Hot Tropics

Recorded live at the Chelsea August 1981.

its hot in the tropics, the tropics is hot
here we sit in this melting pot
troubles brewing, people  stewing
want to know what it is that I’m doing

old lady’s in the court yard she’s, throwing bones
kids in the alley, throwing stones
I’m on the corner waiting for Horner
who say’s, “don’t be late”, still I wait

sidewinder, mindbender
dig up the gold, hide the splendor
when you’re through,here’s what you do
go to the Pampas, where you can lump us

deep underground you can hear the sound
of this crazy world its turning round and round
drills a’thumping, hearts a’pumping
we sure have started something

the heat its on, the pot it boils
some sweat some drown, some pick up the spoils
the sun it shines, just about all the time
walking cross this land I can’t, I can’t understand

Hot Tropics

Kalabash

Bolina

Unknown album (‏01/‏03/‏2018 12:00:35)

Neue Wilde -  Cunts, Traitors, Betrayal and Liars

Punk In Africa presents a "documentary mixtape" featuring rare and unreleased live and demo recordings by pioneering South African multi-racial punk-reggae band National Wake, unused audio outtakes from the PIA archives and rare recordings by some of the numerous South African bands related to or inspired by the band's legacy. 

National Wake were one of the most striking and influential bands to emerge from the first wave of alternative music in South Africa. Drawing on diverse roots in township soul, protest folk, counterculture rock and the local tradition of guitar-based jazz, and further inspired by their discovery of roots reggae and punk rock in the aftermath of the Soweto Uprising, the band explored a sound that was entirely unique in the South African rock scene of the time. National Wake formed in 1978 around the core of Ivan Kadey, a radical architecture student and veteran of the Johannesburg underground folk culture, and the brothers Gary and Punka Khoza from Soweto, who had grown up in the township soul circuit of the early 1970s. Bassist Gary had been a teenage star in hit band Flaming Souls before tutoring his younger brother Punka on drums under the auspices of local funk band The Monks. The band also included at various times as additional members the Sotho percussionist and street character “One-Eyed” Mike Lebisi, original lead guitarist Paul Giraud, jazz saxophonist Kelly Petlane and experimental slide guitarist Steve Moni, formerly of Cape Town-based Safari Suits and the Jonathan Handley power-pop side project Popguns.     

In 1979 National Wake joined forces with the first South African punk band Wild Youth along with New Wave acts Safari Suits and Housewives Choice for the ill-fated Riot Rock tour, which foundered when some venues refused permission for National Wake to play as a multi-racial band. Already living in a communal house in Johannesburg, the band retreated from the conventional network of rock clubs to play at various township discos and rural homelands around the country, becoming almost entirely self-sufficient in the process. In 1981, their self-titled album was released by WEA under the auspices of SA music industry figure Benjy Mudie but was quickly “gazetted” by the apartheid authorities due to its radical content, and the band folded under almost continual petty harassment from the authorities.

After the demise of National Wake, the band’s members remained active for a time on the local music scene before eventually dispersing around the world. Gary Khoza went on to play with early-80s activist ensemble Malopoets, while Punka formed South Africa’s first true reggae band, Dread Warriors, which continued to perform Wake material. Mike Lebisi also featured some of the unreleased Wake repertoire on a solo album he released under the name Michael LBS. Ivan Kadey co-founded the influential Shifty Music label and helped build their mobile studio by using some of the Wake’s travelling sound equipment, used throughout the rest of the decade by Warrick Sony of Kalahari Surfers to record some of the most interesting and independent music in the country. Both Gary and Punka developed long-term relationships with members of post-punk band The Pantsulas (later Mapantsula) while the alternative scene based along Johannesburg’s Rockey Street during the mid-80s featured several multi-racial post-punk bands operating along similar lines as National Wake, notably Two Tone-style township jive band The Dynamics and Afrikaans agit-prop outfit KOOS. The direct influence of National Wake can also be heard in the incorporation of dub and funk basslines, Southern African guitar styles, protest lyrics, and proud use of African imagery in many bands of the politicised alternative music scene which followed, from the angular post-punk of Gay Marines to afro-rock fusionists Kabasa to the subversive afro-pop of Via Afrika.    

The National Wake album was re-released in 2011 and is available from Retro Fresh (http://freshmusic.co.za/retrofresh.htm#nationalwake) or for download through amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/National-Wake/dp/B004YFNS9W).

Tracklisting: 
1. National Wake - Black Punk Rockers 
2. Craig Duncan intro (from Czech Radio documentary, 2009)
3. Mike Lebisi with National Wake - Corner House Stone 
4. Ivan Kadey on origins of National Wake 
5. Flaming Souls – Cracking 
6. The Monks – Blockhead 
7. Ivan Kadey on the sound of the band and punk rock / National Wake early live material
8. Wild Youth - Record Companies (demo) 
9. Safari Suits - South African in Paris 
10. Popguns - Home Address Burning Road 
11. National Wake - Everybody Loves Freedom (live in Rockey Street, Johannesburg, 1979) 
12. Benjy Mudie on the National Wake album / National Wake – Mercenaries 
13. National Wake - International News 
14. National Wake – Stratocaster 
15. Ivan Kadey on demise of band / National Wake – Queen Victoria
16. National Wake – Supaman 
17. National Wake – Walk In Africa 
18. National Wake – Nothing in this World (live at the Chelsea, Johannesburg, 1981)
19. Deon Maas on importance of National Wake / National Wake – Vatsikateni
20. Dread Warriors – I and I 
21. Michael LBS - Africa’s Request 
22. Malopoets – Madoda 
23. Warrick Sony on 1980s anti-apartheid music 
24. Kalahari Surfers – Reconnaissance 
25. Mapantsula – Pambere 
26. The Dynamics – Siyabonga 
27. Gay Marines - Fork Tongue 
28. Kabasa - Burning Splinters 
29. Via Afrika - Caprivi Strip 
30. KOOS - Is Jy ‘n Moegoe? 
31. National Wake v Kalahari Surfers - Bolina (DJ Zhao Dubstrumental Edit) 
32. Lesego Rampolokeng with Kalahari Surfers – Johannesburg

compiled, selected and mixed by Keith Jones (Prague, CZ) and Craig Duncan (Accra, Ghana) 
www.nationalwake.com    www.punkinafrica.co.za

Walk In Africa - the National Wake Documentary Mixtape

early days of the stay home
christo pellani drums and percussion
ivan kadey guitars and vocal
warrick swinney bass and mix

ISOLATION#9

Warrick Sony Bass and Production
Kevin Jarvis Drums
Josh Sklair Guitar
Ivan Kadey Lead  Guitar and Vocal

Lyric

now is the time with the world 
afire
and the flame 
burning higher

blaze blazing 
tazer tazing
and the smoke 
tears your eyes

preacher man preaching
upside down bible 
his teaching
lift the veil from lies

now is the time with the world
aflame
freedom fighter 
that’s your name

running boulders by the shore
trust eyes and legs till can’t run no more
don mask 
into the deep dive

wonderland comes alive
drifting through forests of kelp on high
leaving land behind
come up forbreath yes you find
flocks of birds in the air
endless sky everywhere

o’yay
o’yay
o’yay
o’yeah!

now is the time make the world
anew
with all our colors
shining true

now is the time make the world
anew
with all our colors
shining true

o’yay
o’yay
o’yay o’yay 
o’yeah!

That's Your Name

Immigrant song.
Warrick Sony Bass and  Production
Kevin Jarvis Drums
Josh Sklair Lead Guitar
Martin Pell Keyboard
Ivan Kadey Guitar and Vocal

Lyric

Chief Joseph / Trouble Song

Chief Joseph please understand
I had to leave my homeland
start a new line, leave my bones behind
Come to California, yeah my fortune to find
Come to California, leave my troubles behind
and what did I find?
wherever I go
find me trouble and woe

Chief Joseph I understand
Not all came of their own plan
sold into slavery took hundreds of years to be free
come to the land of Dixie, come in shackle and chain
come down the Mississippi yeah well, could not keep your own name
it will drive you insane
beyond belief
so much trouble and grief

New day rise
Keep hope alive
Hold on

Woe mama yeah!

come to the land of Liberty  yeah
brother and sister and me
come to the land of equality
come pilgrim, refugee
we all come to be free
its a long road to run
yeah there’s much to be won 
and race is not done
but I believe we shall overcome!

said a new day surely rise
keep your eye on the prize
hold on, hold on
ain’t no time, sing good trouble
ain’t no time, sing good trouble
ain’t no time, sing good trouble
trouble song.

Yeah!

Chief Joseph

Minimalist Electro.  A reflection of these troubled times in December 2020.  Musically I approached this song with the same approach as I did in 1977 but with synthesizers instead of guitars.  Lyrically it is open to interpretation so fill in the gaps.

Hot Tropics

NWake

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