This fantastic afro-flavoured fusion of funk and soul comes from a Soweto nightclub back in the dark days of apartheid in the early ’70s. It’s performed by Abacothozi, house band at the township’s first nightclub, The Pelican.

The nimble instrumental quartet was put together by bassist Berthwel Maphumulo with Mac Mathunjwa on organ, his brother Innocent Mathunjwa on drums, and Joe Zikhali on guitar.

They recorded at least two albums: Thema Maboneng (1975) – this is the title track – and Night In Pelican (1976).

Released without fanfare and soon forgotten, the recordings remained totally unknown to DJs and clubgoers for over 40 years until they were rediscovered by crate diggers extraordinaire Kon & Amir for their much-lauded triple album Off Track Volume Two: Queens on BBE Records.

Now this epic fusion of sun-soaked exuberance, funk-infused rhythms and soul-jazz-driven beats can be heard for the first time in 50 years.

During apartheid The Pelican not only offered much-needed cultural sustenance for the oppressed citizenry but also provided a hothouse environment for musicians, where they were given the freedom and space to experiment, forging new hybrids of jazz, funk, and indigenous styles.

Abacothozi’s addictive grooves were heavily inspired by the American soul and R&B of the day; a slick strain of organ-driven soul-jazz, combined with the rhythmic drive of African music.

Soul nerds might spot that this track borrows some ideas from Hung Up on My Baby, an instrumental Isaac Hayes jam featured on his score for the 1974 film Tough Guys.

At the same time, their music sated local appetites for the emergent homegrown sounds popularized by the brilliant, then-exiled South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, who had recently scored a huge hit with his 1974 track Mannenberg, a paradigm-shifting Cape Town jazz track that fused ideas from several regional styles.

If you like this – or like funk and soul in general – it’s well worth tracking down Abacothozi’s two re-released albums.