Allen Kwela

Allen Kwela was born on the September 11, 1939, in Chesterville, Durban, and grew up on the South Coast where he also attended school. He began his young life as a herdboy, but apart from attending school, he already realized that his passion was for the guitar. His brothers were both musical, but rather than encourage their younger sibling, they would give him a severe beating if he so much as touched their guitar or violin.

In desperation Kwela made himself a guitar out of a one-gallon oil drum and cable wires which he would strum while tending his father's herds. It was not until he left home that he acquired a proper six-string guitar that he could tune up properly to play one of his favorite tunes: Glenn Miller's "In the Mood." When Kwela returned to his town after a year away, a neighbor brought him an electric guitar to practice on. He was soon performing as a solo act, doing shows that lasted the whole night at jazz spots around his home.

Like so many musicians, Kwela felt it essential to move to the bustling city of Johannesburg in order to meet other musicians and hopefully cut a record. It was in Jo'burg that Allen met the late pennywhistle player Spokes Mashiyane and together they composed arranged and played their own brand of music at all the local night-spots. That music was called kwela, but it was Mashiyane who went on to be called the father of the new style, leaving his partner behind.

But the guitarist found that his natural inclination was for jazz anyway and he moved away from kwela to carve out his own niche as one of South Africa's finest jazz guitarists. He incorporates myriad styles, from township jive to indigenous rhythms and jazz. —Courtesy Calabash Music