Catalogue               Group                                                   A side/B side                                                                Year

Number

SAN 7-9026        Ecko Jazz Band                          Alice/Obogootwali                                            1973

AS 2038-39

SAN 7-9028        Uholo Jazz Band                        Flora Awino/Agustinus Osogo                            1973

AS 2042-43

SAN 9055           Shirati Revolution                       O.C. Rambaya Jagem/Dr Omondi Oluo              1973

SAN 7-9075        Apollo Komesha                         Antonina Anyango/Lucy Achieng                       1973

AS 2312-13

SAN 9106           Uholo Jazz Band                         Benda Atieno/John Omendo

AS 2509-10

SAN 7-9117        Shirati Revolution                      Achieng Dema Owewa/Paul Odongo                   1973

AS 2574-75

SAN 9120           Orch Lunna-Kidi                         Florida/Oruwa-Kitunguu

AS 2800-01

SAN 7-9147        Apollo Komesha '71                    Priscah Auma/Charles Awuor                            1974

AS 2756-57

SAN 7-9190        Kajulu Boys Band                       Musa Oguna/Tom Omin Mary                            1974

AS 3116-17

The South African stash

SAN 20               Orch Les Mangelepa                   Nyako-Konya Pts 1 & 2                                     1979             

SAN 21               Orch Les Wanyika                       Paulina Pts 1 & 2                                             1979

SAN 22               Orch Boma Liwanza                    Masua Mabe Pts 1 & 2                                      1979

SAN 23               Orch Super Volcano                    Shida Pts 1 & 2                                                1979

SAN 24               Maroon Commandos                   Maona Kijicho Pts 1 & 2                                    1979

SAN 26               Orch Les Noirs                            Mayaka Pts 1 & 2                                            1979

SAN 27               Orch Les Wanyika                       Sina Makosa Pts 1 & 2                                     1980

ASL 2240            Orch Les Noirs                           Tshiku Pts 1 & 2                                              1980

ASL 2250            Orch Les Mangelepa                   Dracula Pts 1 & 2                                             1980

ASL 2252            Orch Les Mangelepa                   Amua Pts 1 & 2                                               1980

ASL 2256            Orch Viva Makale                       Akamba Pts 1 & 2                                            1980

ASL 2254            Orch Baba National                    Assana-Nela Pts 1 & 2                                      1980

ASL 3380            Orch Pepelepe                           Baleki Nzela Pts 1 & 2                                      1980

PA 7205              Orch Okamm Stars                    Beatrice Kageya/Abana Ba Okamm                   1980

PA 7-7206           Orch Butere Sharpshooters        Mwana Anindo/Oteshie                                     1980

PA 7-7219           Kabras Boys Band                     Khwanyola Hasara/Dinah Nanyama                   1980

PA 7-7220           Okamm Stars Band                    Jenifa Dumbe/George Ambuche                        1980

PA 7-7221           Orch Abeingo Success                Mupere-pere Pts 1 & 2                                     1980

POL 426              Orch Simba Wanyika                  Daina Pts 1 & 2                                               1980

POL 434              Maroon Commandos                   Charonyi ni Wasi Pts 1 & 2                              1980

POL 435              Orch Super Volcano                    Baba Mdogo/Hayati Ndugi Sembuli                   1980

POL 437              Orch Les Wanyika                      Pamela Pts 1 & 2                                             1980

POL 438              Maroon Commandos                   Wacheza Na Maroon Pts 1 & 2                          1980

POL 439              Orch Simba Wanyika                  Mary Tumalize Pts 1 & 2                                   1980

POL 444              Mlimani Park Orch                      Maudhi ya Kilu Situ Pts 1 & 2                            1980

POL 446              Them Mushrooms                      Mombasa/Kenya Hakuna Matata                        1980

POL 447              Orch Les Wanyika                      Kwanza Jiulize Pts 1 & 2                                   1980

There seem to be two very different histories attached to Sango. In the first instance, it was a Phonogram label of the early 1970s dedicated to Luo bands. All of these singles carry secondary AS numbers suggesting a link to Associated Sound (ASL).

The two best-known bands here are Gabriel Omolo’s band, Apollo Komesha ’71, who also recorded for Apollo and Gabbytone, and Shirati Revolution, evidently a breakaway from DO Misiani’s Shirati Jazz and a group who also recorded for Atudo.

Uholo Jazz also recorded for Atudo; Ochieng Kabaselleh’s Lunna-Kidi for Editions Kokise and Pathé. Kabaselleh was jailed in 1986 for singing anti-government songs, which led to the band breaking up.

The second part of the Sango story is as a late 1970s-early 1980s label of convenience for East African records from the ASL, African Beat and Polydor catalogues that were evidently pressed up for export, many retaining their original catalogue numbers for those labels. In autumn 2008 Mat Temple of the Matsuli blog and his friend Chris Albertyn uncovered a stash of these records in a distributor’s storeroom in South Africa. Mat says there would have been no demand in South Africa for these songs, which suggests they may have been intended for the Zimbabwean market.