Matjale

The percussionist Thabang Tabane grew up playing in Molombo, a band from Mamelodi township on the outskirts of Pretoria, led by his guitarist father Philip Tabane, who died earlier this year at the age of 84. The band took its name from the traditional malombo drums, which Tabane Sr deployed instead of a modern drum kit in an attempt to sound different from the Westernised jazz style of most South African bands at the time. Matjale finds Thabang picking up his father's baton on a set of ten songs, all recorded live with a trance-like groove and some spectacularly improvised modal lead guitar-playing from his label mate Sibusile Xaba, whose Unlearning/Open Letter to Adoniah was one of this reviewer's favourite albums of 2017.

Tabane sings in a hypnotic voice as the rhythms twist and turn, with melody following the beat and vice versa. It's earthier and funkier than the traditional Masekela/Makeba school of township jive, with a decidedly psychedelic vibe. Pleasingly hard to pin down, glib analogues to this music are elusive, but a kind of ‘township Gnawa’ comes vaguely close in places.