West Nkosi, originally from Pretoria, South Africa, is a musician with many different types of credits to his name and as many achievements under his belt. His first band, in the 1950s, was the Pretoria Tower Boys, in which he played the pennywhistle. He moved on to play pennywhistle in other bands as a sessions artist, gaining recognition from many key players in the South African music scene of the time.

It wasn’t long before Nkosi moved to Johannesburg to join the leading kwela (tin pennywhistle) group of the time, Spokes Mashiyane and his All Star Flutes. And it wasn’t long after that that he bought his first saxophone, leaving Spokes’ band in search of his own recording contract. He began to explore a new, harder sound along with some of his fellow sessions musicians. This new style would come to be known as Mbaqanga. Rupert Bopape, the well-known successful producer, got Nkosi in touch with Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, who became the backup dancers for Nkosi’s bands, where he was playing sax jive, a simple yet danceable form of township music, in which he layered sax riffs over tribal rhythms.

Nkosi went on to manage and produce groups like Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Mahotella Queens. Much of his later popularity came from these production credits. Sadly, he died in 1998, from injuries sustained in a car crash.