La relatividad de las formas de gobierno

Gestures, facial expressions as well as the movement of feet are referred to by Okpewho (1992: 46) as ‘the histrionics of the performance’ or the ‘paralinguistic resources’, that is, the movements demonstrating an action contained in the text. These movements serve as instruments that give impact to the realization of the performance. They also give physical demonstration of the recited text. Gestures as demonstrated during the process of recitation are almost unavoidable, especially when one takes into consideration the kind of contents the seroki is conveying at that particular moment. Information related to experiences in the battle or war is such that the seroki cannot do otherwise but accompany it with relevant bodily gestures that help to convey it. One of the important functions of gestures accompanying speech is to help convey information to a listener. Information is not only conveyed, but must be understood by the members of the audience. Therefore, in using body language (gestures) the seroki ensures that the information he is relating does get across to his audience in a lively and impressive manner. Says Kendon (1994: 194),

Sometimes a gesture is used... to make the expression more complete or more vivid and more attractive to others.

Gestures and facial expressions are important devices that form an integral part of the realization of oral poetry as a work of art. These are not mere embellishments that can easily be done away with. Says Finnegan (1970:3),

In fact, all the variegated aspects we think of as contributing to the effectiveness of performance...play their part in the delivery of unwritten pieces - expressiveness of tone, gesture, facial expression, dramatic use of pause and rhythm, the interplay of passion, dignity, or humour, receptivity to the reactions of the audience, etc., etc. Such devices are not mere embellishments superadded to the already existent literary work - as we think of them in regard to written literature - but an integral as well as flexible part of its full realization as a work of art.

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In the video tape recorded at the Basotho Cultural Village, Joshua Makara commences his recitation by first taking off his modianyewe ‘Basotho grass hat’ from his head and putting it on the ground, and quietly raising his hands high up as an indication to his audience to keep quiet as he is about to recite the Basotho prayer. His introductory words which convey the same message as customary Basotho words, Tsie lala! Tsie lala! ‘Sleep, locust! Sleep, locust!’ are framed differently as in the following fashion,

Le hle mpe le thole hobane jwale re a rapela, hobane thapelo ya rona Basotho ke ena...

You kindly now keep quiet because we now pray, as our prayer as the Basotho is this...

The removal of the modianyewe from his head is understood by his audience as an indication of respect. He frowns, keeps down his head as a mark of respect to his addressees, and closes his eyes during the course of the prayer as he directs his prayer to his ancestors, Jesus and the great God whose hands have holes. This is the prayer he does on behalf of the audience, and the latter are expected to close their eyes as well. He says (Appendix no. 12, lines 1-11),

Modimo o motjha, rapela wa kgale, Wena Jeso, Lesedi, wa Rammoloki, Rammoloki, atla di maroba,

Di maroba, Tlatlamatjholo. Tlhahlametsi o hlapa diatla, Tlhahlametsi o hlapa diatla, Tse tswileng tshotsamo, Tsa ho bopa masea,

Malekeleke, lengope, lefadi, Ebe le fatuwe ke Modimo?

Ha le fatuwe ke Modimo le batho. New god, pray to the old one,

102 To you, Jesus, the light, the Redeemer, The Redeemer, the hands have holes, Have holes, the carrier of loads,

The commander of the waters washes his hands, The commander of the waters washes his hands, Which have developed blood blisters,

The ones that create babies,

Spear-carrier, donga, young miner, Has it (donga) been dug by God?

It has not been dug by God and the people.

This prayer, with eyes now open, is followed by the entire recitation of his thoko. In lines 66 - 71, for instance, there is an increased movement of hands and feet which reflect the contents of what he is relating. The following is an extract,

66. Banna ba Hlwahlweng ba ntlhoile, 67. Esita le Patuwe ba ntlhoile,

68. Nna ke hlouwe, Tsietsi ngwana Habasise, 69. Le Mmapiloko ha a sa mpatla,

70. Le Tafita wa Mosedinyane le yena 71. O re ha a sa mpatla.

66. The men of Hlwahlweng hate me, 67. Even at Patuwe they also hate me, 68. I am hated, Tsietsi, child of Habasise, 69. Even Mmapiloko hates me,

70. David of Mosedinyane himself

71. Also says he has nothing to do with me.

As the seroki recites line 66 he suddenly raises his voice and becomes more emotional and faster in his recitation. He uses the knobkerrie in his right hand and points away from himself as if pointing towards the district of Hlwahlweng where his enemies live. In lines 67 -71, he raises both his hands, the knobkerrie on his right, and the shield on his left, whilst moving to and fro, and lowers his shoulders, to

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indicate the degree of desperation caused by hatred from so many people around him. These gestures also convey the message that he is hated because he is a hero.

The degree to which the gestures are used during the process of recitation of the thoko is determined largely by the nature of the contents. From the video tape recorded at Morija, Qekise Moeletsi recites a thoko in which he relates his own birth, and as a result, there is very little of gestures he uses. The only movement of feet is when he turns around as he addresses the audience around him, and the limited use of his right hand to emphasize a few points here and there. He says the following (Appendix no. 11),

31. Le (lesea) fihlile le lla ka ho halefa, 32. O finne difeisi ekaka o a lwana, 33. Feela o bonahala a tletse bohale, 34. O seriti le ka ho rateha,

35. O bonahala a tla ba le nnete. 36. Utlwang jwale ba mo reha lebitso,

37. Mme Mmamaswenkane a mmitsa Mahetlankwe. 31. It was born crying and angrily,

32. He is making fists as if fighting, 33. But he appears to be full of wrath, 34. He is dignified and lovable,

35. It seems as if he will be trustworthy, 36. Now, listen when they gave him a name,

37. Mother Mmamaswenkane named him The-leopard’s-shoulders.

Though the seroki is holding a knobkerrie in his hand, an indication of a Mosotho warrior, he does not use it during the recitation. The slowness of his recitation is attributed to the contents of the recitation itself, namely, an accout relating his birth, and also the fact that his poem was prepared beforehand, written down and memorised. He was therefore “reading” his own composition which he afterwards showed us a copy of. However, the richness of his voice and the clarity of his speech were the tools that helped carry his message effectively across. The ululations that

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accompanied his thoko are an indication that his recitation had left an impressive mark on the minds of an audience despite minimal use of gestures on his part. Performance of this nature constitutes part of our contemporary changing oral tradition observable at the beginning of the 21st century. Says Opland (1983:236),

Tradition is not a lifeless thing. It alters and adapts to new social circumstances.

Among the diroki we have recorded on video tape in August 2000, we have none who carried a spear and gesticulated by way of imitating a warrior by striking the ground with his spear, an action commonly known as ho tlala (traditional prancing), which was common among the Basotho during the earlier centuries. Monyane Mathibeli verbally explains as follows:

Bahale ba nnete ke bane ba neng ba bitswa ‘mateatshwene’. Ke ba seng ba kile ba bolaya motho kapa batho ntweng. Hantlentle ke bona ba tshwanetseng ho bolotsa. Jwale potso ke hore mora wa hao o tla lekiswa ke mang ha e le mona mateatshwene a se a le siyo. Ke mang ho banna, motho ya seng a kile a bolaya motho ntweng? Kajeno ha e sa le mmannete hobane ha re sa na mateatshwene mehleng ena. Ke banna bana ba mateatshwene feela ba lokelang ho tlala le ho re bontsha ka moo ba ileng ba bolaya banna ba direng ka teng; ba bang bona ha ba a lokela hohang ho etsa jwalo.

The real heroes are those who were called ‘mateatshwene’ (Mabille, 1979:199 ‘those who have struck a monkey’). They are those who have killed one or more people on the battlefield. In reality, they are the ones who have the right to initiate others. Now the question is who is going to set an example, now that such men no more exist? Who among men is there who has ever killed someone on the battlefield? What is happening nowadays is no more reality, because we no more have such men. It is only such men who killed on the battlefield who have the right to demonstrate by physical movements of their bodies how

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they killed their enemies on the battlefield; as for others, they do not at all have that right.

This view (see Damane and Sanders 1974: 27) is shared by Guma (1967:152-153) who gives the following dramatic description,

In reciting his praises, the reciter jumps forward from the assembled gathering brandishing his spear, and stops in an open space where he can be seen by all. He then starts his praises in a high voice, moving to and fro all the time, occasionally stabbing the ground with his spear to indicate the number of victims killed in battle.

Gesticulations and other body movements are not a new phenomenon characterising the dithoko performance in 2000. They have been part and parcel of the performance of classical dithoko as well. This can be deduced from the description by Dieterlen and Kohler in Kunene (1971: xii) where they say the following about the Mosotho warrior as a seroki,

…and when he reaches the end of his long poem, he engages in several wild capers, his feet kicking up the dust around him, sketching with his hand the gesture of a warrior hitting his enemy with a spear.

The general statement can be made, namely, that although gesticulations and other body movements have been, and still are, part of the Basotho dithoko performances, the manner of their usage is however largely determined by the contents of the dithoko.

The preceding discussion has shown that the recitation of the dithoko is largely accompanied by physical movements of the body which serve to enhance the contents of a thoko, their emphases as well as their dramatization. The performances of the diroki recorded in 2000 still evince continuation of the use of physical gestures although traditional prancing (ho tlala) as an indication of how the reciter killed his victims, is seldom used as it was the prerogative of only those who had actually killed their victims in the battle.

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Contrary to the dithoko, the recitation of the difela is not accompanied by any significant physical movement of the body parts, such as the hands, feet and facial expressions. The difela are normally recited stationary, except when the reciter is walking. Perhaps, it is because they are to a large extent narrative that there is no much need for them to be accompanied by gestures. Pheka Setlaba (Appendix no. 18) recorded on video tape at Morija chants his sefela with minimal movement of hands. He uses them only as an indication of some of the villages he passed through on his journey to Maseru and to South Africa. During his chanting, it was as if he was wearing a smile on his face. His face looked happy and reflected enjoyment of himself as he related not only knowledge of the many villages, but also his experiences in some of them. His chanting identifies him as one of the men singing what Wells (1994: 265) refers to as ‘songs of the inveterate travellers’. For instance, some of the villages mentioned in this song are the following,

95. Ke batla ke siya bokgotsing ba ka, 96. Ke fihla Thabatšoela,

97. Ke bua mona ha mme ‘Makoli, 98. Ha Fobase pela ha Potlaki, 99. Ha Letšoara ke fetile feela 100. Ha Tang ka feta mohwalotso 95. I nearly left out my son’s in-laws, 96. I arrived at Thabatšoela,

97. I refer to this place at Mrs ‘Makoli, 98. At Fobase next to Potlaki’s,

99. At Letšoara’s I just passed,

100. Also at Tang’s I passed unnoticed,

In this part of the song, he mentions his relations, his son’s in-laws, Mrs ‘Makoli, at the village Thabatšoela. Other villages include Fobase, not far from Potlaki, as well as the villages headed by Letšoara and Tang, which he silently passed on his way.

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It should be noted that concerning body movements, the earlier difela composed immediately after the discovery of gold and diamonds in South Africa, were chanted accompanied by the rhythmic repetition of feet when men and young boys were walking between Lesotho and South Africa. Later on, with the extention of the railway line to the administrative headquarters at Maseru in 1906, the difela were chanted stationary in the trains, and nowadays they are still performed stationary at the mining compounds, national festivals, organised festivals such as Matsieng, ‘Melesi Lodge, in Thaba-Bosiu, Morija Museum and Archives, and Huntersville, in Lekoa, where the diroki of this art form were recorded.

There exists similarity in the performance of both the difela and the diboko in that their recitations do not necessitate use of gestures. The non-usage of gestures in the diboko can be attributed to their brevity, their verbatim recitation as well as their purpose which is mainly identification. The following seboko of the Batlokwa is quoted from my M.A. dissertation (2001: 186), and was recorded on tape without any gestures or facial expressions,

Ke thelleleng,

Ke le Motlokwa wa ha Mmanthatisi, Wa ho nyela mokopu wa Mmamohato, Ngwana tshehla a badimo!

Why should I pay homage?

Being a descendant of Motlokwa of the house of Mmanthatisi, One who excreted on the pumpkin belonging to Mmamohato, Child of the great ancestors!

The observation from the preceding discussion is that perfomance of the dithoko including the classical dithoko is accompanied by usage of gestures and facial expressions which supplement the contents of the texts. The body movements which accompanied the performance of the difela immediately after the discovery of gold and diamonds were the feet movement as men and young boys were walking from Lesotho to the South African mining areas and back. Later performances which took

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place in the trains were stationary. The diboko are by their nature are not accompanied by body movements.

Performance of an oral poetic art form cannot be confined to gestures and facial expressions as discussed so far, but includes other aspects such as the accoutrement which will form the subject of our next discussion.

3.3.1.3 Accoutrement

The attire or the accoutrement of the performer constitutes part of the general spectacle in which the dramatic performance of an oral poetic art form such as the dithoko, takes place. The accoutrement serves as a visual resource that enhances not only the general spectacle in the face-to-face contact between the seroki and the audience, but the effectiveness of the recitation. Says Okpewho (1992:48),

But in the oral performance the words are frequently given this physical demonstration and in many cases depend on this demonstration for their effectiveness.

Effectiveness of the words spoken by the seroki at the public gathering is enhanced by his visual accoutrement which helps create a mood of excitement on that particular occasion. This was the case at various places where recordings of the diroki took place in August and September 2000. For instance, Morabaraba Lehloha, recorded at Matsieng, performed his thoko wearing a blanket, holding a knobkerrie in his right hand, and a hat in his left and at the back of his head was hanging white beads attached to his hair, which gave an impression that he was a traditional healer. At Thabana-Tshowana, Mphutlane Mofokeng declaimed his thoko wearing a leather hat made from a gazelle hide, a blanket made from gazelle hides sewn together, and holding in his right hand a long stick decorated with white beads in the middle. Joshua Makara, at the Basotho Cultural Village, was wearing a blanket commonly worn by the Basotho, holding a knobkerrie in his right hand, a small shield in his left, and hanging on his right wrist was a short tail of an ox. Sello Rapeane recorded at ‘Melesi Lodge, Thaba-Bosiu, was wearing a maroon blanket with black dots making it look like a leopard, a pair of brownish colourful trousers, holding a knobkerrie in his

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right hand, and a small shield in his left. In all these instances, the performance of the diroki, including the movements of their knobkerries, hands, shields and gesticulations, created an atmosphere of excitement which was accompanied by ululations and whistling. The mood was not only created and enhanced by words and actions on the part of the diroki, but their visual accroutrement. Confirms Finnegan (1970:5),

A particular atmosphere - can be conveyed not only by a verbal evocation of mood but also by the dress, accoutrements, or observed bearing of the performer.

In this case, the verbal content now represents only one element in a complete operalike performance. The accoutrement of the seroki, his warriorlike appearance, facilitate the audience’s forming of the mental images of the heroic actions on the battlefield; it is as if the whole drama takes place in full view of their eyes, hear the terrific sound of the guns, the swords and the grenades, as in the following extract from chief Maama’s poem in Damane (1963:7),

Garenate li qhoma, khabo li tuka, Li tuka li bonahatsa malakabe; Grenades bursting, fires blazing, Blazing, pointing their licking flames

The audience visualise the heroic scene of the battlefield which the seroki effectively uses as the foundation of his composition. Aptly says Swanepoel (1991:5),

The realistic scenes of the battlefield would gradually make way for an eloquence of a different kind. As the thunder of war faded into the distance, the objects and sounds of nature held the poet’s attention and became the vehicles of his heroic effusions.

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Seroki se ne se apara jwalo ka ha ho ne ho aparwa ke batho bohle. Feela ka baka la ho ithaburanya le ho itsokotsa ha se roka, ho ne ho tshwanela hore moaparo wa sona o be bobebe, o dumele hore a ithaburanye. Jwale o ne a apara setipe. Setipe ke letlalo la phoofolo, le sehilweng jwalo ka tshea hore le theohe ka morao, ke hore le kwahele