"Skokiaan" is a popular tune originally written by

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

an musician August Musarurwa in the " Tsaba-tsaba"

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

-style that succeeded Marabi. "Skokiaan" ("Chikokiyana" in Shona)''Kutema Musasa''
by Musekiwa Chingodza. ''Dandemutande Catalog'', Track 2. Retrieved 5 February 2008. is an illegal self-made alcoholic beverage. An early instrumental version was recorded in 1947. Within a year from its 1954 release in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

through Gallo Record Company, at least 19 cover versions of "Skokiaan" appeared. The version made in then-

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

reached No. 17 in the United States, while a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

by Ralph Marterie climbed to No. 3. All versions combined propelled the tune to No. 2 on the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' charts that year. Its popularity extended outside of music, with several urban areas in the United States taking its name. Artists who produced their own interpretations include

The Four Lads The Four Lads were a Irish male singing quartet that earned many gold singles and albums in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Their million-selling signature tunes include " Moments to Remember"; " Standing on the Corner"; " No, Not Much"; " Who Ne ...

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

Bill Haley William John Clifton Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-sel ...

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...

Brave Combo Brave Combo is a polka rock band based in Denton, Texas. Founded in 1979 by guitarist/Keyboard instrument, keyboardist/accordionist Carl Finch, they have been a prominent fixture in the Texas music scene for more than thirty-five years. Their m ...

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and f ...

and Kermit Ruffins.

The Wiggles The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. As of 2022, the group members are Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, Tsehay Hawkins, Evie Ferris, John Pearce (entertainer), John Pearce, Caterina Mete ...

also covered this song on their ''Furry Tales'' album. The music itself illustrates the mutual influences between Africa and the wider world.

History

Original recording in "(Southern) Rhodesia" (nowadays Zimbabwe)

"Skokiaan" was originally composed and first recorded as a sax and trumpet instrumental by the "African Dance Band of the Cold Storage Commission of

" (the police band of the country now called

) under the leadership of August Musarurwa possibly in 1947 (anthropologist David B. Coplan seems to be the sole source for this date).Coplan, David B.
2006. Sophiatown and South African Jazz: Re-appropriating a Cultural Identity. ''Africultures'', 1 April. Retrieved 5 February 2008. (Archived by WebCite).OneHitWonder Central
Subject: Forgotten Music. Retrieved 5 February 2008. The band comprised two

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

s, two

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

s, traps, and a bass.Turino, Thomas. 2000. ''Nationalists, Cosmopolitans, and Popular Music in Zimbabwe'', University of Chicago Press, p. 141. Several tunes played by the Cold Storage Band were recorded by ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey in June 1951.Hugh Tracey, 1903–1977.
SWP Records. Retrieved 5 February 2008. On Tracey's recording, Musarurwa also apparently played for "the Chaminuka Band".. 2006. ''Music and Words''. musicwords.nl Retrieved online from internetarchive.org 5 February 2008. Musarurwa probably copyrighted Skokiaan in 1952. Ethnomusicologist Thomas Turino describes Skokiaan as having "a four-bar I-IV-I-V progression in 4/4 meter... The main melodic strain (A) begins with a long held trill... played by the sax on the dominant pitch... followed by an undulating, descending melody. The A strain is contrasted with sections of riffing that follow the harmonic progression fairly closely... before the main melody returns". Towards the end of the original recording a short trumpet solo "is overlapped by Musarurwa's sax". The melody throughout "is carried by the sax".Turino (2000), p. 143. Skokiaan's significance is that it shows how Africa influenced American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

in particular and popular music in general. Musarurwa's 1947 and 1954 recordings illustrate how unique the indigenous forms of jazz that emerged in Africa in response to global music trends. While African jazz was influenced from abroad, it also contributed to global trends.Samuelson, Meg. 2007. Yvonne Vera's Bulawayo: Modernity, (Im)mobility, Music, and Memory. ''Research in African Literatures'', Vol. 38 Issue 2, pp. 26, 33 note 10. Skokiaan has been adapted to various musical genres, from jazz to

mento Mento is a style of Music of Jamaica, Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

(Sugar Belly & the Canefields), and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

. The tune has also been arranged for strings (

Soweto String Quartet The Soweto String Quartet is a string quartet from Soweto in Gauteng, South Africa, composed of Reuben Khemese, Makhosini Mnguni, Sandile Khemese and Thami Khemese. Their music is a fusion of the "dance rhythms of Kwela, the syncopated guitars ...

) and steel drums (

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

Southern All Stars , also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band formed in Kanagawa in 1974. The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), (drums) and (pe ...

).Taylor, Lori E and Leah Gross.
2005. Cook Recordings Inventory. Retrieved 5 February 2008. A merengue version was recorded in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

by "Antonio Morel y su Orquestra" in the 1950s, with an alto saxophone arrangement by "Felix del Rosario".Austerlitz, Paul. 2005. ''Jazz Consciousness: Music, Race, and Humanity''. Wesleyan University Press, pp. 105–106. A number of reggae versions of the song also exist, and marimba covers are particularly popular. Skokiaan has been recorded many times, initially as part of a wave of

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

that swept across the globe in the 1950s, spurred on in Africa by Hugh Tracey and in the United States by

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music during the 20th century. He was a musician, folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activ ...

, to name two. Skokiaan gained popularity outside Africa at the same time as another South African record did: "Mbube", a 1939 song by Solomon Linda also known as "Wimoweh", was later released in 1961 as " The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by

The Tokens The Tokens were an American doo-wop band (rock and pop), band and production of phonograph records, record production company group from Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York City. The group had four top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' H ...

. The sheet music was eventually released in 17 between European and African languages.Stone, Ruth M. 1999. ''The Garland Handbook of African Music''. Routledge, p. 346. In

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in 1955 the orchestra of Alix Combelle recorded a cover of Skokiaan on the Phillips label.Dansez avec Alix Combelle et son grand orchestre.
Retrieved 5 February 2008.Dansez avec Alix Combelle et son grand orchestre.
Album cover. Retrieved 5 February 2008. Jacques Hélian also recorded a version. Performers recorded Skokiaan in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

( Kipparikvartetti),

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

(

Bert Kaempfert Bert Kaempfert (born ; 16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the music for a number of well-kno ...

), and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

(

Lily Berglund Lily Berglund ( Kvarnsveden, 21 July 1928 – Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, ...

), among others. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, vocal versions were recorded by South African singers Eve Boswell and

Alma Cogan Alma Angela Cohen Cogan (19 May 1932 – 26 October 1966) was an English singer of traditional pop in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed the "Girl with the Giggle in Her Voice", she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era. Ch ...

Versions recorded in the United States

However, it was in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that Skokiaan peaked on the charts, where it was recorded by a variety of musicians, such as

and

Johnny Hodges Johnny Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophone, alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on sop ...

. Hodges' version is notable not only because he recorded the tune with

Erroll Garner Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad "Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first re ...

but also for the reason that his band at the time included

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

, in a minor role.Coltrane, John.
2004. ''John Coltrane – Complete Studio Sessions With Johnny Hodges.'' Definitive Classics 11258. Retrieved 10 February 2008. In 1954 Gallotone Records released a version of Skokiaan by "August Musarurwa and the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm Band".Music from the Hugh Tracey archives.
Retrieved 5 February 2008. After 170,000 copies were sold in South Africa, the president of

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

E. R. Lewis, forwarded "a couple of copies" to London's offices in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Meanwhile, a pilot had brought the original version from South Africa to the U.S.A., and given it to

Bill Randle Bill Randle (March 14, 1923 – July 9, 2004) was an American disc jockey, lawyer and university professor. Biography Randle was born William McKinley Randle Jr. in Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit, he hosted a popular show on WJLB-AM radio (now ...

of the radio station WERE 1300 AM in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

. Although the copy was cracked, Randle was so impressed by what he heard that he asked Walt McQuire of London's New York office to send him a new copy. After Randle played the record four times, interest soared. London Records shipped 6,000 copies to New York from Great Britain, followed in September 1954 by a further 20,000.1954
S. African Tune Latest Smash on Discs in U.S. ''Downbeat Magazine'', 8 September. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
Top Jock. ''Time Magazine'', 14 February. Retrieved 10 February 2008. Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm's original version took off and reached No. 17 on the ''Billboard'' Best Sellers in Stores chart.New Pop Records.
1954. ''Time Magazine'', 13 September. Retrieved 5 February 2008. Whether London Records' was a new recording, or a re-release of the Cold Storage Band's old recording under a new name, is uncertain. The band's original name was changed, no doubt for easier Western consumption,
African Music on 45 rpm records in the UK, 1954–1981. Retrieved 5 February 2008. perhaps by the record company or by the band itself. In 1954 covers of "Skokiaan" appeared on United States charts alongside Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm Band's original. The hitmakers included Ralph Marterie, who reached No. 3 on the

chart. no date. A brief research on the historical background of "Skokian icá go go". "Bill Haley Tribute, Part II", from ''La Historia del Rock 'N' Roll''. Retrieved 6 February 2008. Marterie's instrumental was featured on ABC Radio's ''The

Martin Block Martin Block (February 3, 1903 – September 18, 1967) was an American disc jockey. It is said that Walter Winchell invented the term "disc jockey" as a means of describing Block's radio work. Career Early years A native of Los Angeles, Bl ...

Show'' as "the best new record of the week". It was the first time an instrumental had been selected for the show. A claim that charted versions by

Ray Anthony Ray Anthony (born Raymond Antonini; January 20, 1922) is an American retired bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor. He is the last living member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Biography Anthony was born to an Italian family in Bentleyv ...

, who supposedly reached No. 18, by Perez Prado, supposedly reached No. 26, and by

, a Dixieland version said to have reached No. 29, can so far not be verified. On the Cash Box best-selling record charts, where all hit versions were combined, Skokiaan reached No. 2 on 16 October 1954.The Cash Box Best Selling Singles.
1954. Week ending 16 October 1954. Retrieved 5 February 2008. English lyrics were added in 1954 by American Tom Glazer for the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

group

. Glazer is perhaps better known for his 1963 single " On Top of Spaghetti". On 4 August 1954 the Four Lads recorded through

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

the only vocal version of Skokiaan that reached the United States charts, peaking at No. 7 in the ''Billboard'' Best Sellers in Stores chart. In line with the spirit of the period, Glazer's lyrics contain what ''Time'' arts columnist

Richard Corliss Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''Time''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects. He was the former editor-in-chief of ''Film Comment ...

describes as jovial "ethnographic condescension":Corliss, Richard.
2001. That Old Feeling: Yesterday When We Were Young. ''Time Magazine'', 18 May. Retrieved 5 February 2008. "Oh-far away in Africa / Happy, happy Africa / ...You sing a bingo bango bingo / In hokey pokey skokiaan". Ethnomusicologist Thomas Turino points out that Glazer's depiction of the jungle setting is far removed from the topography of Southern Africa. But its one-size fits "tropical paradise" idea was typical of exotic treatments at the time for songs from Latin America, Asia, and Hawaii.Turino (2000), p. 142. In music historian

Colin Escott Colin Escott (born 31 August 1949) is a British music historian and author specializing in early U.S. rock and roll and country music. His works include a biography of Hank Williams, histories of Sun Records and The Grand Ole Opry, liner notes ...

’s liner notes of ''Moments to Remember: The Very Best of the Four Lads'' (2000), group member/vocal arranger Bernie Toorish recalled the day the Four Lads’s version came to being. — Bernie Toorish(2000) ''Moments to Remember: The Very Best of the Four Lads'' by The Four Lads D booklet New York: Taragon Records and Sony Music TARCD-1079. In August 1954, Louis Armstrong recorded Skokiaan in two parts with Sy Oliver's Orchestra in New York (Decca 29256). Part 1 (the A side) is a purely instrumental version. In contrast, Part 2 (side B) has Armstrong singing the lyrics.VinylToVideo.
Armstrong, Louis. 1954. "Skokiaan" Parts 1 and 2. Decca 29256. Complete playback of both sides on last.fm. Retrieved 8 February 2008. Opens video file directly. (Despite authoritative claimsAnsell, Gwen. 2005. ''Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music, and Politics in South Africa''. Continuum International Publishing Group, p. 38. that Armstrong recorded a version entitled "Happy Africa", this cannot so far be substantiated from his discography).Minn, Michael and Scott Johnson.
2008. Louis Armstrong: Singles. Retrieved 8 February 2008. On his tour of Africa, Armstrong met Musarurwa in November 1960. Whether both musicians jammed together, or Armstrong just gave Musarurwa a jacket,Musarurwa: Composer of 1951 mega-hit song Skokiaan.
''The Herald''. Retrieved 5 February 2008. is unclear. In any case, the difference between the date Armstrong recorded Skokiaan and the date he met Musarurwa appears to invalidate claims that Armstrong did it ''after'' he came face to face with Musarurwa. The Four Lads' version of Skokiaan became the theme song at "Africa U.S.A. Park", a theme park founded in 1953 at

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...

by John P. Pedersen. The song was played all day long in the parking lot as guests arrived and was sold in the gift shop. The park boasted the largest collection of camels in the United States. After it closed, the site was converted to the "Camino Gardens" subdivision. Other urban areas in the United States apparently influenced by the name of the song are Franklin, Ohio, which boasts a Skokiaan Drive,Warren County Ohio Website
Unclaimed Funds. PDF file. Retrieved 5 February 2008. and

Skokie, Illinois Skokie (; formerly Niles Center) is a Village (United States), village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 67,824. Skokie lies approximately north of Chicago's dow ...

, which has a Skokiaan Terrace.Skokie.org
Village Map. PDF file. Retrieved 5 February 2008.

Bill Haley & His Comets Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band formed in 1947 and continuing until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...

recorded an instrumental version in 1959 that reached No 70 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1960. With the exception of reissues of "

Rock Around the Clock "Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was reco ...

", this would be the band's final chart hit in America. Skokiaan's popularity tracked the transition to electronic music when an instrumental version was recorded by moog pioneers

Hot Butter Hot Butter were an American instrumental band fronted by the keyboard player and studio musician Stan Free. The other band members were John Abbott (arranger, guitar), brothers Bill (producer, engineer, percussion) and Steve Jerome (producer, ...

in 1973 on the album ''More Hot Butter'' (preserved as a novelty item replete with "jungle" sounds on the compilation album ''Incredibly Strange Music Vol. 2''). It was not the first such treatment of Skokiaan:

Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician, bandleader and conductor specializing in spoof arrangements and satire of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment wer ...

and the City Slickers recorded a "Japanese Skokiaan" in 1954, sung with a Japanese accent with lyrics about going to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, written by band member Freddie Morgan, a banjo player and vocalist (RCA Victor 47-5920).cdBBQ Jones, Spike.
1954. A 7" single: I want Eddie Fisher for Christmas/ Japanese Skokiaan. Retrieved 5 February 2008.Answers.com
Freddie Morgan. Retrieved 5 February 2008.

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

's 1974 hit "No No Song" was influenced by, and is sometimes listed as a medley with, Skokiaan. But true to its origins, Skokiaan remained a favourite standard among brass instrumentalists. In 1978,

and

recorded the song as a

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

duet with a

Disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

flavor for their collaborative album '' Herb Alpert / Hugh Masekela''.tijuanabrass.com
. Herb Alpert/Hugh Masekela. A&M/Horizon Records CD-0819. Retrieved 5 February 2008. The tune put "Alpert on the R&B chart for the first time in his career".
. Herb Alpert Chronology. Retrieved 5 February 2008. One of the most recent brass recordings was by Kermit Ruffins on his 2002 album ''Big Easy''. The song is included as a full-length performance by Kermit Ruffins, Irvin Mayfield and Troy Andrews in the 2005 documentary film '' Make It Funky!'', which presents a history of New Orleans music and its influence on

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

Misconceptions

Despite its Southern Rhodesian origins, record companies frequently added "South African Song" in brackets to the song's title, as was the case with recordings by

the Four Lads The Four Lads were a Irish male singing quartet that earned many gold singles and albums in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Their million-selling signature tunes include " Moments to Remember"; " Standing on the Corner"; " No, Not Much"; " Who Ne ...

, and

. This may have been due to misunderstandings about the difference between what was then

and South Africa, two countries in the

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

region. As described in the introduction, "Skokiaan" was composed by a Southern Rhodesian, who was recorded by a South African record company. The lyrics were later added by an American, Tom Glazer. Misled by Glazer's lyrics, some take "Skokiaan" to mean "Happy happy", leading to "Happy Africa" as an alternative title for the music. Again, as stated earlier, the term actually refers to a type of illicitly brewed alcoholic beverage (i.e. "

moonshine Moonshine is alcohol proof, high-proof liquor, traditionally made or distributed alcohol law, illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of distilling the alcohol (drug), alcohol at night to avoid detection. In the first decades of the ...

"). The composer, August Musarurwa, was an ex-policeman, who said that the tune was one played in an illegal shebeen when a police raid was imminent. At the time it was illegal for Africans in Zimbabwe to drink anything but the traditional, low-alcohol beer, and certainly not skokiaan, which was usually laced with methylated spirits - illicit distillation was almost unknown in central Africa at the time. Why the tune was associated with "a Zulu drinking song",1954.
New Pop Records. ''Time Magazine'', 13 September. Retrieved 7 February 2008.
2007. Still Another Jazz Show, 23 April. jazzweek.com. Retrieved 7 February 2008. as it was in a 1954

Down Beat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

article, is unclear. The Zulu is an

ethnic An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

grouping found in South Africa; composer August Musarurwa was a Shona from Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The term skokiaan does occur in both Zulu and Shona and in the Zulu-based lingua franca, Chilolo. These are part of the Bantu language grouping, so they share similar roots. An early identification of skokiaan as a Zulu word which circulated 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 ...

's slums is found in a scholarly article by Ellen Hellman, dated 1934.Hellman, Ellen. 1934. "Beer Brewing in an Urban Yard", ''Bantu Studies'' 8, p. 55. Musarurwa himself did not call his tune "a Zulu drinking song". The scanty fragments of his life history do not reveal that he spent time in South Africa, either.2006
Musarurwa: Composer of 1951 mega-hit song Skokiaan. ''The Herald'', 6 December. Retrieved 7 February 2008. In South Africa there is no popular association of "Skokiaan" with a Zulu song. However Southern Rhodesian migrant labourers moved back and forth between their home country and the mines of South Africa, located mostly around Johannesburg, making it unlikely, but not impossible, that Musarurwa's tune got influenced by a putative Zulu song. Such journeys, often by train, led to the emergence of the song Shosholoza. While Shosholoza has become very popular among South Africans, who often sing it to encourage their sports teams, its origins, like that of "Skokiaan", are Southern Rhodesian.

Other usages of the name

* A six-member band called ''Skokiaan'' formed in Liverpool in 1995 to play South African township jazz; they also recorded a version of the song.Soweto via Liverpool
Cultural Dissent, Green Left Weekly issue No 349, 17 February 1999. Retrieved 5 February 2008. The Liverpudlians are not the only band with a "Skokiaan"-related name. * A South African township jazz band, led by Sazi Dlamini, lays claim to ''Skokiana''.Bräuninger, Jürgen and Sazi Dlamini.
2005. Yinkosi Yeziziba (2002). ''Ingede: Journal of African Scholarship'' Vol. 1, No. 3. Retrieved 5 February 2008. Outside the music world, the name "Skokiaan" has been applied to various artifacts other than songs; the relation between these appellations and Musarurwa's music is unclear: * a bronze sculpture by German artist Detlef Kraft is called SkokiaanKraft, Detlef
2001. Skokiaan. Bronze, 207 x 85 x 50 cm. Bildhauerpreis der Darmstädter Sezession für junge Künstler. Retrieved 6 February 2008. * a modified version of the

Centurion tank The FV4007 Centurion was the primary main battle tank of the British Army during the post-World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing comba ...

was named SkokiaanAntill, P.
2001. Centurion Main Battle Tank (UK). Military History Encyclopedia on the Web. Retrieved 6 February 2008. * the middle name of Zambian-born Australian rugby player

George Gregan George Musarurwa Gregan AM (born 19 April 1973) is a former rugby union player who played as scrum-half. Born in Lusaka, Zambia, Gregan represented Australia at an international level, and is Australia's second most capped player. He played S ...

is Musarurwa. *

No No Song "No No Song" is a 1974 song by English musician Ringo Starr. Written by Hoyt Axton and David Jackson, it appeared on Starr's 1974 album, ''Goodnight Vienna''. It was released as a single in the US on 27 January 1975, backed with " Snookeroo," and ...

is sometimes listed as “No No Song/Skokiaan”

Chart positions

Chronological list of all versions

"Skokiaan" has been recorded by these artists, and others: Versions whose release dates are not known

References

External links

Audio

2007. 78s fRom HeLL
The Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band – In The Mood (1954). ''I'm learning to share''. Tuesday, 10 April. Blog with extensive visual material on "Skokiaan", including newspaper clippings, record label, and full mp3 download. * Full audio recording of 1954 version of "Skokiaan" by the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band at Beat the Devil blog by Brian Nation, 2 May 2005

(requires Flash). * Recordings of Musarurwa (Msarurgwa) and other Zimbwabwean jazz artists between 1950 and 1952 by ethnomusicologis
Hugh Tracey
on C

* Audio versions of the song by the Four Lads, Perez Prado, Bill Haley, and Louis Armstrong and Hugh Masekel

(requires RealMedia, registration). * MP3 sample of Kutsinhira Cultural Arts Center's 2002 Zimbabwean marimba arrangement of "Skokiaan" (Sikokiyana). Opens sound file directly

* Full versions of "Skokiaan" b
Kermit Ruffins
as well a
St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review
an
Joe Goldmark

Visual

Sheet music of the song Skokiaan.

and history o

of the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band. (Archive
by WebCite
{{Authority control Songs with music by August Msarurgwa Songs with lyrics by Tom Glazer 1947 songs Louis Armstrong songs Bill Haley songs The Four Lads songs