Word: mabaso
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Lemmie ("Special") Mabaso is a twelve-year-old Johannesburg schoolboy who rarely goes to school any more. Instead, he hangs around on street corners tootling a pennywhistle. Lemmie leads his own celebrated band, the "Alexandra Junior Bright Boys," which started out playing for coppers, by now has made three hit records and gets featured billing at Johannesburg City Hall concerts. Reason: the haunting sound of pennywhistle jazz has become the favorite music of South Africa's slum-caged blacks-and of a great many white hipsters...
Despite their success, most penny-whistlers still find the going rough. Whistle Virtuoso Fred Maphisa thinks up his tunes while driving a cab; Spokes ("King of the Pennywhistlers") Mashiyani used to make his living as a domestic servant. But young "Special" Mabaso, who has just turned out a new hit called Serope Sa Ngwanyana (Girls' Thighs), is optimistic. Says he: "We are professionals now. From now on we are not going to play so much in the streets...
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