Thoko Ea Maafrika

(Praise Song for Africans)

R39.00

ISMN
979-0-804001-92-1;979-0-804001-93-8
Catalogue No
JPM 047
Notation
Dual notation (staff & tonic solfa), Staff notation
Scoring
choir SATB
Edition
Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa Critical Edition
Category

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).

Audio

Type:
Studio Recording
Performers:
Sharpeville Methodist Church Choir. Originally recorded c1970, digitized by the SABC in 2002, CDT2106. Mastered and reissued by ACE on CD in 2014.
Location:
Unknown
Source:
African Choral Legacy - Historic Recordings of J.P. Mohapeloa Track 12
Publisher:
African Composers Edition
Date:
2014