Thoko Ea Maafrika

In 1939, Basotoland (present-day Lesotho) was still a British Protectorate, and its subjects regarded the monarch crowned in 1937, George VI, as ‘their’ king. In ‘Thoko ea Maafrika’ Mohapeloa equates him with a Paramount Chief, because of the Basotho’s system of chiefdoms; Basotho had, and still have, their own royal family. But in the 1930s there was still a patriotic turn to Britain. ‘Thoko ea Maafrika’ reflects this in its lyrics more than its music, which has sudden changes and high uses of register that draw on African traditional music. The song is written from the perspective of Africans who are proud to acknowledge and embrace their overseas leader and make him ‘African’ by endowing him with the same attributes they would a local monarch, such as the roaring of the lion (a royal totem animal).