Cuban Marimba

It’s always good to welcome a new series, especially one that offers an object lesson in how it should be done. This is volume one in Dizim’s Asili series of classic recordings from Tanzania, and spans a period of about 12 years, from 1955. Salum Abdallah’s Cuban Marimba were one of the pioneering bands in Tanzania, forging a new indigenous sound out of various ingredients, the principal one of which was the Cuban music that so captivated much of Africa in the 1950s. But it wasn’t the only ingredient - for one thing, Werner Graebner’s booklet notes draw attention to the fact that Abdallah’s vocals appear to have been influenced by the Islamic taarab tradition of the region, and I think he’s probably right. One of the interesting things about East African music of this period is disentangling the explicit Cuban influences from the indigenous African elements, given how much the former encompassed the latter in the first place. The earliest tracks, in particular, offer an intriguing combination of Latin-style horns and African percussion, and there is a most interesting local rhythm explored in “Wanipendenza”. In addition, there were influences from other African countries - like Congo/Zaire (as ever) and Kenya - which themselves were infused with first and second hand Cuban flavours. I won’t even attempt to unpack all that for the tracks here; different listeners will probably come to different conclusions - which is all part of the fun.

There are several places, though, where some quite different influences come through, like on “Beberu”, which clearly derives from a South African kwela or marabi original, or on “Tanzania Twist”, which is just what the title suggests it is. Or, fascinatingly, there’s a couple of tracks which seem to me to make use of a 1-2 polka beat that surely owes its origins to music brought to Tanzania by European colonialists. If all that makes this album sound like some kind of bizarre variety show, I can only say that Abdallah and his colleagues resolve all of these various ingredients into a reasonably consistent band sound, with the leader’s own distinctive nasal vocals as the constant factor (until the final pair of tracks which date from 1967, after his early death). The music is unfailingly attractive and while this isn’t somewhere you might come specifically to look for instrumental virtuosity, the playing - particularly on guitars - is uniformly of a high standard.

The sound quality is slightly variable, but this isn’t a complaint, especially as the mastering seems to have been done from the best sources in existence, whether shellac, vinyl or mastertape (all of the records were originally released on the Mzuri label from Mombasa). Presentation is superb, with plenty of information in the notes (which appear in both English and French), some lyric transcripts and some wonderful photographs.

R.T.


Salum Abdallah & Cuban Marimba: Ngoma Iko Huku - Dizim 4701-2 It’s always good to welcome a new series, especially one that offers an object lesson in how it should be done. This is volume one in Dizim’s Asili series of classic recordings from Tanzania, and spans a period of about 12 years, from 1955. Salum Abdallah’s Cuban Marimba were one of the pioneering bands in Tanzania, forging a new indigenous sound out of various ingredients, the principal one of which was the Cuban music that so captivated much of Africa in the 1950s. But it wasn’t the only ingredient - for one thing, Werner Graebner’s booklet notes draw attention to the fact that Abdallah’s vocals appear to have been influenced by the Islamic taarab tradition of the region, and I think he’s probably right. One of the interesting things about East African music of this period is disentangling the explicit Cuban influences from the indigenous African elements, given how much the former encompassed the latter in the first place. The earliest tracks, in particular, offer an intriguing combination of Latin-style horns and African percussion, and there is a most interesting local rhythm explored in “Wanipendenza”. In addition, there were influences from other African countries - like Congo/Zaire (as ever) and Kenya - which themselves were infused with first and second hand Cuban flavours. I won’t even attempt to unpack all that for the tracks here; different listeners will probably come to different conclusions - which is all part of the fun. There are several places, though, where some quite different influences come through, like on “Beberu”, which clearly derives from a South African kwela or marabi original, or on “Tanzania Twist”, which is just what the title suggests it is. Or, fascinatingly, there’s a couple of tracks which seem to me to make use of a 1-2 polka beat that surely owes its origins to music brought to Tanzania by European colonialists. If all that makes this album sound like some kind of bizarre variety show, I can only say that Abdallah and his colleagues resolve all of these various ingredients into a reasonably consistent band sound, with the leader’s own distinctive nasal vocals as the constant factor (until the final pair of tracks which date from 1967, after his early death). The music is unfailingly attractive and while this isn’t somewhere you might come specifically to look for instrumental virtuosity, the playing - particularly on guitars - is uniformly of a high standard. The sound quality is slightly variable, but this isn’t a complaint, especially as the mastering seems to have been done from the best sources in existence, whether shellac, vinyl or mastertape (all of the records were originally released on the Mzuri label from Mombasa). Presentation is superb, with plenty of information in the notes (which appear in both English and French), some lyric transcripts and some wonderful photographs. R.T.
	Salum Abdallah & Cuban Marimba Ngoma Iko Huku Vintage Tanzanian Dance Music 1955-1965 Dizim Azili Series, Vol. 1 Dizim 4701-2

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