As a child Spokes Mashiyane (1933-1972) learned to play reed flute common among black cattle herders. When he moved to Johannesburg he got a pennywhistle and started to play his music on the streets for tips. This is where Strike Vilakazi, a talent scout for Trutone Records, first noticed him. And so began the career of South Africa's most famous pennywhistle player.
Mashiyane worked with guitarist and composer Allen Kwela, and it was the latter's last name that became the title of the popular Kwela music of South Africa that dominated much of the black music scene during the 1950s.
Kwela music's influence even crossed the artificial racial barriers caused by the politics of Apartheid, and many Boeremusiek tunes incorporated this "new" sound into the folk music of Afrikanerdom. In fact, Fred Woodridge's Pennywhistle Kwela became the theme song for many years on Fanus Rautenbach's early morning Afrikaans radio program called "Flink uit die Vere" (Early Birds): http://youtu.be/7wbjOTDhkUA
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/artist/content.artist/spokes_mashiyane/en_US
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spokes_Mashiyane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwela
"Phatha Phatha" (Take Charge) appears on the album "New Sounds of Africa - Phatha Phathas and Kwelas Vol 1" which dates back to the 1960s. It has been out of print for a long time, but here it is via the courtesy of Electric Jive.
http://electricjive.blogspot.com/2010/03/old-new-sounds-of-africa-sixties-kwela.html
