Leribe

Mohapeloa completed ‘Leribe’ in 1946, first publishing it in the song book Binang ka Thabo (Songs of Joy) in Mazenod, Lesotho in 1963, and then republishing it in Cape Town in 1976 as song No. 19 of 25 songs in Meluluetsa ea Ntšetso-pele le Bosechaba Lesotho (Anthems for the Development of the Lesotho Nation). Leribe, in northern Lesotho, is both a village and a district. It was originally called Hlotse after the name of the river there, and the town is nowadays called Hlotse and the district Leribe. It is close to both Butha-Buthe and Teyateyaneng, which are the subject of songs that precede and follow ‘Leribe’ in Meluluetsa. Mohapeloa never lived there, but Leribe was where his most illustrious fellow Basotho composer, Michael Mosoeu Moerane lived during the 1960s when he taught at Peka High School.