Sunday morning music

 

A few weeks ago we looked at the music of McCully Workshop, a South African progressive rock group that never made the big time internationally (but, in my opinion, deserved to have done so).

Tully McCully has worked with many other South African musicians, perhaps none more successfully than a singer who's relatively little known outside that country.  Lesley Rae Dowling burst onto the local music scene in 1980 with an eponymous album, from which her first hit single "The Spaniard" was drawn.  She became very popular there, but refused to spend much time outside the country, and remained very attached to her farm home and her husband, regarding the music industry with suspicion (something that's not hard to understand, given the way it chews up and spits out "prospects" with monotonous regularity).  She always remained true to her vision of herself, her farm and her family, giving the latter precedence over her music.

I enjoyed her music, although I lost touch with it after I left South Africa.  In putting together this morning's selections, I discovered that she'd produced a number of albums after that with which I wasn't familiar, so I'm enjoying re-discovering her music.

Let's start with her first hit single, and then put up a few more in no particular order.  I think you'll find her iconic, very different from most "pop" singers, and deserving of your listening time.

You'll find plenty more of her music on YouTube, and some of her albums and singles on Amazon.com.

Peter