Music Song and
Dance – The Values
to a Society through
Sello Galane’s
Songs and Music.
Call for Youth to Hoist
the Kiba Flag High.
Photographs by Treasure Louw.
The moral lessons in the tapestry of the indigenous songs is
unquestionably invaluable. Kiba is one poignant example of the
genres of music and dance in Africa that provide endless layers
of teachings and fun. Like I have pointed out in the extensive
research I did on Kiba over the years, that Kiba is the melting
pot of all essential teachings, styles, melodies and1 powerful
rhythms that remain relevant over time.
In Kiba one could easily find songs that cater for the everyday
life of a child’s upbringing. There are songs that:
There are songs that also teach the youth a sense of pride and
societal responsibility.
There are songs that help young men to be responsible and
accountable.
There are songs that teach young women to love themselves
and yearn for a prosperous, stable adulthood with enviable
legacy that need to kept to posterity.
Hlogotshweu is one such song that warns both young boys
and girls to have to be weary to leave a proud legacy of being
exemplary adults in being responsible and accountable leaders
of society and their families. It says: Hlogo tshweu o tla roma
mang? ‘To whom must the elders bequeath the baton of good
leadership and exemplary behavior?’
• teach a child respect for elders (mamomokgona)
It further says it cannot be right that young people are only
known for being stylish and glamorous in life. This it decries as
a low sense of achievement. However the song celebrates old
age and wisdom that comes with it. Instead of urging young
people to want to stop the tide of time that brings about old
age, it prepares the young for this golden epoch of life . It
paints a light hearted and jocular acceptance of this era by
the elderly. The older women would jeer at the older women
and say: ‘Sekgalabye se se fetsa mabele’, and the old men’s
response jocularly says ‘sekheekhee sa go nwa byalwa’. Old
women tease old men’s lack of youthful agility and energy
while older men tease their wives for being ‘tipsy’ and lack the
‘strictness of younger motherhood’. Viewed in another way, the
songs urges the young to look after their lives so that they could
reach this golden age of the joy of song and dance in which
they would happily take turns in poking fun of things they cannot
do anymore due to the frailty of their bodies but can show the
sharpness of thought through biting metaphore through song.
• teaches children the symbolic nature of animal life to man
(segwagwa)
Old women decry promiscuity in the song ‘Tshwene’. They say
it is indefensible that a man would sugarcoat the embarrassing
• teach a child a sense of belonging and honour
(Dikokotwane)
• teach a child language (all songs)
• teach a child family structure and relationships (Baeng,
lapeng la bogoshi, sekutu)
• exhort a child to stand up and take that first step when
they learn to walk (Mpule)
• enhance a child’s sense of solidarity (o a sa reng shate o
a duma, leotwana la mogokolodi)
• teach a child about the fragility their bodies
• to stand up and try again when they fall
• teach them to be happy as children (tsatsi le diketse)
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CORPORATE SOCIAL REVIEW