Mokhotlong

(Mokhotlong)

R39.00

ISMN
979-0-804003-26-0;979-0-804003-27-7
Catalogue No
JPM 114
Notation
Dual notation (staff & tonic solfa), Staff notation
Scoring
choir SATB
Edition
Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa Critical Edition
Category

Mohapeloa completed ‘Mokhotlong’ in 1972, publishing it in Cape Town in 1976 as song No. 17 of 25 in Meluluetsa ea Ntšetso-pele le Bosechaba Lesotho (Anthems for the Development of the Lesotho Nation). It sings the praises of the town nearest to the village where Mohapeloa was born and grew up, one of the highest points in southern Africa, in the Maloti (also called Maluti or Drakensberg) mountains. The word ‘mokhotlong’ itself has nothing to do with mountains, deriving from the Sesotho name for the southern bald ibis (Geronticus calvus). The song is written in a lilting meter that Mohapeloa associated in some way with this district of Lesotho, 3+3+2, a meter he calls ‘seakhi time’. The song’s numerous references to rivers, villages, and mountain peaks make it an interesting geographical record, as are some of his other songs in Meluluetsa.

Audio

Type:
Studio Recording
Performers:
Soweto Teachers Choir. Originally recorded 1980, digitized by the SABC 2002, CDT 2163. Mastered and reissued by ACE on CD in 2014.
Location:
Unknown
Source:
African Choral Legacy - Historic Recordings of J.P. Mohapeloa Track 18
Publisher:
African Composers Edition
Date:
2014