Seeking My Grandfather's Discography

    I must be getting old, 'cause suddenly now I care when I really haven't previously.


    Mum's dad was Tommy Roering, real name Thorstein, but everyone called him Tommy. He was a mathematician, school principal and so on, but was best-known for the many "classic" songs he wrote in Afrikaans. Interesting I guess 'cause mum's entire family was Norwegian and Tommy and Irma (his wife, my grandma) spoke English and a little Norwegian at home. He became a household name in South Africa back in the '50s for his song, "Fanagalo" (Zulu for "do it like this"). Every man and his dog has recorded it since, and AFAIK Tommy wrote at least a dozen songs that were "hits", his total output's being perhaps 50 or 100 pieces.


    I'm not tech-savvy when it comes to networks / internet and so on, so my pathetic searching ability has yielded only a page full of versions of that one song, but obviously what I'm after is his entire "discography". Being a songwriter, I'll assume that he didn't record many or most of the toons himself, so who knows which artists would've recorded the best versions of each of them. So many questions and so-few answers, I'm afraid. I've just finally reached the point where I feel I owe it to him to seek his material out, if for no other reason than out of respect, and for the life of me I can't even find a list of the songs he wrote, let alone many recordings.


    Any network / IT geniuses out there have any idea how I should go about this? I'm like a fish out of water with this stuff. :/


    Thank you, beloved Kemperites! <3

    You're a friggin' genius, Jeff! You found 12 songs in as many minutes and I found 1 in an entire night. See? I wasn't kidding when it comes to my IT "abilities".


    You've given me hope, brother, so I'll keep my fingers tightly-crossed that you're able to pull more of this new-fangled magic out of your hat. Please, take your time; I don't want anyone to go out of his way too-much. I mean, it took me 50 years to even begin looking. :pinch:


    Champion, mate. Can't thank you enough already. Thank you! <3

    This appears to have at least one of his tracks on it:

    http://www.45worlds.com/vinyl/album/33jsx11046


    You might be able to contact the SABC and perhaps gain access to at least the Groep Twee recordings that they have in their library. Supposedly, they did at least 2 of your grandfather's songs on a recording that they performed for SABC, per Wikipedia:

    "Group Two also includes a transcriptional record for the SABC and renewed numbers such as Tommy Roering's Bloemfontein's roses , Moonlight on the water "


    http://web.sabc.co.za/sabc/hom…06&title=Record%20Library


    You weren't wrong though, this might go beyond the limits of simply Googling. Sorry, mate.

    Shred 'til yer dead,

    Jeff in Houston

    Like 2
    Quote from Deej09

    Jeff appears to have done all the hard work Monkey_Man


    Here is a link of a CD with one of his songs (which might be in Jeffs list)

    Hey, thanks man!


    Looks like it's gonna take a lot of work to hunt down recordings of all his songs, of which there were many.


    He died a couple of years before I was born, so I didn't get to meet him (he was 49), and this is partly why I've not been aware of his work and obviously not able to receive any hand-me-down LP's or singles.


    I'm extremely-grateful for your and Jeff's help in getting the ball rolling, Dave; I can't overstate this. Thank you so much, both of you! <3

    Looks like you might be able to contact London records for some info?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Records


    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    A youtube search for Tommy Roering



    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Crumpets, I didn't even know about "Kom saam vanaand! (1949)".


    Apparently it was South Africa's first Afrikaans musical movie. Fascinating, Dave!


    Interesting Dave. A few more titles in there, and the database sometimes refers to him as Tommy, others "Thornstein". If the latter is correct, I've misspelled his name all my life 'cause I thought it was "Thorsten". I'll have to look into this. To think I've had a picture of him in my music room for 20 years and always thought, "Thorsten" when I looked at it is kinda-embarrassing, assuming I've been wrong all this time. :pinch:


    Thank you so much for your help, encouragement and interest, brother.

    Quote from Deej09

    Sorry Nicky I’m on a roll....


    Try this link. Lots of copyright music docs to search. Use the filters on the left for years and select music. You never know you might find some more.


    https://archive.org/search.php…%20Copyright%20Office.%22

    Oh man, I've managed to get lost in there a few times now. Set the filters as best I could, but no dice.


    Helluvan archive 'though, DJ. Thanks man.


    Quote from dmatthews

    Looks like you might be able to contact London records for some info?

    Thanks Dave. Did some searching and I think Fanagalo might've been a one-off publication for the company; it was "massive" in South Africa after all and was recorded and published by all and sundry. Everybody knew it back in the day... even today, barring of course the little kiddies. :evil:


    Quote from dmatthews

    A youtube search for Tommy Roering

    My hart is Gebreek! How on earth I could've missed this, I don't know Dave. There go my IT Skillz™ again. Bottom-of-the-barrel stuff, I tell ya, bottom-of-the-barrel, mate. :D:pinch:


    Quote from nakedzen

    Couple non-google ideas:


    In Finland at least all music publishers are reguired to send a copy of the album to the national archives, you could email the SA equivalent? Same thing with the SA copyright society, they should have his name on file for all of his songs.

    Hmm... this makes too much sense, mate. Wuddun and thank you!


    I'll put searching for them on the to-do list. 8)


    Quote from Robman

    I think this is awesome lads ..............well done

    Indeed Rob.


    I'm dealing with a family death and funeral this week and had I known (I really should have known!) that my fellow Kemperites would step up to the plate to the extent that they have, I'd have held out on making the request 'til next week when I'll have more time to respond "properly" and exhaust all the avenues and rabbit holes the links provided.


    Just goes to show, yet again, what an awesome community we have here. As I've often said in these here parts, a classy product begets a classy clientele. :D8o:pinch:<3

    OK, I've sent a letter to SAMRO (South African Music Rights Organisation) requesting a song list. Apparently, according to my mum, he was on the board back in the day.


    Also, I just confirmed that his real name was spelled Thorstein, so the US Archive.org Catalogue of Copyright linked to earlier is wrong where it lists the name Thornstein in some instances and Tommy in others.


    I'm all-linked-out now and am gonna let this rest 'til I hear back from SAMRO, so cheers for now and thank you so very much for your generosity, guys. <3

    A quick search for Roering in my Performing Rights Society app brought up these results. Apologies if they’re duplicates and also because they are screenshots from my phone. I’m lazy coz I’m on holiday 8o


    Dropbox

    Nicky,


    Give me a shout in a private conversation if you need a hand with the site and filters once you’re back online following your bereavement. My sympathies to ya bro. Take care.