I just bought a CD called King Kwela featuring Spokes Mashiyane, the legendary South African whistler. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but here is an interesting quote from the liner notes:
“The design of the South African penny whistle is the same as that throughout the world, but, by placing the mouthpiece vertically against the inside of his left cheek and by introducing an entirely new fingering system, he was able to produce a roundness of tone hitherto unknown with this limited musical instrument.”
There are no photos showing him playing. A sketch on the front of the CD shows him with the whistle quite far into his mouth.
Does anyone have any thoughts or information about his technique?
I have what’s probably the same music on an LP, and I’ve read the same or a similar description. I’ve wondered the same thing.
You can find photos of various kwela whistlers holding their whistles in an odd position–a thread I started a month or so back had some–but I dunno about fingering at all.
I found this picture in which the musician is holding the whistle in maybe the way you described. Unfortunately, there was no mention of Mashiyane in the article and I have no idea who this picture is of. I did see some photos of other whistle players in kwela bands who were not holding their whistles in an unusual way, so I suppose there is some chance that this is him. His posture is unusual so I wonder if he is dancing at the same time—it would be great to see and hear what is going on there. Right hand on top. Looks like the same fingers we would use both hands to me. I can’t really play the whistle but I got some sounds—they sometimes were and sometimes weren’t the pitches I was expecting. I’ll let you take it from there!
http://www.greatepicbooks.com/epics/february2000a.html I think this website was originally posted by s1m0n. I happened to come across it while searching and it seems like I remember it from s1m0n’s Kwela thread from awhile back.
Freaky! I’m playing with the technique the article described. So far the Water Weasel sounds the best. These are definitely not traditional Irish sounds. I wish I could hear the CD to know what their sound actually is. But when I apply the technique (as best I understand) to the Weasel, it comes out sounding a half step flat, with a lot of breath in the sound. Like a nice African flute.
OK, I’ve read the article. Dale, do you have a larger version of this picture? One which shows what’s actually going on around Dave’s lips?
I wanna know how deep he’s holding the whistle in his mouth, and what “Stick the whistle in your mouth with lips above and below the sound hole thing” means.
Edited: OK, got the sound and the position. Weird! It really is about a semitine flat, and darker.
When Dave says “In Bb” does he mean it’s a Bb whistle flattened to play in A, or was it a B whistle flattened to Bb?
I’m just trying it with a Meg. It does flatten it about a semitone. I have turned the mouthpiece by ninety degrees to avoid the awkward wrist position.
