WOMAD

Cool Crooners

From Zimbabwe

Super-smooth township jazz from Bulawayo's elder statesmen
"In spite of war, poverty, disease, corruption, cynicism and indifference, there is always a bit of blue sky somewhere." In the light of the country's continually troubled, often bloody recent history, Zimbabwe's music has frequently crackled with optimism and hope - see here those first two impeccable, impossibly bright Bhundu Boys records from the mid-'80s. The Cool Crooners, the celebrated vocal group from Bulawayo, also refuse to dwell on the darkness often engulfing their homeland. Having formed back in the 1950s, these musical elders have always stayed true to the sunshine grooves of township jazz and mbaqanga, the buoyant music that ruled the southern African airwaves in the latter half of the last century. With their enthusiasm for the musical styles of their youth remaining undimmed, the Cool Crooners possess a freewheeling, smooth-cornering sound that can't fail to melt even the coldest, blackest hearts.
(Biography by Nige Tassell)

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