Back in June there was a blip in the visitor stats that was the result of a link to the Kwela Project from a post in the Banjoroots Yahoo group. The post was about Africa-American single-stringed instruments, and as well as mentioning the renowned ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik (who happens to play clarinet in Donald Kachamba’s Kwela Heritage Jazz Band), it talks of the babatoni - South African washtub (well, more accurately, tea-chest) bass. Babatoni, aka Kwela Bass, is just one instance of a vast, worldwide class of single-string bass instruments. So now, when you listen to kwela - listen to what is happening in the bottom-end, far from the wailing pennywhistle. Maybe that’s a babatoni you’re hearing!
Kwela Project link repository- Return of the Big Voice
- Sophiatown and South African Jazz: Re-appropriating a Cultural Identity
- The Originals� by Arnold Rypens
- a Kwela recording
- BBC - Radio 3 World on Your Street - Musicians' Stories: Dave Woodhead(1)
- Random Image for kwela
- Return of the Big Voice - Zebra Crossing
- Finding Tom Hark - Zebra Crossing
- Kwela Jake
- Back to Alexandra