Kwela and the Pennywhistle

Image Credit: Unknown
Kwela is a happy, often pennywhistle-based, street music from southern Africa with jazzy underpinnings and a distinctive, skiffle-like beat. It evolved from the marabi sound and brought South African music to international prominence in the 1950s.

The music has its roots in southern Africa but later adaptations of this and many other African folk idioms have permeated Western music (listen to Graceland by Paul Simon) and give modern South African music, particularly jazz, much of its distinctive sound and lilting swagger.


Image Credit: Tretchikoff
One reason for the use of the pennywhistle is that it is cheap and portable, but it also lends itself as a solo or an ensemble instrument.

The popularity of the pennywhistle may have been based on the fact that flutes of different kinds have long been traditional instruments among the peoples of the more northerly parts of South Africa, and the pennywhistle thus enabled the swift adaptation of folk tunes into the new marabi-influenced music.


Image Credit: Unknown
I remember, as a kid in the early 60's, being entranced by Kwela buskers playing on the streets of mid-town Johannesburg - the groups usually consisted of three people; a pennywhistler, an acoustic guitarist and a bassist playing a bass constructed from an old upturned tea-box which had only one string ...

Here's an example of the Kwela and the pennywhistle by Spokes Mashiyane:


I hope it makes your day a little brighter ... :)

.