Guabi Guabi

[madeline burke]

I have always been fascinated by this song. After doing some research, I find it more delightful than ever!

 

 

 

.......Singer/songwriter/guitarist George Sibanda from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, was in effect sub-saharan Africa's first music star, discovered by Hugh Tracey in 1948.
Sibanda's jaunty, tuneful songs quickly became popular radio hits in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe and Zambia), Nyasaland (Malawi), Kenya and especially South Africa, where the singer's playful, Sindebele lyrics were understood by Zulu-speakers, a huge audience.
The songs themselves were so good that they were soon widely imitated, finding their way into the repertoires of local mbira players in Rhodesia, and eventually, musicians as far afield as Ramblin' Jack Elliott (1964) , Arlo Guthrie (1976) and Taj Mahal. Of course, by then Sibanda was gone.
He spent much of his considerable earnings on alcohol, and drank himself to death before the 1950s were out.......There are no known photographs of George.

Guabi, Guabi: a South African folk song tremendously popular with folkies in the 60s and 70s, thanks to the recordings of Jack Elliott(1), Jim Kweskin, and Arlo Guthrie. It's a Zulu children's song with a wonderful melody and addictive guitar fingerpicking, and was taken from the singing and playing of guitarist George Sibanda(2). It can be found on an album put out by Decca called Guitars of Africa.

The song is about someone who teases his girlfriend by holding something behind his back and saying, "Guess what I've got." It's an interesting mix of Zulu and French expressions, and this English transliteration and translation is from Andrew Tracy of the African Music Society thanks to the guitar tutorials of Happy Traum (who put out a book with the tablature for Guabi Guabi):

"Guabi, Guabi, guzwangle notamb yami,
(Hear, Guabi, Guabi, I have a girlfriend)

Ihlale nkamben', shu'ngyamtanda
(She lives at Nkamben, sure I love her)

Ngizamtenge la mabanzi, iziwichi le banana."
(I will buy her buns, sweets, and bananas.)

If you've never heard the song sung before, the above is miles away from the actual sound of the African language. Such is the transliteration and its shortcomings.

 

The Legendary George Sibanda - Part One

 

George Sibanda's name hardly figures nowadays, but in the late '40s and 1950s he was a familiar name across much of Southern Africa. Over the course of 11 years, the Bulawayan native enjoyed a string of hits, only to vanish into alcoholic obscurity -- even the date of his death remains unknown. But he was extensively recorded by pioneering musicologist Hugh Tracey, and a number of those tracks appear here. The surprise, perhaps, is how much his work sounds like American country music, whether in the jaunty, happy-go-lucky lope of "Mami" or "Dali Ngiyakuthanda Bati Ha-Ha-Ha," or the slower and more heartbreaking pieces. Undeniably, Sibanda had an easy way with a melody and a gift for songwriting, not to mention a good, simple guitar style and a warm voice. A worthwhile little peek into a forgotten part of history. ~ Chris Nickson, Rovi

The Legendary George Sibanda - Part Two

 

 "Guabi Guabi" covered by Pork Tornado (featuring Jon Fishman of Phish) on their self-titled LP. Buy it here: http://amzn.to/N83pqR

 

 

 

Guabi, Guabi: It's a Zulu children's song with a wonderful melody and addictive guitar fingerpicking, and was taken from the singing and playing of guitarist George Sibanda.

The song is about someone who teases his girlfriend by holding something behind his back and saying, "Guess what I've got." It's an interesting mix of Zulu and French expressions, and this English transliteration and translation is from Andrew Tracy of the African Music Society thanks to the guitar tutorials of Happy Traum (who put out a book with the tablature for Guabi Guabi):

"Guabi, Guabi, guzwangle notamb yami,
(Hear, Guabi, Guabi, I have a girlfriend)
Ihlale nkamben', shu'ngyamtanda
(She lives at Nkamben, sure I love her)

Ngizamtenge la mabanzi, iziwichi le banana."
(I will buy her buns, sweets, and bananas.)

 

 

[Andrea Golanka]

Good Point, Charles Wright!

[Charles Wright]

Me too. Usually the original is the best, to me at least. It seems like the British had more musical influence on their African colonies, especially South Africa, than the other European countries did on theirs, and this is a good example.

[Andrea Golanka]

I like all the versions I've now heard, but I like George's version the most, at least right now. I like the simple but yes, addictive quality to the melody! (Guabi Guabi).

[Charles Wright]

Rambling Jack Elliot did a pretty good cover of it in the mid-late Sixties.