The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. A tin whistle player is called a whistler. The tin whistle is closely associated with Irish traditional music and Celtic music. Other names for the instrument are the flageolet, English flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, tin flageolet, or Irish whistle.
Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two different lead vocalists, Paul Jones from 1962 to 1966 and Mike d'Abo from 1966 to 1969.
Kwela is a pennywhistle-based street music from southern Africa with jazzy underpinnings and a distinctive, skiffle-like beat. It evolved from the marabi sound and brought South African music to international prominence in the 1950s.
The Mahotella Queens is a South African female band formed in 1964 by music producer Rupert Bopape, consisting of Hilda Tloubatla, Nobesuthu Mbadu, and Amanda Nkosi. The group is noted for their distinct vocal harmony sound, guitar-led mbaqanga music, and fast stage dancing.
Mango Groove is an 11-piece South African Afropop band whose music fuses pop and township music—especially marabi and kwela.
Simon "Mahlathini" Nkabinde was a South African mbaqanga singer. Known as the "Lion of Soweto", Nkabinde is the acknowledged exponent of the deep-voiced, basso profundo "groaning" style that came to symbolize mbaqanga music in the 1960s. Nkabinde was also a very active live performer in South Africa, recording and performing with the Mahotella Queens and the backing Makgona Tsohle Band from 1964 to 1971, and then again from 1983 to 1999. The Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens act was propelled into international stardom in the wake of Paul Simon's 1986 Graceland album.
The Comsat Angels were an English post-punk band from Sheffield, England, initially active from 1978 to 1995. Their music has been described as "abstract pop songs with sparse instrumentation, many of which were bleak and filled with some form of heartache". They have been credited as being an influence on later post-punk revival bands such as Blacklist, Bell Hollow, Editors and Interpol.
The Makgona Tsohle Band was a South African instrumental band that is noted for creating the mbaqanga music style. Mbaqanga is an acculturated popular South African music that emerged in the 19th century. Mbaqanga is also referred to as township jive. The group was formed in 1964 at Mavuthela, and became the Mavuthela house band. It garnered success by backing fellow Mavuthela-Gallo stars, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens. It is often referred to as the South African equivalent to Motown's The Funk Brothers.
"Jumping Jive" is a famous jazz/swing composition, written by Cab Calloway, Frank Froeba, and Jack Palmer. Originally recorded on 17 July 1939, on Vocalion Records, it sold over a million copies and reached #2 on the Pop chart. Calloway performs the song with his orchestra and the Nicholas Brothers in the 1943 musical film Stormy Weather.
The Piranhas were a British ska-influenced punk band from Brighton. They are best known for their cover version of the song "Tom Hark".
Johannes "Spokes" Mashiyane was regarded as one of the greatest pennywhistle artists who graced the South African kwela music scene from the 1950s to (approximately) the 1970s. Arriving on the pennywhistle band scene as a juvenile domestic servant from the northern Sotho communities in the Transvaal alongside contemporaries of Alexandra boys such as Lemmy Mabaso, Barney Rachabane, Elias and Jack Lerole. He stated that the pennywhistle's simplicity allowed for greater freedom to bend and blend notes. The success of his recordings provided significant revenue for his recording company, Gallo Record Company, to which he had switched in 1958. His success gained international notice by the 1960s - he played with Bud Shank among others during their visit to South Africa - and in July 1965 he was invited to the Newport Folk Festival. This festival gained notoriety for the Electric Dylan controversy, but Spokes performance at the festival did receive notice and praise from Robert Shelton. Spokes's work also had an influence on the Music of Zimbabwe. He claimed that the inspiration for his songs were from his dreams. He played with other kwela greats of his time and his music is enjoyed by many to this day. He married his wife Mary in 1964, and they had two sons, Frederick and Eugene.
"These Eyes" is a song by the Canadian rock band The Guess Who. The song was co-written by the group's lead guitarist Randy Bachman and lead singer Burton Cummings and originally included on the band's 1969 album Wheatfield Soul. It was first released as a single, in their native Canada, where its chart success (#7), along with the influence of CKLW-AM Windsor's radio station music director Rosalie Trombley, helped land them a U.S. distribution deal with RCA Records. It was subsequently released in the U.S. in March 1969, and became a breakthrough success for the group, as it would be their first single to reach the top ten on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, peaking at number six, and would eventually be certified gold by the RIAA for sales of over one million copies. It was also a top ten hit in South Africa. While it was actually the 18th single released by the band overall, it was the first from the line-up of Cummings, Bachman, Jim Kale, and Garry Peterson as produced by Jack Richardson.
Aaron "Big Voice Jack" Lerole was a South African singer and penny whistle player. Lerole was a leading performer in the kwela music of 1950s South Africa. Lerole was the bandleader of Elias and His Zig-Zag Jive Flutes, who had an international hit record in 1958 with "Tom Hark". He co-founded the fusion band Mango Groove in 1984, and later collaborated with Dave Matthews Band, a rock band from the United States.
Elias and His Zig-Zag Jive Flutes was a kwela band, formed in the mid-1950s by brothers Elias and Jack Lerole, along with David Ramosa and Zeph Nkabinde. The four young men played on the streets of Alexandra, a township in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the early days they called themselves the Alex Shamba Boys. Jack Lerole was only in his early teens when he and Elias started playing penny whistle. Ramosa and Nkabinde joined them, and they developed a unique sound: Unlike earlier kwela groups, they incorporated guitar and vocal harmony. The "jive flute" in the name Elias and His Zig-Zag Jive Flutes is the penny whistle.
Nantucket Sleighride is the second studio album by American hard rock band Mountain, released in January 1971 by Windfall Records in the US and by Island in the UK. It reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart in 1971.
John Peel And Sheila: The Pig's Big 78s: A Beginner's Guide is a compilation consisting of music originally published on 78 rpm shellac records. British radio DJ John Peel and his wife Sheila Ravenscroft began compiling the record in 2004, with Sheila completing the project following Peel's death. The compilation was named after, and inspired by, a feature on Peel's BBC Radio show, in which Sheila would play 78 rpm records in between other tracks.
éVoid is a rock band that emerged in 1980s South Africa. A three-piece outfit, it featured the brothers Lucien and Erik Windrich with Georg Voros, Wayne Harker and Danny de Wet all playing drums at different points. Erik played keyboards and sang lead vocal, while Lucien played guitar and provided backing vocals.
Smells Like Saturday is a once weekly comedy/music/talk morning radio show presented by the puppet characters Zig and Zag. It is broadcast on Irish radio station 2FM and airs from 10:00-12:00 midday every Saturday morning from 2010 until 2011. The characters present the show from the fictional "Studio Z’ which Zig and Zag claim is their old spaceship from the Eighties; the "Zogmobile" which means they can often fly the studio to exotic locations during the show. The shows theme tune is The Moog Cookbook’s instrumental cover version of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" where the radio show derived its title.
The historic county of Sussex in southern England has a rich musical heritage that encompasses the genres of folk, classical and rock and popular music amongst others. With the unbroken survival of its indigenous music, Sussex was at the forefront of the English folk music revivals of the 19th and 20th centuries. Many classical composers have found inspiration in Sussex, and the county continues to have a thriving musical scene across the musical genres. In Sussex by the Sea, the county has its own unofficial anthem.
Mango Groove is the self-titled debut album of Mango Groove, a South African pop fusion band whose sound is influenced by township music. Seven of the eleven songs on the album were released as singles. The album sold extremely well, breaking national sales records and maintaining a high rank in the radio charts for a year. The band dedicated the album to Mickey Vilakazi, a bandmate who died in June 1988.
