Namibia

In doing this musick around the world thing, I would be more than remiss if I didn’t post this sacred slab of magickal musick here. I may be many things, but I’m no miss, re- or otherwise. Not gonna skip this.

Making music is the most primeval form of human expression, imbued with a mystical power to communicate at an instinctual level that transcends language & speaks directly to the soul. The San Bushmen, the indigenous people of the southern African region are Africa's oldest inhabitants, having lived in the region for approximately twenty-five thousand years. For them, music & dance are not merely creative expressions, but an integral part of their being. 

This project started in the Kalahari desert in 1995. The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savannah in southern Africa extending 350,000 square miles, covering much of Namibia. This project was initiated by Pops Mohamed, a musician renowned for his dedication to protect & preserve the indigenous music from his homeland. Pops had been trying to find original recordings of the Bushmen music for many years. In 1995 he organized an expedition to the Kalahari to record the music of Africa's oldest inhabitants. The San involved in this project come from an area of Namibia called the Omaheke Region, bordering with Botswana.

!Gubi Tietei, tribal elder & traditional healer, along with his family, hosted the expedition. An essential element of the San cultural identity is their medicine dance & music, in which they use rhythm to heal both the individual & the collective. The medicine men have a supernatural potency within them called n/um that enables them to cure sickness. To activate this substance they dance & sing, creating sounds & a tempo that heats the n/um, causing it to rise up to their head. This evokes trance. This family of San still practice a trance-dance that goes back to the first memories of their culture, making this the oldest form of trance music in the world. The collection of songs is an integral part of a San family, their culture & worldview. Enchanting & hypnotic, these include expressions of celebration, the recalling of memories, humor, & healing.

This dance is the oldest form of meditation & enables participants to contact their ancestors by entering a state of !kia (trance). This spiritual state is accessible to all. It is an integral part of their lives, bringing the whole community together. !kia is to go into unconsciousness ('half death'), letting go of the spirit in order to commune with Gauwa (God). Tragically, after decades of systematic marginalization & dislocation, the modern world threatens these ancient people, their culture as hunter-gatherers, & their strange, beautiful music.

These songs were captured with a portable DAT using a Soundfield microphone. The music gathered provided the base for Pops' album How Far Have We Come, but also led to this raw, undiluted piece of art.

 Various - Pops MohamedPresents Bushmen of the Kalahari, MELT 2000 BW2128, 2001. 

decryption code in comments

Tracklist –

Xan Do Do (God Help Us) - Anna Goute/Angelic Goute/Marcella !Ngube
Nxa! (Sound Of The Wild Dog) - Anna Goute/!Ngubi Goute
Nxa! (Version 2) - Anna Goute/!Ngubi Goute
Nxa! (Version 3) - Anna Goute/!Ngubi Goute
I Wish To Be A Lucky Hunter - !Ngube Goute
Hungry Man - !Ngubi Goute
Thula, Thula Thule! (Bump Me So That I Can Bump You) - Bakgalagadi Cultural Group/Sarafina Ditshabue
Chameleon - Angelic Goute/Marcella !Ngube
Lekker Ding, Lekker Daar! (Nice Thing, Nice Day) - Angelic Goute/Marcella !Ngube
A Trance Song - Angelic Goute/Marcella !Ngube  Listen  Listen
Heta! (Chorus Line) - Bakgalagadi Cultural Group/Sarafina Ditshabue
The Great Hunt - !Ngube Goute
!Kung - !Ngube Goute
Sad Song - !Ngube Goute
Honey Song - !Ngube Goute
The Cursed Woman - !Ngube Goute
Looking Back - !Ngube Goute  

Enjoy, heal, & always remember,
NØ