Ramphoto Molefhe
29 September 2008
column
I immediately fell in love with the Koma Ya Basadi that the women surged into immediately after the men folk at Kgafela's coronation in Mochudi at the weekend. I could not help calling Chedza Fani and exhorting him to share with me my appreciation of the jazz in the women's presentation.
It was as impressive as the songs of the women dance troupes of the Northeast, more appropriately, Bokalaka who ran away with a number of categories over the President's Day 'cultural heritage' celebrations.
The ikalanga dancers had the beat of the drum and the rhythm of hand clapping in their favour. Somehow, the drum appears to have escaped incorporation into the rhythms of the peoples south of Dibete.
Even without the benefit of the drum, the Basarwa groups fared better if only because of the immediacy of their connections with the heavens. No, the Earth. Because that is where they bury their dead without claiming any connection to the 'heavens' where the most advanced American or Soviet technology has failed to locate the person or spirit of the western 'God'. It was almost inevitable that the ikalanga folk, and even more obviously, the Basarwa, would have to win in almost every category of their cultural presentations, all things being fair.
Of course then, the categories of 'Pina Ya setapa' and another that escapes my memory, appeared to have been created to allow the Setswana speakers space at the prize giving ceremony.
Setapa? Is that category not deliberately biased in favour of the Setswana groups who have also managed adulteration of the traditional forms of marriage that they held before they too so vehemently to Christian worship and concepts of 'God'?
I did say once in this column, and perhaps a little repetition will help, that it will be the most primitive and the word is used in its most authentic form to mean untainted with western prejudice that will triumph artistically and aesthetically over the ponderous and ambivalent forms of art that the Batswana borrowed from the colonialists. The world, now more than ever before, yearn for nature in its innocence, for the acoustic, and the refurbishment of the cultures of the indigenous peoples of the world who have suffered the worst under colonialism and its capitalism.
The corrupted cultures of the christianised groups hold very little attraction for the youth and adults who are going in the opposite direction.
The computers will dominate the market now. But that culture has no longevity and it is harrowing to the ear and natural life in general.
The world now wants a return to the earth and greater respect for the natural. That is why the Dikoma of the Bakgatla gave me a joy that I fail to get from the computerised industrial noise that dominates the airwaves at our local radio stations.
May I take this opportunity to appeal to Kgafela I had wanted his father to perform my marriage, and if not him, Kgosi Seepapitso, to establish Bogwera once more. Having done that he should assist me and the union of Botswana musicians, to register cultural trusts in every one of Botswana administrative districts that will serve to preserve and protect Botswana folk and traditional music.
The trusts would also help to collect royalties for recorded folk music so that the districts should have the financial resources to develop the folk music and preserve its values.I believe that the Bakgatla have good allies in the Balete, the Batlokwa, the ikalanga and others who take their traditions and folklore seriously. There is a beginning there.
Now, we have yet to convince the people at the Ministry of Culture and youth to get out of their ties and academic gowns, and to understand that cultural enterprise is done by beating the drums, by communication of tradition from the grey-haired to the youth and by provision of the institutions at grassroots level the community centres for the furtherance of arts and culture.
This, it seems, would be the greatest contribution that the 'Ntlo Ya Dikgosi' could make at the National Assembly and at the district councils.Thankfully, Kgosi Kgafela is a lawyer and he knows both sides of the academic upbringing and socialisation at the Kgotla.Rona rra re teng, mme re latlhegile ka re sena ba ba nang le kgatlhego ya go reetsa.
I heard you exhort the Bakgatla: "Lo nkatumele, le nna ke lo ikatumetse. Ga gona sepe se se ka re palelang".
Kgabo, ke gone fa ke go ikatumetsa ge,ke rianeng.
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