Various
Gumba Fire (3lp)
'BUBBLEGUM SOUL & SYNTH BOOGIE IN 1980S SOUTH AFRICA' - A selection of 16 rare 1980s cuts from South Africa. Handpicked by Miles Cleret (Soundway) and DJ Okapi (Afrosynth Records), this style of music has been making its way into the DJ sets of many of the most open-minded selectors around the world. In 1980s black South Africa, a local form of pop music evolved as the disco boom died down and slowly mutated. It was often ubiquitously described as Bubblegum - usually stripped-down and lo-fi with a predominance of synths, keyboards and drum machines, and overlaid with the kind of deeply soulful trademark vocals and harmonies that South African music is famous for. 'Gumba Fire' highlights the period that nestles in between the '70s (where American-influenced jazz, funk and soul bumped shoulders with local Mbaqanga), and the '90s, when Kwaito and eventually house music ruled the dancefloors of urban South Africa.