At my whistle class last night we worked on a tune from the movie “The Power of One”. It’s a kind of Irish/African/Reggae tune, and apparently played on tin whistles and wooden 6-hole flutes or whistles. There are four parts, all are played simultaneously, and at half time the melody goes up from D to (I think) C. It really is a great tune and very different from a lot of the other stuff we’ve been learning.
Does anyone know the piece, what it’s called, and whether it’s available on a soundtrack recording?
The tune is called Limpopo River and it’s a traditional South African Kwela tune. It is on the soundtrack which even more fantastic than the movie, which is superb.
Chris
[ This Message was edited by: ChrisLaughlin on 2002-03-07 23:04 ]
I believe the one you’re thinking of is called “The Pennywhistle Song” on the soundtrack. I’ve never had the guts to tackle it. (In the movie, it’s from the scene where the black kid and the white kid are training together, and it shows a bunch of little kids playing whistles!) Good luck!
I’m trying to hire the DVD this weekend so I can suss it out. It’s a simple tune but sounds much better (to me) than the trad stuff. Very haunting but still fun… actually it reminds me of some of the music in some of the scenes in Star Wars!
The Power of One…the book was amazing…a great read…the movie was a let down from the book and the soundtrack is terrific! if I could only keep 10 CDs from my collection, that would be one of them.
The song you mention can only be The Penny Whistle Song. On the Cd the combo of whistles and chorus is delightful.
It’s The Penny Whistle Song. I just spent some time on Morpheus and WinMX and found it.
The way we did it in class there were 4 parts, one of which was Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier”… which isn’t on the track I downloaded… actually one of the recurrent melodies is almost “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”!
I’m not sure if the notation I have for it is “normal”… the way we’re learning is by the fingerings…
|6 4 2 1|2 0/5 2 1- 2-|6 4 2 1|2 0/5 2 3 3 5 6| etc.
I’ll second that recommendation for the book version of The Power of One (by Bryce Courtenay). Easily one of the most memorable books I have ever read, and I’ve read a LOT. The movie couldn’t possibly cover all the nuances of the book, but they did a pretty good job, considering that. Read it!
If you enjoyed the Power of One give yourself a treat and read some more of Bryce Courtenay’s books. I’ve read The Power of One, Solomon’s Song, The Potato Factory, Tommo and Hawk, and Jessica. All of his work is powerful, but The Power of One and Jessica are my favourites. A good read guaranteed!
Yes! Tandia. I was wondering which one(s) I’d left out. When my ex and I broke up one of the few things we had to settle was who was getting which books! Bryce Courtenay, Wilbur Smith and James Clavell were the others we had to work out out a split on!
Anyone know where I can get Courtenay books, and the Power of One soundtrack at less than exorbitant prices? They are all out of print apparently, and not widely available outside of Australia. Shipping alone will kill you. I found one CD of the soundtrack, but it was $26 ish.
