I've been regretting not bringing more South African music with me to Korea.
So this is for all my Xhosa-practising friends. You guys are doing great!
There is a famous Xhosa song called "Qongqothwane" or "The Click Song" in English. It was first sung by Miriam Makeba. It uses the "q" click, which is the cork-popping sound made with your tongue against the roof of your mouth.
The words go something like this:
Igqirha lendlela nguqongqothwane.
Igqirha lendlela nguqongqothwane. (x2)
Sebeqabele gqi thapha yi hayi nguqongqothwane.
Sebeqabele gqi thapha bathi awu nguqongqothwane.
(The witchdoctor of the road is said to be a black beetle.
It has come by a steep mountain, this beetle.)
To hear this song, as well as the other Xhosa clicks (the 'x' and the 'c'), please follow this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mwh9z58iAU
2 comments:
Man, she pronounces those clicks beautifully... like rifle shots!
It sounds like you're having a similar experience to the band Coleske. As the story goes, they were on tour in the US sometime in the 1990's, and Ewald Coleske was channel-hopping. He stumbled across an advertisement for (Heinz I think?) tomato sauce... with a backing track sung by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The brothers were so touched by the music (they grew up with a Zulu maid who taught them how to sing) they immediately recorded a few tracks in Zulu!
sweeeeet!!! i'm sooo going to learn this! send more s.a. music my way, cool kid!
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