By 1936 when David de Lange and Willie Welgens teamed up to produce this old 78 RPM album, little did they know that it would end up selling more than 250,000 copies -- a record for those days. The reason for this runaway success of course was the immense popularity of \"Suikerbossie\" (Sugar Bush), which appeared on the flip side (listen to it here: http://youtu.be/WOLAlbk2AvE). These two tunes were the first to be recorded by the De Lange - Welgens combination, and also the first time the banjo player George Abrahams (Gamza Karriem) would work with de Lange. The record success of this combination caused Welgens to rename his band shortly thereafter to the \"Welgens Suikerbossie Orchestra\".
There is no English equivalent for the Afrikaans word \"Roosterkoek\" (literally \"Grilled Cake\"), but the term indicates a piece of normal bread dough, cut in portions of about 8x8 cm and then baked on a grill over coals. In modern times plain slices of white bread is used, normally with some tomato, onions, and condiments (not unlike you would find in Subway here in the USA).
Words of caution though, if you are ever offered \"roosterkoek\" in Namibia, please inquire if there is any sheep lard on it before you try to eat it. The locals seem to be immune from this lethal combination, but you will not be. I once made the mistake of downing one of those with Scotch and water (straight from a borehole) and was still having the dry heaves two days later :)
Some of the musicians on this recording:
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David de Lange - vocals
Willie Welgens - concertina
Rup Meyer - double bass
Gert Naudé - guitar
George Abrahams - banjo
Dan Truter -- clarinet
