Phephi, Ngoan’a ‘Mè
September 2, 2018...or sister, if he or she doesn’t stop crying. The phrase ‘Ngoan’a ‘Mè’ literally means ‘Child (ngoana) of Mother’ (mmè), and could refer to either a brother or a sister....Pina Ea Batšosi
September 2, 2018...unenviable job it is to spend hours in the fields (in all weathers) chasing birds away with a clay switch (‘tsoibila’). In other songs – ‘Linonyana’ (Birds) or ‘Leeba’ (The...Sealolo Sa Baroa
September 2, 2018...in Mohapeloa’s day, Bushman (‘Baroa’) or Bushmen (‘Saroa’). Their language was full of clicks and is remembered in Lesotho chiefly through place names, which the composer quotes in this song....Sefapano Se Sefubelu
September 2, 2018...(Anthems for the Development of the Lesotho Nation). Mohapeloa’s original title included the English ‘Red Cross’ in brackets after ;Sefapano se Sefubelu;, a translation retained here with ‘The’ added. Like...Sefika Sa Teboho
September 2, 2018...original wattle-and-daub buildings of the mission, which was built into a hillside (in Sesotho a ‘leoa’ or cave), opposite what eventually became an avenue of neatly planted trees and flowers....Senkepeng
September 2, 2018...(African Songs and Extemporary Harmonizations by J.P. Mohapeloa: Book II). He must have had a relation called Senkepeng, because reference is made in the song to the BaTaung clan, to...Sephōkō (Nong ea Lesiba)
September 2, 2018...it, and ‘Motjoli, Nong Kholo’ (28), about the pied wagtail, follows. Mohapeloa’s love of birds and animals was fostered during a spell of illness in 1929-30 when he spent a...Shoeshoe Tsa Moshoeshoe
September 2, 2018...Teachers’ Training College), after his retirement: thus 1979 is an approximate composition date. Multiple copies of the manuscript were found in his former office, maybe because the work was sung...Siu Bo Sele
September 2, 2018...literally about the early morning. It might be seen as a companion piece to ‘Ha Bo E-sa’ (At the Crack of Dawn) (JPM013). Such songs remind us that Lesotho is...Terompeta Ea Rōna
September 2, 2018...with text. In the ‘Seleleka’ (Preface) to the 1976 songbook Meluluetsa from which this song comes, he declared his intention is to “reinvigorate this Nation of Thesele” through language, and...
strange world
August 29, 2022...ensemble in the 1990s. The group comprised Reddy on keyboard(s), Denny Lalouette on bass, Rob Watson on drums, and Bruce Cassidy on EVI (electronic valve instrument). Several of the handwritten...Tlong, Thaka
September 2, 2018...much dancing outdoors that you can see the footprints; a white dress for the bride, instruments playing (or maybe the church organ), and above all, everyone singing. Sotho wedding songs...ballade for florian
September 2, 2022...layout than in Reddy’s score for clarity of reading, but with all Reddy’s markings. In the recording below, Reddy and Schiertz play ballade for florian as a piano-tabla duo. ...blues for bruce
August 30, 2022...others. Reddy’s comment at the top of p.1 – ‘not for Debbie’ – is probably a reference to Martin Lund’s Blues for Debbie or maybe even Bill Evans’s Waltz for...
Fatše La Heso orchestral score
October 21, 2020...University of South Africa. He called it a ‘symphonic poem’ and subtitled it ‘My Country’, referring to Lesotho. The orchestration is late Romantic, the harmonic language is early Modernist, and...Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa Critical Edition, Volume I revised 2016
February 17, 2022There are six volumes of works in the complete Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa Critical Edition, comprising 145 works in total. Each volume is published in two versions: one in staff notation...Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa Critical Edition, Volume II revised 2016
February 17, 2022There are six volumes of works in the complete Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa Critical Edition, comprising 145 works in total. Each volume is published in two versions: one in staff notation...Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa Critical Edition, Volume III revised 2016
February 17, 2022There are six volumes of works in the complete Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa Critical Edition, comprising 145 works in total. Each volume is published in two versions: one in staff notation...Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa Critical Edition, Volume IV revised 2016
February 17, 2022There are six volumes of works in the complete Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa Critical Edition, comprising 145 works in total. Each volume is published in two versions: one in staff notation...
six baroque suites
March 14, 2020...suite no. 3, to ‘acceptance’ in suite no. 6. His preface to the whole set is given in this newly published score, explaining his compositional aesthetic of musical ‘time travel’....
suite no. 5 in c major (from six baroque suites)
March 14, 2020suite no. 5 in c major was composed in 1985 in the style of early 18th-century keyboard music, and it relates to the child-like simplicity of suite no. 1 in...
suite no. 6 in f major (from six baroque suites)
March 14, 2020...longest of the six, Handelian in places and with richer harmonic textures. The opening Prelude-Allemande, which echoes the Prelude of suite no. 1, is followed by a compound Menuet of...
three pieces for piano on b-a-c-h
March 14, 2020The very short three pieces for piano on b-a-c-h, composed in 1979 and based on the letters of J.S. Bach’s surname, B-flat-A-C-B-natural, are dedicated to Keith Burston. He was one...Ahe, Moren’a Khanya!
September 2, 2018‘Ahe, Moren’a Khanya!’ was published in Morija, Lesotho in 1955 as song No. 22 of 29 songs in Hosanna: Lipina tsa Kereke (Hosanna: Church Songs), a collection of anthems –...
logos for radio – our house in cape town
December 13, 2022...return to South Africa. He had designed the ‘perfect home’ there, that he and his partner Heike Asmuss (shown together on the right) would one day live in: ‘a three-storey...
