Subject: RE: Tin whistle, concertina, South Africa
From: Peter T. - PM
Date: 08 Aug 00 - 05:41 PM

Off a South African Web site (slim pickings out there), some of these names may help:

Another musical trend which was to influence mbaqanga, was kwela or pennywhistle jive, which grew in popularity during the 1940's and 1950's. An Alexandria township youth Willard Cele inspired a legion of followers with his unique technique, and the 1951 movie The Magic Garden also publicized theinstrument. By 1954, when one of pennywhistle's main legends Spokes Mashiyane recorded a #1 hit, "Ace Blues", pennwywhistle was a youth rage. (Kwela, "climb up", takes its name from the term many of these youngsters heard shouted at them by police officers herding them into paddywagons). Spokes, and fellow pennywhistle hotshot Lemmy "Special" Moboso (who plays today alongside Thomas Phale with the Soul Brothers), would later turn to saxophone in place of pennywhistle, while retaining the light, jaunty melodic lines which were characeristic of kwela."
yours, Peter T.