Mzanzi Travel - Local Travel Inspiration (Issue 5)

Cultural Travel
Polka-dot dancers
The name riel was borrowed from the word ‘reel’, a Scottish folk dance, and
adapted to the Afrikaans now mostly spoken by the descendants of the Khoisan
and the Nama, the latter being the largest surviving sub-group of the Khoi.
Coloured people at the Cape and practised by today’s Cape minstrels, which in
turn bears the influences of Malay slaves and the minstrel songs of the south
of America.
The music changed too, from the original trance-like chanting and indigenous
wind, string and percussion instruments of the Khoisan, to an infusion of
various other musical influences. These included the Irish and Scottish folk
music influences, the boeremusiek developed by the descendants of Dutch,
French and German settlers, along with the goema carnival sound of the
Today common music instruments used include the guitar, banjo, violin,
concertina and accordion. All of these musical developments have of course
over time also influenced modern jazz music and has even found some
resonance in today’s hip hop genre, far beyond local shores.
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