13 Facts About Rashid Vally

Rashid Vally was a South African music producer and record shop owner.

Rashid Vally ran a record shop in downtown Johannesburg, and produced langarm and jazz music.

Rashid Vally had a successful collaboration with pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, including the production of "Mannenberg", a piece which became associated with the movement against apartheid.

Rashid Vally ran a record shop named "Kohinoor" in downtown Johannesburg, which had a reputation as a hangout for enthusiasts of jazz, and as one of the few public places where people of different racial background could socialize.

Rashid Vally produced music as an independent producer, and had recorded langarm music for South Africa's coloured market.

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Rashid Vally stated that he began by recording South African coloured dance bands, and moved over time to recording jazz.

Rashid Vally had a long and successful collaboration with the musician Abdullah Ibrahim, which began in the early 1970s.

Rashid Vally himself said in an interview that he asked to record Ibrahim after hearing him play with the Jazz Epistles.

Rashid Vally hired engineers and musicians and rented a studio, going deeply into debt in the process.

Rashid Vally played the piece from loudspeakers outside his Johannesburg studio even before the LP had been released: hearing it, people entered the store and asked what he was playing.

Rashid Vally later said that he asked several larger companies for financial support for marketing the record, but was turned down because the companies felt he was asking for too much money for a South African group.

Rashid Vally instead marketed it himself, and the record became immensely popular.

Rashid Vally made a deal with Gallo Records to market the album, in the belief that he did not have the "financial muscle" for the job, and the album sold 43,000 copies in the next seven months.