Zulu Guitar Blues - Cowboys, Troubadours and Jilted Lovers 1950-1965Various Artists

• Almon Memela – Amapoyisa
• Cowboy Superman – Ntombi Kazipheli
• Mfongozi Guitar Players – Marabi Jazz
• Casper Shiki – Ngazula
• The Play Singer – Kusile Dale
• Elliot Gumede – Amasoka
• The Play Singer – Imitwalo
• Enoch Mahlobo and Shezi – Wenzani
• The Blind Man with his Guitar – Isoka Labaleka
• Nongomo Trio – Guga Mzimba

• 1. Almon Memela – Amapoyisa
• 2. Cowboy Superman – Ntombi Kazipheli
• 3. Mfongozi Guitar Players – Marabi Jazz
• 4. Casper Shiki – Ngazula
• 5. The Play Singer – Kusile Dale
• 6. Elliot Gumede – Amasoka
• 7. The Play Singer – Imitwalo
• 8. Enoch Mahlobo and Shezi – Wenzani
• 9. The Blind Man with his Guitar – Isoka Labaleka
• 10. Nongomo Trio – Guga Mzimba
• 11. The Play Singer – Nga Fika Ekaya
• 12. Cowboy Superman – I Lele Insizwa
• 13. Mbaqanga Guitar Trio – Come Again?
• 14. Cowboy Sweethearts – Sambamba Lomfana
• 15. Cowboy Superman and Beauty – Kumnandi Kwazulu
• 16. The Blind Guitar Player – Ungakhulumi
• 17. Thoko and Almon – Mandlovu
• 18. Zachariah and his Guitar – Abafana

Zulu Guitar's Pioneering Tricksters

But for this compilation of rescued songs masterfully restored from rare 78 rpm shellacs, few could imagine the diversely beautiful roots of Zulu Guitar Music emerging during the period 1950 – 1965. Story-tellers and master musicians appropriate outlaw personae, re-purpose country and western, Hawaiian and other styles, to stretch and challenge our notion of “the Zulu guitar”.

Twenty-five songs (18 on vinyl) plunge us into the depths of the migrant experience. Translations in the liner notes offer us glimpses of pugnacity, melancholy and heartache, all coloured by the paternalism that circumscribed the singers’ apartheid-dominated lives.