Arts Review

Written by: Themba Ziphilele Moyake, Joburg

The Manhattan Brothers were arguably the first signpost of jazz’s fruitful beginnings in South Africa. A vocal quartet made up of Joe Mogotsi (band leader), Ronnie Sehume, Rufus Khoza, and Nathan ‘Dambuza’ Mdledle, which, at some point, roped in a poor tap dance routine into the fray of their stage renditions to improve on their monotonous singing performances.

The tap dancing routine is poor not because it had no style, but because the Manhattan Brothers were using ‘horse shoes’ for their performances in an effort to appeal to existing listeners, and lure in new audiences into their musical circle.

Because a large portion of the Manhattan Brothers’ style was influenced by American jive, swing, doo-wop, and other jazz repertoires, it came as no surprise that they assimilated the blues so much in their music that it was tagged ‘Barbershop vocal styled music’. Being informed by American jazz would have a positive impact for the Brothers, but only much later on in their careers after their local debut in the limelight offered by the podiums in the city of gold: Johannesburg.

Post 1945 saw the Manhattan Brothers’ stardom escalating (rising exponentially). Beyond just being signed by Gallo Records, the group featured what were rising stars in their own right, such household jazz names as: Hugh Masekela, Dollar Brand (now referred to as Abdulah Ibrahim), Thandi Mpambane (who later became known as Thandi Klaasen), the late Miriam Makeba and more local talented jazz artists. All these names were roped into what was then a more affluent looking Manhattan Brothers which had come a long way since its impoverished dance routines.

At the time, Makeba was only 21 when she was snatched away from the Cuban Brothers, who were themselves, imitators of the Manhattan Brothers. As such, imitation has its imitators.

The act of mimicking imitations is a platitude in jazz scenes; and possibly, in music and life in general. In jazz, imitating can be likened to posterity. For instance: The Manhattan’s ‘Ntyilo Ntyilo’, originally written by Alan Silinga, is performed by Miriam Makeba (as a solo performance), then by Hugh Masekela, and also by a contemporary South African artist Thandiswa Mazwai, and many others. Again, The Manhattan Brothers’ ‘Unonkisa Kae’ is sampled and masked with a Kwaito nuance by a contemporary Kwaito group, Trompies, resulting in the song’s continuity in the umbrella of a different genre.

Jazz is able to transcend its scope and influence other mediums that exist beyond its genre as just music. The Manhattan Brothers’ influence transcended further when even their tableau was re-worn by their loyal audiences in and around the country. The latter was realized in what was now a trendy get-up of ultra-tight pants which soon acquired the name tsotsis: a Sesotho word meaning ‘stovepipes’. However, as popular culture usually dictates, ‘less savoury fans also took to wearing them (tsotsis) and so entered the national vocabulary’.

The quintessential highlight of the group though, came when they were recruited, not as the Manhattan Brothers but as performers, by the late Todd Matshikiza into a musical play called ‘King Kong’. From South Africa to London, the play enjoyed much success and high order exaltations.

As such, the exposure of The Manhattan Brothers to the world which they grew up imitating had now come to become a reality they were no longer playing second fiddle to, but performing to in first person. The group performed in central, east, and North Africa. And, further afield in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Israel. And those who were part of their performances, such as Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela, were now making names for themselves in America.

Despite brief breaks and intermittent reruns (re-imaginings) of their golden days when they set up again to perform, The Manhattan Brothers decided to stay in London. The group could not have stayed in a place that almost eternally compromised the realization of their highest achievements yet. But things weren’t quite the same after ‘King Kong’.

Adventure had ceased its impetuous overtures and senility (responsibility) was beginning to take its toll. Some of the members sought to pursue business and others continued to perform still, but never quite like they used to when they stole horse shoes from blacksmiths.

Jazz music has always been intrinsic in informing a modern South African identity. It continues to do so and we, as consumers of the genre, realize our own identities when we flirt with and enjoy the leads given to us by this music. We also scratch at the surface to find recollections of what informed the joys of jazz’s fruitful beginnings in South Africa.