319: London Zulu, by Doreen Thobekile

Doreen Thobekile (South Africa)
London Zulu (2005)
9 tracks, 50 minutes
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This album is London Zulu, and so was Doreen Thobekile. She worked with many artists of all different styles while living in London since the 1970s, all while keeping her Zulu roots very much alive. This was her debut solo album, and she made it aged 60.

In many ways you could think of this as a Transglobal Underground album: Tim Whelan and Hamid Mantu provide the production, most of the musical backing and Sheema Mukherjee gets a couple of guest slots on sitar and bass too. The approach is very much TGU-like and fans of that outfit will of course love this one as well.

But that is not to diminish Doreen’s all-important place on the album at all. The whole thing really does revolve around her. As well as her striking vocals, she also plays the concertina, mouth harp, musical bow and mbira, and the tracks are just as often based around the elements of maskandi or mbaqanga as they are electronica. It’s actually super interesting to hear how Doreen works with TGU: where the group’s music travels to every cultural corner of the world without stopping, Doreen’s influence takes that adventurousness but focuses it like a magnifying glass, concentrating it specifically to work for her own style.

I need to make a quick diversion here to talk about one particular highlight of this album. The track ‘Umhlahlo’ has at its foundations a short sample of Ravel’s ‘String Quartet in F major’, and it’s one the funkiest uses of classical music that I can think of – it’s tied in first place with Busdriver’s ‘Imaginary Places’ with its use of Bach’s ‘Badinerie’. So if you’re in a hurry and you need to get a feel for the album in one song, now you know where to turn.

London Zulu – in its resulting sound as well as its perfectly succinct title and powerful cover art – really reflects who Doreen was: deeply cosmopolitan, unmistakably South African and always both at all times. It’s heavy at times and a joyous party throughout. Doreen left us in 2010 but the spirit and musical philosophy of London Zulu continues in the work of her daughter, Ingrid Webster, who performs this music and more almost every month in London, proving that it’s far more important than just a funky record – it’s a legacy.