The Kwela Project

Bio

The Kwela Project is a blog about kwela music – a musical form whose heyday was in 50/60s southern Africa. The Project began life in 2007 as a personal adventure in finding out how to listen to, and how to play, kwela penny whistle. Currently, the Kwela Project is mainly a collection of links to other resources that, at the time of posting, were found on the internet.

The project comprises of recordings from some of the following artists Daniel J. Kachamba (Guitar, Vocal Flute, Vocal, One-string bass), Luka Khumuwa (Rattle, Vocal) and Ronol Kaufa (One-string bass, Vocal). It offers a list and description of some of the music instruments that were used back then; a good example is the pennywhistle and the skokiaan - a significant instrumental that was composed, performed and recorded originally in South Africa’s neighbour, Zimbabwe. 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 also features music from artists such as Miriam Makeba.

GBLondon, United Kingdom

Contact

The Kwela Project
Profile added by Ano Shumba on 30 Sep 2015
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