- 12inch
- Recommended
Captain Mosez
Fly Cherry Fly / Hey! Hey! Hey!
Afrosynth
- Cat No: AFS046
- updated:2021-04-04
80s bubblegum from South Africa. Colorful synthesizer sound. A superb record.
Track List
Re-issued for the very first time. Up until now the Captain Mosez 12" remained a highly sought after S.A. disco obscurity ( apparently going for the big $ on the collector market), but Afrosynth do the right thing in the right way and bring this edition for us all to enjoy.
In 1985 a young musician named Moses Mafiri walked into EMI Studios in Johannesburg. Working with Selwyn Shandel, then one of the label’s prolific in-house producers, the two tracks they recorded – ‘Fly Cherry Fly’ and ‘Hey! Hey! Hey!’ - reflect the range of international influences in South Africa’s burgeoning ‘bubblegum’ sound – Italo disco, electro-funk, even rock.
“I remember Moses as a very quiet, talented and gentle guy. He never really had a great voice but he used to come up with excellent melodies and lyrical concepts,” remembers Shandel today, admitting that he never saw or heard from him again after that session. Mafiri never released as Captain Mosez again, although he would later resurface in the backing band of internationally renowned Vusi Mahlasela.
In 1985 a young musician named Moses Mafiri walked into EMI Studios in Johannesburg. Working with Selwyn Shandel, then one of the label’s prolific in-house producers, the two tracks they recorded – ‘Fly Cherry Fly’ and ‘Hey! Hey! Hey!’ - reflect the range of international influences in South Africa’s burgeoning ‘bubblegum’ sound – Italo disco, electro-funk, even rock.
“I remember Moses as a very quiet, talented and gentle guy. He never really had a great voice but he used to come up with excellent melodies and lyrical concepts,” remembers Shandel today, admitting that he never saw or heard from him again after that session. Mafiri never released as Captain Mosez again, although he would later resurface in the backing band of internationally renowned Vusi Mahlasela.
From AFROSYNTH, the maniacal reissue label run by Johannesburg's DJ Okapi — a specialist in 80s Afro house and synth sounds, the style known as bubblegum or kwaito that developed in South Africa under the influence of disco and house — comes this CAPTAIN MOSEZ 12", produced by Selwyn Shandel, who also worked with the likes of Hugh Masekela and was at the time an in-house producer for EMI. The colorful synthesizer production, hinting at the influence of 80s synth pop, sounds fresh. (Original Japanese text by Saito)