Interview with DAVE PENHALE of DPMC on the early days of J.E. Movement

Dave Penhale has worked behind the scenes in the South African music industry for several decades, including in the 80s at the country’s two biggest labels, EMI and Gallo, before setting up his own label, DPMC, where he was involved in the early days of J.E. Movement (he is credited by producer George Vardas with discovering the duo, although Penhale says it was label head Chris Ghelakis who discovered the group). The following is a phone interview conducted on 24/1/25. It has been edited for clarity.

[How did you started in the music business?]

I was at EMI maybe seven or eight years, which was then called EMI Brigadiers, and was doing A&R and Marketing for the labels like Electrola, Pathe Marconi, Bovema Negram, the European EMI  labels, representing the EMI artists. I went overseas to an EMI conference and visited all the different countries getting to know and understand their markets and artists. At EMI/UK I met up with the head of Abbey Road studios who assisted me in bringing back [PETER] TOSH’s albums for release in South Africa. And that’s a whole different story, because to promote it you had a problem. You couldn’t get airplay [because it was banned by the SABC]. If you were caught having those albums in your car, you can imagine what would’ve happened in those days [one could be arrested for possessing banned material]. Fortunately there were two independent radio stations that agreed to play the content, Radio Bop and Radio Swazi, both across the border. Tosh became the biggest selling album for EMI during that period.

Then I moved over to GRC – they hired me to run Epic Records in South Africa. In a nutshell, it was the early days of WHAM, SADE, DEAD OR ALIVE, MICHAEL JACKSON, a very exciting period – unbelievable. While I was there, there was an amalgamation between the companies, GRC and Gallo. Peter Gallo came in and put GRC, which represented CBS and Epic, together in one company with the Gallo local division, which created the most successful record company in SA, Gallo GRC. I was doing a lot of the dance stuff for Epic Records, releasing special mixes of Wham, Sade, etc, and we were breaking stuff here and sending feedback to London, which influenced the decisions regarding their choice of follow-up singles. 

During this time I met up with the local Gallo musicians, so I got a passion for working with the local division. It was great to be involved with every aspect of developing the artists’ true potential, from the selection of the songs to the recording process, artwork and then marketing In those days video was just emerging, so a whole new marketing approach was implemented. That’s where I met up with RAY [PHIRI of Stimela], JOE SHABALALA [Ladysmith Black Mambazo], RICHARD SILUMA [producer of LUCKY DUBE] – and worked there very happily for many years. The experience of marketing Tosh at EMI was applied at Gallo as Lucky was the perfect performer to raise the reggae flag. This led to Lucky being the biggest seller during that time – multi, multi-platinum! 

With Ladysmith Black Mambazo

After that I decided to go and set up my own record company. The first company I set up was DPMC – Dave Penhale Music Company. I did a deal with Transistor Records, where they offered the infrastructure via Tusk, which was Warner Brothers in South Africa. What I was interested in was setting up a bonafide kind of local division, just with the local guys that I liked working with. So a lot of guys came across and joined me from Gallo. DON LAKA came, ALEC KHAOLI/UMOJA/COLIN [SMITH] – and the first 2-3 years it was really lekka, really good fun. Some of them still had deals with Gallo, like Alec Khaoli stayed with Gallo as Om Alec Khaoli, but the Umoja album he put through me. 

[How did J.E. Movement come about?]

J.E. MOVEMENT was a project put together by Chris Ghelakis. He had JAMES [NYINGWA] at his studio, working as an in-house producer. He was a multitalented guy, he could play keyboards and was the most amazing bass guitarist ever – unbelievable, one of the best. That [talent] came in from his head and he channeled it. This guy was phenomenal. His basslines were just at another level. And that’s how I came to know him.

With Ray from 2 Unlimited and Tembi from DPMC.

Word got out that we were on the up, and things were going well. That’s when CHRIS GHELAKIS contacted me and said he’s got a whole lot of content, a whole lot of new stuff — would my label DPMC be interested in representing some artists he’s working on in the studio? So I went to go and meet him at his studio [TRS] in Plein Street, near Joubert Park. Then of course Chris introduced me to GEORGE VARDAS. So when I met with George Vardas, I said: ‘OK let’s hear what you guys are doing.’ George played me some tracks which he was working on, with Chris and other people. The one was ‘Mama’s Baby’ by SYDNEY [MOGOPODI]. The other track was some stuff from J.E. MOVEMENT. When I heard this, I thought ‘Wow, this is really cutting-edge stuff – this is bang on the money!’ The magic was also George Vardas, an incredibly gifted musician, engineer and producer, plus he had the ability to get the best out of artists when it came to vocals. George was the secret ingredient to so many new sounds and vibes! 

I remember saying to Chris, ‘Chris, you’ve got a huge hit with ‘Mama’s Baby’, it is absolutely massive.’  He put that out through Selwyn [Shandel] but it was recorded in Chris’s studio. I’m not too sure who played the bassline on that, it might’ve been James.

I fell in love with James’s bass. So I said to Chris, ‘You’ve got J.E. Movement, you’re putting it out through CSR’ – or whichever company he had at that stage – ‘so let’s hunt around and find something else.’ Then George came up with these kids called NEW AGE KIDS. He used James to lay down the bass and lot of that vibe. The bass killed — the bass just killed. It was hooks, hooks, hooks! 

And that was it, really. That’s all I had the time [for] and unfortunately I didn’t really spend time with James in the studio. It’s just that I knew he was laying down bass tracks for New Age Kids, and then obviously New Age Kids came through my company, DPMC, and we launched it. It did  well, we released 2 or 3 albums. Marcus the vocalist was really good. If we had a better infrastructure to facilitate tours, things would have been a lot better. 

And then unfortunately I heard that James was killed – terrible … It shocked all of us to the core, so senseless! A wonderful soul untimely taken!

[Were J.E. MOVEMENT trying to do something new? How did it compare to what else was out there at the time?]

J.E. Movement, Sydney and New Age Kids – that stuff was different in the sense that the basslines were very dominant in the songs. If you listen to New Age Kids, with their song ‘Get Down’, [or Sydney’s] ‘Mama’s Baby’, the same thing with J.E. Movement. I’d say it was an evolution and a progression in the sense that James had paid his dues, and he had extra time to spend in the studio, to fine-tune those killer bass licks. So with all guys [talented musicians], they are trying to create new stuff. They would never want to copy or to and follow a trend, they were pushing the boundaries and setting the trend.

With Swiss artist DJ Bobo on his SA promo tour in 1990.

For me, these guys were the true fathers of Afrobeats, exactly what’s happening globally in the world [today] … It moved very far away from the bubblegum kind of sound that was dominating at that time. I suppose, with all the synths and all that kind of stuff, it was – gee whiz – it was like almost house/EDM with Afro bass licks and percussion. That stuff you can just remix now – it’s relevant.

[Did James play the basslines on guitar or synth?]

As far as I know, he played a bass synth and a bass guitar.

When I was at Gallo, there were two guys who intrigued me so much. I used to be a bass guitarist, a terrible one — so I love bass, I really do. 

When I saw LES GOODE in Johannesburg … we were at Plumb Crazy with KATE BUSH and her band – not gigging, just partying. Kate was so impressed, she took him back to London. That’s when I hung up my bass guitar because Les was just unbelievable, best of the best! 

While at Gallo, we flew up a youngster from Durban called VICTOR MASONDO ... he was still a lecturer in Durban. BENJAMIN DUBE said to me he wants something different for his album, and I said, ‘what?’ He said there’s this guy he knows from Durban, Victor Masondo, who is hectic! And I said, ‘well, we’ve never used him before [but] Benjamin if you want him up, we’ll put it in the budget and we’ll fly him up [to Joburg],’ which we did. That first album by Benjamin Dube, if you listen to it, aah man, those bass notes by Victor, were unbelievable. He used to play a fretless bass as well.

So my headspace was into bass.

The other guy that I loved was OM ALEC KHAOLI, also a brilliant bass player, gifted keyboard player. He used to alternate – he used to play those bass riffs on a special keyboard that he used to dangle around his neck, almost like a guitar. And when he was in the studio, he used to also pick up his bass and lay down the most ridiculous stuff. 

So those guys were moving, for me, in a different direction to what poppy stuff was going down. And if you were a muso, you got it, you understood it. And that’s why I loved it. Hence I think James was right there, for me, in the top 3, top 5 as a bass player, or as a composer.

[What market was J.E. MOVEMENT aimed at? Was it purely for black urban market or also crossover to whites or the international?]

My headspace from the word go — because of Gallo, when I was at Gallo, you must remember we had put together a couple of bands that linked up with GILBERT CASTRO of CELLULOID RECORDS in France, and he was busy touring them there — so we were always very keen to get our content out [of SA] and push it [internationally]. The whole essence was to make our stuff go international. There was a huge push on that. And it was the hardest thing in the world, because you had all these problems. And that’s the story I can tell you about Ray [Phiri] – but that’s for a different time. We were always pushing that, so if guys had talent, yes, we would try and push them in the direction where we thought that the content at the end of the day would be globally acceptable. That’s what we were hoping to achieve.

[To what extent was this music political? What it a conscious political decision for black and white to work together? George said he never even considered collaboration to be political – it didn’t even occur to him]

Exactly. Look, I came from EMI. We were working with the likes of TOM VUMA, BRENDA FASSIE. I had MANNIE TULSIE in the office next door to me. Tom used to come in from CCP, which was in the same building. We all used to get together, sit and write stuff. Tom used to do the lyrics, bounce them with Mannie. So it was never [segregated]… it was musos, we all worked together, that was that. 

With the late Steve Kekana

The only problem was when you got in the car and you drove to SABC. When I took STEVE KEKANA to SABC, we’d go together in the car. At the SABC, I’d go in the one side [white entrance], and he would get out the car and go in the other side [black entrance]. Then we sign in and walk down the corridor, and go see [SABC station manager] CUTHBERT MASHEGO, and meet him at reception, he would take us down into the library. And then we would sit together, just like we sat in the car, telling him what we were getting up to. Then when split up and we came out via different exits. I mean, it was insane! It was insanity, absolute insanity.

It was dark …. when you hit the obstacles of what was happening. I remember taking COLIN [SMITH] and ALEC [KHAOLI] and we drove back into Soweto after a studio gig quite late at night, and we were coming out and then we were stopped, and they [police] wanted to know why we were driving, what we were doing in Soweto, all that bullshit… They used to stop LUCKY DUBE and RICHARD SILUMA because these guys had beautiful Mercs, and say ‘where do you get the money from?’

[SY BUTHELEZI is credited as executive producer on ‘Ma Dea Luv’ — who was he?]

SIMON! SIMON BUTHELEZI, yes! Sy came from CCP, EMI. I knew him very well at EMI, because he was always in and out of the offices. He was a sales guy for EMI, that’s how he started. And after doing that, he networked with all the guys, he had a great rapport with musicians, he used to get them to go to the shops and promote, all of that. He was doing amazing stuff for EMI in those days. And then I think he wanted to start a company, so he and Chris and somebody else – I think it was ROBBIE MANN – got together and set up CSR. And a lot of people thought that CSR was Chris, Simon and Robbie … Now I don’t know if that’s true, But what I do know is all three guys at that stage were working together on projects.

[How was J.E. MOVEMENT received in terms of sales?]

Look, I never saw sales on that because it was [released by] a separate company, namely CSR, Chris’s company . But it created a buzz. There was a lot of air activity happening, that I do know. A lot of radio stations were playing it — as like the new vibe, so it was kicking. I don’t know what the sales were, but they would not have been insignificant. I think they would’ve done quite well for a new release.

[Do you remember anything about the other member of JE Movement, ELLIOT FAKU?]

Elliot’s name rings a bell but I didn’t meet him at the time  … James was the oke I dug, the bassist!

With US singer Timmy Thomas (right) and guys from Radio Metro and Radio Swazi.

© 2025 Afrosynth

J.E. Movement's Ma Dea Luv (AFS057) will be out in mid-2025 on Afrosynth Records. Pre-order it here.

Interview with GEORGE VARDAS, producer of J.E. Movement

photo: Facebook

George Vardas was born in Greece and arrived in South Africa as a child in 1965, growing up in Pretoria. He played guitar in bands like Lastique, Backtrax, Syndicate and Graffiti before starting TRS (The Recording Studio) with Chris Ghelakis in downtown Johannesburg in the late 80s. The company evolved into a label, CSR (Creative Sound Recordings), and would eventually become Electromode. The following is a telephone interview done on January 15 2025 ahead of the release of J.E. Movement's Ma Dea Luv (AFS057) on Afrosynth Records. It has been edited for clarity

[How did you get started in music and then production?]

I grew up in Pretoria. I was part of the pop scene, delving into progressive jazz. I was actually a guitarist, playing in a lot of great bands, I played in Lastique, Backtrax, Syndicate at Plum Crazy. I played in some amazing bands. But probably the most amazing band I played in was a band called GRAFFITI. I don’t know if you remember a band called RABBITT … when Trevor Rabin decided to go and join Yes in America, and Duncan Faure left to go and join the Bay City Rollers, the drummer from that band, Neil Cloud, decided to come and play in a band called Graffiti that was put together by Cedric Samson, a very good friend of that whole band. I was playing in a band at the time, and they asked me to join as well, so I played with Neil Cloud briefly. So I came from that background, from playing in clubs and doing pop music.

And then my friendship with CHRIS [GHELAKIS] goes back to like 1965, when I came from Greece. So I was always friends with Chris. Chris and me were always buddies. 

Slowly this cover band scene started dying out. I was playing with Chris, I played in a couple of bands. Post-Graffiti I joined a couple of other bands – RAGDOLLS, BACKTRAX, LASTIQUE, to name a few. And then I landed up playing with Chris. Even though I was very good friends with him, we didn’t play together until about 1983/4 – I joined SYNDICATE, his guitarist went to America and I joined. And that is where the idea to start a recording studio started. Because I could see that the club scene – the residency, where you could get a club job working for like 3 months working non-stop — started dying out. The discos were taking over. People just wanted to go and dance. 

I bought a little four-track, I remember, the Fostex four-track, from TOMS music shop, I just started recording. I went to Chris and I said, ‘Listen, I’ve got all these guys coming and asking me to do demos – at my house – it’s causing a problem with my girlfriend. I want to find some premises, I want to start a recording studio, but I know nothing about leases.’ And I didn’t have money – I mean, I used to play in a band with him earning R750 a month. And the lease was R1000 a month – which is peanuts [now] but back in the day [it was a lot]. So that’s where it started. He [Chris] was a little bit more business-savvy, and he said, ‘Look, we’ll get involved together. I’lI come into the studio with you.’

We started recording all these white bands, because I hadn’t got into the undercover kwaito scene which was starting to take off then. I hadn’t even touched that stuff. But because of my background, of the jazzy thing, I’d heard a lot of RnB from the States. I used to listen to Frankie Valli, Stevie Wonder, Temptations, Commodores, all those bands. So I was very familiar with that kind of style… And what happened is: when the studio started, eventually we started getting a couple of these guys that were into like reggae and people who wanted to do RnB and stuff. They wanted to come in, and I started getting into that. And then I saw that there’s a very big market for the black stuff that was happening. Because we’re in Africa. There was not a market really for the white music. The white music was for clubs, for playing in clubs to the white crowds, at the time. Because it was apartheid, you understand, there were no blacks in the clubs at that time, it was 1983/84, before elections [in 1994]. But I’d  worked [with black artists before] … In Lastique we had RONNIE JOYCE, who passed away [in 2013]. He was a friend with JONATHAN BUTLER, who I knew very well, by the way, from Cape Town.

Chris Ghelakis (RIP)

So we got involved in that whole thing, and we started getting all these bands coming in. That’s how we started delving into the black stuff. And we had a lot of success. Because at the time there was no internet… You couldn’t really have quick access to the hits that were happening overseas. But we were friends with a couple of people that used to live in London and in America and so on, and they used to tell us what was happening [there], and we started doing some cover versions. I remember one of our biggest things was BLACK BOX. We did it legally, we got licensing for publishing, songwriting, etc. It used to take a long time [because it was before the internet] …  We used to get info from overseas about what covers are happening. And we started doing  it – legally – and distributing legally, paying licensing fees to the publishers – and we started releasing these covers, and it took off. 

But we quickly realised that there’s a very big difference between having a hit when you’re doing a cover of someone’s song — because you don’t own that product, you don’t own the copyright; all you own is the master — so we wanted to start doing original stuff. We realised if we wanted to have any kind of lasting success, we needed to have original artists that we can promote and have hits with. And that’s how we got involved with doing all these bands. And even though we didn’t sign them up, we got involved with record companies, like Transistor Music and — I can’t remember if EMI or any of the big companies gave us work initially, but there were all these small independents. There was a guy by the name of PHIL HOLLIS, who used to work with PAT SHANGE and he found CHICCO, he found YVONNE CHAKA CHAKA, he signed all these artists. And I actually got to meet all of them. I was very good friends with Chicco.

I started the studio with Chris, I think round about 1987. We were in Plein Street in town [downtown Johannesburg], on the 9^th floor, that’s where we started. 

The only really big hit that we had, that I can brag about was SIDNEY MOGOPODI – ‘Mama’s Baby’. That was the first thing that put us on the map. Because that was really a massive success. I remember the phone ringing off the hook. We used to sell like 10-20,000 units a week – I’m not bragging, I’m being serious. I think it was mid-price, I don’t think it was full price, but the volume was like huge, so the money just came rolling in. I mean Sidney became rich overnight. He bought cars, houses...

[How did J.E. Movement come about?]

We had this little studio up on the 9^th floor in Plein Street, and we used to work with all these bands that were given to us, to do productions, by DAVE PENHALE from Transistor, and a couple of other companies which I can’t remember. And J.E. MOVEMENT were one of those bands that came through the doors. And I got given them…

J.E. Movement was a band that was a concept of a guy by the name of Dave Penhale. He kind of put this whole thing together. In fact I’m not 100% sure but I’m 99% sure that he was instrumental in putting the whole thing together. Myself and Chris Ghelakis were just starting out a recording studio. That was the time when that whole thing kind of took shape. J.E. Movement were given to us, and I produced them. I worked with them, and I became very good friends with JAMES NYINGWA. I was very very good friends with him. 

Once I met James, and saw how talented he is, we gave him a job at the studio, as a songwriter/producer. Because I realized quickly that even though I’m into that whole kind of music, we need input from a guy that’s hands on, that’s grown up in a township, that understands the culture and what people actually want. So I hooked up with him, like immediately. I was very technical-savvy, and he was like a really talented songwriter. And we became really close, we became friends. And then once we had one or two albums, nothing really took off massive… 

James was the catalyst, and he wrote most of the stuff, but I was a better player than him, so a Iot of the stuff that you’re hearing was actually played by me. A lot of the keys and a lot of the basslines. But he used to tell me what he wants.

photo: www.muzines.co.uk

Do you know what automation is, in music software? Automation is basically if you want to change something in real time, while it’s playing back, either the filter or the volume or something. Automation was a very new thing at the time. And we were working on a thing called the ROLAND MC-500. It was like a little box, a very basic, pre-computer sort of dedicated sequencer. We were on that, and we discovered that you can do some very primitive basic automation. And while we were playing, I was like playing with the filter on something, I was adjusting the filter, so it was making the thing go from dull to bright. I mean today it’s a joke, it’s elementary, but at that time it was a revelation. And James freaked out. His eyes lit up and he was freaking out! We were like jumping around in the studio, and like ‘hey, we’re going to do it!’. You know when you’re young and you’ve got all these dreams about success and what you can do …

That MC-500 was James’s favourite thing. He wanted to like sleep with it, basically.. That’s how much he was in love with the MC-500. What it did was it allowed people to not be technically proficient but make it sound like they’re the best musicians in the world, because it puts everything in time, it puts everything in tune. We’re talking about sequencing now. 

The other guy’s name was ELLIOT [FAKU]. It was James and Elliot – J.E. Movement …  Can I tell you what Elliot’s role in the band was? He was the muse. He was like the feedback monitor. He used to sit [and listen]... 

This is how it worked: we’d go into the studio, and I’m like the engineer, but I’m also a musician… I used to basically play everything. James also used to play some basslines, but I used to play a lot of the keys. I don’t know if I’ve been credited on all the records, but we weren’t into that – that whole money thing wasn’t important at the time. What was important was having fun and creating music. It wasn’t ‘hey, I wrote this’ or ‘hey, I wrote that’. There was none of that shit. 

[Was there a political impulse in collaboration?]

Not at all. I’m colourblind. I judge people on merit and on who they are as individuals. I’ve always been like that, and I’ll stay like that. I didn’t even think about that, now that you mention it. 

You have to judge people people on merit and individuality, on how they behave. You cannot judge on anything else. Someone could come from outer space, you have to judge them on how they behave. That is what the world should be, but it doesn’t work like that.

[What happened to James?]

This is actually what happened. We were finishing a recording in the studio, I can’t remember the exact date and time, but it was around about 4 or 5 o’clock, and it was my late girlfriend – she passed away – it was my girlfriend’s birthday, and I invited him to come and celebrate with us at my flat. I was living in Hillbrow at the time. Chris was there, a whole lot of people were there. 

On his way he stopped at a shop to buy some cooldrink, and there was a robbery in progress, and the robber mistook him for either police or undercover [agents], and they stabbed him in his neck. It’s terrible, I’ll never forget it … They took him to Hillbrow Hospital. I was at my apartment and we got a phone call that ‘there’s a guy by the name of James at Hillbrow Hospital, and he’s asking for Chris and George’. We went to the hospital, and we were allowed to see him. He actually passed away in Chris’s arms. Chris was actually holding him, we were both crying. he was holding him, and James was saying, ‘please can you help me’ — and we couldn’t do anything. 

The guys tried to stop the bleeding, but he’d just lost too much blood … The doctors did their best to save him. But the problem was the stab I think it was in his jugular, it was in one of his main arteries or veins in his neck … and it was a very deep wound, and the blood, they just couldn’t stop it. They tried to stop it, but he’d already lost too much. They tried to do a transfusion but it was already too late.

Listen, I was very close to James. He was an amazing guy, super-talented guy. Myself and Chris were in tears. I was really friendly with James. He was a buddy, like a close buddy. I was very close with them. 

It was one of the first projects that launched the studio that I’m currently working in. 

Another thing is Chris actually passed away last year [2023], so we’re getting old…

© 2025 Afrosynth

Ma Dea Luv (AFS057) will be out in mid-2025 on Afrosynth Records. Pre-order it here.

J.E. MOVEMENT - Ma Dea Luv

AFS057

Towards the end of the 1980s South Africa's recording industry was booming like never before. Searching for a sound that could cross over to all in the country's segregated society while also eyeing international success, a new duo emerged that laid waste to competition and quickly had its 'bubblegum' predecessors sounding obsolete. Drawing on new international trends and crafting lyrics for local ears, J.E. MOVEMENT — a duo made up of James Nyingwa and Elliot Faku — exploded onto the local scene with their debut album 'Ma Dea Luv'. The future had arrived.

A talented bassist and composer, Nyingwa was at the time employed as an in-house producer at TRS Studios in Plein Street in downtown Johannesburg, run by two Greek immigrants, George Vardas and Chris Ghelakis, and had played a hand in popular acts like the NEW AGE KIDS and SIDNEY. Together the four formed a close bond as friends and musical partners on what would become CSR Records, savouring recording original hits while also cashing in on cover versions as BLACK BOX.

Six tracks on the groundbreaking 1988 album give firm nods to UK Street Soul, US New Jack Swing and Stock Aitken Waterman's 'Hit Factory' sound and infuse them with an African rhythmic flair and homegrown lyrical sentiment. Though not expressly political, the title track was received by many as a play on words referencing then-jailed and banned Nelson Mandela (coming after similarly styled 'I'm Winning My Dear Love' by YVONNE CHAKA CHAKA in 1986 and 'We Miss You Manelow' by CHICCO in 1987), giving it an added potency for those in the know. 'Jack I'm Sorry' was a minor hit in the townships, while 'Marco', 'Friends', 'Funkytown' and the eponymous closer are similarly bass and drum-driven, with hiphop-styled vocals.

Key to the new sound was new gear. Producer Vardas remembers: "Automation was a very new thing at the time. We were working on a thing called the Roland MC500, a very basic, pre-computer sort of dedicated sequencer. We discovered that you can do some very primitive basic automation, and I was playing with the filter on something, making the thing go from dull to bright. Today it’s elementary, but at that time it was a revelation. James freaked out. His eyes lit up and he was freaking out. We were like jumping around in the studio.. You know when you’re young and you’ve got all these dreams about success and what you can do … That MC500 was James’s favourite thing. He wanted to like sleep with it, basically. That’s how much he was in love with the MC500!"

Dave Penhale, head of DPMC who released the New Age Kids, remembers: "James had paid his dues and he had extra time to spend in the studio. So with all guys [talented musicians], they are trying to create new stuff. They would never want to copy or to follow a trend, they were actually pushing the boundaries and setting the trend ... It moved very far away from the bubblegum kind of sound that was dominating at that time. I suppose, with all the synths and all that kind of stuff, it was almost like EDM ... it’s relevant."

J.E. Movement followed Ma Dea Luv with Bad Girls in 1989 before Nyingwa was tragically stabbed to death in 1990 on his way one night from the studio to a nearby party in Hillbrow, downtown Johannesburg, cut down while still in his 20s, his killer never brought to justice. A third, posthumous album, Guilty was released in 1990.

Afrosynth Records is proud to release J.E. Movement's groundbreaking Ma Dea Luv, reissued for the first time, out in mid-2025 on vinyl and digital platforms. Pre-order it now via Rush Hour.

VA - Music Team Sampler

AFS045

One of South Africa’s biggest independent labels for decades, the Music Team catalogue spanned all genres and markets in the country’s rich and varied industry. When it came to the disco sound popular in the late 80s and early 90s, artists in the stable had access to top studios, musicians and producers with an ear on the latest trends, as well as distribution via a number of Music Team imprints - CTV, Red Label, Spinna, Mambo Music, Solid and others. Run by Maurice Horwitz, Music Team gave talented working musicians a shot at stardom. Those who tasted success would typically release a few albums over as many years before moving on either to other labels or falling off the radar as times changed. 

Compiled here then are six tracks from the Music Team catalogue, originally released in South Africa between 1986 and 1992. Three are by popular male crooners — Isaac ‘Cool Cat’ Mofokeng (‘Candy’), Linda Olifant (‘I Won’t Let You Go’) and Jappie Lebona (‘My Love is Yours) — and are typical of the label’s take on the ‘bubblegum’ sound of the day, along with a slower groove by female singer Thandi Zulu (aka TZ Junior), ‘Instant Love (Eyami Lendoda)’. Two instrumentals — Mr. Ace’s ‘Ace 1’ and ‘Axe Chop’ by The Hard Workers, a popular studio project by Music Team’s in-house producer Tom Mkhize — meanwhile hint at the imminent rise of house and kwaito. All were forged in the fire of a cruel and volatile political system that was quickly unravelling — but instead of addressing the political realities of the day sought to provide listeners with an escape to a world where love and music were all that mattered.

Compiled with DJs and dancefloors in mind, Afrosynth Records’ Music Team Sampler dusts off some rare and long-forgotten gems and makes them available for a new audience.

SIDE A

A1: Isaac ‘Cool Cat’ Mofokeng - 'Candy'

Isaac Mofokeng started his recording career in the 1970s on Mavuthela’s Soul Jazz Pop imprint, backed by The Ribbons. Switching from Sesotho to English to reach a wider audience, he signed to Atlantic and in 1979 released two albums with The Sakie Special Band: Cool Cat, the album and single that would later become his stage name, and Take Me Back. As the 80s dawned he stepped out as a solo performer, releasing a third album on Atlantic, I’m In Love With You (1981). In 1985 he released a single, ’Midnight Groove’, as Isaac ‘Madala’ Mofokeng on Kaya Records, then as ‘Cool Cat’ released the album Let Your Love Shine on Music Team’s Spinna imprint in 1987, produced by Tom Mkhize. It included the track ‘Candy’, a five-and-a-half minute disco workout which kicks off the upcoming Afrosynth Records release. 

A2: Mr. Ace - 'Ace 1'

Keyboardist Andry Mbuyisa, better known as ‘Ace’ or ‘Mambu’, had a long career in South Africa’s music industry starting in the 1970s with popular soul outfit The Additions. In the 1980s he made his mark with bubblegum group Freeway, part of the Dephon/Roy B. stable, releasing albums like Majita (1984), Keep On Trying and Stand up for your Rights. Graduating to production he was behind the desk for Linda ‘Babe’ Majika’s 1988 debut solo album, Don’t Treat Me So Bad (reissued by Be With in 2020), credited as A. Mambu, as well as It’s So Hard the following year. In 1991 he co-produced The Q-Force album Daddy Come Back on Krunch Records, also joining the Music Team stable to compose tracks for Ayobayo Band’s album Hey Ta Da. In 1992 he went into engineer Fred Woods’ studio to record a solo instrumental album, ‘Ace 1’, layering synths over uptempo drum machines to create a fresh proto-house sound with a distinctly South African flavour. ‘Ace 1’ is the second track on Afrosynth Records’ upcoming Music Team Sampler compilation.

A3: Linda - 'I Won’t Let You Go'  5:19 

The son of jazz trumpeter (and later kwaito pioneer) Dennis Mpale, Linda ‘Slim’ Olifant emerged in the 80s as part of Reborn, later known as Afubi (short for Afro Funk & Blues Investigation) alongside Sizwe Zako, releasing a string of popular 12” singles in 1983-85. In 1984 Olifant also added guest vocals to Duke Makasi’s Rise And Shine produced by Sipho Gumede. With Zako destined for bigger things (with Pure Magic and producing Rebecca Malope), Afubi parted ways, leaving Olifant to embark on a solo career at Music Team, starting with a four-track EP ‘Sweet Mbaqanga’ in 1985. It was followed in 1986 by I Won’t Let You Go, the title track co-written with Solly Letwaba (bassist for The Black Five and Savuka, among others) and producer Tom Mkhize. Another sleeper hit from the bubblegum archive, ‘I Won’t Let You Go’ is the third track on Afrosynth Records’ upcoming Music Team Sampler (AFS045).

SIDE B

B1: Jappie Lebona - 'My Love Is Yours' 

Brother of influential producer Koloi Lebona, the late Jappie Lebona (aka Japie or JP) was active in the 80s, primarily as a guitarist and producer for artists such as female duo Ecstasy, Special Cane Mahlelebe, Eric D, Lindie Fassie and Cokes. As a solo artist Jappie released at least two albums on Music Team’s Spinna imprint – 1984’s You’ve Got Me Running was recorded at RPM Studios in downtown Johannesburg using a full band of session musicians, but for 1986’s four-track EP Party Life he adopted a stripped-down approach in the studio, relying only on drum programming from engineer Phil Audoire and synths by Vusi ‘Buick’ Thwala (Step Ahead). Written and produced by Koloi, the standout track on the EP, ’My Love Is Yours’, is a moody chugger built on an earworm bass groove and a barrage of punchy synths, punctuated by Jappie’s unhurried vocals delivering memorable lines like: "I’ll treat you good and do the best I can. When I’m in the mood, I’m a loving man…" The track opens side B of Afrosynth Records’ upcoming Music Team Sampler.

B2: The Hard Workers - 'Axe Chop'

A popular South African studio project helmed by Tom Mkhize, the Hard Workers put out four albums on Music Team’s Red Label imprint between 1988 and 1990. Mkhize composed the songs (credited as Mphix), produced and arranged, typically alongside engineer David Moloele on drum programming and Sam Ndlovu on keyboards, with a revolving door of guest contributors. The Hard Workers’ sound evolved over time but stuck to a formula that worked: uptempo, largely instrumental dance music incorporating Shangaan disco and proto-house ‘pantsula’ influences, adding piercing synth hooks and occasional vocal or whistling samples, foreshadowing the imminent rise of kwaito. Taken from the 1988 album Ayoba-Yo, ’Axe Chop’ is a prime example of this pioneering sound that opened the door to the 90s and beyond — and is the fifth track on Afrosynth Record’s upcoming Music Team Sampler.

B3: Thandi - 'Instant Love (Eyami Lendoda)'

Like several other prominent female South African singers of the era, Thandi Zulu had her first break in the cast of a Gibson Kente musical: 1977’s Heartbreaker. In the mid-80s she released a string of singles, starting in 1984 with ‘Love Games’ on the Heads label (as Thandi Zulu & The Young Five). Moving with producer Peter Moticoe to the bigger Dephon/Roy B stable that was also home to Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Margino, she released ‘Move Me/Doctor Feelgood’ (as Thandi Zulu), then as TZ Junior she had a hit with ’Sugar My Love’ (reissued by Jamwax in 2018). Around this time she also recorded a single at Emcee Studio for the short-lived Racey Records, ‘Instant Love (Eyami Lendoda)’ – ultimately released in 1986 on Music Team’s Spinna imprint, this time simply as Thandi. A smouldering, synth-heavy showcase of her inimitable vocals, ‘Instant Love’ is the sixth and final track on Afrosynth Records’ Music Team Sampler (AFS045).

AfroSynth · AFS045 VA - Music Team Sampler

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