Aspects of Tswana Music
Thomas F. Johnston
The Tswana 1 of Southern Africa occupy the Eastern Transvaal within
the Republic of South Africa, and practically the whole of Botswana; they
were among the first Southern African groups to make substantial contact
with the northward-trekking farmers, and they have been intensively mis-
sionized. This acculturation process is reflected in their music, for indigenous
“harmony” at the 8ve, 5th, and 4th is today supplemented with European-
type 3rds and 6ths (see Transcription 1).
The retention of many Tswana social institutions helps to keep certain
musical styles alive, and this is to be seen in the circumcision rituals ; during
an ethnomusicological tour of Tswana territory in 1959, Hugh Tracey ob
served that “a party of over sixty young men had just completed their period
of isolation in the veld ... the singing was the best we experienced from
any Tswana group” (Tracey 1959: 65).
The present writer, while conducting ethnomusicological investigations
among the Tsonga of the Northern Transvaal over a two-year period, encoun
tered various Tswana groups in the northeasterly regions, in addition to the
many Tswana now resident in South Africa’s urban areas; in many cases the
subjects were unable to render a satisfactory performance of even one Tswana
traditional song. The most common response was to sing a European-sounding
hymn in the Tswana language.
Occasionally a reliable informant was encountered, and the following
information is the result. The Tswana classify their vocal music (diftina)
according to function within various social institutions. Music utilized within
the initiation ceremonies, for instance, is known as moama, of which two
examples are reproduced here (see Transcriptions 2 and 3). 1
1 A Bantu-speaking Southern African tribe of which there are 1,718,508 members
within the Republic of South Africa and 515,000 members within Botswana.