A little bit of South African culture...

Thought I'd like to share a little of our traditional South African music, known as 'BOEREMUSIEK' (Boer Music) in the same vein as your early ancestors' music and dancing. The first two videos depict two VERY old traditional dances - the Settees and the Mazurka - and the music is played on traditional instruments such as concertina, guitar, and often supplemented with violin, bass fiddle and banjo. However, the music for these two dances are just concertina, banjo or ukelele and guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1-FYG1we6g&feature=related (Seties)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BeC7oU-1NE&feature=related (Mazurka)

However, with the advance of electronic instruments, BOEREMUSIEK has also entered the 'electronic' age, but the style is still very traditional, and today the best band - in my opinion - is the KLIPWERF BOEREORKES (Rocky Farmyard Orchestra). In fact, Klipwerf has often been nominated No. 1 (btw, the "W" in the name is pronounced with a "V" sound) and when they appeared on scene some 40 years ago, people raved about their style. This first number - Wie se kind is Jy (Whose Child are YOU) is performed in their hometown, Calvinia, in a region known as the Great Karoo (the name meaning Land of the Great Thirst, a very arid region in the North Cape, and the people dancing there are a mixture of the original inhabitants of South Africa - Khoisan and Bushmen - long before Blacks finally emigrated south from Central Africa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=6MV4sVWoTmA (Wie se kind is jy)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5WvCVK8L_A&feature=related (Klipwerf - nuwe album)

Then this last one - Stellenbosch Verlange Wals (Stellenbosch yearning/Longing Waltz) depicts a very traditional Boere-band with concertina, Cello, Guitar and Ukelele.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuukNHuxu1s&feature=related (Stellenbosch Verlange Wals)

If you've enjoyed looking at - and listening to the above, I'll gladly post some more - and perhaps next time some traditional dancing and singing by Blacks, especially Ladysmith Black Mambazo who are world-famous for their songs and dancing.

 

Very nice, Kim ~ Denke!

 

Interesting stuff. Not my style of music, but always good to learn a little about other people's culture. :cool

 

I enjoyed watching those. Nice post, ®KIM