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I last saw Dolly some three months ago at a 40th Anniversary Party for the National Sound And Film Archive. We had a nice dance together and she seemed to be the \"same old Dolly.\" Her decline, mercifully, must have been quite sudden.
My greatest regret as regards my time with Dolly and the Elites is the fact that despite getting gigs in both the Ivory Coast (at the MASA Festival in Abidjan in 1998) and in France (at the Nantes Festival the following year) we never had the opportunity to perform in the US. This despite my twice lobbying the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for an opening, as well as the promoters of a festival in Houston in 2000 who wanted to showcase South African acts (and who ultimately made the usual uninspired choices.) It\'s a real shame that these cultural arbiters denied American audiences the chance to experience first hand an outfit capable of putting on shows that were every bit as hot as those now legendary performances by Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens in the early-to-mid 90s.
As for Dolly\'s archival legacy, there are first of all her two early movies, \'Jim Comes To Jo\'burg\' and \'The Magic Garden\', which though difficult to find are well worth seeing - both still exude a charming innocence and there are some great musical moments. After her early nineties \'comeback,\' Dolly appeared in quite a few locally made television programs and films but these were all straight dramas without any musical content. Then there are some interesting interviews with Dolly (shot at her house in Mabopane) about the \'bad old days\' that are part of the award-winning film, \'Amandla\' and most recently, she sings in an as-yet unreleased film shot last year, provisionally entitled \'Sophiatown\', which aims to be the South African equivalent of \'Buena Vista Social Club.\' Although there are interesting performances by some of the other artists, Dolly\'s appearances are especially disappointing - she was still in good voice but the musical arrangements, allegedly \'modernized\' updates of old classics, are appalling.
Dolly\'s audio catalogue is an equally frustrating mixture of the brilliant and indifferent. She made about twenty recordings between 1950 and \'56, many of them classics, and then never saw the inside of a studio until she resumed recording with the Elite Swingsters in 1991. When I once asked her why she didn\'t record more, she told me it just didn\'t pay enough to bother with - an honest enough answer but what a tragic waste! It is particularly sad that she never made any records with the Elites during her tenure with the band in the 60s. That must have been quite a combination but now it\'s only memories.
Dolly made three later albums with the Elite Swingsters, \'Woza\' (1991) on Gallo CDBL 751, \'A Call For Peace\' (1993) on Gallo CDGMP 40320 and her last, \'Siya Gida\' (1995) on Teal-Universal TELCD 2570. The latter, although somewhat marred by the wrong choice of a recording studio and engineer (the result of internal record company politics), is probably the best of the three as it most accurately reflects the power of the band\'s live performances but Dolly sings particularly well on \'Call For Peace.\' Two of her sides from 1954 appear on \'Township Swing Jazz Vol 1\' on Gallo CDZAC 53, while a third, also from 1954, can be found on \'From Marabi To Disco\' on Gallo CDZAC 61. All of these CDs can be sourced through One World Mail Order (please contact info@oneworld.co.za)
Rob Allingham is the Director of Archives at Gallo Records in Johannesberg where his prodigious knowledge and love of SA music has resulted in many wonderful compilations, articles and liner notes. Rob is a longtime collaborator with Afropop Worldwide. ">
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