!Khwa ttu

Have you ever wondered what the first music in the world may have sounded like?

Possibly even older than language , but closely related to meaning , magic and dancing, music always seems to  be the prime force in indigenous cultures.

The San people of  Southern Africa are our world´s most ancient indigenous culture, and based on  scientific DNA traces we can regard them as geneologically ancestors for the human race.

Their culture may very well contain traces of the oldest forms of traditional singing and dancing… we are actually speaking of a cultural world treasure,  that should be admired and honored for what it is.

But the  history of the San people is a sad one; over the past  hundred years they have been treated like cattle or worse by all other races in southern Africa.

Always regarded as the  the paria of the world ; colored, blacks and whites have hunted them down and forced them away from their territories, threatening their cultural integrety.

It is overdue to begin to treat them with the respect their culture deserve.

San music can be really challenging for  the western audience : Intricate  handclap poly-rythms accompanied by yodling-like singing on  blues-like scales may  sound more than foreign to the untrained ear.

We have thus tried to rearrange and recompose ancient traditional  San  grooves and melodies  in  an attempt  to reveal the beauty and complexity  that is hidden inside this ancient music.

So by listening to this cd you may hear traces of the first music ever performed by humans .

Credits:

Lead vocals: Tebogo Tsothetsi from the San people and Sepanya Mahlangu from Pretoria

Eivind Aarset -guitars & electronics

Ottar Nesje - percussion

Kjetil Bjerkestrand - synths and programming

Oddrun Eikli – additional vocals

Arne Hiorth - trumpets , electronics, programming and producer

Mastered by Bjørn Engelman at The Cutting Room, Stockholm

Cover art by Axel Weiss

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