Apparently, only one of the four wasn’t from a particularly musical family but the other three members were brought up surrounded by the “doh-ra-me-fah-so”. This shows, as the quartet became the biggest thing to appear out of South Africa during the 40s.

The booklet that comes with this “Greatest Hits” is priceless with endless stories of the quartet’s progression and of their travels as well as great promotional posters. But the album does also portray the oppression they had encountered in their attempts to find venues to play at and their rejection by many clubs and bars for favouring “only white musicians”.

Only a few tracks are sung in English (check out the superbly melodic ‘Be My Guest’). Others such as ‘Dubula Mfanadini’ (Young boy with a slingshot) are layered with melodic messages and the unmistakable “do be dos” of the barber shop quartet sound.

This album is a rare gem of a sub genre of a massively popular movement and sound of the early twentieth century.