Atenteben – Ghanian whistle

Whilst researching the music of Erwan Bouvier I came across of a video of him playing in a group with a guest musician playing an unusual bamboo whistle. The musician was Dela Botri, and the whistle was the atenteben. Atenteben is a bamboo fipple flute from Ghana; it was previously used in funeral ritual music, but back… Continue reading Atenteben – Ghanian whistle

Lemmy Mabaso and Shell Spirit

As Al G pointed out in a comment to an earlier post about Lemmy Mabaso, Lemmy played on the soundtrack to a short film by Geoffrey Jones called Shell Spirit. This film can be found on YouTube (probably not for long though, as the film is part of a BFI compilation called ‘Rhythm of Film‘ that… Continue reading Lemmy Mabaso and Shell Spirit

The Magic Garden (The Pennywhistle Blues)

Some time ago, after waiting patiently for a long time, I came across an old VHS recording of the film that is alleged to have, specifically, propelled the pennywhistle boogie of Willard Cele into the limelight, and to have, more generally, opened the ears of the South African mainstream to kwela. For me there are… Continue reading The Magic Garden (The Pennywhistle Blues)

Come Back Africa

September 2013 This post was based upon an extended clip from the film that has been taken down due to copyright infringement. The copyright-holder’s own promotional video includes a very short segment right at the beginning that features the kwela band discussed here. In addition to being the film that really propelled a young Miriam… Continue reading Come Back Africa

Big Voice Jack with Black Mambazo: Iye Bulala i Nice Time

Whilst fixing up the broken links from the YouTube article about Big Voice Jack, I came upon this earlier example of his playing: Black Mambazo (“Axe”) was also known as the Alexandra Shamba Band, and was composed of band members Aaron (Jack) Lerole, Elias (Shamba) Lerole, David Ramosa and Peter Khumalo. The band ruled the… Continue reading Big Voice Jack with Black Mambazo: Iye Bulala i Nice Time

Big Voice Jack Lerole on YouTube

Aaron “Big Voice Jack” Lerole was one of the most influential kwela stars and, in a revival of his popularity that is described in Keith Addison’s 1998 article ‘Return of the Big Voice‘, must have been one of the last of the originators to still be recording. The story of how Big Voice Jack ended… Continue reading Big Voice Jack Lerole on YouTube

Uile Ngoan’a Batho

The song “Uile Ngoan’a Batho” reminds me very much of Inkomo Zodwa – also sung by Miriam Makeba and The Skylarks, with Spokes Mashiyane improvising behind the verses as well as providing inspired soloing during the breaks. “Uile Ngoan’a Batho” is found on The History of Township Music, and – as this web page demonstrates… Continue reading Uile Ngoan’a Batho

Shisa Phata Phata

Its about time there was some practical, hands-on music around here, and to this end I’ve transcribed|arranged|made-up the short and sweet solo section from Spoke’s Mashiyane’s song called ‘Shisa Phata Phata’ (composed by a ‘R. Msomi’). Phata Phata was a popular dance “down Jo’burg way” (or sometimes “down Gauteng way“) as Miriam Makeba reminds us… Continue reading Shisa Phata Phata

More about Donald Kachamba

Following on from my last post about the Kachamba Brothers, I decided to try and find out more. First of all, I found some interesting photographs of Donald and ‘friends’ jamming together. These pictures were taken by Rike and Henrik Bettermann when they visited Chileka in Malawi as part of their 1996/97 tour of West… Continue reading More about Donald Kachamba

Kachamba Brothers: Musical Sunshine from Malawi

The Voice of America web site is running a very interesting African Music blog – well worth checking out. Matthew LaVoie has written a fascinating post entitled Musical Sunshine from Malawi which outlines how the Kachamba brothers, Daniel and Donald, discovered kwela to the city that is now Harare, but was then called Salisbury, and… Continue reading Kachamba Brothers: Musical Sunshine from Malawi