Ukubonga

It was astonishing how quickly the resistance music of the townships – The Indestructible Beat of Soweto, as it was memorably dubbed in a series of wonderful compilations on Sterns – faded once apartheid was finally banished. Kwaito and house music swiftly took over and perhaps one can see a parallel with how the blues was superseded by soul music once the civil rights movement gained traction in America: those who have been liberated do not necessarily want to be reminded of their former oppression. Yet the legacy of South African township music under apartheid is a noble one and it’s gratifying that Lorraine Klaasen & Mongezi Ntaka – a South African duo too young to remember much about those dark times – have chosen on this album to pay tribute to the township songbook and the artists who endured and survived apartheid as a mark of Ukubonga (Gratitude).

It’s perhaps not the most flawless album you will ever hear, as songs associated with Mahotella Queens, Dark City Sisters, Dorothy Masuka, Miriam Makeba, Johnny Clegg and Busi Mhlongo are performed acoustically in live-in-the-studio single takes with minimal vocal and acoustic guitar overdubs. But the simple spirit and emotional honesty of the enterprise carry the day in winning style.