Kolliana

‘Kolliana’ is a name in Sesotho, the language of Lesotho, and it can be either a boy’s or a girl’s name. In the song Kolliana, a child who is out playing when it is getting late is called home. It was first published in tonic solfa notation in 1935 and is scored for SSATB, second Soprano becoming first Alto in bars 5-12, then reverting to second Sop. The Bass covers a wide register with some very low notes – such as C two octaves below Middle C – which recall the male-voice style of traditional Sotho mohobelo songs. Relentless syncopations, on the other hand, are influenced by jazz styles of the 1930s, and the writing is multi-layered with voices often crossing. The score sample on the right shows the version of the score in staff notation and it is also available in dual staff-solfa notation. The audio file of a male-voice rendition given below was originally recorded in Johannesburg in 1937 and was reissued on CD in 2014 by ACE.