Paki Ha Li Eo

The words of this gentle love song are by Lesotho poet and teacher, Kemuel Edward Ntsane (1920-1983), who is well known for his blend of the religious, traditional, and western in modern Sesotho poetry. Moerane adapts Ntsane’s lyrics of Paki Ha Li Eo to create a musical setting that is deceptively simple and syllabic at first, until a persistent syncopated rhythm emphasising the 2nd beat, together with frequent chromatic harmonies, begin to match the strong feelings expressed in the poem.

In order to help choirs learn this song, a free mp3 of the lyrics spoken by Mpho Ndebele is downloadable when the song is purchased along with a rehearsal mp3 of the song at a slow tempo.
Duration: 2’28”

The audio sample below was generated from the Sibelius file of the score and the image on the right shows the first page of the score.