In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section ; and to provide all or part of the harmony, i.e. the chords from a song's chord progression, where a chord is a group of notes played together. Therefore, the basic technique of rhythm guitar is to hold down a series of chords with the fretting hand while strumming or fingerpicking rhythmically with the other hand. More developed rhythm techniques include arpeggios, damping, riffs, chord solos, and complex strums.
The tin whistle, also called 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.
The South African music scene includes both popular (jive) and folk forms like Zulu isicathamiya singing and harmonic mbaqanga. Other popular genres are Marabi, Kwaito, house music, Isicathamiya, Gqom, rock music, hip hop and Amapiano.
The music of Malawi has historically been influenced by its triple cultural heritage of British, African, and American music. Malawians have long been travelers and migrant workers, and as a result, their music has spread across the African continent and blended with other music forms. One of the prime historical causes of the Malawian musical melting pot was World War II, when soldiers both brought music to distant lands and also brought it back. By the end of the war, guitar and banjo duos were the most popular type of dance band. Both instruments were imported. Malawians working in the mines in South Africa and Mozambique also led to fusion and blending in music styles, giving rise to music styles like Kwela.
Mbaqanga is a style of South African music with rural Zulu roots that continues to influence musicians worldwide today. The style originated in the early 1960s, and blends traditional African vocal styles and melodies with European and American popular music.
Marabi is a style of music that evolved in South Africa over the 20th century.
Dobsonville is a township in greater Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. It lies to the west of Meadowlands, a part of Diepmeadow, and is adjacent to Mofolo North and Zondi, which are suburbs of Soweto on its southern border.
African popular music, like African traditional music, is vast and varied. Most contemporary genres of African popular music build on cross-pollination with Western popular music. Many genres of popular music like amapiano, blues, jazz, afrobeats, salsa, zouk, and rumba derive to varying degrees on musical traditions from Africa, taken to the Americas by enslaved Africans. These rhythms and sounds have subsequently been adapted by newer genres like rock, and rhythm and blues. Likewise, African popular music has adopted elements, particularly the musical instruments and recording studio techniques of the Western music industry. The term does not refer to a specific style or sound but is used as a general term for African popular music.
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.
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.
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.
Isak Roux is a South African born German composer born in 1959. He is known for his arrangements of South African music, especially his work with the musical groups Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Kwela Tebza.
"Tom Hark" is an instrumental South African kwela song from the 1950s, believed to have been composed by Jack Lerole. The song was arranged for penny whistle and first recorded by Elias and His Zig-Zag Jive Flutes – a South African band formed by pennywhistlers Jack and his brother Elias Lerole – and released in 1956. It was later released in the United Kingdom after it was used as a theme on a television series, and it reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1958.
Township Jazz is any of various music genres created by Bantu peoples living in poor, racially segregated urban areas of South Africa ("townships") during the 20th century.
Nicolaas Cornelius Carstens more commonly known as Nico Carstens, was a South African musician, accordionist, and songwriter.
The Real Elements is a Malawian hip-hop band that gained notoriety in the 1990s and 2000s in Malawi. The group consisted of Marvel, Plan B, Stix, and Q. The group holds a special place in the Malawian music industry because it propagated Malawian hip-hop and paved the way for the Malawian hip-hop genre at a time when they were a few hip-hop artists in Malawi. Their music was considered the cutting edge in the Malawi music scene. Critics argue that is the best urban group that has come out of Malawi. They performed in Malawi and their music was also featured on Channel O beaming Malawian hip-hop for the first time to a Pan African audience. In their UK tours they opened for UK hip-hop artists like Blak Twang and Terri Walker. It was just as their international career was taking off that the group separated. Stix decided to leave the music industry and follow religious pursuits. The group currently is pursuing personal interests.
Jaiva, Township jive (TJ), Soweto jive, Soweto sound or Soweto beat is a subgenre of South African township music and African dance form that influenced Western breakdance and emerged from the shebeen culture of the apartheid-era townships.
Zimbabwean Jazz, also known as Afro Jazz was developed in the 20th century. Its history can be traced from its early colonial era.
Kwela Tebza is a South African Kwela musical group of three brothers, Mpho, Tebogo, and Tshepo Lerole. They play penny whistles.
