The Royal Amanzimtoti Entertainers

Artist: The Royal Amanzimtoti Entertainers

LP: Zulu Music and Songs [10" EP]

Song: "Solata Nje"

[ listen ]

Happy New Year! I didn't intend to go MIA for two months, but I guess that's what happens if you never actually log in and post anything. I didn't get to put up any Christmas records! Also, several people have died in the past few months that I've lined up postings for, but since it's a New Year and everything I figured I'd start with life! Or actually, I'm starting with people who have probably been dead for a very long time instead of the recently deceased. 

This 10" various artists compilation of Zulu music from the 1930s and '40s was released on London Records in 1951; it was printed in the USA. It's one of the things I picked up yesterday at Everyday Music on Capitol Hill with the gift certificate my friend Trevor gave me for Christmas. Thanks, Trevor! 

I didn't expect to find any information about The Royal Amanzimtoti Entertainers online, so was surprised when a few things turned up. First, you can sample several more of their recordings on the South African Music Archive Project website here, and then there's also some information and a photo below that I found and copied without permission from a book on South African music, published by University of Chicago Press in 1991. 

I hope anyone who's reading this had a wonderful set of holidays in 2018. Life here on the farm has been hectic, but it's simply bound to get better. It's one of my 2019 resolutions to pop in here more pften to post records and reviews and things.

[ The Royal Amanzimtoti Entertainers ]

Luise Rainer [1910-2014]

[ Luise Rainer ]

I was distraught to receive an email yesterday morning from my good friend Ryan with only this in the subject line: Luise Rainer. I knew what that meant. The beautiful and spirited actress who won back-to-back Best Actress Oscars in the 1930s had died. It's not that I was surprised, since she was 104 years old, but it just seems that if a person is going to live to be 104, then they might as well just go on living to 150. Ms. Rainer, who I became somewhat obsessed with back in 2009, was one of very few movie stars from Hollywood's Golden Era of the 1930s who was still living here on Earth. If you haven't seen Rainer's Oscar-winning performances in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936) or THE GOOD EARTH (1937), I suggest you check them out. THE GREAT WALTZ (1938) is also pretty good.

While you've gotta' admire Luise Rainer for having the strength of character to stand up to MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer, walking away from Hollywood stardom instead of letting MGM control her life, it's a shame that Meyer was such a dick. Why not just give this talented young lady some more meaty roles to play and keep her around for another 40 or 50 pictures? It sure would be a treat to have at least a few more Luise Rainer movies available to watch today. You can find Rainer's obituary in the NY Times here, read more about her life and career here, and go here to listen to a piece about the actress on NPR.

Luise Rainer

[ January 12, 1910 — December 30, 2014 ]

We will miss you, Luise.