Rikki Ililonga - 1978 - Soweto

Rikki Ililonga

1978

Soweto

01. Love Is So Strange
02. You Got The Fire
03. My Destiny
04. Soweto
    a) Pray For Soweto
    b) Soweto
    c) Blow Your Mind
    d) Soweto Explosion
05. Shebeen King
06. Fire High
07. Sunshine Queen
08. Afri-Koko

Bass Guitar, Synthesizer [ARP 2600] – Peter Giraudo
Chorus – Tutuga Yeni (tracks: A4a)
Drums – Franco Otieno
Synthesizer [ARP], Organ – Francis Njorege
Vocals, Guitar, Percussion, Engineer

"PS: This record should be played at speaker shattering volume, especially if you're doing the deep shaft horizontal mambo. Have fun !" - Rikki Ililonga

Enjoying massive popularity, Rikki added a third album titled Soweto in 1977. With a full colour cover depicting him behind bars, the album was dedicated to the 1976 Soweto Uprising in South Africa. The title track was divided into four segments; a South African hymn, the song, a chorus and explosions. Rikki was at his poetic best.

My best guess of this album's release date is 1977, based on the evolution of his synthesiser and guitar tones and song style from his first two albums. It's really not a good evolution, as seems to be the case with the majority of every other musicians' evolution towards the 80s. He's softened up considerably with only two zam-rock tracks out of 8 (both of which include the word "Fire" for some reason), and this time the rock tracks are far more funky than the zam-rock of the mid-70s. Which isn't a bad thing at all; it's just that they're the only listenable tracks on the album. The only other track that caught my attention was "Shebeen King". The music is boring, but the lyrics which brag about his sexual prowess are really entertaining: "All the women they call me: The population maker / The men they call me: The marriage breaker / The mothers call me: The statutory raper / The fathers call me: The cherry breaker"