The Buskaid Ensemble’s collection of its own magical Kwela
arrangements - including a number of stunning vocal solos - was
recorded at the Snape Maltings in July 2002.

 

“This recording is a complete joining of happiness, spirit and rhythm,
and hence it is called Tshwaranang (Unite). This CD unifies our
predecessors, our contemporaries and the Buskaid Ensemble with
anyone and everyone who purchases this CD. However, the whole
production of the CD went too quickly for me....and although it
was just work-work-work, it gave an insight to everybody’s capabilities
of achieving good results in a short space of time.”
Samson Diamond, Leader

 

Buskaid and the members of the Ensemble are indebted to
De Beers and Nedbank for their generous sponsorship of Tshwaranang,
which was launched at the magnificent Nedbank Atrium in
Sandton on 10 July 2003.

 

Here’s a quote about Kwela from Jackey Masekela,
a former member of Buskaid:

 

“When Africans are happy; they sing. When they are sad; they also sing.

 

Most African pieces were composed back in the 1950’s when apartheid
was very strong. In those days life was tough but black people really
have a way of turning their sadness and sorrow into joy and yet creating
memories which we all embrace and respect even though we were not
around in those day.

 

The African tunes we play are classified as Kwela music and the
word ‘Kwela’ came from the police who would raid people’s homes for one
thing or another and if one didn’t have the required documents, they’d be
taken into a police van and the police man would say ‘Kwela-Kwela’ which
means ride. Police vehicles were even known as kwela-kwelas and a
pennywhistler who’d be found playing on a street corner in a ‘whites only’
area would go into the kwela-kwela.”