Hi Tony, Gabe, Elsie, both the Mervyns and also Vivian ! I was a mere 7 year old in my home town -Iringa in southern Tanzania when West of Zanzibar hit the pop charts. (I had'nt gone to school as in our family, all the siblings were given our foundation till age eight by our mum).
But by sheer coincidence , my dad went to Dar es Salaam - the capital to buy a new record player - a RadioGram that embraced a radio and player for playing gramophone records- the 78s, 45s (EPs) and 33 speeds (long playing)- all obsolete technology , but now- very antique stuff. (we had no record store in Iringa). He bought it at Souza Junior Dias and as usual on every trip to Dar, he buys about 20 records which included the song. (Souza Junior had a branch in Mombasa). So Tony, asante sana for taking us down memory lane. BTW, I tried to recollect some of the lyrics and managed with a few lines of the middle stanza. In this context, I vividly remember Gabe having sent us some fantastic numbers by trumpeter- Eddie Calvert, and some great oldies in Zambezi, Happy Happy Africa and various versions of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" -originally by the Tokens. So, I say to all to you goanetters, keep on "flowing" those good old songs that never die. They sure "make our day". Cheers. Tony Barros. Union Twnshp. New Jersey, USA