"Skokiaan" is a popular tune originally written by Zimbabwean musician August Musarurwa in the "Tsaba-tsaba" big band-style that succeeded Marabi. "Skokiaan" ("Chikokiyana" in Shona)Kutema Musasa , by Musekiwa Chingodza. Dandemutande Catalog, Track 2. Retrieved 5 February 2008. is an illegal self-made alcoholic beverage.Foreign News: Deadly Drink, Time Magazine, May 14, 1956
An early instrumental version was recorded in 1947. Within a year from its 1954 release in South Africa through Gallo Record Company, at least 19 cover versions of "Skokiaan" appeared. The version made in then-Southern Rhodesia reached No. 17 in the United States, while a cover version by Ralph Marterie climbed to No. 3. All versions combined propelled the tune to No. 2 on the Cash Box charts that year. Its popularity extended outside of music, with several urban areas in the United States taking its name.
Artists who produced their own interpretations include The Four Lads, Louis Armstrong, Bill Haley, Herb Alpert, Brave Combo, Hugh Masekela and Kermit Ruffins. The Wiggles also covered this song on their Furry Tales album. The music itself illustrates the mutual influences between Africa and the wider world.
History Original recording in "(Southern) Rhodesia" (nowadays Zimbabwe) "Skokiaan" was originally composed and first recorded as a sax and trumpet instrumental by the "African Dance Band of the Cold Storage Commission of Southern Rhodesia" (the police band of the country now called Zimbabwe) under the leadership of August Musarurwa possibly in 1947 (anthropologist David B. Coplan seems to be the sole source for this date).. 2006. Sophiatown and South African Jazz: Re-appropriating a Cultural Identity. Africultures, 1 April. Retrieved 5 February 2008. (Archived by WebCite).OneHitWonder Central . Subject: Forgotten Music. Retrieved 5 February 2008. The band comprised two saxophones, two banjos, traps, and a bass.Turino, Thomas. 2000. Nationalists, Cosmopolitans, and Popular Music in Zimbabwe, University of Chicago Press, p. 141. Several tunes played by the Cold Storage Band were recorded by ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey in June 1951.Hugh Tracey, 1903–1977. SWP Records. Retrieved 5 February 2008. On Tracey's recording, Musarurwa also apparently played for "the Chaminuka Band".. 2006. Music and Words. musicwords.nl Retrieved online from internetarchive.org 5 February 2008. Musarurwa probably copyrighted Skokiaan in 1952.
Ethnomusicologist Thomas Turino describes Skokiaan as having "a four-bar I-IV-I-V progression in 4/4 meter... The main melodic strain (A) begins with a long held trill... played by the sax on the dominant pitch... followed by an undulating, descending melody. The A strain is contrasted with sections of riffing that follow the harmonic progression fairly closely... before the main melody returns". Towards the end of the original recording a short trumpet solo "is overlapped by Musarurwa's sax". The melody throughout "is carried by the sax".Turino (2000), p. 143.
Skokiaan's significance is that it shows how Africa influenced American jazz in particular and popular music in general. Musarurwa's 1947 and 1954 recordings illustrate how unique the indigenous forms of jazz that emerged in Africa in response to global music trends. While African jazz was influenced from abroad, it also contributed to global trends.Samuelson, Meg. 2007. Yvonne Vera's Bulawayo: Modernity, (Im)mobility, Music, and Memory. Research in African Literatures, Vol. 38 Issue 2, pp. 26, 33 note 10.
Skokiaan has been adapted to various musical genres, from jazz to mento/reggae (Sugar Belly & the Canefields), and rock and roll. The tune has also been arranged for strings (South Africa's Soweto String Quartet) and steel drums (Trinidad and Tobago's Southern All Stars).Taylor, Lori E and Leah Gross. 2005. Cook Recordings Inventory. Retrieved 5 February 2008. A merengue version was recorded in the Dominican Republic by "Antonio Morel y su Orquestra" in the 1950s, with an alto saxophone arrangement by "Felix del Rosario".Austerlitz, Paul. 2005. Jazz Consciousness: Music, Race, and Humanity. Wesleyan University Press, pp. 105–106. A number of reggae versions of the song also exist, and marimba covers are particularly popular.
Skokiaan has been recorded many times, initially as part of a wave of world music that swept across the globe in the 1950s, spurred on in Africa by Hugh Tracey and in the United States by Alan Lomax, to name two. Skokiaan gained popularity outside Africa at the same time as another South African record did: "Mbube", a 1939 song by Solomon Linda also known as "Wimoweh", was later released in 1961 as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by The Tokens. The sheet music was eventually released in 17 between European and African languages.Stone, Ruth M. 1999. The Garland Handbook of African Music. Routledge, p. 346. In France in 1955 the orchestra of Alix Combelle recorded a cover of Skokiaan on the Phillips label.Dansez avec Alix Combelle et son grand orchestre. . Retrieved 5 February 2008.Dansez avec Alix Combelle et son grand orchestre. Album cover. Retrieved 5 February 2008. Jacques Hélian also recorded a version. Performers recorded Skokiaan in Finland (Kipparikvartetti), Germany (Bert Kaempfert), and Sweden (Lily Berglund), among others. In the United Kingdom, vocal versions were recorded by South African singers Eve Boswell and Alma Cogan.
Versions recorded in the United States However, it was in the United States that Skokiaan peaked on the charts, where it was recorded by a variety of musicians, such as The Four Lads and Johnny Hodges. Hodges' version is notable not only because he recorded the tune with Erroll Garner but also for the reason that his band at the time included John Coltrane, in a minor role.Coltrane, John. 2004. John Coltrane – Complete Studio Sessions With Johnny Hodges. Definitive Classics 11258. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
In 1954 Gallotone Records released a version of Skokiaan by "August Musarurwa and the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm Band".Music from the Hugh Tracey archives.. Retrieved 5 February 2008. After 170,000 copies were sold in South Africa, the president of London Records E. R. Lewis, forwarded "a couple of copies" to London's offices in New York. Meanwhile, a pilot had brought the original version from South Africa to the U.S.A., and given it to Bill Randle of the radio station WERE 1300 AM in Cleveland. Although the copy was cracked, Randle was so impressed by what he heard that he asked Walt McQuire of London's New York office to send him a new copy. After Randle played the record four times, interest soared. London Records shipped 6,000 copies to New York from Great Britain, followed in September 1954 by a further 20,000.1954. S. African Tune Latest Smash on Discs in U.S. Downbeat Magazine, 8 September. Retrieved 10 February 2008.1955. Top Jock. Time Magazine, 14 February. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm's original version took off and reached No. 17 on the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.New Pop Records. 1954. Time Magazine, 13 September. Retrieved 5 February 2008. Whether London Records' was a new recording, or a re-release of the Cold Storage Band's old recording under a new name, is uncertain. The band's original name was changed, no doubt for easier Western consumption,Highlife Piccadilly. African Music on 45 rpm records in the UK, 1954–1981. Retrieved 5 February 2008. perhaps by the record company or by the band itself.
In 1954 covers of "Skokiaan" appeared on United States charts alongside Bulawayo Sweet Rhythm Band's original. The hitmakers included Ralph Marterie, who reached No. 3 on the Cash Box chart. no date. A brief research on the historical background of "Skokian [sic] á go go". "Bill Haley Tribute, Part II", from La Historia del Rock 'N' Roll. Retrieved 6 February 2008. Marterie's instrumental was featured on ABC Radio's The Martin Block Show as "the best new record of the week". It was the first time an instrumental had been selected for the show. A claim that charted versions by Ray Anthony, who supposedly reached No. 18, by Perez Prado, supposedly reached No. 26, and by Louis Armstrong, a Dixieland version said to have reached No. 29, can so far not be verified. On the Cash Box best-selling record charts, where all hit versions were combined, Skokiaan reached No. 2 on 16 October 1954.The Cash Box Best Selling Singles. 1954. Week ending 16 October 1954. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
English lyrics were added in 1954 by American Tom Glazer for the Canadian group The Four Lads. Glazer is perhaps better known for his 1963 single "On Top of Spaghetti". On 4 August 1954 the Four Lads recorded through Columbia Records the only vocal version of Skokiaan that reached the United States charts, peaking at No. 7 in the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart. In line with the spirit of the period, Glazer's lyrics contain what Time arts columnist Richard Corliss describes as jovial "ethnographic condescension":Corliss, Richard. 2001. That Old Feeling: Yesterday When We Were Young. Time Magazine, 18 May. Retrieved 5 February 2008. "Oh-far away in Africa / Happy, happy Africa / ...You sing a bingo bango bingo / In hokey pokey skokiaan".Skokiaan: August Msarurgwa/Tom Glazer. Retrieved 5 February 2008. Ethnomusicologist Thomas Turino points out that Glazer's depiction of the jungle setting is far removed from the topography of Southern Africa. But its one-size fits "tropical paradise" idea was typical of exotic treatments at the time for songs from Latin America, Asia, and Hawaii.Turino (2000), p. 142.
In music historian Colin Escott’s liner notes of Moments to Remember: The Very Best of the Four Lads (2000), group member/vocal arranger Bernie Toorish recalled the day the Four Lads’s version came to being.
— Bernie Toorish(2000) Moments to Remember: The Very Best of the Four Lads by The Four Lads [CD booklet]. New York: Taragon Records and Sony Music TARCD-1079.
In August 1954, Louis Armstrong recorded Skokiaan in two parts with Sy Oliver's Orchestra in New York (Decca 29256). Part 1 (the A side) is a purely instrumental version. In contrast, Part 2 (side B) has Armstrong singing the lyrics.VinylToVideo. Armstrong, Louis. 1954. "Skokiaan" Parts 1 and 2. Decca 29256. Complete playback of both sides on last.fm. Retrieved 8 February 2008. Opens video file directly. (Despite authoritative claimsAnsell, Gwen. 2005. Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music, and Politics in South Africa. Continuum International Publishing Group, p. 38. that Armstrong recorded a version entitled "Happy Africa", this cannot so far be substantiated from his discography).Minn, Michael and Scott Johnson. 2008. Louis Armstrong: Singles. Retrieved 8 February 2008. On his tour of Africa, Armstrong met Musarurwa in November 1960. Whether both musicians jammed together,Pan African Network Trust. Mahube Sound. Retrieved 5 February 2008. or Armstrong just gave Musarurwa a jacket,Musarurwa: Composer of 1951 mega-hit song Skokiaan. The Herald. Retrieved 5 February 2008. is unclear. In any case, the difference between the date Armstrong recorded Skokiaan and the date he met Musarurwa appears to invalidate claims that Armstrong did it after he came face to face with Musarurwa.