It is Zimbabwe versus the United States this week.
The Four Brothers (who are not brothers) were formed as far back as 1977 when Zimbabwe was still Rhodesia. They play jingly jangly pop music with songs sung in the Shona language.
Along side the likes of Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited and The Bhundu Boys they were championed in the UK by John Peel and Andy Kershaw and they released a number of albums on the Cooking Vinyl label.
Sadly three of the founding members died between 1997 and 2002 with Frank Sibanda who had replaced Edward Matiyasi passing away in 2010.
The Rogers Sisters were an Indie band from Brooklyn who were active from 1999 to 2007 releasing three albums during that period. They consisted of sisters Laura and Jennifer Rogers and multi instrumentalist/vocalist Miyuki Furtado.
They play some bouncy and feisty indie rock but having just listed to the album Makorokoto by the Brothers there is only one winner for me this week.
Three to go
The Four Brothers - Makorokoto
The Four Brothers - Uchandifunga
This possibly won't come as a surprise but I'm voting for the Brothers.
ReplyDeleteThe first Sisters track sounds like it was recorded in a cupboard.
Shocked I tell you, shocked!
ReplyDeleteI'll be interested to hear The Maths Teacher's opinions on songs about Calculators...
ReplyDeletetotal bobbins
DeleteThis is a one sided contest and a tad unfair on the sisters as I was nearly always going to vote for The Four Brothers whoever they might have come up against
ReplyDelete