Khorolakoqo

The text of ‘Khorolakoqo’ is derived from a Sotho folk tale that explains why the rock-rabbit (‘dassie’ in southern Africa – an animal rather like a large guinea-pig) has no tail: because he was too lazy to fetch one when tails were being distributed to all the animals. The moral is, that one should not ask other people to do important things on one’s own behalf. The musical idiom is unusual for Mohapeloa in its use of compound meter in conjunction with avoidance of triadic harmony and vocal interplay, and lack of repeats. More typical is the combination of different texts simultaneously.