The son of the now late Philip Tabane – a legendary guitarist regarded as the architect of South Africa’s malombo style – announces his first album with visuals of “Nyanda Yeni”.
Cover by Harness Hamese
After showing us guitarist and singer Sibusile Xaba, independent South African label Mushroom Hour Half Hour is about to release percussionist Thabang Tabane’s debut album, Matjale. Heir to South Africa’s malombo legacy, Thabang Tabane takes a single-minded approach: he hones an insistent, enchanting sense of groove.
“Nyanda Yeni” is the first single. The music video, directed and edited by The Straight Jacket Tailor, is composed completely of archival footage taken from apartheid-era cinema from South Africa. The images are borrowed from 1950s films and variety shows with some footage for 1970s propaganda films endorsing the notion of ‘separate development’. By taking apart old apartheid-era films and their fallacies of coonish fantasy, it slices and splices them in order to re-order their meanings. In other words, it subverts. Taking us for a loop. Also included in the film are short video clips of the legendary, late Dr. Philip Tabane, creating an arch that links father and son in life, love and malombo.
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