Kwela is a happy, often
pennywhistle based, street music from southern Africa with jazzy underpinnings. It evolved from the
marabi sound and brought
South African music to international prominence in the 1950s. The music is rooted in
Africa, but later adaptations of this and many other African folk idioms have permeated Western music (listen to
Graceland by
Paul Simon) and give modern South African music, particularly
jazz, much of its distinctive sound and lilting swagger.One reason for the use of the pennywhistle is that it is cheap and portable, but it also lends itself as a solo or an ensemble instrument. The popularity of the pennywhistle may have been based on the fact that
flutes of different kinds have long been traditional instruments among the peoples of the more northerly parts of South Africa, and the pennywhistle thus enabled the swift adaptation of folk tunes into the new marabi-influenced music.
See more at Wikipedia.org...