The Rudimentals may be kicking up a storm with their new album and performances around the country, but they still aren’t getting any radio play. How much longer is this situation going to be allowed to go on? South African musicians are holding up their part of the bargain with great new sounds and styles, but mainstream radio isn’t paying attention.
“I feel like the level of musicianship has improved so much; there are so many good bands, and when a good band comes along they up the stakes,” says Jody Engelbrecht, Rudimentals trumpeter.
The nine-piece band believe they have a semi-commercial sound, fusing ska, reggae, rock and dancehall into a melting pot of Southern African goodness.
Trombone player Ross McDonald says that although they play music that appeals to many audiences, the mainstream radio stations do not playlist them. “Campus radio stations are great, but radio stations such as 5fm just won’t hear it,” he says.
“I played the album for this major guy at one of the commercial radio stations that we were trying to get playlisted on,” says Engelbrecht. “He loved it, but said it doesn’t fit with the format the radio station is aiming for. That is something that needs to change. I think radio has a responsibility to push listenership in this country, otherwise everybody makes records that sound exactly the same.”
“[Radio stations] don’t realise that they have an amazing tool with which to further South African music and they should feel obliged to do as much as they can,” says McDonald. “Instead, they sit back and try and make as much money as possible.”
This scenario is not new. It is the same frustration that caused Johannesburg rockabilly band The Diesel Whores to write their fan favourite Not Bad for a Local DJ, which features the line “5fm is not your friend”.
The song plays on the often heard phrase “not bad for a local band”, and The Rudimentals agree with the critiquing of this sentiment. After all, they are good enough for their record label, Moonska World, to get them playlisted on BBC1 radio — it’s the local stations that are not interested.
“We need to raise the expectations of radio stations and record labels. There is always this preconceived idea that if you are local, your standards are lower,” says McDonald.
Formed in 2002, The Rudimentals originally comprised three Cape Town musicians who wanted to play ska. They subsequently recruited Zimbabwean singer TBoaz, and convinced the members of Cape Town acid jazz band Filthy McNasty to become their horn section.
“The reason our band works is because we have nine guys from completely different backgrounds. We have old and young, fat and thin, white, black and coloured,” says Engelbrecht.
In 2003 they released their debut album, More Fire, a wonderful little record that borrowed as much from ska legends such as The Skatelites as it did from British new-wave ska bands Madness and The Specials. Although it received great reviews and the band established themselves as Cape Town favourites, they were not satisfied.
McDonald — who produced their second album, Set It Proper — waxes lyrical about the sonic leap that the band has taken on their new album and the various new influences, such as hip-hop and traditional Shona music, that has crept into the Rudimentals melting pot.
The band may take their influence from a wealth of ska greats, but there is a lot of South Africa creeping into their music as well, which they have dubbed Afro-ska.
“We make a point of doing that,” says McDonald. “This is where we come from and we are proud of that. We don’t want to sound like some band from the United Kingdom playing ska.”
So, having launched their new album countrywide, what’s next for South Africa’s ska pioneers? “Africa,” says McDonald. “Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique … There is so much happening here. Why is everyone so eager to go to Europe when there are people here dying to listen to good local music?” asks Engelbrecht.
McDonald says that despite touring the band plans to launch a live album in about six months, and hopes to have their third album in stores six months after that. “Well, that’s the plan,” he says, laughing.
Whether their new songs will make it on to local radio, though, is dubious. So go out and support The Rudimentals’ live gigs, buy their great new album and harass the commercial radio stations until they start playing quality South African music.