Comments on: LETTA MBULU / “Let’s Go Dancing/You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2006/04/30/letta-mbulu-%e2%80%9clet%e2%80%99s-go-dancingyou%e2%80%99ve-lost-that-loving-feeling%e2%80%9d/ a conversation about black music Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:07:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5 by: tayari kwa salaam http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2006/04/30/letta-mbulu-%e2%80%9clet%e2%80%99s-go-dancingyou%e2%80%99ve-lost-that-loving-feeling%e2%80%9d/#comment-1092 Mon, 01 May 2006 11:01:07 -0500 http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2006/04/30/letta-mbulu-%e2%80%9clet%e2%80%99s-go-dancingyou%e2%80%99ve-lost-that-loving-feeling%e2%80%9d/#comment-1092 What I like about this part of breath of life is meeting all these unknown and known vocalists/musicians in the context of the featured vocalist/musician. The diverse difference and varied variety is such a thrill! What I like about this part of breath of life is meeting all these unknown and known vocalists/musicians in the context of the featured vocalist/musician. The diverse difference and varied variety is such a thrill!

]]> by: Simone Grant http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2006/04/30/letta-mbulu-%e2%80%9clet%e2%80%99s-go-dancingyou%e2%80%99ve-lost-that-loving-feeling%e2%80%9d/#comment-1113 Wed, 03 May 2006 09:20:19 -0500 http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2006/04/30/letta-mbulu-%e2%80%9clet%e2%80%99s-go-dancingyou%e2%80%99ve-lost-that-loving-feeling%e2%80%9d/#comment-1113 I love Susheela's version of 'Save Me'.... perhaps more than Armatrading's. Susheela's voice is so warm and full.... I feel it. While the desperate need is apparent in the original version, it just does not hit me the same way. But to be completely honest, Armatrading has always been hit or miss for me. Either I am truly and whole-heartedly feeling one of her tracks so much so that it is on repeat on my CD player or I'm just not feeling it. I love Susheela’s version of ‘Save Me’…. perhaps more than Armatrading’s. Susheela’s voice is so warm and full…. I feel it. While the desperate need is apparent in the original version, it just does not hit me the same way. But to be completely honest, Armatrading has always been hit or miss for me. Either I am truly and whole-heartedly feeling one of her tracks so much so that it is on repeat on my CD player or I’m just not feeling it.

]]> by: youngblood http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2006/04/30/letta-mbulu-%e2%80%9clet%e2%80%99s-go-dancingyou%e2%80%99ve-lost-that-loving-feeling%e2%80%9d/#comment-1116 Wed, 03 May 2006 12:48:11 -0500 http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2006/04/30/letta-mbulu-%e2%80%9clet%e2%80%99s-go-dancingyou%e2%80%99ve-lost-that-loving-feeling%e2%80%9d/#comment-1116 <p>It is my personal consideration that confining the single, You've Lost That Loving Feeling, from the recording, There's Music In The Air, by Letta Mbulu, to contemporary status does a disservice to a really wonderful recording. Black America in the seventies saw Letta taking her place amongst an impressive line of musicians from south Africa who cracked, what was then, a much wider rotation in Black radio in the u.s. Hugh Masekela's Grazing In The Grass, which is an instrumental and Miriam Makeba's Pata Pata, composed of lyrics sung in both Xhosa and English, were phenomenal breakthroughs in bridging the Atlantic. These songs and musicians prepared our ears and consciousness for music and cultures that, while being somewhat different from our own, still rang with an air of familiarity. The title cut, There's Music In The Air, was a bonafied hit and those of us buying the album for that one cut were pleasantly surprised as we let the needle ride. Letta's voice is in the tradition of great South African vocalists. There is no pretense in her vibrato. Letta's approach is diaphragmatic yet finishes with a head sound as clear as a herald trumpet. Her delicate tone masks an inner resolve that sustaines and supports her intonation thoughout each line. This is the type of breath control that jazz and opera singers practice years to master; check Sarah Vaughn and Jesse Norman. It is truly amazing to have heard, at a time when apartheid was at it's zenith, Mbulu suggest 'we look for love in the music'. That, in itself, is enough to make anybody want freedom now! Nkosi Sekelele Ninth Ward, New Orleans East and the rest of apartheid New Orleans. To quote half a haiku: 'I believe in Black people.'</p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">&nbsp;</span><font color="#ffffff" style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; i hear you&nbsp;</b></font><span style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span> </p><p>youngblood, i hear where you're coming from and i agree with your assesment of ms. mbulu as a vocalist and a political force. beyond the connections and implications you cited, there is all the work she, her husband caiphus semenya, and hugh masekela did in los angeles which included teaching south african culture and working with political organizations. nevertheless, in this case, we were specifically referencing a joan armatrading song that letta sang, hence we only spoke about that contribution and not about letta mbulu's career as a whole. i give thanx that you brought it up.</p><p><b>&mdash;kalamu ya salaam</b><br /> &nbsp; </p> It is my personal consideration that confining the single, You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, from the recording, There’s Music In The Air, by Letta Mbulu, to contemporary status does a disservice to a really wonderful recording. Black America in the seventies saw Letta taking her place amongst an impressive line of musicians from south Africa who cracked, what was then, a much wider rotation in Black radio in the u.s. Hugh Masekela’s Grazing In The Grass, which is an instrumental and Miriam Makeba’s Pata Pata, composed of lyrics sung in both Xhosa and English, were phenomenal breakthroughs in bridging the Atlantic. These songs and musicians prepared our ears and consciousness for music and cultures that, while being somewhat different from our own, still rang with an air of familiarity. The title cut, There’s Music In The Air, was a bonafied hit and those of us buying the album for that one cut were pleasantly surprised as we let the needle ride. Letta’s voice is in the tradition of great South African vocalists. There is no pretense in her vibrato. Letta’s approach is diaphragmatic yet finishes with a head sound as clear as a herald trumpet. Her delicate tone masks an inner resolve that sustaines and supports her intonation thoughout each line. This is the type of breath control that jazz and opera singers practice years to master; check Sarah Vaughn and Jesse Norman. It is truly amazing to have heard, at a time when apartheid was at it’s zenith, Mbulu suggest ‘we look for love in the music’. That, in itself, is enough to make anybody want freedom now! Nkosi Sekelele Ninth Ward, New Orleans East and the rest of apartheid New Orleans. To quote half a haiku: ‘I believe in Black people.’

          i hear you         

youngblood, i hear where you’re coming from and i agree with your assesment of ms. mbulu as a vocalist and a political force. beyond the connections and implications you cited, there is all the work she, her husband caiphus semenya, and hugh masekela did in los angeles which included teaching south african culture and working with political organizations. nevertheless, in this case, we were specifically referencing a joan armatrading song that letta sang, hence we only spoke about that contribution and not about letta mbulu’s career as a whole. i give thanx that you brought it up.

—kalamu ya salaam
 

]]> by: Bertram Dobbins http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2006/04/30/letta-mbulu-%e2%80%9clet%e2%80%99s-go-dancingyou%e2%80%99ve-lost-that-loving-feeling%e2%80%9d/#comment-91707 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:39:58 -0600 http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2006/04/30/letta-mbulu-%e2%80%9clet%e2%80%99s-go-dancingyou%e2%80%99ve-lost-that-loving-feeling%e2%80%9d/#comment-91707 I have never really listened to Joan Armatrading but I plan to because if she can compaired with Letta Mbulu and even given credit for doing better than Letta on that song I must hear it. I first became aware of Letta in the early '70s but have loved her voice and just about everything else about her ever sence I have never really listened to Joan Armatrading but I plan to because if she can compaired with Letta Mbulu and even given credit for doing better than Letta on that song I must hear it.

I first became aware of Letta in the early ’70s but have loved her voice and just about everything else about her ever sence

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