sticking to my roots
During this holidays I had the pleasure of visiting one of my Venda friends place, they had a wedding at his place and he invited me and how can you say no, the black person in me couldn’t just turn down a free experience, where I got the chance to dine and fest to their Venda delicacy’s and get to experience their culture and also got a chance to taste some home brewed beer. They started playing some Venda music, here I was expecting them to play some English orientated sound seeing that it was wedding, they kept to their roots and played Venda music, and the way they danced to that music is almost the same way I dance to my favorite hip hop music. It triggered this question in mind when last did I listen to my own cultural music, I won’t lie the first thing I do when I get to a music shop I go to the hip hop side and take for granted my own music and here I am telling people how proud I am about my Tsonga heritage but still don’t even know any famous Tsonga musicians.
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| tsonga women dancing the traditional dance wearing Xibelana (traditional clothing) |
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| Thomas Chauke |
Looking at the music sales here in South Africa Afrikaans music is one of the highest selling music is South Africa, they have one of the biggest fan loyalty. decided to go through my mother’s CD collection and found some Tsonga music and started and a friend of mine told me about a Tsonga festival that was taking place and it cost around R50, what a reasonable price , I was spectacle at first didn’t want to spend that much cash to see an artist that I’ve never listened to , my mind was thinking of the school fresher’s bash that was going to take place when school opened and I would see some of my favorite artists , my friend couldn’t take no for an answer and Saturday came and we headed to the festival ,it was packed to the inch as soon as the first artist got on stage and started performing, everyone was on their feet started dancing, singing I felt out of place, somehow I finally got on the spirit when the legendary Thomas Chauke got on stage, I joined in started dancing also and sang along and somehow I had fun and also the fact that I was surrounded by my fellow Tsongas it made the experience even more memorable. Since that I got hooked to my Tsonga music.
Now I can’t stop listening to artists like Joe Shirimana, Prince Rhangani the list goes on and I’m asking myself where has this music been hiding from me all along. Now that I’m Johannesburg I just find it more comforting , so the question that I want to ask, is when last did you listened to you to your won traditional music ?, buy their albums? So today go out there and support their music. If you look at the price it’s actually cheaper than those popular artists and stick to your own roots.
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is a vital commitment if you allow yourself to engage and teste other cultures such as Venda, in terms of music they play ussually are music that has a meaning to that event as a wedding, and they way they wear you can not ask that is tsong or venda you can see by wearing traditional cloths,
ReplyDeletewouldnt have said it better, music is also a big factor in our culture
ReplyDeleteThats a good point, we as Africans should support our own so that our industry grows. we have to stop stereotyping ourselves
ReplyDeleteWow,how was the wedding I know Venda People still practice hospitality and their culture is always in their heart they dont grow up and forget their roots.Their music is special and well written.Okay you have too many topic at once but anyway its nice.
ReplyDeleteTrue fan of local music you see them by actions especially traditional music that build the culture's image who and what we are.
ReplyDeleteyes and where we going
Deletewow wow, well said one should stick to their roots. Am for one proud to be a tsonga
ReplyDeleteyou know what i mean, there is nothing wrong with listening to other geners, aslong as u try ur best to stick to ur roots
DeleteWow that is so true,most people our age have forgotten about their cultural music because we grew up exposed to western or european music...and that usually fades and goes out of "fashion" with time. One thing about cultural music is that it never gets out dated a song which was a hit a decade ago still sounds good today when you listen to it. So i think we should support our own home brewed cultural music artists.
ReplyDeleteyes you right there, that should always keep u grounded, and just remind you of home
DeleteSouth African music industry can fastly expand if people start to value and support, local or traditional music. Its a shame that most of us still find our own music boring.
ReplyDeletewe as local market are the one's who determine the future of our music industry, come to think about it south african music,specifically traditional music it is not just music but some sort of tool that people use to narrate stories about our roots
ReplyDeleteLOCAL IS LEKKER!!i like the fact that you dont just listen to the likes oof Drake & 4get about your own music BIG UP 2 U.
ReplyDeletesure this is a great start for all of us to not forget where we come from and who and what we are. NICE ONE
ReplyDeleteI know Venda people they are people of culture and i just respect them for who they are becouse they dont just change because they want to be recognised.
ReplyDelete