The Manhattan Brothers

Some stories take a long time to be told. In the case of South Africa's Manhattan Brothers singing quartet, the tale has taken almost three decades to reach the public.

"I've been trying to get these released since 1972," explained member Joe Mogotsi "It dragged along until Nelson Mandela came out of prison, and then I got the help of some lawyers. It still took us nine years after that for it to come out."

Finally, though, The Best of the Manhattan Brothers (Stern's) has appeared, and Mogotsi, Ronnie Sehume, Rufus Khoza, and the late Nathan Mdledle can take their place in South Africa's musical history. Strongly influenced by both American swing and vocal groups like the Inkspots and the Mills Brothers, they added native African elements, lyrics, and ineffable Zulu harmonies to the equation, offering immediate appeal to their audiences.

"There were a couple of times when we had to run away from the police."

From the late ‘40s through the ‘50s, they were the biggest names in black South African music - even though whites didn't know they existed. They even achieved brief international fame when their song "Laki Tshoni ‘Ilanga," redone in English as "Lovely Lies," reached #56 on the Billboard chart in 1956. The track featured another member of the band - a young Miriam Makeba, who was part of the ensemble for much of the ‘50s.

But they were black, and it was South Africa. Throughout their career, the hand of official discrimination kept pushing them down. They were denied visas to leave the country on tour, and in their early days "we also had problems with the law," Mogotsi recalled. "Blacks used to have to have a pass, or a working permit, and we weren't employed. There were a couple of times when we had to run away from the police, and we had spies who looked out for the police while we were rehearsing."

The four members of the band literally grew up together in the 1930s, and began singing while attending rural Pimville Government School.

"During our end of term concert, we were asked to create something of our own, which is how we decided to mix American feeling and jazz into our South African music."

They became part of a group called the Manhattan Stars, and on leaving school decided to break away and try their luck as the Manhattan Brothers. The toured villages, going as far as Botswana and it the early ‘40s hooked up with the Gallo label in Johannesburg.

"We were just young," said Mogotsi, "but we were already recording for Gallo, working with Solomon Line, the guy who composed "Wimoweh (The Lion Sleep Tonight)."With the war, everything shut down. Gallo gave us odd jobs in the company, so we could hang about and compose songs there."

After the war, things picked up. With well over a decade of singing and performing under their collective belts, the Manhattan Brothers were poised to become stars. They continued to tour the country, playing to exclusively black audiences, using their own band, which at various times included future luminaries likes pianist Dollar Brand (now Abdullah Ibrahim) and trumpeter Hugh Masekela. But they weren't allowed to use those musicians in the studio.

"The records had white musicians," explained Mogotsi. "We had one or two people from the Jazz Maniacs, but that was a touch and go situation - Gallo didn't want them, just white musicians. We weren't even introduced to the guys."

Records like "Dubula Mfanandini" (Young Boy With A slingshot) sold well, but as the ‘50s waned, a new style known as mqashiyo was coming in, and the Manhattan Brothers fell out of fashion. Even the joyous "Vuka Vuka" ("Wake Up, Wake Up") didn't turn things around.

And they'd become more political, according to Masekela, who was a member of their touring band from 1957-59.

"Nathan was Nelson Mandela's cousin, and we played a lot of benefits for the African National Congress."

In 1959 they joined the company of King Kong, the first black South African musical, and toured with it to England, where they all decided to abandon the repression of their homeland and try their luck.

They mixed their repertoire with English pop and recorded three albums before calling it a day in 1965. All but Mogotsi eventually dropped out of music - he still works with a band called Mboula (Brazier), and has spent many years fighting for the release of the Manhattan Brothers material Of the more than 200 sides they recorded for Gallo, only 60 survive - "the label couldn't see the point in keeping them," noted Mogotsi.

"I grew up on the Manhattan Brothers," said Masekela. "After I joined, they became family. They were the biggest stars of the South African stage. But they were more than that - they were our pride."

This article first appeared on Sonicnet.com