Analysis of the language techniques and thematic - University of the ...

concertina. He points out that when one plays setolotolo, one manages to sing words that
accompany the sound produced as is the case with concertina and accordion. He rounds
up by describing the type of instruments used in the famo songs. Wells’s work is just an
overview of Basotho accordion music; its analysis does not cover the broad aspects of the
accordion music. It does not deal with the language, content, the role and significance of
the music. Therefore, as much as its contribution is of great importance, it still leaves a
gap to be filled by this study, which intends to go deeper into the language techniques
and social context of music among the Basotho.
Coplan (1995: 11) highlights the origins of this music though he labels it shebeen songs.
He indicates that Basotho women, who happened to live in South Africa with migrant
workers, imported this type of music into Lesotho. He describes these women as:
…undesirable women, barflies and canteen-keepers; single,
deserted, deserting or married who develop the genre in the
company of migrant men. The shebeens provided women
not only with an independent albeit hard-won means of
livelihood; they created a female-controlled area for the
extended individual textual composition. Their right to sing
out was ensured by the intoxicating freedom of the
immoral, illicit but indispensable shebeen.
From the above lines, one observes that Coplan relates the historical background of the
accordion music, which he refers to as shebeen songs not the current status of accordion
music as from 1980 up to 2005. The researcher acknowledges an invaluable contribution
that Coplan has made by providing the history of this music. It is now desirable to take
the task further by analyzing what is currently being sung and documenting it for future
generations.
Currently, these songs are taken as traditional Basotho music and not shebeen songs and
have gained dignity and the Basotho identify themselves with them as their traditional
songs. This music has lost the immoral status by which it was known in the past by many
people. Coplan (1995:12) goes further to write:
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