Mango Groove (album)

Mango Groove is the self-titled debut album of Mango Groove, a South African pop fusion band whose sound is influenced by township music. Seven of the eleven songs on the album were released as singles. The album sold extremely well, breaking national sales records and maintaining a high rank in the radio charts for a year. The band dedicated the album to Mickey Vilakazi, a bandmate who died in June 1988.^[1]

Although the material won multiple awards from the

The band made music videos for four of the singles: "Hellfire", "Dance Some More", "Special Star", and the rerecorded version of "Move Up".

"Special Star"

"Special Star" was co-written by Kevin Botha, Mango bandleader John Leyden, and bandmembers Siphu Bhengu,

In France, Totem Records released the song on a

I submerged myself in the black-and-white aesthetic of South Africa's struggle-era photography and film. The 1950s photography of Drum magazine, films such as Lionel Rogosin's Come Back, Africa, the African Mirror newsreels, the photography of David Goldblatt, Peter Magubane, Gideon Mendel and others—all served to inspire me, as did the countless anti-apartheid documentaries I'd seen on television while living in the UK.^[2]

The video features six female dancers, plus separate choreography for six male dancers (who appear in different shots from the women). The dances were

"Hellfire" was written by Mickey Vilakazi, who was the band's trombonist and eldest member until his death in June 1988. The song's lyrics speak of an interracial love that is misunderstood and forbidden.[9]

The music video for "Hellfire" concerns the

At the end of the video, a caption explains that Sophiatown (a venerable black neighbourhood and cultural hotspot just outside of Johannesburg) was demolished in 1954 to allow for the construction of a white suburb called Triomf (the Afrikaans word for triumph). These scenes were censored by the SABC, changing the context and meaning of the rest of the video.^[10]

In South Africa, "Hellfire" was released as a

"Move Up"

"Move Up" was released as a 7-inch single in October 1987, nearly two years before the album's release. It reached number one on the Capital Radio hit parade.^[11] It spent two weeks in Radio Orion's national record chart, peaking at number 27.^[12]

The band recorded a new version of the song for the album, and it was this recording that was used for the "Move Up" music video. The video was taped at Zoo Lake in Johannesburg. In the video, lead singer Claire Johnston sits at a bar as the Mango Groove brass section plays. Bandleader John Leyden walks in, and he and Johnston dance together. A surprised Leyden suddenly appears in the park at Zoo Lake, where he is chased by the brass section. As Johnston sings in different settings, boisterous bandmembers repeatedly burst into the scene.

Tusk Music issued the rerecording of "Move Up" on the flipside of the "Hellfire" single in 1989.

"Two Hearts"

Mango first released this song as a single in 1985, when the band had a different (and smaller) lineup. It was the first recording they made with Claire Johnston.^[13] When they re-recorded it in 1988 for their debut album, they used a slightly different arrangement. The back cover of the single describes the song as a "township waltz".^[14]

"Pennywhistle"

"Pennywhistle" is a kwela song composed by Mduduzi Magwaza and Siphu Bhengu; Magwaza plays the pennywhistle parts in the recording. The song was previously released as the B-side to the 1988 single "Mau Mau Eyes"; it has since been rereleased in more than a dozen compilation albums.

"Lalissa"

"Lalissa" (a misspelling of the verb lalisa) is the only song on the album whose lyrics are primarily in

Reception

The album broke sales records in South Africa, and was in the top 20 of

Since its release, the album has sold more than 750,000 copies, and has gone platinum more than 25 times.^[18]

20th and 30th anniversaries

Mango Groove's fifth studio album,