Hellfire (Mango Groove Song)
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''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. Although the material won multiple awards from the
South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...
, including "Best Album", the SABC censored the music video for the song "Hellfire", which had an anti-
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
message.


Track listing


Songs

Of the 11 songs on the album, four were previously released as singles: "Two Hearts" in 1985; "Love Is (the Hardest Part)" in 1986; and "Do You Dream of Me?" and "Move Up" in 1987. All of these were re-recorded in 1988 for the album. After the album's release, three of the new songs were also released as singles: "Hellfire", "Dance Sum More", and "Special Star". The band made
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
s 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, Alan Lazar, and Mduduzi Magwaza. They dedicated the song to the late kwela musician Spokes Mashiyane (1933–72). The song's penny whistle solo was performed by Mduduzi Magwaza, who, like Mashiyane, also played saxophone. In France, Totem Records released the song on a
7-inch single In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...
in 1989, as the
B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
to "Dance Some More". "Special Star" was released as a standalone single in 1990—in France by Totem Records, and in South Africa by
EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
.


Music video

The "Special Star" music video premiered in South Africa in 1990. It was directed by a young South African man named Nic Hofmeyr, who had worked in London for three years as a
camera operator A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not necessarily imply that a male is performing the task. ...
for music video shoots. When he returned to South Africa in 1987 to witness the end of
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
, he started directing music videos—including the video for Bright Blue's " Weeping"—while aspiring to become a documentary filmmaker. As with "Weeping", Hofmeyr shot the video for "Special Star" in
black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...
. He explains: The video features six female dancers, plus separate choreography for six male dancers (who appear in different shots from the women). The dances were
choreographed Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer creates choreographies thr ...
by Wendy Ramokgadi, who went on to choreograph other Mango Groove videos and concerts—including the video for "Hometalk", the
title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...
of Mango Groove's second album.


Later performances

The Hong Kong Ballet danced to "Special Star", at a Mango Groove performance in Hong Kong in 1990. On 20 April 1992, Mango Groove performed "Special Star" in
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
for the
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. The main event was at
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in London, where Mango's performance appeared (live, via satellite) on a large
projection screen A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience. Projection screens may be permanently installed on a wall, as in a movie theater, mounte ...
. The performance was dedicated to Mercury, who died in 1991. Sometime between 1989 and 2006, a symphonic arrangement of "Special Star" was recorded by the South African National Symphony Orchestra. In a televised performance in April 2018, Claire Johnston, Craig Lucas (2017 winner of ''
The Voice South Africa ''The Voice South Africa'' is a South African reality singing competition and local version of '' The Voice'' first broadcast as '' The Voice of Holland''. Its first season started on 31 January 2016 and proved to be a hit on M-Net. The second ...
''), and the Mzansi Youth Choir performed a medley of "Special Star" and "Moments Away" on ''
Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...
''.


"Hellfire"

"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. The music video for "Hellfire" concerns the
Group Areas Act Group Areas Act was the title of three acts of the Parliament of South Africa enacted under the apartheid government of South Africa. The acts assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a syste ...
, a
racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...
measure enacted by the apartheid government. The video begins in Alexandra Township in 1989—a time by which the government's "urban renewal plan" for Alexandra had already demolished buildings and displaced or killed many black people. An elderly black man reads a newspaper article about the backlash against the Group Areas Act; he then spots a clipping about kwela musician Spokes Mashiyane. A newspaper photo of a street scene transitions into a sepiatone flashback: Outside a
Sophiatown Sophiatown , also known as Sof'town or Kofifi, is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Sophiatown was a poor multi-racial area and a black cultural hub that was destroyed under apartheid. It produced some of South Africa's most famous writ ...
nightclub called The Land Lady, the words "No passes" are painted on the wall. Inside, Mango Groove plays to
black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
and
white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
patrons. At the end of the video, a caption explains that Sophiatown (a venerable black neighbourhood and cultural hotspot just outside of
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
) was demolished in 1954 to allow for the construction of a white suburb called Triomf (the
Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...
word for ''triumph''). These scenes were censored by the
SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...
, changing the context and meaning of the rest of the video.Viljoen (2002)
pp. 304–5
/ref> In South Africa, "Hellfire" was released as a
7-inch single In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...
by Tusk Music in 1989, with the 1988 recording of "Move Up" on the
B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
.


"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. It spent two weeks in Radio Orion's national
record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, ofte ...
, peaking at number 27. 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. 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".


"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 album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
s.


"Lalissa"

"Lalissa" (a misspelling of the verb ''lalisa'') is the only song on the album whose lyrics are primarily in Zulu (or, indeed, any
Bantu language The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantÊŠÌ€), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...
). The lyrics (written by Siphu Bhengu) are soothing words sung to a baby whose mother is away. In France, Totem Records released the song as a B-side to "Dance Some More" in 1989. It has reappeared on several Mango Groove compilation albums over the years.


Reception

The album broke sales records in South Africa, and was in the top 20 of Radio Orion's national album chart for a year, peaking at number 2.Viljoen (2002)
pp. 326–7
/ref> This was the longest that any album had maintained such a rank in the radio station's history. (However, when
Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...
released '' …But Seriously'' a few months later—an album that had some anti-apartheid themes—it demonstrated a similar staying power.) The
South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...
awarded ''Mango Groove'' OK TV Awards in the "Best Album" and "Best Arranger" categories; one of the singles won "Best Video". The video for "Special Star" won an award at the International Television Fair in New York. Since its release, the album has sold more than 750,000 copies, and has gone platinum more than 25 times.


20th and 30th anniversaries

Mango Groove's fifth studio album, '' Bang the Drum'' (2009), was released 20 years after this, their debut album. The band continued to mark the anniversary with a tour of South Africa in 2010. Promotional materials for the tour described it as a celebration of "20 years of hits and memories, 20 years of magic". For the 30th anniversary of the release of ''Mango Groove'', the band performed live shows on 8 and 9 March 2019 at the Teatro at Montecasino, a theatre in Johannesburg. The second date was added after the 8 March concert sold-out a month in advance. The shows were promoted by Real Concerts, a concert promotion company founded and headed by Mango Groove's former band manager, Roddy Quin.


Personnel


Band members


Session musicians


See also

* Township music * Resistance through culture


Notes


References

*


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mango Groove 1989 debut albums Mango Groove albums