New old Kwela

[burnsbyrne]

I'd really like to download these Kwella files but I have been working on it for a half hour now and I can't figure out how to do it. Can anyone help a not-too-computer-savvy old man?

I worked on it for another five minutes and I figured it out. Not so old after all, I guess.

[bigskybri]

Spokes played at the 1965 Newport Festival according to a book excerpt I Googled. Supposedly, there's about 45 seconds of him performing there on a DVD (titled appropriately enough "Festival"). I haven't seen it myself...

Bigskybri - looks like you've turned up a new (old) one! Nice find! .

What happened to Spokes? The one reference mentioned above, if it's the same as I read on Google, says he went to London after Newport, where he was stabbed to death. The Wiki bio, which may be the same as from the King Kwela CD, says he was on the South African kwela scene from the 1950's to (approximately) the 1970's. Which leads to one more question. The back of my lp says he was born 26 years ago (assuming the lp was released the same year as his Newport appearance, 1965), which would put him in his teens for most of the 1950's. Could the age on the lp be mistaken? Or are there no definitive answers to length of his career?

[henryz]

I never could figure out what actually happened to Spokes, either. I basically found the same info that you did from the net. Maybe S1m0n or Impempe (Ian Turnbull) has some better information.

There's not much info (nor recordings of) out there about Lemmy (Special) Mabaso, either.

Jack Lerole probably would have remained fairly obscure if he hadn't hooked up with Dave Mathews for a brief tour.


Do any of you actually play this stuff, yourselves? Just curious.

[s1m0n]

All I have is from the liner notes to
Spokes Mashiyane: King of Kwela
Penny Whistle Jive from Johannesburg 1958 - 1959
Which is the vinyl edition of what is now confusingly named Spokes Mashiyane: King Kwela. This is the same title as BigSkyBri's new record, but contains completely different material. The link is to Sterns, which is the african specialty record shop / indie & reissue label in London. They usually know what they're doing, although perhaps more for central and west african music than South Africa.

Anyway, the notes say:

Born circa 1932 at at Vlakfontein, Northern Transvaal, Spokes first played the reed flute known as umtshingo whilst tending his father's cattle. When he moved from the country to the city he changed his instrument from the reed flute to the penny whistle, on which he soon became in demand because he had a new sound, achieved by placing the mouthpiece vertically inside of his left cheek and introducing a new fingering system. Thereby Spokes got a fuller more expressive tone than had been heard before. He became very successful, early 78s on the Trutone label regularly selling over 50,000 copies, for each of which Spokes received a flat, one-off payment of about $50. Until the Union of Southern African Artists helped to negotiate a new contract with Gallo in 1958, he had to work in the warehouse of his previous company Trutone, packing records. He died years later, of sclerosis.
Steve Barrow, 1990

He credits
David B Coplan: "In Township Tonight!" 1985
Ronnie Graham: "Sterns Guide to Contemporary African Music" 1989
Sleeve note to King Kwela, by CHW (Rave Records, Johannesburg, 1960
Jonas Gwangwa and Fluco van Erich "The Melody of Freedom" in "Culture in Another South Africa" 1989

Presumably the King Kwela mentioned is BigSkyBri's mysterious ebay LP.

If Spokes died of Sclerosis, he's likely to have done a lot of drinking and had a slow decline, which might be why he seems to have faded out of the scene after the sixties. By the mid sixties, Marks Mankwane started playing kwela lines on electric guitar, thus inventing both lead guitar in South African music, and Mbaqanga which is what 'township' music played by an electric band came to be called. West Nkosi, a musician who'd also started out playing Kwela switched to Sax and played with Mankwane's band. Kwela was now officially uncool in Jo'burg.

Spokes also doubled on sax, and appears to have played with Miriam Makeba's band, the Skylarks, and others.

[henryz]

Well, that course of events seems plausible and more likely than being mysteriously stabbed to death in London.
If you dig around enough, you can find a few of Nkosi's pennywhistle tunes on the net, as well as his later sax stuff (also interesting).

I'd guess that we've more than beaten this horse to death!

[bigskybri]

My lp is on the London International label. The back of the album cover mentions that those associated with the festival heard his (Spokes) records which were brought over by tourists. The book excerpt says Pete Seeger heard him in South Africa and thought he should, if possible, perform at the festival.

Being born circa 1932 would be more in line with the online bios that say he was active in Kwela from 1950's to 1970's. Being 26 in 1965 makes him a bit too young to be a key player in the 1950's. It's a fun thing to track down. I have a Sunday evening show at a small community radio station called The Lp Show, so I was hoping to get a bit more correct information about Spokes. I played side one tonight and will play the other side later this year.

[s1m0n]

They were all young. Kwela was a young man's game. It was invented by street urchins playing in the streets for tips, using cheap or home made instruments - whistle, 'tea chest' bass (the african version of a washtub bass) and jerry-can guitar.

[henryz]

My lp is on the London International label. The back of the album cover mentions that those associated with the festival heard his (Spokes) records which were brought over by tourists. The book excerpt says Pete Seeger heard him in South Africa and thought he should, if possible, perform at the festival.

Being born circa 1932 would be more in line with the online bios that say he was active in Kwela from 1950's to 1970's. Being 26 in 1965 makes him a bit too young to be a key player in the 1950's. It's a fun thing to track down. I have a Sunday evening show at a small community radio station called The Lp Show, so I was hoping to get a bit more correct information about Spokes. I played side one tonight and will play the other side later this year.

Nice to see you giving the music some exposure to recent audiences. Keep up the good work.

[s1m0n]

Soul Safari has some kwela and related MP3s.

Elias and his Zig Zag Flutes -Sanny Boy Special

Alexandra Shamber Boys -Phazamiza Zacks (tribute to Zacks Nkosi)

Benoni Flute Quintet -Skanda Mayeza

Alexandra Shamber Boys -Kgokgoma

Alexander Shamber Boys -finish(Tom Hark)

Elias and his Zig Zag Jive Flutes -Tom Hark

[henryz]

Thanks for the link - there's a couple tunes in there I hadn't heard before. You can also find ry ry (B-side of the original Tom Hark) on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4xkfoIEHbw

[bigskybri]

My lp is on the London International label. The back of the album cover mentions that those associated with the festival heard his (Spokes) records which were brought over by tourists. The book excerpt says Pete Seeger heard him in South Africa and thought he should, if possible, perform at the festival.

Being born circa 1932 would be more in line with the online bios that say he was active in Kwela from 1950's to 1970's. Being 26 in 1965 makes him a bit too young to be a key player in the 1950's. It's a fun thing to track down. I have a Sunday evening show at a small community radio station called The Lp Show, so I was hoping to get a bit more correct information about Spokes. I played side one tonight and will play the other side later this year.

Nice to see you giving the music some exposure to recent audiences. Keep up the good work.

This is my first exposure to the music, so it was fun to play on the air. It was a little different than the usual folk music I play. With the latest links from s1m0n, I was able to toot along on my Gen Bb whistle. That's also fun to do.

[Impempe]

Spokes was remembered by Mango Grooves classic song "Special Star" dedicated to Spokes Mashiyane the king of Kewla. If you can find a download, it is a really fun song with penny whistle. Big Voice Jack also sang/played with Mango Groove in their early years. Great catchy music with lots of whistle. They have a great whistler now called Mduduzi Magwaza and a new album (bang the drum) that I must add to my north pole letter. I will see if I can find out more info from them about Spokes and post it...

[donpiper]

There is one nice whistle/vocal track (the last one) from (alexandra) Black Mambazo on this recording

http://wrldsrv.blogspot.com/2009/01/vocal-jive.html

Whilst the sound is a little dirty (original material old 78s) some of the performances are very good

cheers
donpiper

[Palimpsest]

Nice stuff Don, thanks for posting

[henryz]

If you don't like kwela/SA pennywhistle - read no further.

The SAMAP http://www.disa.ukzn.ac.za/samap/ seems to be adding a few full versions of tunes in place of the 30-second clips that were there. It was nice to finally hear all of Shisa Phatha Phatha!