Kwela, the 50s streets' soundtrack and Pennywhistle Jive

Picture: Barney Rachabane, 10years old
Picture: Bailey's History Archives

The first major style of South African popular music to emerge was Pennywhistle jive . It later became known as Kwela music. This music was the pennywhistle sound that echoed in the streets of shantytowns, suburbia parks and the inner city. Pennywhistle or Kwela music is the offshoot of 'Marabi' music and is the genre that brought South African music international prominence in the 50s. The pennywhistle was used because of its handiness, readiness, portability and because it was cheap to acquire. The music was performed on street corners by soloists and in ensembles and formed part of a long lineage of panpipes and traditional flutes belonging especially to the Pedi and other northern tribes and clans in South Africa. Black cattle-herders had long played a three-holed reed flute, adopting a six-holed flute when they moved to the cities. Willard Cele is usually credited with creating the pennywhistle sound and music by placing the six-holed flute between his teeth at an angle. Cele spawned a legion of imitators and fans, especially after appearing in the 1951 film The Magic Garden.

Kwela music ensembles would feature a tea chest bass and the acoustic guitar or just an ensemble of rebellious musical youngsters . The term "kwela" means "get on", in Zulu, though in township slang it also refers to the old police vans- the "kwela-kwela" from the apartheid regime days. Thus it could be an invitation to join the dance as well as a warning, in Kwela’s performers’ instance, a signal to those enjoying themselves in illegal drinking dens to look out for the Kwela-Kwela. Pennywhistlers were enticed by record industry scouts to record backed by a full band for a small fee and most if not all of them not earning any royalties for their music.

Lemmy Mabaso and Barney Rachabane were two of South Africa's most famous pennywhistle stars; they were only 10 years old when they started performing on the streets. Stars such as Spokes Mashiyane had hits with kwela pennywhistle tunes. Groups of Flute players played on the streets of South African cities in the 1950s, many of them in white areas, where police would arrest them for creating a public disturbance. Some young whites were attracted to the music, and came to be known as ducktails, rebellious juvenile delinquents who called the flute music kwela. Pennywhistle jive also spread outside of South Africa, through migrant workers, to Lesotho, Swaziland and most importantly Malawi.