Almon Memela

South African composer, guitarist and later producer for WEA Records born in Donnybrook, KwaZulu-Natal in 1936. After briefly working at the United Tobacco Company in Durban, moved to Johannesburg in 1956 to work on the mines. In 1958 he sought to take guitar lessons at the Dorkay House, the three-storey education and performance centre purchased by Union Artists but rather than becoming a student was asked to teach the guitar lessons. Memela made his first recordings in 1959 and his early career included band work with the United Artists’ productions. In 1963 his work began shifting toward instrumentals exclusively, the same year that he formed his group, [b]Almon’s Jazz Eight[/b]. Memela recorded also with [b]A.M. Stragglers[/b] (1969) and [b]Abafana Bamaswazi[/b].

Data provided by Discogs