#sotho

Miriam Makeba’s portrait greets and grounds you near the entry of Africa Fashion. 

Makeba’s emergence as a singer on the global stage coincided with the emergence of an independent African continent. Her songs blended popular musical styles like Jazz with indigenous South African melodies, often incorporating Swahili, Xhosa, and Sotho lyrics. Well-known globally for her songs Pata Pata and Qongqothwane (the Click Song) Makeba’s music and self-fashioning embodied African liberation and identity. 

For many Africans, her music gave voice to the dawn of a new independent era and the liberation struggles that remained. Affectionately referred to as Mama Africa by her legions of fans, Makeba came to embody a forward-looking Pan-Africanism and Black Power. 

See this portrait of Makeba and hear her singular voice as part of the African Cultural Renaissance that welcomes you in #AfricaFashionBkM.

Amapiano, a Nguni word loosely translated to "the pianos", is a South African subgenre of house music that emerged in South Africa in the mid-2010s. It is a hybrid of deep house, jazz, and lounge music characterized by synths and wide percussive basslines.

There is ambiguity and debate concerning its origins, with various accounts of the musical styles in the Johannesburg townships. Because it has a small similarities with Bacardi, some people assert the genre began in Pretoria but it remains uncertain. Various accounts as to who formed the popular genre make it impossible to accurately pinpoint its origins.

The word amapiano is a IsiZulu or IsiXhosa, or dipiano is a word loosely translated to "the pianos", The genre is mostly sang in Zulu and Xhosa, Sotho, Setswana, Xitsonga, one of South Africa's native tongues.

Amapiano is a subgenre of house and kwaito music. It is a hybrid of deep house, jazz, and lounge music characterised by synths and wide percussive basslines.

Amapiano is distinguished by high-pitched piano melodies, kwaito from South Africa basslines, low tempo 1990s South African house rhythms and percussions from another local subgenre of house known as tribal house.

An important element of the genre is the prevalent use of the "log drum", a wide percussive bassline, which was popularised by producer MDU aka TRP. According to amapiano pioneer Kabza De Small:

I don't know what happened. I don't know how he figured out the log drum. Amapiano music has always been there, but he's the one who came up with the log drum sound. These boys like experimenting. They always check out new plug-ins. So when MDU figured it out, he ran with it.

The Anthropological Masterlist is HERE.

Central Africa is an African region that spans the central part of the continent.

AMBUNDU ─ “The Ambundu, or Mbundu, people are an African people. They are native to northwest Angola.” ─ Mbundu Information ─ Angolan Culture ─ Kimbundu Language (in Portuguese)

ANGOLA ─ “The Angolan people are an African people that share the Angolan culture. They are native to Angola.” ─ Angolan Information ─ Angolan History ─ Angolan Rulers

BAMBUTI ─ “The Bambuti, or Mbuti, people are an African people. They are native to Congo.” ─ Mbuti Culture

BUSHONGO ─ “Bushongo, or the Kingdom of Kuba, was an African civilization that lived from 1625 C.E. to 1884 C.E. They lived in Central Africa.” ─ Kuba Art ─ Bushongo Creation Myth ─ Bumba in Bushongo Myth

CAMEROON ─ “The Cameroonian people are an African people. They share the Cameroonian culture.” ─ Cameroonian Information ─ Cameroonian Culture ─ Cameroonian History

EFIK ─ “The Efik people are an African people. They are native to southern Nigeria and western Cameroon.” ─ Efik Language

NGOMBE ─ “The Ngombe are a Bantu linguistic group. They are native to the Democratic Republic of Congo.” ─ Akongo in Ngombe Mythology

Southern Africa is an African region that spans the southern part of the continent.

HIMBA ─ “The Himba people are an African people. They are native to northern Namibia.” ─ Himba Information

KHOEKHOE ─ “The Khoekhoe, or Khoikhoi, people are an African people. They are nomadic and native to southwestern Africa.” ─ Early Khoekhoe Society ─ Khoekhoe Religion ─ Khoekhoe Language

KHOISAN ─ “The Khoisan people are an African people. The term refers to anyone in South Africa that does not speak a Bantu language.” ─ San Culture ─ Khoisan Culture ─ Khoisan Dictionary

PEDI ─ “The Pedi, or Bapedi, people are an African people. They are native to northeastern South Africa.” ─ Pedi Culture ─ Pedi History ─ Pedi History

SOTHO ─ “The Sotho, or Basotho, people are an African people. They are native to southern Africa.” ─ Basotho Clothing ─ Sesotho Language

Southern Sotho (seSotho)

Basic facts

Number of native speakers: 5.6 million

Official language: Lesotho, South Africa, Zimbabwe

Language of diaspora: Australia, Botswana, Canada, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia

Script: Latin, 43 letters

Grammatical cases: 0

Linguistic typology: agglutinative, SVO

Language family: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern Bantoid, Bantu, Southern Bantu, Sotho-Tswana

Number of dialects: -

History

1833 - first written form

1841 - first grammar book

Writing system and pronunciation

These are the letters that make up the alphabet: a b bj d e f fj g h hl i j k kg kh l m n ng nq ny o p ph pj pjh q qh qhw r s sh t th tj tjh tl tlh ts tsh u y w.

There are two tones: high and low. In reality, only high tones are explicitly specified. Stress mainly falls on the penultimate syllable.

Grammar

Nouns have fifteen classes, two numbers (singular and plural), and no cases. Nominal roles are marked through word order and agreement markers on the verb.

Numbers 1-5 take different forms according to the class of the noun to which they refer. Complements follow the noun.

Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood (indicative, potential, participial sub-mood, and subjunctive), and person. They also express implication, i.e., whether the action is ongoing or has not been happening until now.

Dialects

Flag of Sothotswana

(first posted on DeviantArt: 26th July, 2017)

Simon Nkoli (deceased)

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: 26 November 1957  

RIP: 30 November 1998

Ethnicity: African - South African (Sotho)

Occupation: Activist