Something New for Whistlers

Something New for Whistlers Learning Kwela Whistle from Scratch. Here is a book of simple South African whistle jive tunes with CD accompaniment. It’s designed for anyone with hands big enough to handle a D penny whistle or Flageolet. This style of whistle music swings, the melodies are fun to play. This book starts with easy tunes and progresses to more challenging pieces. History of Kwela Kwela, an offshoot of the Marabi sound in the 1950s, brought South African music to international prominence in the 1950s. Having encountered jazz records and the cinema in the 1940s featuring North American big band music by Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Woody Herman, Glenn Miller and others, young S. Africans tried to emulate the swing jazz with what was available to them: penny whistles and the tea chest bass. The new music was increasingly heard on street corners in Johannesburg, Cape Town and other large cities. The mass media became interested after a locally made film ‘The Magic Garden’ featured pennywhistle jive played by a disabled boy. Kwela spread to Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and, indeed, back to the West, where it was imitated by Ted Heath, Bert Kampfert and others. Stars of Kwela Famous names of Kwela were Lemmy Mabaso, Spokes Mashiyane, the Sloven Whistlers and Elias Lerole and his Zig Zag Flute Jive. Elias and brother Jack wrote and played on the international hit ‘Tom Hark’. Legend has it that they were paid studio fees of six guineas each, and Elias (short of money) sold the rights to Rubert Bopape & Decca for £30. Wolf Mankowitz, famous British author, came to Johannesburg looking for material for a film script, and found what he wanted, and more. He needed a theme tune, music to set the scene for his thriller on diamond smuggling, and he chose by Elias and his Zig Zag Flutes. The television screening of the movie ‘The Killing Stones’ popularized the music and “Tom Hark” within weeks rose to No. 2 in the British Hit Parade The record sold 5 million copies world wide. The record starts with the sound of coins on a pavement, dice being thrown with the cheers and groans of gamblers on a street corner. Then the cry ‘E Bops, kom maak gou …. Hier kom die kwela kwela van!’ (‘Hurry up, here comes the police van’) ‘Tom Hark’ is the name of the ‘look out’ keeping an eye out for the police. A ska version was released by ‘My Boy Lollipop’ girl Millie Small, and the Brighton – based ska group The Piranhas added lyrics to the melody in 1980 and made the top ten. By the dawn of the 1960′s the impact of Zulu music and their culture had reached a worldwide audience, with the release of movies like ‘Zulu’ and popular records e.g. by Ted Heath, Bert Kampfert that incorporated some of the essential African elements without giving credits to the originals. ‘Wimoweh/The Lion Sleeps Tonight’, originally known as ‘Mbube’ have been covered by ‘The Tokens’ in 1961, ‘Tight Fit’ had a version a no. 1 in the UK chart1982. Origins of the word Kwela 1 Kwela means ‘Jump up!’ and was the order of the police man to the street musicians and gamblers, 2 It’s also a cry to get up and dance. 3 Furthermore ‘akwela’ is the Zulu name for a traditional whistle. Kwela…..why whistle and what sort? 1 Whistles are cheap and portable: this factor was crucial when Kwela started out in the ‘50s. Flutes of different kinds were traditional in northern parts of South Africa, and the reasonably priced penny whistle enabled swift adaptation of folk tunes to the new Marabi based idiom. 2 We recommend that newcomers to all wind instruments to start on whistles: a) the fingering system is simple, b) there is no thumb hole, c) you can progress easily to recorders, saxes, flutes etc having cut your teeth on whistle music. The whistles are in different keys: Bb, C, D, E, F and so on…. In 1958 South African pennywhistle players used flutes marketed by the German Hohner company. The whistles were developed for mass production from samples collected by a Hohner agent in Johannesburg from a local maker. The Hohner flutes were available in C Bb and G with a cylindrical bore. The original ‘Tom Hark’ is in Bb. In this book we use a D whistle because: a) there is an easy step to playing the same pitch on descant recorder b) it is small enough for the hands of 7-8 year olds upwards c) Huge numbers of UK traditional folk musicians own and use a D whistle as their standard whistle. The CD with this book is designed for accompanying D whistle. However you may wish to try the same tunes on larger C and Bb whistles to get a more authentic sound. Kwela embouchure: There is a special embouchure involving an oblique whistle head position in the right cheek to increase resonance. This technique can be studied in the film made by Donald Kachamba (Encyclopeadia Cinematographica E2328, Gottingen). It’s a knack to acquire through experimentation. I don’t think I’m there yet! It also flattens the notes. If you’re playing with a guitar that can retune you can get away with this in order to get the true Kwela sound…. But not if you’re playing with other tuned instruments with fixed pitch. What makes Kwela, Kwela? 1 Fundamentally Kwela is rooted in S. Africa. 2 A typical Kwela band features two or more whistles, guitar and tea chest bass but clarinets and other instruments do feature in recordings. 3 The music is based upon repeated patterns that are often marked out by ostinato or riff patterns played as accompaniment. 4 Call & Response is used in arrangements. 5 It features jazz type glides and blue notes by finger smearing, and half covered holes. 6 It features improvisation. 7 Typically Kwela is based upon four segment harmonic cycles e.g. I, IV, V, I; or I, IV, I, V, or I, I, IV, V. These cycles are expanded and chords are substituted. Twelve bar blues forms also are found. CONTENTS 1 Kwela Cool and Free 2 Do the Kwela Blues 3 Sugar Kwela Baby 4 Scale Kwela 5 Wild Life Safari 6 Something New Here’s a tune using three fingers, playing the notes G, A, & B. 1 Listen to the backing track. 2 Sing the song with the backing track 3 Try playing the melody with the backing track. 4 Try some Kwela improvising using the same three notes. Noodle, and see what sounds good with the backing track. This is called a solo. 5 The structure of the backing track is 2 x head tunes then alternating improvisation and head tunes until the end when the head tune is repeated. Here’s an accompaniment for a more experienced player to play: 1 Try CALL and ANSWER in the improvisation sections …… 2 Two bars for the call, two bars for the answer. Take turns at swapping roles. 3 There's a riff accompaniment for 2 people below. Adopt a similar approach with all the other tunes below: 1 Listen to the backing track 2 Sing along, invent words if it helps you get the rhythms 3 Play along with the track. Don’t sit with the music in front of you … once you have an idea of the tune use your ears and make it your own. Flute INTRO and OUTRO Something New in Africa WHistle 2 Patterson / Scott 4 4 4 3 3 5 5 4 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 2 4 2 4 # ° ü° # ™4 Ó Ó ™ ™ œ & ¢ 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ †¢ œ œ œ œ œ 6 5 5 6 5 4 6 6 2 4 2 4 5 5 6 5 4 6 6 2 4 2 4 ## Œ œ Œ œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 5 5 6 5 4 6 1 2 4 6 1 2 4 10 # ü # Œ Œ œ œ Œ œ œ ™ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ † Flute Something New in Africa INTRO and OUTRO Patterson / Scott 6 6 5 5 0 0 6 2 2 2 1 1 3 3 2 6 6 6 2 6 2 WH#istle °3 6 °ü # ™4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Ó œ œ Ó ™ ™ œ œ œ & ¢ 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ ¢† œ œ œ 6 1 1 2 1 0 6 6 6 2 6 2 5 5 6 5 4 6 6 6 2 6 2 ## œ œ œ œ Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ œ œ œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 1 1 2 1 0 4 6 6 2 4 6 6 2 10 # ü # œ œ œ œ Œ Œ Œ Ó ™ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ † .

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