290: Introducing Shiyani Ngcobo, by Shiyani Ngcobo

Shiyani Ngcobo (South Africa)
Introducing Shiyani Ngcobo (2004)
14 tracks, 60 minutes
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Maskanda (or maskandi) is Zulu music of the travelling bard. At its origins, it is the perfect mobile music: its steady beat is at walking pace, and the solo musician (traditionally male) accompanies their quick-fire poetry on guitar, concertina or fiddle. Its usual comparison is as ‘the Zulu blues,’ but while the lyrics indeed talk of the struggles of an itinerant lifestyle, its perked-up playing style makes it more akin to country music to my own ears. Where 21st-century maskanda is more likely to sound like a generic pop style, complete with huge synthetic backings and various influences from hip-hop to reggae, Shiyani Ngcobo was a powerful force for preserving the original flavour of this unmistakable sound.

Introducing Shiyani Ngcobo was the only full-length album he made before his death in 2011, but it could just as easily be called Introducing Maskanda. He was known to brag about being a master of ‘eight to nine’ different maskanda sub-styles (which vary by region and dance style), and he shows off many of them here. In the traditional mould, Ngcobo is a guitarist and singer. His voice is a compelling mixture of sweet and sandpaper, both warm and welcoming while still being quite high-pitched and scratchy. It’s his guitar playing that sends me reeling. Maskanda traditionally starts with a short section on which the musician shows off their instrumental chops, and it does a great job of drawing the listener in. There’s always at least two things going on with Ngcobo’s guitar at once – one second he will be playing a melody to a rhythmic drone, the next he will be playing two melodies in harmony, and the next he will be playing melody on the high strings and a bass part on the low, and he switches all these up any-which-way before settling into a circular riff that incorporates all these techniques and which serves as the basis to his singing. It’s mighty impressive – especially when you bear in mind that some of the tracks are recorded on a homemade igogogo guitar, a five-string instrument built out of an oil-can and (if my ear doesn’t fool me) doesn’t have any frets.

The solo tracks (such as ‘Sevelina’) are my favourites from this album, but the ones with his ensemble ain’t half bad either. It variously includes fiddles, whistles, concertinas and a second guitar, but most importantly an electric bass guitar, from Aaron Meyiwa, which plays a valuable role as yet another interlocking melody alongside Ngcobo’s guitar. Then things can change up completely, such as in the track ‘Ijadu’ which is a cappella save for a simple shaker, the group’s four voices blending in a really lovely and pleasing manner that still rings with all of the maskanda groove as the rest of them.

Shiyani Ngcobo was one of the last champions of the acoustic style of maskanda in both senses of the word. Acoustic maskanda does still exist on its own and blended into the modern electric styles, but there is none as versatile and virtuosic as Ngcobo – this album is a fantastic run down of just what he was capable of.