Cape Town Data

Cape Town Explained

Short facts about Cape Town's language, food, music, traditions and places, including its stranger details.

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Did you know?Music

The tune was nearly called "Mrs. Williams from Mannenberg", after a real woman in the township.

John Edwin Mason reports that the title came from Morris Goldberg mentioning a visit to Gladys Williams, his family's former housekeeper in Manenberg. Rashid Vally chose a more marketable album title, but Williams's photograph went on the cover.

Manenberg · 1974 Read the story

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Did you know?Music

By one published account, Rashid Vally sold 5,000 copies in a week by playing the record on his shop loudspeakers.

Radio would not play it and the big labels were not interested, so Rashid Vally played "Mannenberg" on speakers outside his Kohinoor record shop. Africa Is a Country reports that he sold 5,000 copies in the first week.

1974 Read the story
Did you know?Music

One of Cape Town's best-known jazz tunes was cut in a Cape Town session in June 1974.

Abdullah Ibrahim recorded "Mannenberg" in Cape Town in June 1974 with Basil Coetzee, Robbie Jansen, Morris Goldberg and Monty Weber, produced by Rashid Vally for the As-Shams label.

Manenberg · 1974 Read the story
Did you know?Music

The record says Mannenberg. The township says Manenberg. The accounts we checked do not explain the extra n.

Abdullah Ibrahim's 1974 tune is spelt with three n's. The Cape Flats township it is named for has two. The published accounts explain the song, but not the extra letter.

Manenberg · 1974 Read the story