missed it), so some connections are still running strong to this day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Liner 1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Liner 2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeline Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Kippie Moeketsi - one of the arrangers for the original production - certainly is considered to be a jazz player in South Africa! There's a fine section on the history of S. african jazz on AAJ, including time lines, interviews with artists, and so on... you can Google it up quite easily. (One of the musicians interviewed is Sathima Bea Benjamin.) Are you familiar with artists like Johnny Dyani, Louis Moholo, et. al.? There's a very broad spectrum covered in S. africa under the label of "jazz," but I've recently seen some ill-founded criticisms of (believe it or not) Abdullah Ibrahim for supposedly not being a jazz musician/composer. To my mind, that's like saying that Maxine Sullivan wasn't a jazz singer because she covered "Loch Lomond," or that someone like Jerry Gonzalez doesn't play "real jazz," but.... to each his/her own, I guess! (Not meaning anyone in particular; only that labels are pretty fluid and mean differnt things to different people.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeline Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 (edited) Kippie Moeketsi - one of the arrangers for the original production - certainly is considered to be a jazz player in South Africa! There's a fine section on the history of S. african jazz on AAJ, including time lines, interviews with artists, and so on... you can Google it up quite easily. (One of the musicians interviewed is Sathima Bea Benjamin.) Are you familiar with artists like Johnny Dyani, Louis Moholo, et. al.? There's a very broad spectrum covered in S. africa under the label of "jazz," but I've recently seen some ill-founded criticisms of (believe it or not) Abdullah Ibrahim for supposedly not being a jazz musician/composer. To my mind, that's like saying that Maxine Sullivan wasn't a jazz singer because she covered "Loch Lomond," or that someone like Jerry Gonzalez doesn't play "real jazz," but.... to each his/her own, I guess! (Not meaning anyone in particular; only that labels are pretty fluid and often mean different things to different people.) Edited February 1, 2008 by seeline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 of course! here are some earlier discussions: generally on south african jazz: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=32699 ibrahim thread: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=4438 moeketsi thread: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=3416 ogun: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=17425 harry miller: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=27890 (there should also be a discussion of the miller box somewhere) mike osborne: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=36250 blue notes: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=6127 mcgregor/bob: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=24420 and more: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=19627 http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=8434 http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=32481 http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=32957 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 forgot the recent blue notes box set thread here: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=38875 there's certainly more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeline Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 (edited) Thanks, king ubu! (big up for posting the LP liners!) I do think that the South African jazz section (built primarily by Nils Jacobson) over on All About Jazz is one of the single best resources I've come across anywhere - mainly due to the contributions by South African musicians who've worked hard on the history of jazz in SA. Timeline (from 19th c. til now) Article by Philip A. Songa - The Life and Times of South African Jazz Sathima Bea Benjamin - The Cape Town Jazz Scene and so on... I wish Gallo and other S. African labels were more widely available here in the US... even Stern's has difficulty in obtaining and stocking discs from SA. Edited February 1, 2008 by seeline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted February 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 thanks ubu and seeline!!! now can anybody help me find this on cd? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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