“There’s so much soul in that little whistle that we blow,” says Tshepo. The youngest of the pennywhistle playing Kwela Tebza brothers pauses in the middle of a rhapsody about rocking the African Movie Academy Awards in Nigeria. “As soon as we started our dance moves — they’re used to Usher moves, okay? — the whole crowd went mad,” he smiles.
“Government ministers and Nollywood midgets were getting down to what we were doing!” adds elder brother Tebogo. “When we were done Danny Glover and Forest Whittaker came back stage and gave us their business cards.”
Getting politicians to pantsula and hanging with Hollywood celebrities, sounds like these pennywhistle players are living large? “With music you get opportunities to meet presidents and stay in a 7 star hotel” nods Mpho. “It’s a privilege. But what moves us most is that we’ve touched so many souls with our music.”
Music from the roots
This music is kwela, the pennywhistle fuelled cocktail of marabi and jazz that gave disenfranchised township street musicians a singular form of self expression back in the 1950s. It’s the celebratory Sophiatown shebeen soundtrack popularised by the likes of Lemmy Mabaso, Spokes Mashiyane and the Tebza trio’s father Elias Lerole and his brother ‘Big Voice’ Jack.
“Music is in our roots” explains middle sibling Mpho. “Kwela Tebza incorporates everything that is truly South African with anything else you want to explore. We bring colour to our past and make it fresh for the next generation.”
Such devotion to nurturing homegrown musical traditions is a rarity in the current MTV climate of fast musical fashions. Do they find the cultural amnesia of the Rainbow Nation generation problematic? “I blame the lack of local content on radio and TV” says Tshepo. “They’ve been feeding us international content. So you can’t actually blame the youth because that is what they’re exposed to.”
“I’m not saying artists shouldn’t do hip-hop, pop or rap” adds Tebogo. “But what’s important is we embrace our culture. You can’t challenge Jay-Z with his own rap, he does it better than anyone. As much as they say, rapping and the drums come from Africa, we need to prove that music was given to the world by Africans.”
Keeping it fresh
Relax. This isn’t just some ‘Proudly South African’ sales pitch. The trio’s SAMA-winning urban pop album, Gauteng: Made in South Africa is packed with revamped South African classics. Most notably, they’ve teamed up with Freshlyground songbird Zolani Mahola for a feisty new vocal rendition of their father’s iconic pennywhistle smash hit “Tom Hark”.
“There’s such a history with that song, it sold millions of copies and introduced Kwela to the world back in the 50s, you know?” says Tebogo. “As musicians we mustn’t forget where we come from. We must celebrate the people who started this whole thing, we do this by revamping their music. ”
“Everything that we create needs to have a sound that comes from our country,” nods Mpho. “If we don’t make music, no one else will. Our music is about preserving that heritage, letting people know in 50 years where this music came from.”
Their Made in South Africa pairings aren’t just some nostalgic shout out to their ancestors either. Collaborations with Afro pop pin ups Thembi Seethe and Theo Kgosinkwe, Gospel hop’s fallen idol Jub Jub, masked kwaito ‘tsotsi’ Mzekezeke, prime time rappers Tuks and Slikour and pop-rock poster boys, The Parlotones have catapulted kwela’s pennywhistle power into the 21st century.
“It’s a colourful CD, so why not Made in South Africa?” says Tebogo. “We decided to go wild with this album and tap into other genres. It’s the best South Africa has to offer.”
Crossing over
That’s no marketing hype either. Their collaboration Better Day with Junior Dredd, Thembi Seete, Bricks, Bongo Riot, Nigeria’s DJ Waxxy and Zimbabwe’s Buffalo Souljah earned the band a Metro FM award before the album was even released. And their hook up with Skwatta Kamp’s lyrical leader Slikour and The Parlotones, Cold scored the siblings some crossover success on radio. “We met the Parlotones and had some synergy” explains Tebogo about the colab. “We liked their vibe and they liked ours. They’re also quite stylish.”
Point taken. And as The Parlotones have proved with fast food buckets, wine bottles and going green, it’s b®and consciousness that takes any band’s career to the next level.
“At the end of the day music is a business” nods Tebogo. “You might start off by making beats for yourself at home, but it ends up with you making money out of it, with you being famous. When you’re young you think everything is glam, which is not real. You need to start from scratch and grow. We’ve always appreciated the beautiful lifestyle, tried to be trendsetters and look sharp.”
It was this belief that took them from just another bunch of street buskers to professional recording artists. “When we started there was no money, we were busking outside a restaurant” remembers Tebogo. “We played by the door as people were coming in” laughs Mpho. “Our mother finally said ‘Stop now! Don’t busk again. Very soon you’re going to be men! As from today, you’re going to dress up, make sure this brand and the music is well respected.'”
Speaking of which, it must’ve been tough for three teenagers to nurture a love of kwela, what with the kwaito revolution going on? “Kwaito was the happening thing,” nods Mpho. “Everything was kwaito. Guys were doing beats, they had the clothes, the fancy cars, the women, the lifestyle! Our first two records never got any airplay at all. So we felt the pressure. But because of the love of kwela and the guidance we got from our parents we kept strong and knew that one day we would make it.”
Kwela Tebza perform on the Joy of Jazz’s new Conga stage at the Newtown Precinct on Friday August 26 and Saturday August 27.
For more from the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, see our special report.