The instrumental was later recorded by Gallotone (which, perhaps, lead to the confusion as to whether it was a South African-composed tune or not) and released in the USA by London Records. It met with considerable success and has been recorded by loads and loads of artists since, practically right up to the present day.

It wasn’t until I discovered the learning2share blog a couple of weeks back for the Willard Cele kwela project post that I had a chance to really hear Skokiaan, and I thought that it would be a great idea to have a go at arranging the melody for whistle in the kwela style.

Just about everything that is currently known about Skokiaan can be found on the Skokiaan Wikipedia page, so take a look there and then come back to learn how to play some of it!

The arrangement I’ve made can be played on a Bb whistle and will sound in tune (more or less) with the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band recording on learning2share. You’ve got the introduction and first 24 bars; after that you’re on your own :-)

Happy kwela-whistling!

Skokiaan melody, maybe originally played by August Musarurwa.