Tickets are Limited, so don’t delay.

Tickets from https://bit.ly/Shifty80sLaunch

Date: Thursday, 26 February 2026

Time: Event (and recording) starts at 19h00, if you’re dining, try to get your orders in by 18:00.

Venue: Deer Park Café

Address: 2 Deerpark Drive W, Vredehoek, Cape Town 8001

Shifty Records Vinyl, CD & DVDs on sale - Cash + Card option available

Note: The ticket price does not include food or drinks.

Brought to you by Shifty Records and Permanent Record.

The decision on which songs to include in this Shifty compilation was not easy. Do we showcase one genre from our eclectic catalogue, perhaps the most accessible? Or do we highlight the diversity of artists who have, at some stage, called Shifty their home?

The latter seemed more appropriate, but this just led to another question: should there be a theme to the compositions, or should it be a “best of”? Seeing as Shifty was the only music label on the entire planet to specialise in recording South African artists with something to say at a time and a place where there was plenty to be said, but few musicians were doing so, the choice of theme became simple.

Through these fourteen songs, a unique story can be told. Or should we say “stories”, because as much as the message carried by the song is important, the perspective from which the artist is singing tells us so much more about the diverse cultures from which they came and the realities of their experience of those dark days.

What comes through here is that apartheid touched everyone in southern Africa, irrespective of colour, class, or creed. Ghoema, mbaqanga & township jive, malo music, people’s poet, worker choir, cabaret, theatrical, punk, Swahili swing, rock, pop, ballad & jazz.

What makes the story of the work that Shifty did so compelling is that it was able to provide a home to such divergent voices. With Shifty, there were no pigeon holes that the artist had to shape shift to fit into for us to become interested in making a recording. Our only prerequisites were that the music came from the heart, had something to say, was fuelled by the energy of originality, and sounded like it came from our part of Africa...

Musically, Own Affairs balances jagged guitar lines, elastic bass grooves, and spacious dub rhythms with layers of found sound that challenge conventional song structures. While the influences of UK post-punk and experimental outfits can be heard, the album is undeniably rooted in South Africa’s own contradictions and cultural multilayers. Sony’s approach gave voice to a kind of sonic resistance—subversive not through direct slogans, but through the way it reassembled everyday noise, state propaganda, and countercultural energy into something that felt both critical and strangely playful.

Upon its release, the album struggled to find official acceptance, frequently running up against censorship barriers, yet it circulated widely within underground music networks. Today, Own Affairs is regarded as a pioneering statement in South African alternative music. This bold, genre-defying work captured the dissonance of its era while pushing the boundaries of what a post-punk album could be.

GET YOURSELF A VINYL COPY OF THE LIMITED REISSUE OF OWN AFFAIRS AUTOGRAPHED BY WARRICK SONY!

Visit https://www.permanentrecord.co.za/

Finally reissued on vinyl: the first full-length album from Kalahari Surfers, completed in the summer of 1984. This groundbreaking South African release is a pioneering post-punk record of anti-apartheid rock that EMI initially rejected for being “political, pornographic and anti-religious.” Still banned in South Africa, it remains a powerful statement of resistance. This exact reissue replicates the original LP, including the A3 folded insert.

Each copy is personally signed by Warrick Sony, the founder and sole permanent member of Kalahari Surfers, making this a true collector’s item.

Featuring Warrick Sony, Lloyd Ross, Mac McKenzie, and Hilton Schilder.

An exposé of the Genuines’ album featuring kaapse klopse banjo legend Sammy McKenzie. This is the story behind their actual ghoema album, which their album titled ‘Goema’, wasn’t.

If that sounds confusing, this podcast should hopefully help clear things up.

The Genuines formed in April 1986 and moved between Cape Town and Johannesburg enjoying widespread support and varied audiences.

Prior to the formation of the Genuines, the band members were exposed to a variety of musical styles from cabaret, dinner music, and traditional Cape Goema (or Kaapse Klopse) to jazz, rock, funk, and punk.

Three of the members of The Genuines hailed from Cape Town and grew up in the Goema music environment. Many people feared that Kaapse Klopse may have died at the end of District Six, but the strong influences that the band grew up with, bubbled to the surface.

Samuel ‘Mr Mac’ McKenzie (born 1924) was one of the few surviving exponents of Goema music. He played the banjo for more than fifty years in a variety of bands that play Goema rhythms: big dance bands, klopse troupes, marching bands, and jazz bands.

The magic of Mr. Mac’s banjo was a part of the Cape scene that is rapidly becoming history. On this album, Mr. Mac joins his son, Mac, and the rest of The Genuines in traditional light classics and original compositions, to recreate the atmosphere of the annual open-air assemblies of Goema bands in preparation for the Coon Carnivals.

Mr. Mac and The Genuines (SHIB 27)
Released February 2, 1987

Samuel “Mr Mac” McKenzie: Banjo

The Genuines:
Gerald “Mac” McKenzie: Bass, Vocals
Hilton Schilder: Keyboards, Percussion, vocals
Gerard O’Brien: Guitar
Ian Herman: Drums

Recorded at Shifty Studio July to October 1986
Produced and engineered by Lloyd Ross
Cover by Sarah Hills
Photos by Peter McKenzie and Lloyd Ross

About the Genuines:

Gerald “Mack” McKenzie: Bass and vocals Born 27th October ’54 in Athlone, Cape Town. Mack played with a variety of cover bands before deciding that original music was the only way.

Hilton Schilder: Keyboards, percussion, and vocals. Born 19th January ’61 in Athlone Cape Town. Son of legendary local jazz pianist, Tony Schilder, Hilton has virtually been playing since birth. In common with Mack, he has grown up with the unique Kaapse ‘Copse musical tradition.

Gerard O’Brian: Guitar and vocals. Born 1st August ’59 in Port Elizabeth. Prior to the Genuines, Gerard played with Mack and Hilton in various cover bands all over South Africa.

Ian Herman: Drums Born 9th March ’63 in Albertsville, Johannesburg. Ian played with a number of groups including Isja, Wasamata, and the Roger Lucey Band.

The Genuines - Goema (SHIFT 22)

Released August 6, 1986

The Genuines were:
Mac McKenzie - bass, vocals
Hilton Schilder - keyboards, vocals, percussion
Gerard O Brien - guitar
Ian Herman - drums

Published by Shifty Music ZA
Recorded and Produced by Lloyd Ross
Album cover design: Graphic Equalizer
Front Cover Photo: Deon Maas
Back Cover photo: Joëlle Chesselet

The story of this album’s recording is as powerful as the music itself. As the members of Sankomota (then known as Uhuru) were barred from entering South Africa, the founders of Shifty Records Lloyd Ross and Warrick Sony took a mobile studio in a caravan across the border into the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho.

This album was born not in a pristine studio, but in a makeshift setup, captured against all odds. It stands as a testament to the band’s incredible talent and Shifty’s unwavering commitment to subverting the apartheid system by giving voice to those it tried to silence.

The Legacy of Sankomota

Sankomota, led by the visionary late composer and singer Frank Leepa, went on to become one of the most critically acclaimed and influential bands to emerge from Southern Africa. Their debut album is the crucial first chapter in that story, introducing the world to their complex harmonies, intricate arrangements, and powerful social commentary.

Shifty Records is proud to announce the reissue of the seminal self-titled debut album by the legendary Basotho band, Sankomota, available on limited edition 180-gram black vinyl, and a special edition blue vinyl, and features a brand-new digital mix for streaming and download services out shortly, allowing modern audiences to experience this masterpiece with unprecedented clarity and depth.

The vinyl records are available now to South African shoppers at https://www.permanentrecord.co.za/products/sankomota-sankomota and will also available in Europe at select stores soon thanks to our distributor soundsofsubterrania.com.

This reissue celebrates not only the music but also the spirit of resistance and artistic integrity that Shifty Records and Sankomota embodied. It is a vital piece of musical history, restored and presented for both long-time admirers and new discoverers.

Released today on the 30th anniversay of the untimely passing of James Phillips of The Cherry Faced Lurchers!

Go take a listen! https://vmgafrica.lnk.to/TheOtherWhiteAlbumAr

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Lloyd Ross and Warrick Sony of Shifty discuss The OtherWhite album, the definitive South African protest rock album recorded by The Cherry Faced Lurchers in 1986, then "lost", rediscovered and remixed during the Covid lockdown!

The album, which takes its name from the ridiculous stupidity of apartheid race classifications at that time is available on all digital platforms on 31 July 20325, the 30th anniversary of the passing of South African music icon, and Cherry Faced Lurchers frontman and songwriter James Phillips.

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The Cherry Faced Lurchers long lost ‘The OtherWhite Album’ finally sees digital release on the 31 July 2025, the 30th anniversary of the passing of South African music icon James Phillips.

“The OtherWhite Album” by The Cherry Faced Lurchers was originally recorded during 1986 and 1987 and was intended to be the definitive South African rock album. Originally, only ever released as a cassette tape in 1992, the album was unearthed in 2020 during the COVID-19 lock down and lovingly remixed by Shifty’s Lloyd Ross with input from Lurchers members Lee Edwards, Richard Frost, Mark Bennet, as well as Steve Howells & Jannie van Tonder, it was mastered by Willem Möller.

Pre-Save it now at https://VMGAfrica.lnk.to/TheOtherWhiteAlbumAr