Nico carstens concertina music

Nicolaas Cornelius Carstens (10 February 1926 – 1 November 2016) more commonly known as Nico Carstens, was a South African composer, accordionist.

This is a discography for South African accordionist and composer Nico Carstens.

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1001 South African Songs You Must Hear Before You Go Deaf

Fanagalo – Petersen Brothers

It would be easy to look back at this song and write it off as a racist piece, taking the mickey out of the mish-mash language that was used, and is still used as far as I know, to help communication between the whites and black, most prominently in the mining industry where migrant workers from other African countries were prevalent making the exclusive use of one of the local languages such Zulu of Xhosa difficult.

The Petersen Brothers (Mervyn, Basil and Andy) took this language as the subject for their song way back in 1955 when Fanagalo was in its infancy and was probably something novel at the time. It was also the norm back then for black ‘boys’ (the derogatory term used for any black male) to be servants working in the gardens of white people. Interestingly this song also has Jim, the servant in the song, not only working in the garden but also doing the cooking in the kitchen. It is further interesting to note that Fanagalo was one of the few linga franca’s in the world that took on more of the local language rather than pervert the English of the settlers from Europe.

There is an innocence to this bright

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Nico Carstens discography

SongAlbum A Follow in interpretation Black ForrestColumbia 33JSX 11076 Aai Aai, die WitborskraaiColumbia 33JS 11002 Aan perish Muur Dangle Nou Rebound Toom wake up SaalColumbia 33JSX 11004, River JSX 11138 AandklokkeColumbia 33JSX 11003 Aandklokke LuiMFP 57038 Aandlied advance guard KransdraaiColumbia SCJX 11183 Aasvoël VastrapColumbia 33JSX 11079 Adam se BoogieColumbia SCXJ 11165 Adam calm down DrafstapColumbia JSX 11088 AfricaColumbia 33JS 11006, Columbia 33JS 11011 Africa Go GoColumbia JSX 11125 African BaionColumbia 33JSX 11014, Columbia 33JSX 11057 African StompColumbia JSX 11117, River JSX 11124 Agtiensnaar VastrapColumbia JSX 11092 Ai Aia WalsColumbia 33JSX 11075 Ain't She SweetColumbia 33JSX 11011 AitsaColumbia 33JSX 11066, EMI Uitspan RLF 1055 Akkordeon SkoffelColumbia JSX 11082 Al Di LaColumbia 33JSX 11052 Al Jou Liefde Layer VerdwynColumbia JSX 11092 AlibamaColumbia 33JSX 11031, Capitol indifference the Sphere Series T10075 (Alabama) All I Exceed is Daydream of YouColumbia 33JSX 11011 All dead weight MeColumbia 33JSX 11011 All the Weird and wonderful You AreColumbia 33JSX 11011 Alleen bland die Skadu'sColumbia 33JS 11001 Almal Vrolik NouUitspan RLF 1040 Alone

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Nicolaas Cornelius Carstens

Nico Carstens was a popular South African composer of accordion music. He got his first accordion at the age of 13 and won an adult music competition six months later. He composed his first music piece at the age of 17.

His music is variously classified as boeremusiek or jazz, and he made a name for himself as a hugely successful travelling musician, often spending vast periods of time on the road playing in small towns and villages as well as big cities. Carstens garnered a reputation for being a consummate professional where his music and performances were concerned, insisting that his band wore dress suits with a bow tie, frilly shirt, cummerbund and cufflinks, irrespective of the size or location of their venue. His most famous hit was the song Zambezi, which was covered by the likes of The Shadows, Dixie Aces, Bert Kaempfert, Sam Sklair, James Last, Chet Atkins and Eddie Calvert. At his height, Carstens was considered one of the top ten accordionists in the world.

Carstens was married six times and enjoyed spending the money he earned from performances on fine clothes and big cars. However, having sold the rights to his music, he died penniless in a small room in Netcare N1 old age home in Cape Town in 2016, aged 90.