Spokes Mashiyane

Pennywhistle artist who graced the South African kwela music scene from the 1950s to the 1970s, born near Pretoria, South Africa at Vlakfontein on 20 January 1933 and died in the Baragwanath Hospital, Johannesburg of cirrhosis of the liver on 9 February 1972. Spokes Mashiyane, is credited as having popularized kwela or pennywhistle jive with his recordings Ace Blues and Kwela Spokes in 1954. In the four years that followed he would remain one of the most famous and prolific proponents of this musical style. In 1958, Mashiyane recorded Big Joe Special in which he switched out his pennywhistle for the saxophone. As with his earlier Ace Blues, Big Joe Special was a sales phenomenon. The record became the trendsetting hit of that year and would inspire a whole new style of music. Sax jive—latter called mbaqanga—would dominate South African urban music for the next twenty years. Mashiyane, after his successes with Trutone Records and their Quality and Rave labels, was lured away by Gallo Records in 1958. At Gallo he became the first black musician to receive royalties from his recordings.

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