Johannesburg record dealer who ran the Kohinoor shop and paid for the sessions that produced "Mannenberg" in 1974. He put the acetates on loudspeakers outside the shop before the record was pressed, sold five thousand copies in a week, then did a deal with Gallo to reach the rest of the country. He founded the As-Shams label and died in 2024.
Did you know?
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.
Music Manenberg 1974 Cape Town
Source: SAHA Sunday Times Heritage Project: Mannenberg · Africa Is a Country: How Rashid Vally showed us the way
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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.
Music Manenberg 1974 Cape Town
Source: SAHA Sunday Times Heritage Project: Mannenberg · Africa Is a Country: How Rashid Vally showed us the way
Did you know?
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.
Music 1974 Cape Town
Source: Africa Is a Country: How Rashid Vally showed us the way · SAHA Sunday Times Heritage Project: Mannenberg
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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.
Music Manenberg 1974 Cape Town
Source: John Edwin Mason, "Mannenberg": Notes on the Making of an Icon and Anthem, African Studies Quarterly 9(4), 2007 · As-Shams / The Sun Records: About
Did you know?
Mason reports that after the record took off, Vally admitted he lacked the financial muscle to distribute it nationally and did a deal with Gallo Records. Within seven months of release, 43,000 copies had been sold in South Africa.
Music 1974–1975 South Africa-wide
Source: John Edwin Mason, "Mannenberg": Notes on the Making of an Icon and Anthem, African Studies Quarterly 9(4), 2007 · As-Shams / The Sun Records: About
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