# Shaka Bundu

Shaka Bundu is the debut album by South African musician Penny Penny, released in 1994. Recorded over one week using an Atari computer, Korg M1 synthesizer, and reel-to-reel tape, the album blends the Tsonga disco style of music with American house music, reflecting the popularity of American and British electronic dance music in South Africa. It has been credited for pioneering a new style of Tsonga disco with its fusion of slow house rhythms, synthesized steel drums, and Penny's modern vocal style atop traditional call-and-response female backing vocals.
Released on cassette by Shandel Music, Shaka Bundu was a success in South Africa, selling over 250,000 copies in the country and achieving certified double platinum status. The lyrics of the album are sung in a lesser-known Xish Angana variation of the Tsonga language. The album established Penny Penny as a pop star and also helped improve public opinion on Xitsonga music among Tsonga people, and established Shirimani as a notable producer. In 2013, American record label Awesome Tapes From Africa re-released the album worldwide, prompting Penny to begin playing live again and recording new music.

## Background and recording

Penny Penny (Giyani Kulani) was born in Limpopo in 1962 and was the youngest of 68 children from a local doctor with 25 wives. His family was poor and he never had schooling, but he soon became known for his dancing, earning the nickname Penny. In the 1980s, he began creating music he described as a fusion of African music, breakdance and the musical style of Michael Jackson. At age 19, he worked on a West Driefontein goldmine near Carletonville, where he won breakdancing trophies, but he soon returned home citing the region's poor working conditions. He supported his music by working in gold mines and opening a restaurant. In the 1990s, Penny began working as a janitor in a Johannesburg recording studio belonging to South African musician Selwyn Shandel. Having nowhere to sleep, he would sleep in the studio overnight. During his shifts, he discreetly taught himself how to operate recording equipment.
During one of Penny's shifts in 1994, he approached Afrobeat/Tsonga disco producer Joseph Shirimani, who was working in the studio with another artist, and asked to work with him. Shirimani asked if Penny could sing, at which point, as Shirimani recalls, "[h]e didn't say yes. He just sang a song for me. And that's when I heard this unusual voice and those melodies." Shirimani agreed to produce material for Penny, although his colleagues were initially unsure of the singer, who they considered more of a comedian than a performer. Shirimani produced a total of three demos for Penny, one of which, "Shaka Bundu", was inspired by a friend who badmouthed the singer to the latter's wife and then proposed to her.
The three demos that the pair had created impressed Shirimaini's colleagues and Shandel Music, the label to which Shirimani was affiliated, and the label let Shirimani produce a whole album for Penny, also titled Shaka Bundu, which they recorded in only a week. Shirimani produced the album and played keyboards, whilst Penny sang the lyrics. The album's female backing vocalists were later named the Shaka Bundu girls, who subsequently released their own album of music as a group. Further backing vocals from the singer Momi appear on "Shichangani" and "Dance Khomela". The album's re-release credits Fraser Lesotho for engineering and David Solole for mixing.

## Composition

The music on Shaka Bundu fuses the Tsonga disco (or Shangaan disco) style – which originated from the Tsonga culture in northern South Africa – with contemporary house music from the United States. The house influence reflects the popularity of English and American dance-club hits in South Africa, which proved to the country's musicians that a contemporary sound could be achieved by "plucky small studios and canny producers," thus bringing about a technological revolution in the music the country produced. Penny Penny cited Londonbeat's 1991 hit "I've Been Thinking About You" as an influence, while one writer also wrote of the possible influence from Soul II Soul, not just in the music but in Penny's hairstyle, which is reminiscent of Jazzie B. The album has been described as possessing a rough, yet sufficiently hooky feel, with Penny's "gruff" voice offering an unlikely accompaniment to the music.
The instrumentals were provided by Shirimani, who was inspired by Chicago house and blended the genre's deep bass and harsh piano, heard in the music of artists such as Larry Heard and Marshall Jefferson, with South African melodies. The call and response vocals on the album are also of a distinctly South African character. The majority of the songs run at 100 beats per minute (bpm), and were recorded using a reel-to-reel tape, an Atari computer, and a Korg M1 synthesizer. Distinctive of Shirimani's production, the album features a static bass line that displays the root tones of an organ, albeit with a "peculiar richness and depth." Fact Magazine described the album's musical style as "good-time house," comparing it to Inner City with "some added springbok flavor," while future collaborator Brian Shimkovitz described Shaka Bundu as a synth-pop album.
Penny presents a "party vibe" throughout the album that was described by NPR as "hearty but not frantic, more plain sexy than raunchy." The songs are in the Tsonga or Xitsonga language, more specifically its Limpopo-region dialect Xihlanganu, one of the least-heard languages in South Africa. Penny explained: "When I made the demo everyone was like 'Na na na na na, don't like this.' But I wanted to introduce my language to the world." By using the Xitsonga language and its "music-like linguistic flavors," Penny and Shirimani highlight their ethnic Tsonga identity. The joyous lyrics spiritually call for positive feelings. Shimkovitz credits the album's rising and falling slow tempo house rhythms, synthesized steel drum sounds, and Penny's rap-like vocals atop Tsonga-style female call-and-response vocals as creating a new style of Tsonga disco.

### Songs

The opening song "Shichangani" has been described as an example of Tsonga disco by one writer, who felt it departed from the low-budget, repetitive sounding nature of most songs in the genre, introducing the album's inventive variations of Tsonga disco. The title track was referred to by Shirimani as among the first songs to mix traditional South African melodies with dance-pop. Rolling Stone called it "an example of Tsonga (or Shangaan) Afro-disco" and wrote that it "updated traditional African music with synthesizers, electric guitars, and disco or house beats." The Guardian described the song as Afrobeat. The song was written about a friend of Penny's who proposed to Penny's girlfriend of eight years after she dumped him when he lost his job, and gave the album its name, a local term for "bad guy". One writer opined that "Ndzhihere Bhi" contains new wave-styled guitar figures reminiscent of the Cure. The only song with a faster tempo is "Dance Khomela", which contains elements of Italo house, and has been compared to Jinny's hit "Keep Warm".

## Release

The album Shaka Bundu was released in 1994 by Shandel Music as a cassette in South Africa. The title track, "Shaka Bundu", was released as a single, and became both a local hit and a success throughout South Africa. Shaka Bundu was a huge commercial success in the country, where it topped the South African Albums Chart and sold 250,000 copies. It was ultimately certified double platinum, and remains the best-selling album of Tsonga music ever. Several songs from the album featured music videos, including one for the title track. The nationwide success of Shaka Bundu was surprising since it was performed entirely in the little-spoken Tsonga language, which had a difficult time breaking out. Shirimani was initially very surprised by the success of the single: "Jesus, it was unbelievable. Some people didn't know how to speak that language — it's a small nation. But it became a hit. The combination of traditional melodies with dance pop, that was something new." Penny explained his usage of the language on the album in retrospect:
   "It was difficult in the country, because we have about 11 languages in South Africa. And then my tribe, the Xishangana, it was not easy. We used to take each other for granted in the country and [would ask ourselves] why we use this language: we thought it was something that was useless. But the time I break the market, it was very much unexpected. Everyone was paying attention."
Until the release of Shaka Bundu, Tsonga music was dominated by Paul Ndlovu -- who had a hit with "Ts'akane," -- and the late Peta Teanet, and was played mostly within within the Northern Province. Shrimani recalled: "Shangaan people suffered from an inferiority complex and didn't want to be seen playing Shangaan music in their homes." The release of Shaka Bundu helped change this attitude, and introduced Shrimani as a new talent. He became recognized for his Tsonga music productions and received numerous requests for collaboration. As a pop star, Penny was visually distinguished by his distinctive hairstyle containing elaborate topknots. Penny toured extensively throughout South Africa as piracy plagued the country's record industry at the time, with one of three CDs in South Africa said to be a pirated copy. He recorded several further albums, including Laphinda Shangaan (1997) and Makanjta Jive (1998), which both outsold Shaka Bundu in the region. Despite his national success, his music was never distributed outside of South Africa, and soon drifted into obscurity as the country's music trends moved on.

## Western rediscovery and re-release

In April 2010, American DJ and Musicologist Brian Shimkovitz posted the music from Shaka Bundu on his blog "Awesome Tapes from Africa" (which specialized in posting music from rare African cassettes) with the description: "The tape contains simple yet deep synth-pop anthems that couldn’t give a fuck if you thought they sounded corny at first. It’s that kind of tape." Shimkovitz had only recently heard the cassette and became captivated by it, contending that it stood out from typical Tsonga disco with Penny's distinctive raspy vocals, joyous songs, and Shirimani's unique American club music-influenced production. Shimkovitz also played material from the album on his Awesome Tapes from Africa DJ sets around the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia, where audiences greeted it with an overwhelmingly positive reaction.
When the blog started a record label, also named Awesome Tapes From Africa, Shimkovitz hoped to re-release the album on the label and tried to contact Penny Penny, but could not locate him despite travelling to South Africa and asking locals about his whereabouts. He eventually found Penny three years later, discovering he was working in the African National Congress as a council member. When the two spoke on the phone, Penny agreed to let Shimkovitz re-release the album. The singer was surprised to be contacted by Shimkovitz. He said: "I never think this album can take me to America. Even now, I can't believe people there like it. To me it's like a dream." Shimkovitz and Penny agreed to cut their profits 50/50 from the re-release, and the singer flew to the United States for the re-release's launch.
In September 2013, the label released several songs, including "Shichangani" as free downloads. These tracks proved popular with online audiences, especially Spanish listeners. The label then issued a worldwide re-release of Shaka Bundu on vinyl, CD, cassette and as a download on November 12, 2013. Shimkovitz hoped the re-release's wider exposure would help generate enough interest for Penny Penny to secure him live performances abroad. Milo Miles of NPR noted the re-release exemplified the larger trend of Western labels bringing vintage African pop to new audiences. The album's re-release led to Penny once again becoming a "global cult music sensation" and allowed him to earn profits from his music outside South Africa, where piracy had continued to impact record sales. Penny explained: "I believe everything is in the hands of the gods – 'In the day, in the time, something good is going to happen for you, Penny Penny'." Penny was pleased to note the album's positive reception among African and Australian audiences. He had been shocked to hear that his music had been popular in Australia for many years, and that organizers there had been trying to contact him for six years.

### Reception and aftermath

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| The List | |
Among reviews of the re-release, Stewart Smith of The List rated the album four out of five and noted that as a Tsonga/Shangaan disco album, it may appeal to those who enjoy the Shangaan electro style of Tshetsha Boys and Nozinja, a genre he felt was a more frenetically paced successor to Tsonga disco. He nonetheless wrote: "Shaka Bundu is not just of historical interest, however. Music this joyful, melodic, and danceable will always be relevant." Fact Magazine wrote that the album boasts "a pleasantly rough feel, but Penny and his producer Joe Shirimani keep things sufficiently hooky and beefy to impress. Really corking stuff, in short." Fact Magazine further noted Shaka Bundu as being "one of the country's most feted house albums," and Sowetan LIVE called it a "seminal album." Anton Spice of The Vinyl Factory called the album "Penny Penny’s definitive Shangaan Disco record."
The re-release allowed Penny Penny to revive his musical career, and he began playing a string of international live shows including one with a ten-piece band in May 2014 at Tin Pan Alley, New York City, and one at the Sydney Opera House a month later. He released a new album, Siyayi Vuma, in 2016. Penny also starred in his own Mzansi Magic reality show, Papa Penny Ahee!, in 2017. The surge in Penny's popularity led Rolling Stone to compare him to Sixto Rodriguez, an American folk singer who had South African success but was thought to have been dead until the documentary Searching for Sugar Man corrected the myth and garnered Rodriguez attention in America.

## Track listing
### Side one

* "Shichangani" – 5:36
* "Shibandza" – 5:29
* "Ndzihere Bhi" – 5:47
* "Dance Khomela" – 5:32

### Side two

* "Shaka Bundu" – 4:50
* "Zirimini" – 5:05
* "Milandu Bhe" – 4:27
* "Shichangani" (Remix) – 5:12

## Personnel

* Penny Penny – vocals
* Joe Shirimani – producer, keyboards
* Fraser Lesotho – engineering
* David Solole – mixing
* Shaka Bundu girls – backing vocals
* Momi – backing vocals on "Shichangani" and "Dance Khomela"