ANCESTRAL VOICES, LIVING TONGUES



Stories, music, voices and sounds from South Africa

Hugh Lupton and TUUP

Two cassettes

In October and November 1992 TUUP and I toured Swaziland and Lesotho telling and collecting stories. The tour had been organised and financed by the British council.
Both of us fell in love with those mountainous regions of South Africa: the geography, the people and the surviving richness of the ancient tribal cultures of the Swazis, the Basotho, the Zulus, theXhosa and the Bushmen
This tape is an attempt to communicate some of that richness
The stories were all collected in South Africa, with the exception of 'Talk Half, Lef' Half' which TUUP was developing during the tour, and which took on a strongly 'South African' flavour and atmosphere as it evolved.
The music and sound recordings were made by us during the tour. The snippets from conversations are included to give a sense of the culture and belief systems from which the stories spring.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE 1
1 Dawn chorus, Maseru, Lesotho
2 Gorah (struck bow), Mbabane market-place, Swaziland
3 The Corner Stone, told by TUUP
4 Gorah (repeat)
5 Zulu praise poem, recited by Matiwane Manana
6 Conversation with Mphosie Mamba about the Swazi one legged God
7 Men's dance, Mirabe Cultural Theatre Group

SIDE 2
1 Singing by students at Ngwane Collage, Swaziland
2 Storytelling by Sibolile Dlamine
3 Singing (with Gorah) by Bhejane Dlamini
4 The Blue Fish, told by Hugh
5 Bhejane Dlamini (repeat)
6 Thunderstorm, Umfolosi
7 The Man With a Horn, told by Maseabata Ramoeletsi
8 Women's dance, Mirabe Cultural Theatre Group
9 Conversation with Sibolile Dlamini
10 Cattle, dogs, water, voices, in the mountains
11 Landrover, car radio, dirt-track

SIDE 3
1 Thumb Piano and Singing Bowls, played by Hugh and TUUP
2 Talk half, Lef' Half, told by TUUP
3 Girls dancing

SIDE 4
1 Squashbox (Concertina)
2 Storytelling by Teboho Monesa (aged 10)
3 Hare and Whiteman, told by Hugh
4 Singing and home-made fiddle
5 Nhalavana Maseko
6 Drums, played by Hugh and TUUP
7 Hare and Moon, told by Hugh
8 Stolotolo (Jews Harp)
9 Conversation with Dr Dlamane
10 The Woman From The Sky, told by Hugh
11 Singing by Mirabe Cultural Theatre Group
12 Night Sounds

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