Bra Sello

With one foot planted in jazz and the other in the township groove of Mbaqanga, saxophonist Sello Mmutung was a powerful crossover figure in the history of popular music in South Africa.

Using the stage name Bra Sello, meaning “brother” and used as a term of affection and respect in the jazz community, he came up in the era of shellac 78s as an exponent of the 1960s sax jive sound that brought the swinging rhythm of kwela into the domain of South African jazz.

Despite the injection of American rhythm and blues into South African pop in the late-1960s, Bra Sello’s first releases on vinyl on the CBS label saw him backed by the group Abafana Bentuthuko and holding down an unapologetic township sound.

TRACKS:

• SIDE A
• A1. Butterfly ...... 15:40

• SIDE B
• B1. African Queen ...... 15:34