Now in their 60s, the group show they are still the masters of Mbaqanga - township jazz from southern Africa.
During the current turmoil bubbling up in Zimbabwe, it's easy to forget that the music of today and days gone by that came out of the country. One such group is the Cool Crooners of Bulawayo. Today the remaining group members Abel, Lucky and Ben are in their 60s and still going strong, but they began their careers in1950s Southern Rhodesia, and as a result have a foot in both the past and the present.
It was during the 50s that southern Africa was bursting with creativity in the arts and music. It was then that township jazz was created and its name 'Mbaqanga' was coined. Its music tipped its hat to jazz and its tone and swing, but mixed the western music up with African rhythms and language - Ndebele, Zulu and KiSwahili in the case of the Crooners.
The Cool Crooners of today are the surviving members of two rival bands that played in the 50s : The Cool Four and The Golden Delicious Rhythm Crooners. The two groups were witness to colonialism, the country's fight for independence, and the years as Zimbabwe emerged. During the years of conflict Abel joined the movement and was imprisoned and other members had died, Ben began selling furniture and Lucky worked for a record label.
In the 90s Abel had the idea to form a new group and contacted his old musical rivals and friends Ben and Lucky. The Cool Crooners was born, joined by Abel's neighbour Eric Juba who had had his own musical career in Botswana. They wowed audiences at the 1999 Jazz Festival in Harare and since then have released the album Blue Sky in 2001, followed by Bulugwe lami in 2002 and Isatilo in 2005 and toured internationally.
The Crooners music is light, polished and old-time - things you don't often hear these days. The seamless vocals, jaunty brass section has the feel of music halls, synched waists and men in suits. But the language, rhythm, lilting electric guitar and laid back cool is pure African.
They sing of prison walls in South Africa, the abandoning of tradition by the youth, the reality of the migrant workers, police raids, sorrow and political struggle. There are also lighter moments with songs that talk of a weekend in the township and how telephones changed communication.
When Zimbabwe is filling the news with stories of abuse, sanctions, the abandonment of the rule of law, beatings and arrests, an album like this makes you realise how easy it is to forget the potential of a country. The Cool Crooners are real entertainers but the stories they tell and their talent still resontae today. Listen to The Cool Crooners and to buy Blue Sky their 2001 album.
